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"Isabel" Gray’s hands gripped her shoulders, rip free of the chair back, and then linked his fingers with hers His body was feverishly hot against her back She began to sweat

Green, perhaps? No, that wouldn’t do Gray’s study was green Lavender, then? A lavender settee would be a change Or pink No man would want to visit a pink parlor Wouldn’t that be lovely?

"Would you talk toAnd wheedling and charirl could lose her head over hiuard

"Tassels"

"What?"

He turned her to face hiold tassels in the parlor," she said

"Fine Pink flatters "

"You will not be invited to my parlor"

His lips pursed, his frown deepened "The hell I won’t You are not leaving me, Pel What you overheard does not , my lord," she said evenly "If you will excuse me…" She sidestepped

He kissed her

Like candle-warmed brandy the kiss hit her sto her thoughts and blood run sluggishly Needing air, she took a deep breath through her nose and shtened, lifting her slightly until only the tips of her curled toes brushed against the Aubusson rug beneath theainst her belly she felt his cock stir, but hisand licking, not plunging As the ice inside her melted under the heat of his ardor, she ainst hers The lips of an angel…with the skill and ability to deceive like the devil

Clean skin

Gray’s ainst her ear

"As iain" He rounded the chair and sank into it, holding her in his lap as if she were a ser should have settled down to a , yet at this moment it seems worse than before"

"I knohat I heard," she whispered, refusing to believe what her nose suggested was the truth

"My brother is brash," he continued, ignoring her "And I wasted hours looking for hie that he could be wounded, or could seriously wound someone else, it was the desire to be with you that created my unholy impatience"

"You have been with that woman intimately Recently"

"I was relieved to learn he’d vented his earlier anger with a quick rut in the next room"

Isabel stilled "Lord Spencer?"

"I was evenwith Lady Stanhope to continue their activities in aso frees the rest ofto seduce you"

"She wants you"

"So do you," he said smoothly "I am an attractive man with an attractive purse and an attractive title" He pushed her gently away so he could aze "I also have an attractive wife"

"Have you fucked her since you returned?"

"No" His mouth brushed across hers "And I know you find that hard to believe"

Strangely, she didn’t

"If I were you, Pel, I am not certain I would believe a scoundrel like htened "My past does not signify" She’d had enough pity to last a lifetime, she did not require any more Certainly she did not want any fro to see" His face was stark in its perfection, his eyes narrowed and considering The hard edges to his lips and ns of a deep sadness

"I aood at all Allbut faults Still, I am yours and you must learn to bear with o"

"Why?"

She held her breath, but it was his next words that made her dizzy

"You heal me"

His eyes closed and he pressed his cheek to hers, the tender gesture startling her to the very reat s, but tenderness was not one of the more frequent in number terrified her She could not be the salve that mended him for another woainst her mouth "If you allow me to"

For a brief moment, she pressed her lips to his Exhausted by the stresses of the day, she longed to curl into his chest and sleep for days Instead, she wiggled off his lap and stood "If healing , I want no part of it"

He heaved out a breath as weary in sound as she felt

"I have learned frolad to have learned" Her fingers twisted together restlessly "Forgetting is not et"

"Then teach me how to live with my mistakes, Pel" He stood

She looked at hiently Coht up her hands

"What?" Her eyes widened and she shivered Alone with Gray

"We cannot function together as a couple here"

"A couple?" Her head shook violently

The door opened, startling the speed, protecting her in an all-enco embrace

Lord Hammond, the owner of the library in which they stood, blinked in the doorway "I beg your pardon" He began to back out, and then stopped "Lord Grayson? Is that you?"

"Yes," Gray drawled softly

"With Lady Grayson?"

"Who else would I be consorting with in a darkened room?"

"Well…Ah…" Hammond cleared his throat "No one else, of course"

The door began to swing closed again, and Gray took the opportunity to cup her breast His e of her inability to pull away

"Er, Lord Grayson?" Hahed and raised his head "Yes?"