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"I will never touch you unless you ask it of , but his voice was like the wind swirling throughhi me further than I could handle, was seductive But -

"You can trust ht out of my mouth? Or maybe out of my head? I made a derisive sound

"You don&039;t think I&039;m trustworthy?"

I met his eyes "I don&039;t know you"

"You could tie me up" He leaned forward and I tensed, but all he did was rub histhe sensitive skin at my hairline "Then I couldn&039;t touch you, unless you set e, which was far too appealing "Maybe later," I ht said, but he didn&039;t He stood with his back to the sliding glass door as I stood so close his chest nearly touched s with air

"You&039;ll only be here a week," I said

"After your festival, we must head for another In Pennsylvania" His head tilted "Why?"

"I may not be able to - " I took a breath, let it out "In a week"

"You think all I care about is sex?"

My eyebrows lifted Well, yeah He certainly couldn&039;t care about me We&039;d just met

"You think I have a woman in every town?"

I winced at the echo of Grace&039;s words Well, eavesdroppers rarely heard good about theo away?" I inched back a few steps "You don&039;t know adje except for business"

"What&039;s gadje?"

"Those who are not Rom"

"Sounds like a custom from the fifteenth century"

"An ancient custom, to be sure But one we try to uphold The outside world has never been kind to us"

I recalled Mrs Charlesdown accusing Sabina of stealing when the girl had done nothing at all

"In the old days, people would leave unwanted children near our camp," he continued "Then, e took one, adopted hi"

"So that&039;s how the Gypsies-steal-children ruot started"

"Yes," he said "I do not have a woman in every town I am not supposed to have a woadje I would be declared marime An outcast"

"But you&039;re the leader"

"That doesn&039;t ht into my eyes, then very deliberately lifted his palm to my cheek "To touch you is forbidden"

"Then why are you here?"

He looked out the ard the wood "I couldn&039;t stay away"

The idea of hiet hiet in the twenty-first century, was strangely intriguing

"Kiss aze returned to mine

"You accept my offer then?"

I hesitated Once I did, I&039;d be co to more than a kiss I knew that, despite what he&039;d proet past what had happened, to move on, and this was the perfect opportunity

What if I tried to have sex with someone from Lake Bluff and I couldn&039;t? I wouldn&039;t be able to stay here, either

But Cartwright was leaving And best of all, he couldn&039;t tell anyone that he&039;d touchedostracized himself

I reached past him and yanked the cord on the drapes so that they slid across the , obscuring us from the rest of the world

"Kiss me," I repeated "Then touch ht here"

He smiled and did exactly that