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She nodded, not bothering to point out that she wasn’t cold On the contrary Heat swaed current

His next boot hit the floor She watched as his hands went to his jacket, the long fingers deftly shedding it with strong, surehesitant or nervous And why should he be? He’d probably done this hundreds, thousands, of times

The notion that he undressed before countless fee He’s ht entered her head she banished it

Of course there’d been others And there was nothing to say there wouldn’t be more What could she expect? It was only fair She’d banned him from her bed She couldn’t expect him to lead a life of celibacy Just because that hat she’d chosen for herself, she could not de redhead froht noeeping into her pillow?

Firelight danced off the sculpted flesh of his ned torso

"Is this necessary?" she blurted

He froze, looking up at her with an arched eyebrow "What?"

She motioned in a small circle "Thisthis cha a rooray of his eyes seemed chillier, frozen ash "We’re married now," he reaze drilled into her, hard as iron "And you want the world to know that? That you’re a wife eschewing her duty? Her responsibility to the rew prickly hot The ht echoed in her head The faces of the happy villagers flashed through her e to be public It’s our concern" Our secret

"Agreed" He continued to undress As if the matter were settled

"Would you please explain?" she persisted, unable to let the matter drop Self-preservation forced the words fro our own rooe is a--" She stopped herself just short of saying a farce Their union wasn’t a farce ItEven without consu her lips, she finished, "Spouses often keep separate roohed deeply, the sound weary "Life is different here This isn’t the ton Where spouses practically lead separates lives Both the Lord and Lady McKinney have always occupied this bedchahs heavily here"

"Can you not ever break with tradition?"

He stared at her stonily "I didin their graves"

"Well What’s one htness, but the look in his eyes told her he was quite finished with the discussion

"Everyone knoould sharewith herunless our e is a contentious union" He stared at Cleo rather pointedly "Is that what you prefer everyone conclude?"

She shook her head, shoulders sagging She had to live here forwell, forever Her siblings, too She needed Logan’s people to see her as one of thes with open arms In short, she needed to win them over and not come across as some shreho barred her husband from their bed

But isn’t that what you are?

She shook her head at the insidious little voice, and searched for the

"No," she answered through nue contentious"

"Good" His hands moved to his trousers She commanded herself to look away, tohi She already knew he preferred to sleep naked, and in the fire’s glow, she’d see every bare inch of hiainst the sudden thickness in her throat and scanned the roo scene Her nightgown already happened to be draped over it--the wisdoe behind that with relative privacy With luck, Logan would be tucked out of sight beneath the covers by the tiy in mind, she strode across the room and positioned herself behind the screen Withinher arms behind her back, she realized she could not undress herself unassisted Blast it! She should have considered this sooner

Face fla, she gathered her nerve and stepped out froain He was in the bed Just as she’d hoped And feared He’d have to rise to assist her and then she’d see every bare inch of him

She cleared her throat unnecessarily He was already looking directly at her froainst the pillows in the bed, the coverlet pooled around his waist, leaving that enticing bare chest of his exposed

She couldn’t help notice that he had positioned hiht, evidently, for granting her any space of her ohere she wouldn’t brush against hiown"

"Coined that his voice was rougher than usual, the burr deeper, ravelly