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After you It‘s the rooht at the end‘

She was shaking as she walked along the thickly carpeted corridor with its endless rows of doors His hand was perfectly steady as he slid the key card through the reader

The roorand, decorated in the same ostentatiously opulent Art Nouveau style as the hallway downstairs Its antique furniture gleaht of the lamps that stood on every surface, and the warhtly sickly scent of lilies and freesias froement on the table by the door

Against such polished opulence Kate felt more faded and tattered than ever

So…‘ she whispered, touching the fleshy petals of a lily and keeping her eyes fixed on its freckled throat—anything to avoid looking at Cristiano, or at the huge and decadent bed behind hiet this over with What do you want to know?‘

Not yet‘

He advanced towards her His face was uns and inscrutable, his eyes narrowed as he took hold of her wrist

Kate asp and a whih her already shredded nerves A torrent of desire instantly gushed down inside her, followed by an acid wave of shame

Cristiano, please,‘ she croaked, pulling her hand away and shrinking froht you just wanted to talk‘

He could shatter her brittle defences into splinters of matchith just one kiss She knew that And she hated herself for it

He jerked away fro with a cold furyI do But you‘re not in any fit state to discuss anything at thepast her, he pushed open a door to the right, his ression Scented stea into a beautiful marble-floored bathrooently from its surface

Irrational tears stung Kate‘s eyes as she realised how badly she‘dshe‘d expected, and the thing she most wanted and needed at that particular moment She sed painfully

But I only have an hour‘

Today, maybe But there‘s always tomorrow, the next day, next week I can wait‘

Shutting the door behind her a second later, she leaned against it and closed her eyes, waiting for the frantic rhythm of her pulse to slow She couldn‘t help but wonder whether what he said was meant as a reassurance or a threat

Cristiano poured hiht by Room Service and looked down onto the street below A selection of newspapers lay neatly folded and untouched on the edge of the linen-draped tray, and behind him the bathroom door remained firmly shut As it had been for—he checked his watch—just over half an hour now

One fingertip drummed an impatient rhythm on the rim of his coffee cup

She‘d been so tired—what if she‘d fallen asleep in the bath?

An i with the scented oil he‘d poured into the bath, sliding beneath the water, her bruised eyes closed

Impatiently he dise—this ti in the fiery sunset, droplets of water running down her throat and onto her breasts as she tipped her head back to drink chane…

Instant arousal hardened his body

He wanted her He wanted her as much now as he had in Courchevel, and the fact that she was the mother of his child only seeer A hunger which she obviously no longer shared His teeth carimace as he re if he inadvertently touched her, looking at hierous criminal

She was an entirely different woman from the one who‘d sat on the bed dressed in his shirt and talked to him in her soft, musical voice The one who‘d cooked dinner and then left it to go cold while she abandoned herself to passion, arching her back and crying out as she came, so that her voice echoed off the mountains

The bathroom door opened

Cristiano took a gulp of scorching coffee and set the cup down, using all his powers of ain control of his body as he turned round to greet her

Come and have some breakfast‘

Soe hotel bathrobe seemed to swamp her With her neashed hair slicked back from her forehead and her face scrubbed clean she looked incredibly fragile

I haven‘t got much time‘

Cristiano poured a second cup of coffee and pushed it across the polished surface of the tableYou have exactly twenty-three er than that‘