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Page 104
and examined them, turning them over, then back again.
Mariah tried to pull away. Even in the odd-colored light, her palms appeared red and blistered. Her nails were chipped, and her fingers were too sore to open completely. "Please," she whispered, ashamed that the hands she'd once pampered now looked as if they'd passed through the fires of hell.
"They're" He didn't finish what he was going to say. Instead, he lifted her hands. His head bowed . . . and she felt the soothing softness of his lips upon her burning palms.
She inhaled sharply, frozen while wanting to ran. He raised his head once more and looked into her face.
There was sorrow in his pale brown eyes, and a glimmer of something she read as guilt.
"It's all right," she said quietly, pulling one hand away to touch his face. His skin was warm, roughened by the outdoors and by the hint of heavy masculine facial hair, though he was clean-shaven. No matter what he had done in the past, no matter how he castigated himself now because of it, she didn't want him adding her to the many burdens he bore. "I'm fine. This isn't so"
His mouth stopped hers from finishing. There was nothing gentle in his kiss, despite his tenderness when he'd examined her hands. The kiss robbed her of breath, of wanting to breathe, for she did not want to break the spell.
There was a kind of desperation in the way his lips ravaged hers. He tasted of something she had sampled only once before, fierce masculinity in this new, old land. His tongue plunged into her mouth, and she welcomed it with her own.
He pulled her tightly to him, and she felt the hard ruggedness as she had once before. His fingers were motionless on her back, holding her against him, but she couldn't still her own. The soreness of her hands was forgotten as she touched his broad, strong neck and the prominent muscles of his shoulders, stroked the taut planes of his back, moved lower yet. . . .
With a growl, he pulled away. Gripping her upper arms, he stared down at her.
Aware of the tingling of her abandoned lips, she nearly cried aloud. Her attempt at forgiveness must have hurt rather

 
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