Listed: Volume V (14 page)

She
heaved herself up enough to lean over and poise the pen over the paper. Then
she crossed out “Climb a volcano” with a slightly shaky line.

She
gazed down at the list. Thirteen items were crossed off now. Only one
remaining. She still hadn’t read all of Shakespeare’s plays.

She
dropped the pen and collapsed back onto the bed, her eyes hot and swollen, her
breath coming out in uneven pants.

A
completed list would seem like a symbol that she could die, which was a
horrible thought, but she was terrified of dying before she’d completed it.

“Almost
done,” Paul murmured, picking up the list and moving it to the dresser against
the opposite wall.

“I
still need to read
Hamlet
. I haven’t even started it yet.”

“That's
all right. You have plenty of time to read it still.”

Emily
writhed under the covers, hot and pained and horrified by the thought of one of
Shakespeare’s plays unread. “I need to get started.”

Paul’s
mouth twisted slightly, but he said, “I can bring you the book, if you really
want to read it now.”

She
shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t think I can read.”

“You
can read it when you feel better.” He was trying to sound soothing, but his
voice was thick with emotion he couldn’t quite suppress.

A
swell of aching grief rose up, threatening to drown her. “I’m not going to feel
better than this,” she gasped. “I can’t read anymore.”

For
some reason, the words might have been the worst thing she’d ever said—some
sort of unassailable proof that her life was really over. She shook with the
grief of it, tears streaming down her hot face.

Paul
was still standing over her bed, and his head suddenly jerked to the side the
way it had in the car. She saw his features contort briefly, as if he were
struggling to control himself.

He
didn’t say anything. Just turned away from her and walked away.

She
didn’t mind. She understood. There wasn’t anything he could do anyway.

She
was too hot so she pushed down the covers, keeping just the sheet on top of
her. Then she pulled her left hand out from under the covers and looked at the
engagement ring and wedding band on her finger. She brought her hand up and
kissed the rings in a foolish gesture of affection.

She
dropped her hand quickly at a noise from the doorway, but she thought maybe
Paul had still seen her, since he walked back into the room just then.

He
was carrying his Riverside Shakespeare.

Without
explanation, he pulled a chair up to the side of her bed and sat down, opening
the book and flipping the pages until he’d found the place he wanted.

Emily
stared at him through bleary eyes.

“The
first act begins outside of Elsinore Castle in Denmark,” Paul began. “Bernardo
comes to relieve Francisco, who’s on guard outside the castle. It's dark.
Bernardo says, ‘Who’s there?’”

Acknowledgements

The quotation on Arion,
the immortal horse, that Paul says in Chapter 13 is from Book 23 of the Iliad,
translated by A.T. Murray (Homer.
Iliad
. Trans. A.T. Murray. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard UP, 1924).

Listed
is completed
and will be published in six volumes on the following schedule. Each volume is
roughly 28,000-35,000 words (around 90-120 pages). Beginning in Volume III, it
will include adult sex scenes.

Volume I:   February 8, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume II:  February 15, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume III: February 22, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume IV: March 1, 2013

Volume V:  March 8, 2013

Volume VI: March 15, 2013

About
the Author

Noelle handwrote her
first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she
hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and
currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she
can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She
loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of
her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and
focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out
her website: noelle-adams.com

About
the Author

Noelle handwrote her
first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she
hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and
currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she
can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She
loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of
her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and
focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out
her website: noelle-adams.com