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Catherine understood no right Cam had been None of the Hathaould ever be like the denizens of London society, nor would she want them to be

She went to the library to procure some books for her studies with Beatrix As she entered the roo over the long library table, writing sos

Leo turned his head to glance at her, his eyes piercing She went hot and cold Her skull throbbed in the places where she had pinned her hair too tightly

"Goodback a step "I didn’t "

"I cale nod and returned his attention to the drawings

Acutely self-conscious, Catherine went to the bookshelves and hunted for the titles she had wanted It was so quiet that she thought the pounding of her heartdesperately to break the pressing silence, she asked, "Are you designing so for the estate? A tenant house?"

"Addition for the stables"

"Oh"

Catherine gazed sightlessly along the rows of books Were they going to pretend that the events of the previous night had never happened? She certainly hoped so

But then she heard Leo say, "If you want an apology, you’re not going to get one"

Catherine turned to face hi the set of elevations "When you visit a ht, don’t expect tea and conversation"

"I wasn’t visiting you in your bed," she said defensively "That is, you were in your bed, but it was notno sense at all, she resisted the urge to s," Leo infored in either of two activities One is sleeping I don’t believe I need to elaborate on the other"

"I only wanted to see if you were feverish," she said, turning cri"

"Apparently I did"

Catherine had never felt so extraordinarily uncoht for her body "Are you going to tell anyone?" she brought herself to ask

One of his brows arched httiain froh to warrant decent gossip"

Blushing, Catherine went to a pile of sketches and scraps at the corner of the table She straightened theed to ask, recalling how she had inadvertently pushed on his wounded shoulder "Does it ache this"No, it eventually eased after you left But the devil knows it wouldn’t take ain"

Catherine was overcome with remorse "I’m so sorry Should we put a poultice on it?"

"A poultice?" he repeated blankly "Onabout my shoulder?"

She blinked in confusion "Of course we’re talking about your shoulder What else would we be discussing?"

"Cat…" Leo looked away frohter in his voice "When a man is aroused and left unsatisfied, he usually aches for a while afterward"

"Where?"

He gave her a speaking glance

"You mean…" A wild blush raced over her as she finally understood "Well, I don’t care if you ache there, I was only concerned about your wound!"

"It’s ht with a to do with nity had beenClearly there was no option but retreat "I’ now"

"What about the books you wanted?"

"I’ll fetch thee of her bell-shaped sleeve caught the stack of sketches she had just straightened, and they went spilling to the floor "Oh, dear" Instantly she went to her hands and knees, gathering up papers

"Leave them," she heard Leo say "I’ll do it"

"No, I’ aes of notes A pencil sketch of a wo everywhere One slender thigh rested coyly over the other, partially concealing the delicate shadow of a fele

And there was an all-too-familiar pair of spectacles balanced on her nose

Catherine picked up the sketch with a treainst her ribs It took several atteh and airless

"That’s me"

Leo had lowered to the carpeted floor beside her He nodded, looking rueful His own color heightened until his eyes were startlingly blue in contrast

"Why?" she whispered

"It wasn’t ," he said "It was for my own eyes, no one else’s"

She forced herself to look at the sketch again, feeling horribly exposed In fact, she couldn’t have beenher naked And yet the rendering was far froraceful lines, the pose artistic Sensuous

"You … you’ve never seenweakly, "Have you?"

A self-deprecating smile touched his lips "No, I haven’t yet descended to voyeuris what you look like beneath all those layers"

A nervous giggle struggled through her mortification "If you did, I certainly wouldn’t admit it" She put the sketch onto the pile, facedown Her hand was shaking "Do you draw other women this way?" she asked timidly

Leo shook his head "I started with you, and so far I haven’t moved on"

Her flush deepened "You’ve done other sketches like this? Of me unclothed?"