Before he reached her, she jumped to her feet and sped into his arms.
He pulled her close against him and his lips were on hers.
He kissed her with an urgency and fierceness that told her that he had missed her as much as she had missed him and also been afraid that he would not find her again.
“I – love you,” Tora murmured when she could speak.
“And I adore you!” he said in his deep voice. “At the same time, my darling, how could you do anything so dangerous and so very reprehensible as to come to Salona disguised as a pianist and dressed as a peasant?”
Tora looked up at him in surprise before she asked,
“Surely you know now why I came?”
“I have no idea,” he replied, “unless you were rebelling against the protocol of Palaces, which I myself have found most restricting.”
“I was reb
