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red, and then he did what he’d drea since the day he’d met her

He bent his head to hers and kissed her

CHAPTER TWELVE

SHE tasted sweeter than he could ever have iined, and her ht, as the blood pounded in his ears, honey and silk…and then he stopped thinking and let himself sink into the kiss

For a moment, a heartbeat, she let hiht, that she’d wrapped her hands around his wrists to lift herself to him, that she’d tilted her head so his le across hers…and then his brain kicked in instead of his hor with such hungry need was fighting for her freedom

He took hisin her eyes No It was much more primal It was terror, and it turned the hot rush of desire in his blood to ice

“Dawn,” he said, but she was beyond hearing She was ht have been words, digging her fingers into his wrists, gasping for breath as she struggled wildly against him His first impulse was to take his hands from her face as proof he wouldn’t hurt her, but instinct told hi he wanted to do was go after her again and bring her to earth like a hawk taking down a dove

“Dawn,” he said softly, “baby, I’ to hurt you I swear it”

She shook her head wildly as he slid his hands to her shoulders, held her as steady as he could without using any pressure, until she stopped trying to twist away from him Slowly her eyes cleared and focused on his She took a breath that shuddered froh his hands and as she did, he felt a rage so razor-sharp that he understood, viscerally, what he’d never understood before, despite all his years as a defense attorney

So that it swept aside everything a ic and law

Harman had done this to her Harman, her husband He had taken this woman and ripped out her soul

She was treasps Gray stroked his hand down her back and she stiffened but he went on doing it, gentling her with his touch and with soft whispers, words he’d have used to cohtened child or an injured animal He felt the tension start to ease from her muscles Carefully, slowly, he drew her to him until she stood in the curve of his ar his

“Shhh,” he said “Shhh, sweetheart, it’s all right I won’t hurt you Nobody will hurt you, ever again”

A raw, priainst him and pressed her face to his shoulder Gray slipped his other arm around her, let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding and buried his face in her hair as he held her in the light cradle of his arrew even, and he knew the storm was over

“I’m sorry,” he murmured “Dawn, I’m so sorry”