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He looked aondering how much of an explanation he owed her and how much he could trust himself to utter

A jagged branch of fire darted over a distant ridge The heavens rumbled

He brought his gaze back to her “Does it not strike you asmorbid?” he asked “That I should take a wife, now of all times?”

She shrugged “I can understand how it ht seem so to you Yet it is notwoh”

It did happen, Dorian knew Such ato a drooling invalid The reward of a wealthy hood and independence more than compensated, evidently

He was hardly the one to revile a woh he’d ever been a saint

Moreover, he are that some women had remarkable powers of endurance Was there sowith awith a drunken, lusting oaf, insatiable while the need was upon him and soddenly morose afterward?

That was the o

He shuddered—at the past and at what his future held if he yielded to his baser self and took what she offered

“We had better start back,” she said “You are tired and wet and chilled”

She turned and moved toward her horse

Dorian rose and followed, relieved that she sought no further explanation Though he’d already said more than he wanted, he still wanted to tell herthe sordid life that lay behind him and the helpless imbecility that lay ahead Better to leave it as it was, he told himself She seemed to accept the situation

They reached the bay gelding, and Dorian was so busy telling hiot him into trouble that he didn’t pause to think but picked her up and set her upon the saddle

Too late, he remembered it was a man’s saddle

She swung her leg over and settled co to his view several inches of fes

Between the dirty draggle of her petticoats and the slied a slender, curvaceous calf

Dorian backed away, silently cursing himself

She didn’t need his assistance He could have mounted his own horse and started for home and let her take care of herself He had just escaped a allant at such a time, and she was obviously not a helpless female

He should not have allowed his mind to wander into the p

ast He should not have touched her or cos were like Already he could feel his resistance weakening, are of the excuses for in his treacherous mind—the false promises he knew better than to trust There would be no relief for him, or release, if he yielded to this temptation There never had been before: only a te afterward

He hurried to Isis and hastily mounted

GWENDOLYN ADAMS WAS not the granddaughter of a fah she had not inherited Genevieve’s raven hair or heart-stopping countenance or subtly seductive ways, Gwendolyn had inherited certain instincts

She did not havethe Earl of Rawnsley’s expression when his exotic yellow gaze wandered to her leg

She did not have aze lingered at least two pulse beats longer than delicacy allotted The hot spark in his eyes had seemed to leap to her limb and set a little fire to it that darted up under her petticoats and past her knee, teasing her thighs with its naughty warmth before it swirled into the pit of her belly There it set off sensations she had heard of but never before experienced in her life