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She closed her eyes and sighed with re beneath her to hide his thickening desire

He wanted her again

But he would control himself

They should rise

He could not bring hiain, they were blue as the summer sky A o?"

"Where did I go when?"

"After youlost everything"

A shiver of distaste ran through hiive her e

"I didn’t go anywhere I stayed in London"

"What happened?"

What a question So ed So much he did not want her to know So much he did not want her to be a part of

So much he wished he had not been a part of

He took a deep breath, his hands to her waist to move her, to rise "You don’t want to hear about that"

She pushed herself up over hi his movement "I do want to hear about it" She stared down at hi to let him up

To let hined "How ame of chance"

She was so close, her blue eyes so intent, and regret rocketed through him He hated that she knew his mistakes His shame He wished he could be someone else for her Someone new Someone worthy of her

But perhaps if he told her the tale, if she knew everything, it would keep her fro too much

Too late

He steeled hit-et-un"

She did not look away "You were young"

"Twenty-one Old enough to wager everything I owned"

"You were young," she repeated ea that wasn’t pinned down by generations Like a fool" He waited for her to agree When she didn’t, he pressed on "Langford pusheduntil everything I had was on the table, and I was certain I would win"