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Gabriel’s mouth quirked with a sardonic s to do with honor" At her perplexed look, he added, "Don’t pretend you don’t knohen a man wants you Even you’re not that naïve"

She continued to stare at hi between her brows as she realized there was so she should have understood Christ She was that naïve There had been no flirtations or roht her how to interpret the signs of a man’s sexual interest

He certainly would have no proble his head to kiss her, he let his mouth drift back and forth until her lips treues met in a slide of tender wet silk As he deepened the kiss, it beca and innocently erotic

Carefully he lowered her to the velvet brocade cushions, keeping a supportive ar beneath the layers of his clothes, so uncomfortably aroused that he had to reach down and adjust hi around you ht that was obvious"

Turning cri about men is obvious to htly "How fortunate for you, then, that I’hten you on every particular" Aware of her fidgeting, he glanced down to see her trying to pull down the hem of her robe where it had ridden up to her knee Once that was acco beneath the cal his lips closer to her exposed ear, Gabriel spoke very softly "You dazzle , kinetic ht weabout you calls to the devil in me I want to take you to bed for days at a time I want to worship every inch of you while the minutes smolder like moths that dance too close to the flame I want to feel your hands on me, to--what is it, sweet?" He paused as he heard her indistinguishable runtled "I said you’re talking into "

Gabriel regarded her blankly, then dropped his head with a sh "I’ breath "Perhaps it’s just as well I’ve thought of another way to make my point" He levered hiht Pandora with hi his arms beneath her sli?" she asked, floundering

For answer, he settled her deliberately onto his lap

Pandora frowned and squirmed uncomfortably "I don’t see why you--"

Suddenly her eyes widened, and she went very still A rapid sequence of expressions crossed her face: astonishment, curiosity, mortificationand the awareness of a robust male erection beneath her

"And you said led to adjust her position, it sent exquisite pulses of feeling through his groin and belly He steeled himself to endure the sensation, breathlessly aware that it wouldn’t take , would you ave hi on a cricket bat?"

Biting back a grin, Gabriel ainst my chest, and put youryes, like that" When he’d settled her more comfortably, he loosened the belt of her robe "You look overheated," he said "Let me help you off with this"

Pandora was undeceived by his solicitous tone "If I’ her arms from the sleeves, "it’s because you’ve elance, she added, "On purpose"

"I was only trying to make it clear how much I desire you"

"It’s clear now" She was pink and flustered

Gabriel tugged the robe out fro her clad only in the htdress He tried to remember the last time one of his sexual partners had been shy He couldn’t recall what it was like to feel e intimacy, and he was char familiar seem entirely new

"Didn’t your sister explain what happens to a man’s body when he’s aroused?" he asked

"Yes, but she didn’t tell me it could happen in the parlor, of all places"

His lips curved "I’ roo scandalized, Pandora asked, "Then you think this is what Dolly and Mr Hayhurst were doing in the suan to unfasten the top buttons of her nightgown, and kissed the newly revealed skin of her throat

Pandora, however, hadn’t yet finished with the subject of the summer house rendezvous "But Mr Hayhurst wouldn’t have returned to the ballroom with aa protrusion like that How do you deflate it?"

"I usually distract n securities on the stock exchange That usually takes care of the probleht away If that fails, I picture the Queen"