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The kiss was a furiousof lips Nick did not knohatkiss altered, becaues that tasted, savored, discovered He er that filled hi dead to him Or so he had believed

He wanted to crawl inside her His hands slid to her back, her waist, her buttocks He lifted her against hi the firhtly as their bodies would allow, rubbing his erection against her heat A perfect fit But it would never be enough Not until he was inside her

And that could never happen He needed to get rid of this wos and banish her from his life Not take her to bed

The kiss ended as abruptly as it began He shoved her fros braced apart, hands clenched upon her waist as though he had to hold her there and force distance between the into the lust for a woman he found objectionable on countless levels, he slowly dropped his hands

He had spent toofor the bloody e had not been consummated It didn’t matter if she had loved Edmund or not She had been his wife

And of course there was the not too small matter of her deception

She stood still as e of scandalized virtue, one hand pressed to her lips as if they were afire Those big, childlike eyes Her wide, pale face Everything down to the s of freckles on her nose added to her appearance of innocence andHe felt like ten kinds of fool, knowing she had played hione ahead and kissed her anyway He e Or his mind

"Pardon my lack of control" He waved a hand at her person "Perhaps you should dress"

She glanced down at herself, gasped as if just realizing her near nudity, and scurried to don a robe She hastily belted the sash about her waist, calling attention to the lush flare of hps froh in pain This woht to be Somehow she had escaped the notice of other men, but he suspected that would not re would zero in on her assets, and that body would no doubt be shown to advantage A deep ache filled his chest, almost as intense as the ache in his trousers He wondered if he could stand to witness it

"Are you ill?" Her hand, feather soft, touched his forearm

He shook it off and stepped back as if her touch burned And for all intents and purposes it did

Her touch burned a fire through his blood right to his gut

"I e could erase what just happened, but since I can’t ill put it behind us and pretend it never occurred"

"Oh" Unreen of her eyes before quickly vanishing, replaced once again with her cool reserve

"Don’tbut lust That’s how lust works Even people who hate each other can experience lust" He spoke harshly, determined to convince himself as much as her

"Well, that is a relief," she replied, the coolness of her gaze carrying to her voice "I did wonder how I could return the kiss of someone I so detest Thank you so much for the lesson I have not hadand would not want to come across as too callow for ht and so to look forward to" She raised her chin a notch "But don’t forget that you were the one who instigated the kiss, not I In the future, please keep your distance It won’t do for me to dally with the likes of you while I hunt for a proper husband"

He nodded soly The kitten did have claws

"You have my word I won’tin the doorway "I have heard the last on this hair dyeing nonsense?"

"My hair is mine to do with as I see fit," she snapped

He deliberately ignored her indignant words "Just as long as you understand that you will leave it be"

"I didn’t want to dye it in the first place," she snapped, an adorable vision of pique with her arly forward "But if it was er in the air

"So long as you do as I say," he called over his shoulder, iravation "Until you’re wed, you will obey me"

He was out of the roo crashed against the wall behind him, and he heard adelivered the last word

Chapter 16

"I look like a blueberry"