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CHAPTER ONE

RONAN GUERIN looked down at the sleeping face of the woed his

Almost

She looked so peaceful, so innocent, so daht he had just spent with her, the incandescent passion they had shared, and feel a pang of regret for the course he had started out on

But then he remembered Rosalie, every bit as beautiful and just as innocent, and he hardened his heart Fir his resolve, he reached out a hand and touched her shoulder gently

‘Lily…’ he said softly

At first there was no response She was too deeply unconscious, too exhausted by a night in which sleep had been the last thing on theirto let hiht of her innocent appearance, he shook her slightly, watching as she gave a faint murmur and stirred, her eyes still closed

‘Good , wife’

Good h the clouds of sleep that clogged her brain, ue and indistinct so that she frowned in drowsy confusion

Wife?

It was as shethe soft brush of the fine linen sheets on her naked body, that realisation struck hoht into the heart of a target Her eyes, wide and deep gold, flew open, aze of the ers still resting on her arm

‘Ronan?’

Of course! How could she have forgotten, even for a second? How could sleep have wiped away the fact that this was the iven her heart so co it back—not that she wanted it Theband on her finger as he vowed to love and honour her for the rest of his life

Stretching luxuriously, she turned to face him

‘Good , husband’

Her se of sleepy sensuality, was directed straight into his intent blue-grey eyes, the angle of her head calculatedly provocative as it splayed the long blonde strands of her hair out around her heart-shaped face on the immaculate white pillows

To her surprise, neither the sesture earned her the response she had anticipated Instead, Ronan see-boned features under the silky dark chestnut hair were set in a way that ht-years away froht before

Meht a rush of colour to her cheeks, and her tongue slipped out to smooth over the soft curve of her lower lip, as if she could still taste the burning kisses he had pressed there A hot rush of sexual awareness mixed with a heady sense of very feaze drop to follow the slight movement

‘Husband,’ shethe sound of the word

Her body still ached faintly, and there were one or two tender spots on her skin, but she didn’t care The pleasure she had experienced last night had been so totally new to her, soin its intensity, that she had been hard put to it to believe that she could feel it and not shatter into a thousand tiny pieces

And it was soain

As she believed Ronan would too In fact, when she had finally drifted into exhausted and satiated sleep, she had been convinced that she would wake to find herself firreet her with gentle kisses, rouse her body to deht before, his ownresponse

Which hy it was so disconcerting to find hi so cool and indifferent—and fully dressed

‘What tiht they were due to make that day

‘Just after nine’

‘So early! Then what are you doing out of bed?’

Her full mouth formed a petulantThey were hardly suitable for so-haul trip to the tropical island he had promised would be their honeyrey silk, white shirt and conservative tie only added to her confusion, aggravating the sense of alienation she had experienced earlier

‘Our plane doesn’t leave until three!’ she protested ‘We’ve hours yet’

Lily reached out and stroked his hand where it lay, broad and strong, with long, square-tipped fingers, on the pristine whiteness of the quilt cover