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BOOK: Tempting the Heiress

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“You offer me so much, Brock. What can I offer you?”

His lips quirked into a sinful grin as he eased her onto the pillows and caged her with his body. “You can fill my days with joy and my nights with wicked carnal delights. Allow me to demonstrate,” he coaxed, dipping closer for a kiss.

“Finished?” Tipton asked, interrupting Brock’s seduction. “You both need sleep. Acting as your physician, I recommend postponing those carnal delights for a few nights. Amara might hurt you.” He winked, and set off to find his wife.

Brock sat up in bed and removed his coat and cravat. In deference to his countless bruises, he did not remove his breeches and shirt. Amara was going to be rather upset with him when she saw his injuries and he preferred having her in his arms. He settled back down on the bed beside her.

Covering her eyes with her undamaged hand, Amara suddenly moaned.

“Should I summon Tipton?”

“No, no,” she said, looking miserable. “I forgot. Brock, they took my jewelry.”

The tension eased from his shoulders. “Let us worry about the Claeg family jewels tomorrow.”

“I do not care about my mother’s jewelry!” she said fiercely. They both ignored her tiny lie. “Brock! Your mother’s intaglio is gone.”

“Not quite.” Digging several fingers under his shirt, he revealed the gold chain. Claeg had found all the jewelry stolen from Amara in Cornley’s coat pocket. Wincing, he pulled the chain over his head.

“You have it,” she sighed, clutching her treasure to her heart. She slipped the intaglio over her head and sank back into the pillows.

Brock smiled down at the intaglio, the maiden and beast forever bound together in stone. “Rest, your talisman will protect you.”

Surprised, Amara looked up, her stormy blue eyes filling with tears. Lovingly, she laid her hand against his cheek. “He always has.”

Phebe:

Good shepherd, tell this youth what ’tis to love.

Silvius:

It is to be all made of sighs and tears …
It is to be all made of fantasy,
All made of passion and all made of wishes,
All adoration, duty and observance,
All humbleness, all patience and impatience,
All purity, all trial, all observance …

—William Shakespeare, from
As You Like It
, act 5, sc. 2, 1. 83–97.

“You are a liar, Amara, and a bad one at that …

“Amara, I care little of what path we choose. The result will be the same. I can kiss you senseless or prod your cursed temper until neither of us sees reason. Either way, it will be my body covering yours, my name you cry out when the passion crests, making you wonder if a person could die from the shattering joy.”

They stared at each other, both remembering the kisses they had shared and she forgot to be angry or afraid of him. He could make her feel that way again. She must have sensed his purpose because she asked, “This is your notion of courtship?”

“No, just a pleasurable means to end the madness. From my way of thinking, the last ten years or so have been a courtship of sorts. It is not my fault if you have not been paying attention.”

TEMPTING THE HEIRESS

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

eISBN 9781429997959

First eBook Edition : March 2011

St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / May 2004

BOOK: Tempting the Heiress

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