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“… shall we try in here?” a female asked as she paused just outside the door
“No,” cao down the hall…”
Their footsteps retreated from the threshold, and Sophia rolled away froered to her feet and jerked at her clothes to rearrange the her drawers upward and tie the dangling tapes at her waist Her li from nerves and fear Her body ached with unspent passion She had never known such need, an unquenchable fire that burned withferocity
Ross fastened his trousers and approached her froers on her shoulders made her flinch She wanted to seize his hands and pull theive her the relief she craved Instead she stood as stiffly as a statue while he nuzzled into her disheveled hair
“Obviously I haven’t done this for a while” Irony washed through his voice “My sense of ti used to be much better”
“We shouldn’t have gone so far,” she said through lips that felt swollen “It was f-fortunate that ere not able to finish”
His hands tightened on her shoulders “I’ to finish it soon, by God I’ll come to your room later”
“No,” she said instantly “My door will be locked I-I don’t want to discuss this, ever As far as I’m concerned, it never happened”
“Sophia,” heyou can do to keep me from your bed—and that is to tell me that you don’t want me”
Ross waited with calculated patience while Sophia struggled until her chest felt as if it would burst Every time she tried to speak, her throat closed, and her shoulders quivered within the supportive frah she had no idea what she was asking him for
His palm slid across her collarbone and pressed to the center of her chest, where her heartbeat could be felt through the thick fabric of her gown “We’ll have our reckoning soon,” he said gently “There is nothing to be afraid of, Sophia”
She pulled away from hi away from him “You just don’t know it yet”
Chapter 10
Sophia fled to her room and tried to restore herself She washed with cold water, scrubbing her face until it was pink After brushing her hair and pinning it in an excruciatingly tight coil, she returned to her duties, feeling dazed and franticThe uests proceeded to entertain theave ireeted each effort Having received no education in art history, Sophia could not understand why the coame so uproarious Absently she bade the footlasses The kitchen scullery was croithflatware, crystal, and hundreds of plates Thankfully, the other servants seemed too busy to notice Sophia’s distracted manner
As the hour of two o’clock approached,to their rooms where valets and ladies’ maids waited to assist them
Exhausted, Sophia supervised the cleanup of the common rooms, and praised the servants for a job well done She finally went to her roo a tinplate lantern fashioned in the shape of a cup with a pattern of punched holes Although she was outwardly calm, her hand shook until the lantern caused brilliant dots to flutter across the wall like a cloud of fireflies
When she reached her room, she closed the door and carefully set the lantern on the small rustic table in the corner Only now, in the privacy of the bedroohtly suppressed ee of the table for support, she bowed her head and sighed shakily She stared at the tear-blurred light before her, reliving the moments of rapturous intimacy in Ross’s arms
“Ross,” she whispered, “how can I leave you?”
A voice came from the shadows “I will never let you leave me”
She whirled around, a cry caught in her throat The uncertain light from the tinplate lantern played over the hard contours of Ross’s face He lounged on the small bed, so still and quiet that she had not seen him when she entered the room
“You frightened the wits out of me!” she exclaimed
He s fra to her His fingertips drew through the wet trails on her cheeks “Why the talk of leaving? I didn’t mean to upset you earlier It was too soon—I shouldn’t have approached you that way”
That coe of salt water to her eyes “It’s not that”
He reached around to the back of her head and unfastened her hair, dropping the pins to the floor “Then what is it? You can tell ers stroked her scalp and spread her hair over her shoulders in a rippling stream “You must realize that by now Tell me, and I’ll make it all better”
The words made Sophia want to throw herself at hilanced away fros cannot be made better”
“What things?”
She wiped her pal “Please don’t touch me,” she said in a rahisper
He ignored the plea and slid his arainst his broad chest “You kno stubborn I ah his grasp was light, she knew that it would be impossible for her to break free His lips brushed over her forehead as he spoke “I’et the truth out of you sooner or later Save us both time and tell me now”
Despairing, she realized that Ross was going to persist until he had the answers he wanted, unless she found a way to stop hi to screa yourself on me”
“Go ahead” Ross waited, relaxed and calant smile touched his lips “You may as well learn now that it’s useless to try and bluff me”
“Damn you,” she whispered
“I think you want to tell me” He nuzzled the top of her head “I know that you’ve kept secrets fro the left to fear”