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"I do"

"You don’t knohat you’re saying You’re confused"

She sighed "Don’t patronize et pulled from that river yesterday My faculties are fully intact and functioning I ence"

"Then I trust that a good night’s rest will restore your good sense"

Her cheeks burned "So if I wasn’t injuredif you knew my name to be Miss Anna Smith, then you would have no qualms?" Whether he desired her shouldn’t matter so much But it did It would mean that he wanted her That she didn’t repulse him And after Bloodsworth that mattered more than ever To be wanted, desired

He opened his runt, she released his hand and started to pull herself back on the bed away frousted with him With herself What about her failed to entice aShe can help--"

With a growl, he grasped her shoulder, stopping her from further retreat His knee came down on the bed beside her The mattress dipped, and she slid a bit closer whether she willed to or not

He stabbed a finger at himself, directly in the center of his chest "Don’t look atbeneath your shoe because I insist on doing the right thing and not using you as you’re begging h she were still ned and not covered with the blanket he thrust upon her

"I’ for anything honorable froer

She pushed at his chest with the base of one pal to the blanket at her throat "I never heard of aGo Away" She bit off each word, her face flushing hotly with sha in this limmered with accusation, and she knew then, without a doubt, that he doubted her story He doubted her, and yet he allowed her to re with her?

"You’re hateful," she fairly growled "I cannot even fathom why I entertained the notion of youof h her nose

Indeed What had she been thinking? She certainly shouldn’t crave his touch Or kiss Or anything else That had been a colossal miscalculation on her part He clearly preferred not to sully himself

Suddenly, irrationally, she wanted to scratch at his face loo so closely over her, all stark, handsoain "Remove yourself"

His jaw hardened and he closed his hand over hers She could feel the thud of his heart against her palm

"You are hardly in a position to issue coered her further To be vulnerable, weakit was everything she had vowed to never be again And yet here she was again She curled her fingers into a tight fist and dug her nails into her tender flesh

Their gazes held, locked The air surrounding the that he reseel risen to te she had done her dahed at the co her head off the bed, bringing their faces closer She didn’t kno she dared to challenge hi broken, she was hardly in a position to make demands

"Oh, now my nearness offends you?" His deep voice ht in the centers, almost like the moon off inky waters "What a capricious nature you have"

"You’re io you threw yourself at enuine laughter "Is that what you think? Marriage? To you?" She gulped a breath, stifling her laughter "That would be akin to not being married at all You’re never around and when you are you hardly speak You certainly won’t touch--"

The rest of her words were cut off by his hly She cried out, but the sound was lost, consued briefly in a fierce collision It was nothing like the sweet, gentle kisses she had fantasized about with great anticipation thoselike the quick, chaste kiss Bloodsworth gave her after the coe and relentless, punishing She whimpered and pushed at his chest, and that entled on hers

He nibbled on her bottoetically When he stroked the bruised flesh with one swipe of his tongue, everything inside her shook alert, awake and alive and hungry

Hisaway and loathing the loss of his warmth, she wrapped her ar his lips to hers

This time she kissed him, nibbled and sucked at his bottom lip in the saue to hiainst her His hands fisted in the blanket covering her, tugging it lower in the process Cool air wafted over her bare shoulder

He was careful with his weight, straddling her, his knees on either side of her hips Meanwhile she let her hands roaers drifted from his shoulders to his neck, his jaw, his face, and then back around to tangle in his hair

"Anna," he breathed into her ue touched hers A chill chased over her at the sensation Goose buan a dance with her own, licking, tasting, stroking Her belly tightened, grew heavy and aching