LITMIR.BIZ

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talked softly for a few minutes, going over their day, their ride to the village, their stop to view the wildflowers. She told him about a friend who ran marathons and he told her about a friend who raised Siamese cats. Their bottle was empty, but he produced another.

      And then he told her, looking deep into her eyes, “You know what your biggest problem is?”

      The fact that you won’t kiss me? But she couldn’t say that aloud, even though the wine was making her feel giggly.

      “No,” she said, melting in the thrill of his gaze. “Why don’t you tell me?”

      He suddenly seemed very wise. “You trust too much.”

      She reared back, not sure she liked that. “In what way?” she asked carefully.

      He looked at her as though trying to decide something. Finally, he reached out, cupping her chin in his large hand, as though he meant to study her face, and she let him, though her heart was fluttering in her chest like a lost bird. When he finally finished his thorough observation, she sighed as he drew away again.

      “You trust Carl to bring you here, even though he’s probably a crook,” he said quietly. “You trust things people tell you as long as they’re nice about it.” His mouth curled in a wistful smile. “Worst of all, you trust me.”

      “I do not,” she said stoutly.

      He grinned. “Yes you do.”

      She blinked rapidly. “Well, at least I give people a chance. You don’t give anyone the benefit of the doubt. You don’t trust anyone, do you?”

      His eyes narrowed. “Trust is for suckers.”

      She drew back, frowning. “That’s a horrible attitude.”

      He shook his head as though she just didn’t understand, and he took her hand in his.

      “Let me tell you a little story. Something short and sweet. Something that will give you the picture of the world I live in, and why I think trust is overrated.”

      She smiled, her fingers curling around his. For some reason what he’d just said seemed so very amusing. “Lay it on me, baby,” she said, leaning toward him.

      A look of alarm came over his handsome face. “Hey. How much have you had of that stuff?”

      She giggled. “Sorry. I was just trying to get in the mood.”

      Moving with calm deliberation, he took the glass from her hand and put it out of reach.

      “See, this is what I mean. If you were smart, you would be very wary of what I might do if you get a little tipsy.”

      “Don’t worry,” she said bravely. “I’ve got all my wits about me. Such as they are.” She laughed out loud.

      He gave her a baleful look, but he settled back and continued his cautionary tale. “Okay. This happened years ago, when I was young and still a nice guy.”

      “Unlike today.” She nodded wisely.

      He frowned his disapproval of her chattiness. “Unlike today,” he allowed. “I was in South East Asia. The country doesn’t matter. But I was on a mission. A pretty dangerous situation. And I fell in love.”

      Now he had her complete attention.

      “Oh,” she said softly.

      “The area was beautiful. White-sand beaches. Sweet, friendly people. My mission was to extract something important from the desk of a local plantation owner. My job was to get in and get out. Under no circumstances was I to interfere with local customs or get involved in local affairs. No roiling the waters.”

      She nodded to show she understood completely. “And I’m sure you did a very good job of it, didn’t you?”

      He stared at her for a moment, then laughed softly. He touched her cheek, looking at her as though he enjoyed the view. “Yes, darling. I always did a good job. But right now I’m talking about the girl I fell in love with.”

      “Oh.” She felt so sad all of a sudden and she wasn’t sure why.

      His face took on a faraway look.

      “She was so beautiful, so tiny, so fragile, like a flower. I was pretty young and I fell like a ton of bricks. She enchanted me. She told me how her family had sold her to the plantation owner because they were desperately poor. They had eight other children to feed. She was one too many.”

      “How terrible.”

      “Yes. The plantation owner had promised to take good care of her, but he’d lied. She was so unhappy. She told me whispered tales of how cruel he was.”

      He shook his head, remembering his naive reaction. “I was outraged. I burned to protect her. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. So I did something very stupid.”

      “Uh-oh.”

      “Yes. Uh-oh. You see, when my mission was complete, I took her with me.”

      She’d known he would end up being the hero. “Good for you.”

      “No. Not really.” He grimaced. “We travelled for two days and finally reached the city and I got us a hotel room. I had so many plans in my head. I thought...” He stopped, looked at her and his mouth curved in a bitter smile. “Hell, what does it matter what I thought? I woke up at dawn the next day and she was gone. And so was all my money.”

      She gasped. “Oops.”

      He looked at her and started to laugh. “It’s like you’ve got an alter ego just waiting inside you,” he noted. “She can only come out to play when you drink. Is that how it is?”

      “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said very primly, sitting up straight like a good girl.

      He laughed again, then shook his head. She looked like an angel, her blond hair flying like gold threads around her face, her green eyes sparkling, her eyelids heavy with the effects of the wine. The need to kiss her came over him like an urgent wave, choking him for a moment. He had to look away and breathe hard a few times to get himself back on track.

      “Okay, I’ll wrap this story up. The beautiful girl I thought I was in love with not only stole all my money, she fingered me to the local crime gang. I got away from them, but I took a little memento with me.”

      Pulling up his shirt, he showed her the scar.

      “See?” he said as she gasped, wide-eyed, at the ugly wound that contorted his beautiful skin just below his rib cage. “That’s what you get when you trust someone.”

      Reaching out, she put her warm hand over the damage. And then, without thinking, she leaned down and pressed her lips to it.

      As he felt the heat radiating from her mouth, he sucked in his breath, then reached to pull her up.

      “Torie, you’d better not...”

      She ended up in his arms and all his determination not to touch her melted away like April snow. What had he been saying? It was gone. All he could think about was her warm, wonderful body against his and her hot, tempting mouth so close.

      He kissed her. He felt a twinge of guilt. After all, she might not be doing this if it weren’t for the wine. But it was too late to use that as a reason to pull away. He was kissing her and she was the most delicious thing he’d ever had.

      She sighed and bent back as though offering him something more than a gesture. Something in that move hit him directly in his natural male response center.

      Desire bloomed in him like a small explosion. He wanted her. He wanted his mouth on hers and his tongue exploring her heat, and he was getting that. But he needed more, and the need was beginning to grow in a way he wasn’t going to be able to control. He had to hold her hard against him and he had to touch her breasts and make her cry out so that it would make him even more crazy and... and...

      He

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