LITMIR.BIZ

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wanted to call after her. He wasn’t that much of a sucker.

      But when the limp seemed to get worse, the further she walked, Gabriel scrubbed his jaw.

      Working all afternoon and half the night, she must have been on her feet the whole time. From Mr Dorset’s account, Nina would know she didn’t have another card up her sleeve; she couldn’t call in sick or beg off early. Had the doctor even checked her out? Gabriel would bet not.

      He dragged his hand down his face, tried to come up with another way. Then, cursing under his breath, he strode off to catch her up. This woman would drive him nuts.

      “For God’s sake, Nina, come back and sit down.”

      The way she was going she’d only cause herself more harm.

      When she kept walking Anthony’s shadow breathed down Gabriel’s neck, and the voice in his head—over his shoulder—grew louder.

       Stop her. Make her listen. She’s hurt. She’s my sister and she needs your help!

      Gabriel put some steel in his voice. “Nina.”

      “I’m going.”

      “Going where?”

      She angled back. “I’m looking forward to finding out.”

      She was so stubborn. So annoying, and so … amazingly attractive. As her eyes glistened into his, his heartbeat boomed in his ears and he knew to his soul what had to be done.

      The pull—this fierce physical attraction—was too strong to ignore. No matter how many times she walked away, he would have to bring her back because what he’d tried to block from his mind all the long day would happen. He knew it as well as he knew his own name. They would make love again and she’d better prepare herself.

      The way he was feeling, last night had only been practice.

      CHAPTER NINE

      GABRIEL strode over and drew her body hard against his. As his mouth came crashing down upon hers, Nina braced herself not to weaken.

      In a way, she’d expected this. This man’s middle name might be “irresistible,” but after that discussion she would rather jump from a plane without a parachute than confirm the terrible, wonderful heat his kiss stirred deep inside her.

      He wanted her gone. No problem.

      She was going.

       Go … ing …

      After several breathtaking, ultra-persuasive moments, the kiss softly broke and Gabriel’s hot-lidded gaze brushed over her face. His fingertips traced hair from her brow and he murmured, “Are you listening now?”

      She swallowed, but held her chin high. “No.”

      He kissed her again, and those defences crumbled more. Her head told her to pull back, to slap his face; who did he think he was, assaulting her like this? Her body, on the other hand, whispered to her heart to press in more.

      His kisses only got better.

      When his lips left hers a second time, her breathing was tellingly deep. A practised hand skimmed her side before he took a lingering kiss from her temple, her cheek. To stop herself from snaking her arms around his neck, she fisted his shirt in her hands.

      Feeling giddy, she groaned, “What do you want from me?”

      He cupped her chin. “You have to ask?”

      She closed her eyes and prayed. She had to clear her foggy brain. Had to keep smart. Keep strong.

      “You’re Gabe Turner,” she reminded herself. “You sacked me.” Her eyes opened. “If you think I’ll sleep with you again, you’ve got rocks in your head.”

      He scooped her up into his arms and began to walk.

      She managed to straighten to a board as her stomach pitched. “I’ll scream.”

      His mouth hooked into the sexiest of smiles. “Promise?”

      As he carried her into his bedroom, Nina told herself she should struggle and demand he set her down. She had to put this rabid sexual thirst away. Lock the door and throw away the double-edged key. Because, while this might seem a natural extension of their previous smouldering night together, tomorrow she would pay the price.

      She’d already lost her job. She didn’t want to lose her self-respect too.

      But by the time he stopped in the middle of the shadowy bedroom, and she gazed up into those haunting ice-blue eyes, her arguments had wound down to nought. Rather than warnings she heard only a sweet chorus, urging her to go forward. It was as if history were already written. The deed was already done. Right or wrong, she would go through with this. The reason was simple.

      There’d never be another Gabriel. One more time with him would be more than a lifetime with anyone else.

      As if he read her thoughts, the lines either side of his eyes crinkled with a soft smile. He crossed the room and set her carefully down beside the bed. Then he flicked down the quilt and stood back, running an eye over her dress, as if approving of the design but also analysing the most effective way to remove it.

      Stepping close again, he gripped the hem and the dress slid like butter up over her hips, her waist, her head, finally her arms. While she trembled inside from crown to toe, his hot gaze consumed her. She felt every stroke of his appraisal as it sizzled over her strapless bra, lower, to her abdomen then across her red silk briefs.

      His gaze jumped and held hers again while he peeled the shirt off his back and dropped it to the timber floor. With the broad expanse of his chest rising and falling, he pulled her up against his hard heat and, after murmuring that he’d wanted her all day, claimed her mouth with his again.

      She’d expected his kiss to ignite her as it had last night, to take over her senses and leave her deliciously weak and desperately wanting. She’d expected the same fireworks to leap up, lighting her blood until flames devoured any lingering whim to resist.

      She was surprised.

      When they’d lain together last night she’d never felt more alive, more grateful for each breath, and for the man who’d made another day possible. Tonight his kiss went beyond that. This heady emotion wasn’t about outside influence or circumstance. It was about them … how well they meshed … how amazingly well they fitted. As his head angled more, and he kissed her thoroughly, her soul floated away and joined his, twining and spiralling off into blessed infinity.

      Nina coiled her arms around his neck, unable to imagine anyone feeling as much as she felt at that moment. The desire was both an all-consuming necessity and a magnificent release that remade her, as light as the moonbeams slanting in through the open plantation blinds. No one could ever have felt this deeply before this.

      Before them.

      His mouth gradually broke from hers to trail down the side of her throat. She arched her neck, allowing him better access, and sighed when he snapped open her bra. As the bra dropped between them, his mouth slid along her collarbone and, one palm supporting her weight, he lowered her back upon the sheets.

      He unzipped his trousers and not soon enough stood before her naked. She shouldn’t stare. She’d seen him sans clothes before. The straight stance, lean hips, hard bronzed frame that tapered into a perfect V. This sight proved yet again that he was no ordinary man. He was so much more than that.

      He rested one knee on the bed and, with his hands either side of her shoulders, asked, “You okay? Your ankle?”

      Relishing the abandon, she dragged him down. “I’m not thinking about my foot.”

      While she battled to keep her heart behind her ribs, his palm traced down over her waist, her leg, all the way to her bandage and then up again. Above the knee, however, his direction curled in to feather up her inner thigh. When his fingertips

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