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‘Kiss ed, his voice suddenly raw ‘Kissto kiss me since you walked in here But do it now for we do not have long—and then I must have your answer’

Pride erness didn’t show ‘You still haven’t told me hat’s in it for me’

Should he tewhich had sizzled between thehly as his mouth drove down to meet hers

Later she wondered that if she’d had the strength not to let hiht have been different But she was too weak to resist and just one touch was like lighting the touchpaper on her dormant passion And hadn’t he had that power over her from the very moment he had first walked into her life—theto hiasped as he pulled her roughly against hith of his arousal

Cathy moaned softly If he had stripped her bare and taken her there, without formality on the marble floor of the elaborate room, she would have let him—welcoain, without all the trappings of his royal title But he suddenly terolden eyes aled as if he had just been running a race

‘You will behie to quickly join with her sweet, supple body, and then he put his lips to her ear ‘Won’t you?’

And despite the s which ran as deep as her desire, Cathy knew that she couldn’t say no to that soft, urgent entreaty This renewed contact with hi, how ht of leaving him tore at her heart like a rusty nail It was true, he wasn’t offering her what men usually offered when they asked a wo himself

And wasn’t that enough?

Couldn’t she h?

‘Yes, Xaviero,’ she said slowly, her heart thudding beneath one swollen breast ‘I will be your bride’

Chapter Nine