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"Not true" He rarely allowed her the lead, preferring to remain in control

"I ca a nap You instigated everything I h to catch soh bed, and he lifted and tossed her upon the turned-down mattress Then he shed his robe and crawled over her

Staring up at hileam in his eyes, with the dark silky hair that fell over his bro different he was fro rooe? Did she hold that much sway over him?

Her eyes drifted lower

"That look," he said dryly, "is the reason we spend so much time in this position"

"What look?" Isabel batted her lashesbanter she’d missed There always seemed to be so much tension between them Its absence was a pleasure

Gray dipped his head and licked the tip of her nose, then pressed his hs, mount me, make me hoarse and limp from pleasure"

"Good heavens," she purred "It’s a wonder I eith such chatty eyes"

"Hnized as the ie speech when you look at me like that Drives me insane"

"Perhaps you shouldn’t look atup to stroke his lean hips

"You would never allow nore you, Pel You foster my infatuation at every turn"

Infatuation She shivered Could he care for her? Did she want hi?"

"Because you don’t want est what he said

Isabel lay still, her ue licking across hers, gliding under it, drinking from her as if she were some delicacy All the while in herto bind him to her with sexual extortion?

When Gray lifted his head, his breathing was as disturbed as hers "You do not afford me even half a moment to think of another wohts "You take me to your bed at every opportunity You exhaust me--"

"Ha Your appetite is inexhaustible" But the rejoinder that was , was instead shaky and inflected with a question Had she gone fro to keep hiraceful, fluid ht her over him "I require as ers over heras to forgo sleep altogether, so discard any atteain You are not too old for ged his hand away "You could always sleep apart from me"

"Don’t be daft You mistake my observation for a complaint, which it is not" Gray stroked the curve of her spine, applying pressure so that her breasts connected more fully to his chest "Perhaps once or twice it has crossedit to lead asm, the way it clutches me, the way you arch up and cry outand leave hed

He tucked her into his side "If you require a physical display of e you We can’t have you worried about waning interest and all that Whatever you need, Pel, to make it possible to believe in me, I will do it I suppose I should have stated that bluntly earlier so there would be no doubt I am not Pelham"

The look in his eyes was fond, with banked lust--the look of a man as just as content to hold her as he was to ride her

Her throat tightened, her eyes stung

"Where did you find these sudden insights into my behavior?" she asked softly The Grayson she’d h beyond his

"I told you, you have ed into her hair, loosening and then pulling out the pins that held it up, before tossing them to the floor "There is no other person I would wish to be with h, you always have You never allow me to become too full of myself You see all ofI’ve no need of any other companions In fact, you and I will re"

"Noho’s daft? Everyone will think we are up here having sex if we skip dinner"

"And they will not be wrong," he murmured, his lips to her forehead "We are honey less froht back the dreae How hopeful she had been then How na&iuer anticipation for the future

Should be But was finding the opposite was true

"But we shall also take our ether up here," he continued, "and play chess I will tell you ofback to look at hiood Be prepared to suffer defeat"

Isabel stared up at hier had returned to her A man who looked very much like the ed? He was so mercurial Even now he seemed different from the man who had left her room just an hour before

"Who are you?" she breathed, her hand reaching up to touch his face, to trace the arch of his brow So much the same So very different

His smile faded "I am your husband, Isabel"

"No, you are not" She pressed hiain The texture of his hard body was so wonderful to her--the hard ridges and planes, the dusting of hair over his sun-darkened skin

"How can you say that?" he asked, his voice turning husky as she moved upon him "You stood next to me at the altar You said the vows, and heardher head, she took hishim Not because she was physically unable to resist the te in him she had failed to see before--co about her and understanding her The knowledge made her shiver, made her sink into his e her back

He turned his head, evading her questing , he said, "Don’t do this"

"Do what?" She caressed the length of his torso, cupped his hip, shifted so she could reach between his legs

"Don’t tell me I am not your husband and then silence me with sex We will have this out, Pel No more of this nonsense about mistresses and the like"

She stroked his cock with a fired it was his resistance to love a deeper connection Despite every bit of her brain that said her life experiences were correct in their dis ed her to believe otherwise

He caught her wrist and bucked with a curse, taking the advantage Loo over her, he pinned her arms to the bed His face above her was hard as stone, his eyes glittering with the determination that was mirrored by his tense jaw