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“You’re getting loud with your thoughts again,” Rogue said.
“Apologies.” Dammit.
“I find myself comforted by the familiarity of it,” Rogue answered wryly, in an odd echo of my own thoughts. He walked back up to me. “We’re at an impasse, it seems. If I can convince you of the sincerity of my intentions regarding you, will you trust me for the duration of the reception?”
“How will you do that?”
“I’ll let you into my thoughts—let you feel my intentions.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No more mind tricks.”
“No mind tricks—you would control this. All you do is look.”
“That seems like an invasion of your mental privacy?”
“I’m desperate.” His mouth twisted a bit, distorting a black line so it sharpened into a fang.
Desperate could be interesting. I knew he heard my thought from the devastating smile that cracked through the thorns. Nowthatman, with the smile, was the dangerous one. I made certain to keep that observation very much to myself.
“So I look into your head, see that you’re on the level, and then we go to this deal, with me still running blind? I don’t think so. I want five questions answered first.”
“What’s with you and the number five?”
I shrugged. One hand, I don’t know.
“No time,” Rogue answered, and held up an uncannily long hand when I opened my mouth again. “I feel certain you’d ask hard questions that require long answers. I’ll give you three principles—three things you should know to get through the evening.”
“Five ground rules.”
“I can’t think of five.”
“You disappoint me.”
He flashed me the wicked grin. “I wouldn’t have, if you’d let me kiss you.”
Ooh, good one. I floundered for a response. Surely I wasn’t blushing. Rogue walked away and sat on a chair by the fire, clearly smug with the knowledge he’d beaten me that round. Now he was back to business.
“Four ground rules.”
“Why four?”
“Never accept a first offer. Agreed?”
When I nodded, he beckoned me over to stand in front of him. He parted his knees and pulled me between them, hands on my heavily padded waist. “Shhh,” he said when I tried to pull back, stroking me into calm, gentling me as he had when I was chained to the bed. “Contact is helpful, even necessary at this point. It’s not like I can feel anything through this get-up anyhow.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Ground Rule One,” he said, pinning me with his gaze, “you must appear as nonthreatening as possible, like a young girl protected all her life. Virginal, you understand that idea?”
I nodded.
“Be sweet. Be biddable. Be unattractive. Be unsexy. That means they will underestimate you and much rides on that.”
“Okay, that helps.” I smiled sweetly. “I’ll wear the damn outfit.”
Didn’t want him to forget that was my choice whether to leave the room in it.
“Fingertips on my temples,” he instructed.
