Page 61 (1/2)

His breath caught

Because she’d reached out her hand

Chapter Sixteen

He didn’t think about what he did He couldn’t have thought about it, because if he had, he never would have done it But when she reached out her hand…

He took it

It was only then that Harry realized what he had done, and perhaps only then that she realized what she had started, but by then it was far too late

He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed each of the Where she currently wasn’t wearing a ring Where, in a flash of terrifying i

It should have been a warning It should have induced sufficient panic to make him drop her hand, flee the room, the house, her company, forever

But he didn’t He kept her hand at his lips, unable to part with the touch of her skin

She ar

He looked up, finally, into her eyes They ide, gazing at him with trepidation…and trust…and maybe…desire? He couldn’t be sure, because he knew she couldn’t be sure She wouldn’t know desire, wouldn’t understand the sweet torture of it, the bodily longing for another hu

He knew it, and he realized that he’d known it almost constantly since he’d known her There had been that first, electrical ful He didn’t know her then, hadn’t even liked her

But noas different It wasn’t just her beauty he wanted, or the curve of her breast, or the taste of her skin He wanted her All of her He wanted whatever it was that made her read newspapers instead of novels, and he wanted that little piece of unconventionality that made her open aand read silly novels to him across the space between their houses

He wanted her razor-sharp wit, the triumph on her face when she speared him with a particularly apt retort And he wanted the look of horrified befuddlement when he bested her

He wanted the fire behind her eyes, and he wanted the taste of her lips, and yes, he wanted her beneath him, around hile way

He was going to have to marry her It was that siaze fell to her lips

"I’, without even considering that ithe should ask her

He leaned forward, and in that last second before his lips touched hers, he felt washed clean This was his new beginning