Page 31 (1/2)

"You have a decision to rily, his ht now, or let me take you all the way Because I can’t withdraw at the last er I want you too nant, love, because I’ Tell me yes or no"

"I can’t " Catherine thrashed in frustration as his hps lifted frolared up at him Unable to stop himself, he lowered his head and kissed her voraciously, savoring the sound of need that ca heavily "I orking up to so off her, he reached for the fall of his trousers,hiain

Catherine watched hi to finish?"

He let out an unsteady sigh "As I said, all or nothing"

She wrapped her ar with desire until her teeth chattered "Why are you trying to tortureclear that a lifetiuard So I’ll have to try soently and left the bed After he raked both hands through his disheveled hair and straightened his clothes, he gave her a srin that see war, love And the only way to win this kind of war is to ht

Only a won Leo launched over the next week It was courtship, he claimed, but there should have been another word for it, the way he kept Catherine constantly off balance with his sweetly subversive charm

One hly entertaining argu and kind He whispered whiht her naughty French words, and h at inappropriate moments What Leo did not do, however, was try to kiss or seduce her At first Catherine was amused by this obvious tactic, and then secretly ued She frequently found herself staring at histheir past kisses, daydrea about the at a mansion on Upper Brook Street, Leo stole Catherine away as the hostess led a group of guests on a tour of the house Following Leo to a private corner behind an arrangeerly into his ar her, however, he pulled her into the warth of his body … and held her Si his hands course slowly over her back He whispered so secretive amid the pinned-up swirls of her hair, the words too soft for her to hear

What Catherine enjoyed above all alking with Leo through the Rutledge gardens, where sunlight stuttered through trees and hedges, and the breezes carried the crisp hint of approaching autu on sensitive subjects Careful questions, difficult answers And yet it seeoal, a kind of connection that neither of them had ever known before

Sometimes Leo drew back and looked at her for wordless ht stare at a work of art in a , the interest he showed in her Seductive And he was a wonderful conversationalist, telling her stories about his childhood row up in the Hathaway family, about the time he had spent in Paris and Provence Catherine listened carefully to the details, gathering theether to for of one of the more coue as capable of great sensitivity and compassion He was an articulate man who could use words either to soothe like a baleon’s knife When it suited him, Leo played the part of a jaded aristocrat, adeptly concealing the quicksilver workings of his brain But soliallant boy he had once been, before experience had weathered and hardened him

"In some ways he’s very much like our father was," Poppy told her in private "Father loved conversation He was a serious man, an intellectual, but he possessed a streak of whiht have married a more handsome man, or a wealthier one, but never one who talked as he did And she knew herself to be the kind of woman ould never have been happy with a dullard"

Catherine could well understand that "Did Lord Raard?"

"Oh, yes She had an artistic eye, and she encouraged Leo in his architectural pursuits" Poppy paused "I don’t think she would have been pleased to learn that Leo would inherit a title--she didn’t have a high opinion of the aristocracy And she certainly wouldn’t have approved of Leo’s behavior in the past few years, although she would be very glad that he had decided to mend his ways"

"Where did his wicked wit come from?" Catherine asked "Your mother or your father?"

"That," Poppy said wryly, "is entirely Leo’s own"

Nearly every day, Leo brought Catherine a sift: a book, a box of sweets, a collar made of Brussels bobbin lace in a delicate pattern of openwork flowers "This is the loveliest lacework I’ve ever seen," she told hiift on a nearby table with great care "But entle" He lowered his voice,overheard by Poppy and the housekeeper, ere talking by the threshold of the Rutledge apartments "But I can’t take it back--no other woman could do it justice And Marks, you have no idea of the self-restraint I exercised I wanted to buy you a pair of es with little flowers that run all the way up the insides of your--"

"My lord," Catherine whispered, a light blush covering her face "You forget yourself"

"I haven’t forgotten a thing, actually Not one detail of your beautiful body Soon I ain Every time I put a pencil to paper, the temptation nearly overwhelms me"

She tried to look severe "You proain"

"But ravely

Catherine’s color deepened, even as a sible"

His lashes lowered fractionally "Kiss me, and I’ll behave"

She made an exasperated little sound "Now you want to kissonly a few yards away?"

"They won’t notice They’re involved in a riveting conversation about hotel toweling" Leo’s voice lowered to a whisper "Kiss ht here" He pointed to his cheek

Perhaps it was the fact that Leo looked rather boyish as he teased her, his blue eyes alight with mischief But as Catherine looked at hi, a wariddiness that invaded every part of her body She leaned forward, and instead of kissing his cheek, she put her mouth directly on his

Leo drew in a surprised breath, letting her take the lead And, giving in to teer than she had intended, herhis lips He responded with a low sound, his ar heat in hi to flare out of control

Ending the kiss, Catherine half expected to see Poppy and the housekeeper, Mrs Pennywhistle, both staring at them with scandalized expressions But as she peeked over Leo’s shoulder, she saw that the housekeeper’s back was still turned toward thelance "Mrs Pennywhistle," she said glibly, ushering the housekeeper away from the threshold, "do coht I saw a dreadful stain on the carpeting the other day, and I wanted to show you … is it here? … No, perhaps over there … Oh, drat, where is it?"

Left in temporary privacy, Catherine looked into Leo’s heavy-lidded blue eyes

"Why did you do that?" he asked, his voice husky

She tried to think of an answer that would aher brain function"