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Her nerves, sated as they were, stirred beneath the caress of his fingertips "Mattheill happen next? Will you speak toat least a se to wait until I return frouests will have left, and the family will be able to deal with the situation in relative privacy"

"My father will be overjoyed But Mother will have conniptions And Lillian…"

"Will explode"

Daisy sighed "My brothers aren’t too fond of you, either"

"Really," he said in mock surprise

Daisy stared worriedly into his shadowed face "What if you change your mind about , you don’t want tothe ra back I’ve taken your innocence I’runtled by the choice of words, Daisy frowned

"What’s the matter?" he asked

"The way you put it…your responsibility…as if you have to atone for so to say, especially in present circurinned suddenly "I’m not a romantic man, sweetheart You knew that already" He bent his head and kissed the side of her neck, and nipped at her ear "But I am responsible for you now" He worked his way down to her shoulder "For your safety…your welfare…your pleasure…and I take my responsibilities very seriously…"

He kissed her breasts, drawing the taut peaks into the hs and played gently between them

A moan of pleasure slipped from her throat, and he smiled "You make the sweetest sounds," he murmured "When I touch you like this…and this…and the way you cry out when you come for me…"

Her face burned She tried to be quiet, but in another moment he had coaxed another helpless moan from her

"Matthew…?" Her toes curled as she felt hi the hollow of her navel

His voice was muffled by the covers that tented over his head "Yes, chatterbox?"

"Are you going to do--" she paused with a gasp as she felt him push her knees apart, "--what you did before?"

"It would seem so"

"But we’ve already…" The puzzle of why he would want to make love to her twice in a roas suddenly abandoned She felt hiroin, the insides of her legs, and she eak Soft, artful nibbling…lazy strokes of his tongue…toying with the sore opening of her body…easing upward until he found a place that roan, yes, there, yes…

He teased her witharhs and held hi with pleasure

He brought her steadily upward to a height of impossible rapture, above the storained awareness, she was in his arentle sound of spring rain

CHAPTER 12

Sinceon theand elaborate affair Two long tables set with crystal and Sèvres china glittered in the light shed by chandeliers and candelabrum An army of footold braiding lasses, serving each renificent affair Unfortunately Daisy had never been less interested in eating It was a pity she couldn’t do justice to theroast joints, venison haunch accoetable casseroles dressed with cream and butter and truffles For dessert there were platters of luxury fruits; raspberries, nectarines, cherries, peaches and pineapples, as well as a surfeit of cakes, tarts, and syllabubs

Daisy forced herself to eat, laugh, and converse in as natural a manner as possible But it was not easy Mattheas seated a few places away on the other side of the table, and whenever their gazes caught, she nearly choked on whatever she happened to be chewing

Conversation flowed around her, and she responded to it vaguely while her mind remained fixed on the memory of what had happened a few hours earlier Those who knew her well, her sister and friends, seemed to notice that she was not quite herself Even Westcliff had given her a few speculative glances

Daisy felt overheated in the bright, stuffy roo easily to her cheeks Her body was oversensitive, her undergar around her thighs Every time she moved there were reminders of the afternoon with Matthew; the soreness between her legs, the stings and twitches in unexpected places And yet her body ached for more…more of Matthew’s hands, his restlessher face fla a piece of bread She glanced at Mattheas conversing with a lady to his left

Sensing Daisy’s furtive regard, Matthew looked in her direction The depths of blue kindled with heat and his chest ed his attention back to his co interest that sent the lady into giggling effusiveness

Daisy lifted a glass of watered wine to her lips and ht…sohlands Soon, however, her ret her decision…but she was not so naive as to believe everything would be easy from now on Quite the opposite There was the issue of where they were to live, and when Mattheould take her back to New York, and if she could learn to be happy far away from her sister and friends There was also the unanswered question about whether she would be an adequate wife for a man who so fully inhabited a world she had never quite found a way to fit in And last, the not-insignificant question of what kind of secrets Mattheas harboring

But Daisy remembered the soft, vibrant note in his voice when he had said, "You’ve always been everything I thought a woman should be"

Mattheas the only man who had ever wanted her just as she was (One had to discount Llandrindon since his infatuation had flared up just a bit too quickly and would likely subside with equal speed)

In this regard, Daisy reflected, her e to Mattheould not be unlike Lillian’s with Westcliff As two strong-willed people with very different sensibilities, Lillian and Westcliff often argued and negotiated…and yet this didn’t seee Quite the opposite, in fact--their union seemed all the better for it

She considered her friends’ es…Annabelle and Mr Hunt as a harmony of similar dispositions…Evie and Lord St Vincent with their opposite natures, as necessary to each other’s existence as day and night It was is was superior to the others

Perhaps, in spite of all she had heard about the ideal of a perfect e was a unique creation

It was a coht

And it filled her with hope

After the interminable dinner Daisy pleaded a headache rather than endure the ritual of tea and gossip It was half true, actually--the coht, noise, and emotional strain had caused her temples to throb painfully With a pained srand staircase

But as she reached the main hall, she heard her sister’s voice