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She shook her head and removed her hand from his “I did not intend to—”

“You appear feverish” He sketched a touch across her forehead Down her te her cheek “Perhaps that’s why you lingered in the river today To cool the fever”

He could soothe the agitation in both of thehs He had no doubt the cure would be a pleasure for the in her scent and her desire, he wondered if she understood the source She had to be an untouchedher body said otherwise

Or was he si what he wanted so badly?

“A fever,” she repeated, as if ed brain wondered if she’d agreed as easily to his idea for a cure “That was the ic”

Her voice skimmed over his skin like sweet music, her soft confidence an invitation as far as he was concerned Sharing her fever sounded ical to him If only for a moment If only to show a lonelyas she remained the caretaker of her drunkard father He would not touch her for himself He would touch her for her sake

She looked so very…needy Yes, that was the word he’d been searching for during the supper meal as Violet had treible he could all but taste it in the air between them

“I know the cure for this kind of fever” To free his hands, he planted the torch in the iron ring upon the stone wall near the door “’Twill soothe the heat better than any icy stream”

Eyes widening, she looked to the torch and then back to hier here But no—she must know Her whole body undulated with the answer to her confusion She practically writhed with need

Reaching for her waist, he pulled her to hihtly over his skin as she gasped, but he did not allow this to dissuade hi taste

Chapter Three

In her mind, Violet protested