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"And now?" she whispered, knowing she had hiht here "Ain’t there nothin’ I can bribe you with now?"

He understood heras he jerked away froainst the bricks, her hand splayed to catch herself If she were a lesser woht have known some prick to her conscience at the rapid rejection But she’d searched his eyes as she said the words; this wasn’t repulsion For a moment, interest had flared there

"You shot the Duke of Lannister and tried to blow up the court If you think I’ll ement with you, you’re a fool"

"I shot the duke," she adle an acquaintance ofattack?"

"I tried to stop it"

"Do you take me for a fool?"

She dared to take a step toward hiht it would ’ave worked, then I would ’ave led the action, but this were no plan of one to find Jere "Then ere you doing tonight? Just what are you up to?"

"You tell auze of herover the black satin His thu it over her ht his "No" Rosalind took a chance and darted her tongue out, licking the edge of his thuaze "You disappoint e my mind You’re under arrest, petticoats or not"

He reached for her wrist and she twisted, capturing his own The tendons in his ar her gaze locked on his the whole tiainst her cheek, turning her lips into it Lynch returned her stare with cool disinterest, but the pulse in his throat had quickened

Rosalind licked his palue slowly across the seaaze flickered to hers and she stepped closer, turning his hand over to trace her lips against the tender flesh between the back of his fingers "You," she whispered "Me Two eneether" Palainst the rippled abdoers The leather was polished with age and use Iht took her by surprise In all her years, she’d only ever felt such a curiosity stirring within her once, and that had been for her husband, a man she admired and respected Lynch orthy of neither in her eyes

Or was he?

She’d learned enough about hi what type of man he hat type of enemy she faced The answer made her nervous Cold and implacable, people whispered Ruthless Even the Echelon called him Sir Iron Heart, but never to his face

The man in front of her was hard She could sense that innately But the look in his eyes…Oh no, that was not cold Not cold at all

"All these months you’ve been chasin’ me, Lynch" The words were a caress, but her ht me Ain’t you curious? Don’t you want just a little taste before you turn hts used against hi harshly

Exciteh her Anticipation It was the only time she ever truly felt alive these days As if she’d been sleepwalking for so long, Lynch’s presence was like an icy dash of water to her face Sliding her hand over each ripple of leather, Rosalind let her fingers pause on the edge of his belt and looked up, beneath her lashes "Liar"

Furious color flushed the stark edges of his cheekbones Lynch glared down at her, but the cool disinterest in his eyes had burned away The blackness of his pupils overwhelmed his irises until she stared into a deer, by desire

She had hiers through the inky black strands of his hair Her lashes half lowering, she dragged his head doith a fistful of his hair and guided his mouth to hers

She’d kissed men in the line of duty, seduced them with a flirtatious smile that barely touched the cold, hard ball of e to her Yet she tre the hard, leather-clad body, feeling the buttery soft texture of his arloves Her words hadn’t only seduced him--she felt the truth of the forbidden

His cool breath brushed against her sensitive lips as they caressed her own Lynch resisted "Take off yourthe tre flesh of her jaw

"No"

She could feel his body leaning away froht for his senses In desperation, she reached up and opened her h thehers He stiffened in shock and she drank of hishis with a dare and her hands sliding lower That hard bodyhis inclinations Hands cupped her face and he kissed her as if he were a desperateup within him so swiftly that it shocked her She tasted loneliness in his hunger, and soerous A yearning that ached like a fist in her sto into his hair as she sought to pull herself back from that The moment she could breathe the sensation lessened, but she didn’t irabbed a fistful of hair, dragging her head back Cool lips slid over her chin and lower, across her throat Rosalind clutched his shoulder, wary of her vulnerability but it didn’t return If she concentrated on the feel of him, on each delicate sensation as he licked at her throat, then she could e to hold on to herself

A blue blood But he felt like ahands, and he tasted like one as he returned to her lips, his breath sith his evening wine The kiss deepened, his tongue forcing her lips apart, taking no prisoners Hungry Her body ached, the throb between her legs so long denied Eight long years since Nathaniel died, and she’d never once regretted not taking a lover Never found a er was its own addiction and a part of her thrilled at the hthawk Her dearest ene for the past six ain

Her back hit the brick wall Lynch’s ain She barely had time to snatch a breath or even a fistful of his shirt before his tongue rasped over her teeth A thousand iainst the linen that bound the scent of hiravely rasp of his knuckles on the brick as he caught her beneath the arse and dragged her legs around his hips

Rosalind’s nails curled into his shoulders, padded only by the single glove she wore Sweet lord… She was losing herself again… She kissed hi his lip between her teeth and nibbling on it It would be so easy to forget herself, to let herself surrender until she was lost…

No