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A roughened thumb traced the tear’s path "Fuckin’ hell," he said in a breathless, bewildered tone "Christ, luv Don’t cry Please don’t cry I ain’t worth that"

"Yes, you are," she whispered "I won’t have you belittle yourself" Everyone else did enough of that

As dangerous as sin, the whores on the street whispered Oh yes, she’d heard it and knew he had too But in her heart, sin wasn’t unattractive at all It was the faint brush of his hard body against hers as they passed in the kitchen or the slow, dangerous s batter froot to see what no one else did when he dropped his guard and let hi his reputation and his scowling menace down people’s throats

"Fine, luv Fine Won’t say it"

His hard body seehtly she could have escaped if she’d wanted to

He still didn’t understand what the proble that their friendship would rehts would be spent in a torture of thwarted desire whilst he lay on the other side of the wall, no doubt oblivious to her true feelings

She could pull away She should

It was the sensible thing to do The Esers loosened fro an inch away from his abdo She was so da too afraid to voice them

She didn’t want to be sensible anymore

"Do you want to knohy I’h tre lips If she couldn’t say this now, then she never would

"Aye," he said gruffly, tilting his face lower as if to find the answers in her eyes

"Because I wanted it to beher fist into the collar of his shirt and lifting onto her toes to press her lips to his

Rip froze, sucking in a sharp hiss of air between his parted lips

He could taste her on hishe’d ever drea

Es in his shirt and her ry little h it flickered directly over the length of his cock He was hard in seconds, his hands sliding into the coarse stiffness of her bustle as he wrenched her against him

Es through hierous The heady drued his head down and captured his e Rip staggered forward, taking her with hiainst her, hand fisting in her skirts and need burning through hi river

A flash of red swept behind his closed lids and Rip groaned, his hips thrusting unconsciously against her Steady He forced his fingers to unclench in her skirts but Esh hi through hiod-da his mouth from hers Esme’s hand curled in his collar as if she wasn’t prepared to let hiet away If he didn’t he’d be on her, teeth digging into the s to the blade at his waist… Another groan as the thought fired his blood

Get away Now

Rip shoved back and reeled into the streets, blinking against the dark shadows of his vision Moveer, was so furiously aware of Esme, of the throb of her heart, that he didn’t dare take a step toward her

"John," she whispered, touching her lips Her eyes were allassy

Es his hands into his pockets Christ Couldn’t she bloody see how close to the edge he was?

He shook his head abruptly "Don’t"

Esme froze

"I’m sorry," he said "I can’t Not with you" The look on her face alo I just… I can’t"

Then he turned and stalked through the steady drift of snoard the Warren, listening to the sharp, hurt intake of her breath as he tried to stop hi fir tree went up, the tip bending against the ceiling Will peered through the branches, his arreen and a scowl on his face as he wrestled it into place

"Isn’t she a beauty?" Blade asked, stepping back and exa it

Esathered to look She could feel Rip watching her froainst the wall in silence He’d barely been involved in wrestling the tree inside and neither had she Both of thees of the family, as if solobes the French exported, looking on the family within Somehow the world see in thishis ar Blade, she’d put on several pounds, a vital iht softened her features and happiness often put a smile on her face In the past six h Eso to anyone, not even Blade, who’d once been her confidante Her heart felt like it was breaking but how could she tell her friends what had happened?

She’d kissed Rip and he’d told her he didn’t want her I can’t Not with you Words that see up inside her, like a fist in her throat, threatening to escape But if she let it, the tears wouldn’t stop And Es them

She hadn’t cried when her parents cut her off afterTom and she hadn’t cried when his mother cast her into the streets after his death Instead she’d picked herself up out of the gutters and found herself respectable ean to ain Paste a s had ever happened between her and Rip

Still, the thought of being his friend right noas more than she could bear