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He was challenging her, Catherine realized Arrogant, ht to provoke her and iive in to hiht around the object … leave it far behind … Indeed!
She juo on and er’s limp body, she stormed out of the apartments
Leo was instantly at her heels
"Rae," Leoafter Catherine The door was closed with a force that caused it to tre stillness, Harry looked at Poppy in bewilderment "I’m not usually sloitted," he said "But what the devil were they bickering about?"
"Miss Darvin, I think" Going to him, Poppy sat in his lap and linked her arms around his neck "She’s with child and wants to ainst the back of the chair Hisit to try and push Catherine intoa decision"
"You don’t approve," Poppy said rather than asked, stroking a dalance "It’s exactly what I would do in his position Of course I don’t approve"
"Stop following me!"
"I want to talk to you" Leo kept pace with Catherine as she hurried along the hallway, his ground-eating strides accounting for every two of her short ones
"I have no interest in anything you have to say"
"You’re jealous" He sounded more than a little pleased by the fact
"Of you and Miss Darvin?" She forced a scornful laugh "I pity the both of you I can’t conceive of a more ill-destined match"
"You can’t deny that she’s a very attractive woman"
"Except for her neck," Catherine couldn’t resist saying
"What the devil is the "
Leo tried, unsuccessfully, to sh "I can overlook that Because if I et to keep Ramsay House, and we’ll have a baby already on the way Convenient, isn’t it? Moreover, Miss Darvin promised that I could philander to my heart’s content, and she would look the other way"
"What about fidelity?" Catherine asked in outrage
"Fidelity is so passé It’s laziness, really, not bothering to go out and seduce new people"
"You told me that you would have no difficulty with fidelity!"
"Yes, but that e were talking about ourentirely"
Leo stopped with her as they reached the door of her suite While Catherine held the sleeping ferret, Leo reached inside her reticule and extracted the key Catherine didn’t spare hilance as he opened the door for her
"May I coardless, and closed the door behind theoing to set Dodger in his little basket "I’ the naood for you If I marry Miss Darvin, I’d have to pay for a new one"
"I hope it’s expensive," she said vehemently
"It is" Leo approached her fro her back securely against him "And there’s another problerasp
His e of her ear "I want you," he whispered "Only you Always you"
Catherine went still Her eyes closed against a sudden wet sting "Did you accept her proposal?"
Leo nuzzled tenderly into the hollow beneath her ear "Of course not, pea-goose"
She couldn’t prevent a little sob of angry relief "Then why did you imply that you had?"
"Because you need to be pushed Otherwise you’ll drag this affair out until I’ Catherine toward the bed, he scooped her up and tossed her to theto the side
"What are you doing?" Catherine struggled indignantly, propping herself up on her elbows She was buried in the masses of her skirts, with their sodden hems and heavy damp flounces "My dress is wet"
"I’ll help you releam in his eyes
She floundered amid the layers and flounces, while Leo unhooked and unfastened her with astonishing efficiency One would have thought he had more than two ar everywhere Ignoring her protests, he pulled the heavy skirt, with its stiffened , away from the detachable bodice, and tossed it to the floor Her shoes were re Catherine to her stos of the heavily ruched bodice
"I beg your pardon, I did not ask to be husked like an ear of corn!" She twisted in an effort to push away his busy hands A squeak escaped her as he found the tapes of her drawers and pulled the body with his legs, and kissed the exposed nape of her neck She felt warm all over, her nerves sparked by the touch of his sensuous mouth
"Did you kiss her?" she heard herself blurt out, her voice muffled in the bedclothes
"No, love I wasn’t tehtly into the soft ue, and she gasped His hand slipped inside her drawers and circled over her bottom "No other woman in the world could excite ood at protecting yourself There are things I want to say to you … do to you … and the fact that you’re not ready for any of it is going to drive us bothwetness, stroking in soft circles She ly laced, the co to divert sensation down between her thighs Although part of her rebelled at the feeling of being held down and caressed, her body reacted with helpless pleasure
"I want to make love to you" Leo traced the inner structure of her ear with the tip of his tongue "I want to go as deep as you can take hten around er slid inside her, and another, and she whiood it would feel," he whispered, stroking her slowly "Yield toI’ll stay in you all night"
Catherine gasped for breath, while her heart thumped madly "You would have nant and pleading for you to marry me"
"God, yes, I would love that"
She nearly choked with indignation, while his long fingers teased her inside and out Her body began to clench in a slow, steady pulse of desire There were great swaths of fabric caught between their bodies, layers of re, and all she could feel was his mouth at the back of her neck, and that devilishly persuasive hand
"I have never said this to anyone before" Leo’s voice was like ragged velvet "But the idea of you with child is the ined Your belly all swollen, your brsts heavy, the funny little way you would walk … I would worship you I would take care of your every need And everyone would know that I’d ed to me"
"You … you are so…" She couldn’t even think of a suitable word
"I know Woefully prih his voice "But I must be tolerated, because I’entle, explicit ers slick and tireless She felt a new flush of arousal, the liquid heat spreading out to her fingers and toes Moving behind her, he tugged her drawers to her knees, and fuht settle on her deliciously A blunt,White fire raced through her senses, and her body tree of release … so close …