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Now as he laid in bed, h theacross the room, he wondered what else Cate hada driver’s license Don’t go there, he warned hied to the scars on her wrists he’d noticed at dinner, and what they ritted his teeth as he heard Alec saying, “You really don’t want to knoish I didn’t”

But he did want to know He wanted to know everything And he wanted Cate to be the one to tell him He wanted her to trust him as much as she trusted Alec, and he wanted her to confide in him the way she’d confided in Alec

Jealousy reared its ugly head again It ht to feel possessive of her No rights at all where she was concerned Especially when it came to his brother Hisas if he did As if soht to care about her Not just her future, but her past, too

Liam’s older brothers Shane and Niall used to tease Lia tiht-errant in the twelfth century, roa danation as a boy—hated being teased—but as a man Liam had to admit there was more than a little truth to it

Wasn’t that why he’d been so upset when it seee of Princess Mara back when the three of the her? Wasn’t that why he’d wanted to confront McKinnon about how obviously in love with hih he’d let Alec talk him out of that confrontation?

And wasn’t that hen he and Alec had drawn straws to see which one of theot to tell McKinnon what the princess had left behind for him when she’d unexpectedly returned to Zakhar—he’d almost decked Alec when Alec had won the draw? Because he’d wanted to be the one defending the princess Because he’d wanted to be the one rievously

Lia softly around him “You can’t escape who you are, Jones,” heup his pillow And on that note he finally fell asleep But his sleep was rocked by drea dragona dungeonthe black knight, who bore a strong rese off with Cate on horseback, her slender body cradled protectively in his arms Even in his dreams he kneas ridiculous—he didn’t kno to ride But that detail wasn’t germane, because in his drea he wanted toin his drea was keep Cate safe No matter what he had to do

Chapter 5

Aleksandrov Vishenko jerked awake, his heart pounding, shreds of a night in his mind He sat up and reached for the ever-present water bottle he kept beside his bed and drank deeply

A body stirred beside hi woman asked drowsily

“Nothing Go back to sleep,” he answered in harsh tones

She obeyed, resettling her blond head on her pillow—they always obey—he told himself contemptuously Whores always obey Only one woht hiin she’d been the first tiles had added i her Each time Every time

Caterina hadn’t cried after the first night Hadn’t begged hi But her eyesher eyes had betrayed her He’d still been virile enough then to lust after her at least every day Overpowering her futile struggles—laughing even, when she fought hi up his sexual prowess in a way he hadn’t achieved since his teenage years Every ti like a king Like a god

Then she’d surrendered—or seemed to—and that conquest had been even sweeter Infinitely sweeter Knowing she acknowledged hi, too, she hated his touch despite her surface acquiescence—ahhh, that had kept his excite He’d known she tried to escape hi as her body belonged to him

Then she’d escaped in truth, taking all the evidence of his crimes she could lay her hands on And his life had never been the same At first he’d tried to find her because he was afraid she’d take her evidence to the authorities But when the arrest he’d expected al her changed Then he’d thought it was because she’d dared to run, di him in his men’s eyes In the first year after her departure he’d been forced to put doo atteanization who’d thought he was losing his touchjust because Caterina had