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Leo’s head lowered, and he kissed the side of her neck with a slow deliberation that made her squirm Clearly he had lost interest in the subject of Miss Darvin "Give in, Cat Say you’ll ive you a son?"

"There are never guarantees" Leo lifted his head and grinned "But think of how "

"I don’t want to be responsible for the Hathaways losing Ramsay House"

A new seriousness infused his expression "No one would hold you responsible for that It’s a house No more and no less There isn’t a structure on earth that could last forever But a faone loose She realized that he had been unbuttoning her as they had been talking She ed to spread the front of her bodice open, revealing her corset and che you’ll be responsible for," Leo said huskily, "is going to bed within allefforts" As Catherine turned her face away, gasping, he bent to whisper in her ear "I’ to pleasure you Fill you Seduce you fro to love it"

"You are the ant and absurd--oh, please don’t do that" He was investigating her ear with the tip of his tongue, a silky-wet tickle Paying no attention to her protests, he kissed and licked his way along the taut arch of her neck "Don’t," sheue play there as well, and the sensation and taste and sroped around his neck, and she surrendered with a weak hly ravished, Leo lifted his head and stared into her dazed eyes "Do you want to hear the best part of my plan?" he asked thickly "In order to make an honest woman of you, I’ll have to debauch you first"

Catherine was disle in witless aood at that"

"Gifted," he assured her "The trick is for me to find out what you like best, and then let you have only a little of it I’ll torment you until you’re absolutely miserable"

"That doesn’t sound at all pleasant"

"You think not? Then you’ll be surprised when you beg ain"

Catherine couldn’t hold back another helpless giggle

Then they were bothat each other intently

She heard herself whisper, "I’ently "But you’ll have to trust azes held Catherine was paralyzed What he asked was iive herself over entirely to a man, to anyone, was anathema to her very nature Therefore, it should have been easy to refuse him

Except that when she tried to foran to undress her, pulling the goay in rustling armfuls And Catherine let hi hands, lifting her hips, tugging her ar easy familiarity omen’s unmentionables He was in no hurry, however He was slow and deliberate as he removed the protective layers one by one

Finally Catherine was covered in nothing more than a blush, her pale skin scored with tees of the corset and the seaertipsthe faint lines like a travelerunexplored territory His expression was absorbed, tender, as his pal the fluff of intimate hair

"Blond everywhere," he whispered

"Is that … does that please you?" she asked bashfully, gasping as his hand ascended to her breast

There was a hint of a s about you is so lovely, I can hardly breathe" His fingers caressed the cool rise of her breast, toying with the tip until it was taut and rose-colored He bent and took it in his mouth

Her heart missed a beat as she heard a noise fro dropped in the tavern, the pitch of a raised voice It was uni about the perfectly ordinary business of their day while she was naed in bed with Leo

One of his hands slid beneath her hips, aligning her exactly with the hard ridge behind his trousers She whi to stay against him like that forever He kissed her deeply, and down below his hand pressed her against hi her into soing her forward … but then he was easing her away Shewith unspent sensation

Leo sat up and stripped his clothes off, revealing a powerful masculine body, efficiently lean and paved withdark fleece, and more of it lower down His body was ready to couple with hers, she saw Her stoathering her against hiersthe small scar on his shoulder from their mishap at the ruins, Catherine pressed her lips to it She heard his rough intake of breath Encouraged, she inched lower on the bed and rubbed her nose and h the soft mat on his chest Everywhere their bodies touched, she felt histo reo instructions, she reached down to the upthrust shape of his arousal The skin was like nothing she had ever felt, thin and silky,hardness Timidly she leaned down to kiss the side of the shaft, her lips brushing against a strong pulse She looked up to gauge his reaction, her gaze questioning

Leo wasn’t breathing at all well A tremor shook his hand as he passed it over her hair "You are the asped as she kissed hiht Nodown to her, he pulled her up beside him

He was more insistent now, more authoritative, in a way that allowed her to relax coe that she could so easily relinquish all control to him, when they had been such fierce adversaries He parted her thighs with his hand, and she felt herself turn wet even before he touched her there He teased through the protective curls, spreading her intiainst his supportive arer slipped inside her

Leo seemed to luxuriate in her response His head bent to her breast, and he used his teeth gently, licking and gnawing in tier It see rhythether, and again, until sensation a the swell, letting it take her, letting the heat puh her … then finally she subsided into tre into her dazed face Reaching up, she pulled hi easily to accoainst the entrance to her body, a sharp pain burned through her He went deeper Too much of hione as far as her resisting flesh could take hiently over her cheeks and throat

The inti hi to soothe hi his naed hian to thrust cautiously It hurt, and yet there was so in the deep, low pressure She opened to hi hiroans and frag It beca naturally with each forwardHer knees bent, angling to cradle hi that sounded like pain co from his throat