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Eleanor thought of the jerky violence hich Lisette had swung the lute "I believe she was irritated by so Roland said"

"I can certainly understand that I would suggest that Sir Roland’s uide to ht his kisses"

"What do you mean?" Suddenly the stars seemed much closer, now that there were only the two of theht air was velvety and warm on her skin

"If I were married to him, it would be about a week before I pushed one of his pompous, artistic poems down his throat," Villiers said with a perfect lack of expression, which hter "You hurt his feelings with that twaddle about Shakespeare It could be that he’ll be a great writer so the tiresoe decided by a kiss that includes the Duke of Astley as an unknowing partner"

"I thought of Gideon for only a moment" Her treacherous heart sped up a bit

"Why don’t you kiss me this time? Perhaps that will help to focus your attention on the ood at kissing, and those dalliances with Gideon weren’t all that o So she leaned forward and kissed him with all the persuasive power that she’d polished with Gideon Her lips slipped along his, begged him for entrance

His lips didn’t move

She sed a little humiliation, leaned farther forward so he could see her bosom if he wished

Gideon always closed his eyes when she kissed him, but Villiers kept his open And to her dis at her with amusement rather than raw desire

"What?" she de kissed That was as boring asabout Astley"

Gideon hadn’t liked her kisses all thataround for her wrap "I really should go to--"

"I didn’t say I didn’t like kissing you," he interrupted

"Yes, you--"

"I don’t like being kissed" And with that rather cryptic stateainst his chest

Eleanor’s arms went instinctively around his neck But she didn’t have time to think before his hands laced into her hair and hisor seduce He invaded He took her mouth hard, with a kind of concentrated lust and fever, and she knew exactly why all those wo to do with his ducal crest, as he seemed to think It was the moment when the immaculately dressed, starched and beruffled duke suddenly turned wild, hisher hard

This kiss was unlike any she’d shared with Gideon There was nothing sweet about Villiers’s kiss And Villiers didn’t feel like the right way to think about him

She broke free and his lips slid, hot, across her cheek "What’s your na it perfectly well Leopold was too accustomed to women’s avid attempts to claim intimacy with hiainst her lips "You do remember my title?"

"I don’t care about your title any more than--" But she didn’t want to talk, so she turned toward hissound in his throat, and their tongues tangled She was shaking, she thought di it free of its ribbon so that it slid like rough silk across her skin

"Leopold," he said

She wasn’t listening because she was burning, breathless