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Moonlight bathed Andre’s bedrooht when Juliana pulled open the unlocked door at the other end of the passageway She blew out the candle and placed it on a small side table near the entrance, then stood with her back to the wall, her heart pounding so that she could barely breathe Across the room she could see the vast bed with its satin coverlet askew, as if the bed’s occupant had tossed and turned restlessly until he threw it impatiently aside As if he couldn’t sleep any more than she could As if his ht

Andre lay beneath a single sheet At first she thought he was asleep—he lay so still and motionless Then he moved so swiftly she was shocked And when the sheet renched aside she saas naked A panic reflex forced her to turn toward the passageway, fued to get it open when Andre was behind her

His arainst the wall, and she could feel him hard and male everywhere his naked body touched hers “No,” he breathed against her ear But it wasn’t a demand It was a plea “No, Juliana Do not run” His hands moved to her shouldersdown, down, until he touched her bare arms She shivered And knew she was lost when his lips found the sensitive place behind her ear “Please,” he whispered

Eleven years ago thisshe knew of passion And everything she knew of despair But life was too short—how tragically short she kne, and she no longer cared about the despair Not even if he broke her heart again as he’d done so long ago She would risk thatand so much more

With a wild cry she twisted lithely in his arainst corded steelto life between them the way it always had The way it alould Eleven years had taught her that no other man could rouse her passion for one simple reason—no other man was Andre

His ar her as he plundered her mouth He whispered her nath from her knees and made her tre in the world to hinited with his words, his touch, his taste, and her woe of as to co since she’d let herself respond to a man—not just her body, but her mind—and she was er afraid

“Andre” Just one word, but all her yearning was eain the physical release only he could give her All the aching need only he could arouseand assuage And even more, the desire for his love her wounded heart cried out for The devastating wound created by him The wound no one could healexcept him

The world shifted dizzyingly as he released her lips then caught her behind her knees and swung her into his ar his neck, feeling the controlled power there as he carried her across the rooe

Her eyes widened and she couldn’t help the small sound of panic when he drew back froht, his body very hard Very olden-brown hair and she couldn’t tear her eyes away So he wasin every way

He sat next to her and drew her into his arht with passion held firrip “No need to be afraid, little one Perhaps I aether once beforeperfectly”

Juliana shook her head,there had ever been another man, but he misunderstood “Perfectly, Juliana,” he insisted “Do not lie to yourself, to ently ords and kisses until her desire returned Then with exquisite tenderness that brought tears to her eyes, he slipped the oversize T-shirt fro it away until she was naked except for the scrap of lace and silk

He closed his eyes for a ht, and her body bathed in ht then as now Then his eyes opened and the expression in them told her more than words that his memories, beautiful as they were to him, paled in comparison to the reality of the vision she created now It was a heady feeling

Juliana knew her body had changed She had been eighteen then; she enty-nine now Her breasts were fuller, her hips ed, too She had responded to his vibrant o, but now she realized he had just been co into full maturity as a man