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“Then lie down and get to sleep” Edward ordered as he lay back down He watched and waited for several e of the bed As far away fro on the floor

Edas nonplussed at her need for distance “I’m sorry I hurt you”

He said, breaking the stilted silence that had settled over theer It would have been better if she had shouted at hirated on his nerves like nails on wood andpatience

After several moing dragged her across the bed and into his ar it across the roonored her startled protests and dropped a heavy leg across her hips the sa her stiff body into his arms

She lay rigid against hi to relax in his ean to soften until she was lying flush against hiainst his masculine hardness

“Now sleep” He ordered softly, pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead and staring into the fire blankly while he waited for her to relax

For hi He couldn’t quite believe that after all of his deter woman in his arly attractive wo and deter She was calwo married to But still, she was a bundle of trouble There were men after her, whether to kidnap or kill her nobody was certain, and she had an errant sister as now facing the gallows

He thought about his conversation with Sebastian at his wedding ruefully The tangled web had been so easily woven around him A web that if he was completely honest, he wasn’t certain he wanted to be free of now

Chapter Ten

Edas in a fierce temper He had woken up just after dawn to find Eliza already up and about – and clearly avoiding hihout breakfast she had entered into a continual flow of conversation that ’ barely possible

Although she had willingly taken part in last night, she had been untried and clearly unused to such inti after? Or did she have regrets and want to pretend it hadn’t happened? He thought about her withdrawal last night and decided it was the latter

He wished he could ask her and find out for certain As a man of action, it annoyed the hell out of him that he was left to patiently wait for the opportunity to raise one of the most important issues of his life with her

Briefly he conteht there and then, but immediately dismissed the notion As soon as his brothers found out they would insist upon e, whether Eliza wanted it or not and that scenario was soht had to remain strictly between them for now

At least until he had the chance to decide what to do about asking for her hand in e In reality he had now compromised her, so shouldwas lousy He could hardly push her into a e she was clearly reluctant to consider, while her sister – her only surviving relative – faced death by hanging

He wanted her If he was honest he had deep affection for her But was it enough to spend the rest of his life with her? She certainly had the ability to raise his temper quicker than anyone else, hea The passion between them had been a revelation to him He had slept with nuet hiotten to withdraw in time to prevent a child