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“Do you not believe in love?” Sassy asked in a small voice. Had he not just kissed her as though he loved her? Had she not been feeling ‘love’ from him?
“I am not certain women are capable of such a deep, abiding emotion,” he said darkly.
“So a woman hurt you,” she said knowingly. “When, my lord, in your youth?”
“I will allow you that, but you are naïve, my sweet beauty. I base my opinion on the lies I have witnessed women who say they love utter over and over again.”
“It isn’t I that is naïve,” Sassy said with conviction. “’Tis you, my lord. Men lie as well, and all that lie think they have good reason, but not all of us make a habit of lying.”
“Do you want me to say what you want to hear?” he demanded.
“What do you think I want to hear?” He looked puzzled and angry, and Sassy frowned up at him, wondering what was at the heart of this.
“That what I feel for you is love, unending love, not just desire, not just lust, and that I will feel it forever,” he said in a quiet tone. “But it is impossible—how can I promise what is impossible? I don’t have a heart to give.”
She believed she had his measure. “Ah, of course, you cannot promise such a thing, my lord. I quite understand.” And she did. She was going to have to find a way to show him just what he felt for her.
“And what of you? Do you kiss James Bankes the way you do me? Do you hold out for a proposal of marriage? Just what is in your mind?”
“Faith, my lord, must I be holding out?” she shot back angrily.
“So hot, my beauty? Do I wrong thee? Yes, I rather think I do. Your sex has left me a suspicious man.”
“I am sorry for it, my lord,” she said softly and turned to leave him. “Think what you will of me, I no longer care!”
He took hold of her then as though he was a man driven. “No longer? Did you then … before I opened my foolish mouth?”
“Until five seconds ago—for some reason that escapes me now—yes, I did!” She frowned at him.
“But finding that it is all so impossible, you have given up?” His tone was derisive.
“Bait? You speak in riddles, and I wish with all my heart I did not dream of you … dream of you still …” Realizing what she had uttered she gasped and turned to run. However, he was quick to grab her and lock her in his embrace, his lips silencing her sobs as he covered her mouth with quick, easy kisses before once again parting her lips to taste her tongue.
His kiss turned tender in spite of the burning lust that hung between them. She gave herself up to him, to his tenderness, to the promise of more, so much more that she sensed in his heart.
The feel of his wild, strong body against hers was torture, forbidding logic to enter the moment. She knew she was his for the taking, right then, right there in the woods, against a tree, on the pine needles—anywhere!
“This,” he whispered in a harsh, anguished voice, “is what you and I are meant for together—this!”
The words were like a slap. She pushed with all her might against him and said, “No, you callous man—no!” She yanked out of his hold and ran, but in her frenzy to get away caught her foot on a vine and went down, hard, knocking her head on a rock.
She saw stars and for a moment thought that was all she could see, stars swirling around a dark universe, until she heard his voice.
* * *
The marquis was both dazed and shaken by the enormity of what he felt. He didn’t want to be in love. He rejected the notion that he was irreversibly and totally in love with Sassy Winthrop. Yet, she was his mate. He knew it in his soul, in spite of watching his father and mother’s unhappy union. They had not been true mates, but Sassy … was meant for him!
He needed to embrace her and take her for his own. As she ran off, he started after her and with a suddenly skipping heartbeat saw her fall and go down. She appeared unconscious!
He went to her and dropped to his knees, calling her name and feeling as though his heart would not regain its regular beat until she—and she opened her eyes. Her hand fluttered in front of her face. “Oh … oh … dear,” she said, sounding embarrassed.
His arm slipped under her, and he said in a voice he did not recognize as his own, “Hush, darling, you have had a fall. Shall I carry you? Are you up to allowing me to lift you?”
“No, no, please. If … if you help me to my feet … I can walk.”
He did indeed, help her, and she looked at herself with dismay. “Oh, no, I have muddied my clothes.” She sighed over it and avoided his glance.
“Come, I’ll take you to the back door, and you can hurry up to your room and change,” the marquis told her, happy to find her green eyes bright and even defiant as she looked back at him.
