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Marissa rubbed her cheek against the thin linen of his shirt. He was so warm beneath the material, and she wanted to feel that warmth on her. In her. And perhaps his lust would keep him near long enough for him to see that she had changed and grown wiser. Become more than just a girl who loved dancing.
His hands tightened on her shoulders, and she pressed her mouth to his collarbone and her belly to his hips. "Do you still like me a little, Jude?" His strong jaw Hexed, and Marissa put her mouth to that hard edge and gently bit down.
His body jerked against hers.
Marissa hummed sympathetically against his skin. "You reap what you sow. You teased me, Haunting your body in front of me, and now I want to have it."
"Stop," he barked, setting her back from him. "I don't need to be teased into wanting you, damn it. I take myself in hand every night out of lust for you."
Her sex tightened with sharp need. She knew what he was saying. She could picture it. "So take me."
"I won't. You'll change your mind, and then where will we be? You never wanted me for a husband, and I refuse to live fifty years looking at regret in your eyes."
"Bah! That's nonsense. When have you ever known me to regret anything?"
His scowl softened, as if he were actually considering her question. "You regret Peter White."
"Well, that's true. But to be specific, I regretted Peter White's failures." Marissa could've sworn she saw his mouth twitch into a momentary smile. "You wouldn't give me any cause for regret, would you, Jude?"
"I would disappoint you in countless ways."
Shaking her head, Marissa reached for the ties at the shoulders of her gown. "I'm shallow. If you keep me happy in a few small ways, what more would I ask?"
"Don't do that," he growled.
Marissa backed away from his advance and pulled the tics loose. "You did it to me."
When she slipped her shoulders free of the flowing arms, Jude froze. "Don't. Please."
"Don't be a coward," she said, to him or to herself.
And then she dropped the gown.
For the first time in her life, Marissa was completely naked in front of a man. He hadn't admitted any lingering affection, and that vulnerability left her with the urge to hide behind her hands. But she didn't.
She could make him like her again. She'd use her body as he'd once planned to use his.
Jude's gaze slipped over her nakedness. He swallowed hard. And then he stalked toward the door.
He was only two feet from escape when Marissa darted past him and barricaded the door with her body. Her nude body.
Jude could feel his face twist with anxious shock. "What are you doing?"
"Seducing you," she answered. It seemed an odd choice of words for sprawling naked against a door. All the same, he was being seduced. Her small breasts and slim waist, and my Clod, the golden curls that hid her sex ...
"I—" he started, then lost the words in his study of her body.
"I love you," Marissa said. "I want to marry you. And I'm willing to use my body to trick you into feeling some affection." His heart twisted to hear her say those words. He fell true pain when he took a deep breath.
"I don't want to be tricked," he finally managed to say, darting a quick look at the doorknob next to her hip.
Marissa straightened, drawing her feet closer together and sliding her hands down the door.
"Marissa, don't. Just don't." He was begging. He wanted more than this, and yet this was all he wanted.
Instead of granting mercy, she stepped away from the door and stopped only a foot from him. He supposed if his body had been more willing, Jude might've been able to retreat, but Marissa's nakedness stole his will and he couldn't move.
She curled her arms slowly around him, her touch blooming from the faint line of her fingertips to the warm bands of her arms going around his ribs. Finally, her whole, hot body took him over, pressing tight to his front. All Jude managed to do was raise his hands high enough to avoid clutching her to him.
