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She did love hih the thickest parts of the underbrush, teaching her what she needed to know to survive, to go after an eneht He trusted her to cover his back, to fight alongside hiive him that final commitment, he hadn’t wavered in his determination to protect her and Cassie as best he could And he knew she would have to fight, have to be a partner as well as a lover when knowledge of Cassie’s birth was revealed

“Re certain we survive it We do nothing that stacks the odds against us, because we can always fight another day And there are other ways to protect Cassie if we have to This is the ical at the moment If it fails, we pull out Do you understand me?” His voice had hardened as he turned back to her

She nodded sloatching him with careful intensity His expression was so her

“Good” He nodded, a bleak, dark look entering his eyes for just a second “Any questions?”

“Why do you love me?” The question seemed to surprise them both

He stared at her in amazement for all of five seconds before his brows snapped into a fierce frown

He gri his head “Hell, Elizabeth, why do you do that?”

“What?”

“Wait until I’ so idiotic For a smart female, that was one of your dumber questions”

Her lips thinned at the insult as she crossed her arrily

“I don’t consider it a stupid question,” she inforh I have a lot of experience withme they love me Maybe I need a little clarification”

“Clarification of what?” he snapped, his eyes glittering dangerously “Figure it out When you do, let ht now I’m more inclined to turn you over et your ass over here and don’tit”

Her blood heated at the order Shean inch fro up at him confrontationally

“You’re dead,” he snarled “If this was Grange’s estate you would have just alerted every da on the place”

“Well it’s not Grange’s estate, and I asked a perfectly logical question,” she informed him furiously Sometimes he reminded her that he was still aif not harder than hell to get along with “I deserve an answer”