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"Any ould be, if her husband came home in this condition!"
Sihtly "You’re reacting a bit strongly to a bruise and a slight burn, aren’t you?"
Annabelle scowled "First tell me what happened, then I’ll decide how to react"
"Fourto pull a -handled pincers They had to carry it to a frame where it could be rolled and pressed The metal plate turned out to be a bit heavier than they expected, and when it beca, I picked up another pair of pincers and went to help"
"Why couldn’t one of the other foundry closest to the furnace" Siot the bruise when I knocked ed to lower the plate--and the burn happened when soainst my arm But no harm done I heal quickly"
"Oh, that was all?" she asked "You were only lifting hundreds of pounds of red-hot iron in your shirt-sleeves?--how silly of me to be concerned"
Simon lowered his head until his lips brushed her cheek "You don’t have to worry about me"
"Soth and solidity of his body, standing so close to hers His big-boned frarace But Simon wasn’t invulnerable, or indestructible He was only hu realization of how i short of alar away fro bath-water, saying over her shoulder, "You smell like a train"
"With an extended s at her heels
Annabelle snorted derisively "If you’re trying to be a, don’t bother I’ her froot hurt? Trust " He kissed the side of her neck
Annabelle stiffened her spine, resisting the embrace "I couldn’t care less if you jumped headfirst into a vat of o into the foundry with no protective clothing and--"
"Hell-broth" Simon nuzzled into the delicate wisps of her hairline, while one hand coasted upward to find her breast
"What?" Annabelle asked, wondering if he had just spouted some new profanity
"Hell-broth…that’s what they call the ers circled the reinforced shape of her breast, h and stiff within the frame of her corset "Good God, what do you have on under this dress?"
"My new steaarment, imported from New York, had been heavily starched and pressed onto ait ned corset
"I don’t like it I can’t feel your breasts"
"You’re not supposed to," Annabelle said with exaggerated patience, rolling her eyes as he brought his hands up to her chest and squeezed experimentally "Simon…your bath…"
"What idiot invented corsets in the first place?" he asked grulishman, of course"
"It would be" He followed her as she went to shut the valves in the bathing room
"My dressmaker told me that corsets used to be kirtles, which orn as ato wear a mark of servitude?"
"Because everyone else does, and if I didn’t,as a cow’s by co his linens to pad across the tiled floor
"And I suppose men wear neckties because they are so excessively co her husband step into the tub
"I wear neckties because if I didn’t, people would think I was evenhined for a man of his proportions, Simon let out a hiss of co to stand beside hiers over his thick hair, and murmured, "They don’t know the half of it Here--don’t lower your arm into the water I’ll help you to wash"
As she lathered him, Annabelle took a pleasurable inventory of her husband’s long, well-exercised body Slowly her hands coasted over hard planes of muscle, some places ropy and delineated, others smooth and solid Sensual creature that he was, Si her lazily through half-closed eyes His breath quickened, though it was still measured, and his ertips
The silence in the tiled room was broken only by the sluice of water and the sounds of their breathing Dreah the soapythe feel of it on her brsts as his body moved over hers "Simon," she whispered
His lashes lifted, and his dark eyes stared into hers One large hand slid over hers, pressing it to the taut contours of his chest "Yes?"
"If anything ever happened to you, I…" She paused as she heard the sound of vigorous knocking at the door of the suite Her reverie was broken by the intrusive sound "Hmm…who could that be?"
The interruption caused annoyance to cross Si her head, Annabelle rose to her feet and reached for a length of toweling to dry her hands
"Ignore it"