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He alain she swam out of his reach He received only a splash of seawater for his pains

"If you do this regularly," she called out to hi soth without heaping e on your knee"

He had to adht you all this?"

"No one Two su fro and hip Even months later, she could barely hobble around Her physician at ho was devastated Only sixteen, you know She thought she would never have a season, never marry Fortunately, her father decided to send her here"

"For a cure?" Bra the rhythm of this exercise now, and this time she barely escaped him

"I doubt he had any hope of a cure He was probably hoping she would accli helped her tremendously We did exercises like these several times a week By the ti unaided Even dancing" He could hear the pride in her voice "I received a letter froed Her new betrothed is the heir to a barony He’s very handsoiven to understand"

"Good for her But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"How is it you’ve neverEvery ht without having recited e vows After several years, I have the trick of it down"

The tone of her reht--but he could tell there was a deeper emotion beneath it "You can’t tell me no one ever asked"

She didn’t tell him that

"I never had any reason to marry," she said "I am my father’s only child, and there is no entail His fortune and Suh hopefully no tiht wish to marry Don’t you want a husband and children? Or are you too modern for that?"

She was silent for a while When she finally spoke, she said, "Turn around Walk to that boulder, and then double back to this spot"

He didn’t move, just crossed his arms over his chest "Oh no You can’t pull that trick withan unco an order It won’t work, not with me"

"I don’t knohat you mean" She tried to sound bored

He wasn’t fooled "Of course you do Because you once accused " He shook his head "I’ve never h we’re two examples of some rare, exotic breed Only I’m the male specimen, and you’re the female Clever as you are, you hten me"

"It means we should , she pushed a wave of spray in his direction "You must have learned that line from your cousin Does it work on other women?"

"What other woht, they were like a waterlogged rendition of Adam and Eve, and this cove was their isolated Eden For him, she was the only woman in the world

God, he wanted her so fiercely She could have no idea With every erotic splash of her lithe body undulating in the water, his iination ran wild He pictured the two of thee, salty e out in front of hih the water like the prow of a ship The HMS Priapism

"The boulder," she reminded him "March to the boulder and back"

"Here’s what I’ll do I’ll turn around, walk all the way to that boulder"--he pointed to one much farther distant, near the spindle--"and double back in under a minute’s time But you must remain in that exact spot And when I reach you, I want a reward for my pains"

"Oh really? And what sort of reould that be?"

"A kiss"

"No Absolutely not"

"Co from the water Seawater traced cold rivulets down his chest and back "You’ve been leading le as if we’re playing soame I deserve a forfeit A kiss"

She shook her head "After the other night? I know there’s no such thing as ‘just a kiss’ with you We’re here to work on your knee"

"Well, I’ until I’m promised a kiss"

She was silent for a et to kiss me I will be the one to kiss you Do you understand?"