Buxom.

That was the word that came to mind when you saw the girl.

This one was tall with a suggestive air about her. Even in the fading light, one could make out the tracings of a figure that hinted at ripening into sultry lines that clearly spelled trouble for any male in the years to come. Her hair gleamed red with the setting rays and was reflected in the spark that danced in the coal black eyes of the strapping male towering above her.

Even from the distance, the young woman peering at them from across the bend in the path, could see the bridge of the wide panama hat that was tipped at a rakish angle as the young man glanced down at the simpering girl hanging onto his arm.

"Let me have just one more look around; it is really not that late! Father said you could come to dinner and you can drive me home after", she said, eyeing him from below her thickly shaded lashes.

The young man who had been lounging against a tree looked down at the girl and chuckled softly as he gently extracted her arm from his.

His face was hidden by the lengthening shadows and he had his back turned to the path. He looked up at the darkening sky and in a voice that seemed all too familiar to the uninvited intruder who stood rooted on the grassy sloping path behind him, said, " I fear we have taxed your father's patience for the day, my dear. And I am betting that just "looking around "is not exactly what's on your mind right now", he added with a devilish grin.

The girl squealed in mock protest and nestling closer to him, tried to take his arm in hers but he gently pushed her away, laughing as he turned around to head back towards the noise of the crowds that were now moving with aimless purpose in the direction of the carriages and horses tethered at the front entrance of the gardens.

Something had happened. That much the young woman was sure of.

She couldn't quite understand it yet. But it seemed to pull her deeper into the backwoods, towards the direction of the voices and she gave herself up to it. Grimly, pushing back the burning questions ebbing along the edges of her conscience, she continued along the path.

The fading light from the glowering sky was slowly receding and it was getting harder to see. She hastened her steps to a quick run as the path trailed and curved abruptly to the right.

She knew she needed to reach them. But why?

She didn't see the tree or the stone hedged fence around the pathway before it was too late.

As her forehead smacked into the damp moss hung thickset branch that hung low across the towering trees, a loud crack echoed through the silence and she felt herself falling backwards.

It was as though the ground had fallen away from under her feet. A yawning blackness enveloped her, and the air seemed to suddenly thicken as she felt her throat closing up. She struggled to hold herself up and then her knees gave way to a sickening dizziness that overcame her.

She heard a shrill scream and a strange buzzing filled her ears. The last thing she remembered as she fell was looking into a pair of blazing black eyes that seemed to bore right into her.

A hushed quiet had replaced the jumbled thoughts and frenzied voices in her head, and she reveled in the sense of peace that it brought.

If only she could shut out that insistent voice!

It was calling her name over and over again, demanding almost challenging her to tear herself away from the soothing calm darkness that swirled around her like a soft blanket.

….".didnt think…coward"….The voice seeped into her mind, pulling at it like hot pincers until the word registered.

COWARD?

No! How dare he?

Her eyes snapped open and her head jerked up in a reflex borne of longstanding habit before she realized she had even moved …and almost immediately she regretted it.

She tried to sit up. A roaring noise filled her head like the loud gushing of a thousand waterfalls that seemed to go on and on forever spilling over jagged rocks that throbbed and pierced into her skull. It seemed to want to tear away the thin film of sentience that ebbed through now and then within her screaming mind, trying to bring her back to a world which she instinctively recognized as alien.

"Never seen her before", the high-pitched voice of the girl continued angrily "I think maybe the Clayton's kin perhaps. She has the same straight black hair. Oh! It is way past dinner time! Father is going to be so cross!"

Someone was holding her up against the tree and she could feel their arms around her, supporting her head against the back of the gigantic oak.

She struggled to take a deep breath, clenching her jaw against the rising tide of queasiness that threatened to overwhelm her.

The back of her head seemed like it was on fire! Dear God! Had she cracked her skull?

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and then slowly, very slowly opened them….and then closed them shut them immediately in a reflex that didn't go unnoticed by the young man who was leaning down with a concerned frown on his dark face.

"Are you all right, Miss? That was quite a nasty fall you had back there. Take it easy now," he said in a quiet voice as he pushed her gently but firmly down as she struggled to sit up.

She felt the bile rise up in her throat at the effort of trying to lift her head and she feebly sank back into the guiding arms.

There was something soft bunched up against her head and as she turned towards it, a warm familiar scent filled her nose. She let it wash over her, drinking it in deep; letting it flow into her heart and her mind until it lulled her into a soft black oblivion that wrapped itself around her like an old friend.

"She has fainted again, hasn't she"? This time, the girl's voice was laced with genuine concern.