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He directed his yellow stare to a point on her left shoulder where the neckline of her gown left off and her skin beganand instantly she became hotly conscious of every square inch of her skin

She heard a crackling sound Looking down, she saw the paper cruhtly clenched hand

He looked there, too “It hardlymatters that should” He crushed the document into a ball and threw it down

Her heart was puh her veins in preparation for flight

“Damn me,” he said He advanced

She sucked in her breath

He grasped her shoulders “A pretty fellow, am I? Take a fit, will you? I’ll show you a fit”

Before she could exhale, he clamped one hand on the back of her neck, pulled her head back, and brought his mouth down upon hers

IT WAS HER fault, Dorian told hi way She should not have stood so near and caught him in her scent, rich and heady as opium to his starved senses She should have run, instead of staying so close and snaring him in awareness of the fine, porcelain purity of her skin

He could not help yearning for that purity and softness, and then he could not keep fro for her

He cla one, and the clean, sweet taste of her made him shiver—in pleasure or despair, he couldn’t tell For all he knew the chill was the emptiness inside him, ever-present, impossible to fill

He should have stopped then, for his sanity’s sake, if nothing else He kneas hopeless This innocent could never sate him No woman, no matter how experienced and skilled, had ever done it

But her lips were so soft, war to the pressure of his He had to draw her nearer, seeking the war body while he savored the untutored surrender of her innocent mouth

He pressed her close, greedy for her warmth and softness He pressed her to his fa desperately, as always, for more

He felt her shudder, but he couldn’t stop—not yet He couldn’t keep his tongue fro theeverything

Lured by scent and taste and touch, he slipped into the darkness He stroked over her back, heard silk whisper under his fingers, and felt her shift under his touch Then he was truly lost because she h she’d done it ed in his ared

War silk,himand her skin

He trailed his lips over her satiny cheek, and she sighed The soft sound ignited the too-quick inner fuse of desire His fingers found a fastening

“If you’re trying to scarehis ear, “you’re going about it all wrong”

His hands stilled

He raised his head and looked at her Her eyes opened, and slowly her hazy green gaze sharpened into focus His own haze instantly dissipated under that penetrating study

“I was taking a lunatic fit,” he said, aware that his thick tones told another story He wrenched his gaze fro trap of hers and drew back

Curling red tendrils had escaped t

heir pins to tuoisted askew

He stepped back and looked at his hands, afraid to think where they’d been and what heoaf that he was

“What is wrong with you?” he demanded “Why didn’t you ht have done?”

She tugged her gown back into place “I have a very good idea,” she said “I am familiar with the mechanics of human reproduction, as I told Mama But she felt it was her maternal duty to explain it herself”

She smoothed her bodice “I must say, she did point out a few subtleties I was unaware of And Genevieve, as you would expect, enlightened ht” She pushed a few pins back into her hair “Which is not to say I haven’t experienced considerable enlightene,to be told about intiether What are you staring at?” She looked down at herself “Have Iher sli?”

“No” Thank God, he added silently