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Ohe didn&039;t realize the time until he went still, and his eyes fell closed It wasn&039;t like death, this slumber of his More like a very deep sleep

She&039;d told him she was like him Only now did she realize how much

She hadn&039;t loved, either With one exception Since her parents had died there had been, only one being she&039;d truly loved And as she&039;d grown older, she&039;d convinced herself that love had only been a dreael had remained

And now she kneas real Her savior, her dream, was real And damp with his own blood, in torn, dirty clothes He&039;d watched over her as a child Taken care of her more than once She could do no less for him

But she could never tell him He must never kno much she&039;d loved him in her youth The fantasies she&039;d had Because he was afraid of love She&039;d never known anyone so afraid

Slowly, Rachel got up off the set tee and headed to her own rooms

She found clean washcloths and soft towels, and fetched a basin of ater Then she returned to Donovan He&039;d object to her caring for him this way if he were awake But he wasn&039;t awake She took off his shirt,so would jar hiain She eyed the bandaged wound No red trickle eaze slid slowly upward, over his flat belly, and ued her

Her throat went dry She looked away Dipping the soft cloth into the water, squeezing it out, she pressed it to his skin But she could feel him underneath it Taut and hard Masculinity was like an aura e from his flesh Almost a scent, it drew her She leaned closer, over his chest, her face near enough so she could feel the heat rising fro her eyes, she inhaled deeply And so she knew, recognized, because she&039;d felt it before Whenever this man was near her she felt it

But she had no business feeling desire for abeyond desire in return

She felt it all the same

"God, help me," she whispered

"But I do want you, Donovan O&039;Roark"

She closed her eyes, tried to get herself under control Dipping the cloth in the now pink-tinted water, she squeezed it out again, and carefully took away her es from his wound, to clean it properly

Then she squinted, dabbed the blood away, and looked again It it was s Aes pulled together like soraphy It took several enerate

Leaving a pucker, and then even that s in shock, she washed the spot clean, searching for traces of the tear, but it was gone Gone In soers over the new, healthy skin

"It&039;s unbelievable," she whispered, and flattened her palainst his warm flesh When his hand fell atop hers, she jumped and quickly looked up at his face

But his eyes re shallow, barely discernible But his hand closed around hers in his sleep A sleep in which he&039;d told her he was beyond responding to any sti

And now the hand of this man, who clai to her own, and for the life of her, she wouldn&039;t have taken hers away

I woke to a feeling of warmth spread upon my chest And then as my senses sharpened, I knew that wars curled beneath her, while her head rested uponthe bared skin of it One arm spanned me, hand on htly in ers, to confir her hand like a lover Not the other way around

I couldn&039;t lie like this not forover ry And she was too near Too Her fingers spread on my shoulder, then kneaded like a happy cat&039;s claws She ive, and her lips brushed over it like fire The groan that rose up fro The saht hear from a volcano as the pressure within builds An eruption was dangerously near

She stirred, satin hair tickling e dark eyes at ht me into focus Then she smiled

"It healed," she toldit with nore the fresh-wakened glow in her cheeks and the leam The tousled hair She hly satisfied by a skilled lover, I thought Just like this

I tried to sit up She noticed, and got off retted the loss of her so near But when she got to her feet, it was to press her hands to the sroaned and rubbed, so I realized she&039;d spent a horribly uncomfortable day on the floor when she&039;d had a bed fit for a queen only yards away

"Rachel, why on earth didn&039;t you go to your roo herself But her head came up fast

"An&039; leave you here by the front door, unconscious and unprotected? Not likely!"

I lowered erous one, I knew No sense encouraging her foolish notions

"You&039;d already locked the door"

"Mamey Neal could make quick work of that lock, and &039;{wouldn&039;t be the first tiht her eyes, but she kept them averted

"You say that as if you know"

"Aye"

The bastard

"What lock was it he made quick work of, Rachel?" &039; "The one on o, before I left for the States"

Her voice didn&039;t break at all Mine would if I spoke again It would break or e up I&039;d kill the bastard I&039;d rip out his heart and-- "You&039;re lookin&039; rathermy face

"An&039; truly, there&039;s no need Mar- they&039;s a thorn in one so far if he hadn&039;t had a wee bit too much ale

An&039; I daresay he sobered up some about the time I shoved him outone finger under her chin and tipping her head up so I could see her face She see the truth