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Page 506
and slowly subsided onto the bed, her face buried in the pillow beside Geoffrey's head. She heard him chuckle softly.
''Little fool," he whispered into her ear, "no damage was done to that part of me. Call me 'love' again, and you will see how able I am."
"No, Geoffrey, no."
"What a wife you are," he laughed. "I swear you are the most disagreeable woman in the world. All you say is 'no.' Do you wish me to repudiate our marriage on the grounds that you will not perform your marital duty? For shame!"
"Oh, Geoffrey, do not tease me," Joanna sighed, turning on her side to face him and sniffing, a tremulous smile beginning to show on her lips. "I am so miserable."
"You mean uncomfortable," he corrected, grinning. "I know. If you will but bestir yourself to look, you will see that I am just as uncomfortable myself. A delicious discomfortis it not?"
"You are mad," Joanna faltered. "You will open your wounds again. Let me go. I am over it now. It was only my fright. Let me go."
"Ah, but I am not over it. Not in the least. And I assure you it will do me more harm to be left in this state than to have my urgent need satisfied."
"Geoffrey, no. I am afraid"
Her voice trembled into silence. He held her firmly with one hand, but the other was very active. Joanna's eyes closed and she shivered, her body moving uncontrollably under his touch, her breath coming in irregular gasps. With a last flicker of sense, she tried to pull away, sighing, "Someone will come. It is midafternoon. Geoffrey, stop."
"Close the bed curtains," he replied thickly, "and take off that gown. Do not deny me! In the name of God, it is more than three months since I have touched a woman. Now that you have roused me, you must content me. You will not hurt me. I will show you how. Only take off your clothes."
"Are you sure?" she asked, but her hands were already tearing off her garments, throwing them helter-skelter away. "Are you sure, Geoffrey?"
He did not answer, only laughed, his eyes shining and

 
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