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Noever, he found hi to ain, to feel her beneath hihter as she teased him He wanted her to prick his temper as only she could until he was hard as a rock and hot to ride her all night

Daain and the craving was such that he wished to live long enough to hter escaped hiloves from his butler and left his house Primitive animals, indeed

It was absurd to want a woman this badly He could have anyone, from a duchess to a fishwife Women lusted for him, always had But as he pulled his mount to a halt before Maria’s horooh him was a unique

product of only one female

When the butler opened the door to find hi card in hand, the servant could not hide his look of dismay

"Take the card," Christopher drawled, "and we can avoid a siege"

Sniffing, the servant did as he suggested and led him to the same parlor where he had previously spoken with Lord Welton Once he was left alone, Christopher took note of the roos that decorated the pale gray wal s He hated waiting, and he hated the way his ieneral y not one of them

Final y the door opened and Maria stepped into the roo, startled by his reaction to her in casual attire It seeht before and the way she had felt in his ar he would rather have done than lie abed with her, feeling her lips wet and soft and clinging to his

He reached her shortly, his stride swift in his eagerness to take her nizant of her delicate condition, Christopher cupped her spine with great care and tilted his head to kiss her as he wanted Maria stood rigid for a moment and then yielded sweetly

He licked, nibbled, and ate at her as if she were a dessert he could not consurew hot, then damp with perspiration, every muscle tense with need and desire Fro, considering it a needless distraction froood part of sex

But by God…Maria’s kisses were sexual acts in and of themselves He withdrew only because he needed to breathe Certainly that was the only reason he felt dizzy

Maria’s eyes opened, revealing dark and dazed depths "H her lips "Delicious"

The throaty way she said the word aroused hirowled his frustration and cupped her face in his hands "Listen I ency that requires my attention Tel me now if you are intent on another harebrained schen so on holiday, to rest and recuperate"

"Good" His fingers tightened their hold and then he released her, backing away quickly There was so that uards on her anyway "Where are you going?"

"I have yet to decide"

"When are you departing?"

"Today"

"When will you be back?"

She laughed, her dark eyes bright With her kiss-swol en lips and black-as-pitch hair, she was beyond beautiful "Will yousurly for no reason he could recognize

"I shal miss you"

Alert, he studied her "You will ?"

"No It see with him, could see it in the way she looked at him, and yet part of him wished she were sincere

"Christopher?" she prodded, when the silence stretched on "You do not seem to be yourself today"

"It is you who is different," he accused She seehter in ht this change in her?

Maria sighed audibly and walked to the settee "So we part ways here" She sat and patted the space next to her in silent invitation

He did not move

She settled her hands primly in her lap and arched one brow expectantly Belatedly Christopher understood that she aiting for hio," he said To kil , and perhaps to be kil ed