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But he was so unpredictable: acting kind one moment, shouting about how unreliable he was the next. |
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As if she'd called him, he appeared in the doorway, filling it and the room with his domineering presence. "You are lucky, Mariah, that our guests chose to leave before eating this morning." Though his brown eyes were expressionless, there was no doubt from the thin set of his lips that he was displeased. |
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"Why is that?" She could no more keep herself from baiting him when be acted so arrogant than she could give up breathing. He wore a fringed leather shirt that morning with lines that emphasized the breadth of his chest. The soft, suede appearance of the shirt tempted her to touch it. To touch Thorn. To feel his arms about her again |
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She'd do herself a favor, she thought, if she'd stop thinking of those kisses from this difficult man. She was not Matilda from the screenplay who dared to let loose her hormones around her fictional reliable Thorn. |
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"René said he awakened you fifteen minutes ago. You should have begun working on the fire and food by now." |
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"It's my fault, sir," piped up Holly, placing herself in front of Mariah as if to protect her from Thorn. "I kept her from getting to her work, but I can help out now, too. Once I have some clothes to wear, that is." |
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Mariah noted the way Thorn scanned her in the clothing she was wearingthe shirt that bulged out around her ample bosom and stopped at her knees, a length that was probably quite scandalous and suggestive in this time. Irritation with Holly flooded Mariah, and she opened her mouth to tell the woman to stop flaunting herself. |
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But she immediately recalled the situation: how ill Holly had been the day before, how her own clothing was shredded. And she realized the real source of her irritation; she was jealous that Thorn was eyeing the young woman with something more than relief that she was feeling better. |
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He had finished his ogling; in fact, he looked embarrassed, his eyes focused on the window beyond Holly as though he could see through its coated paper. |
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