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his chest. He drew in his breath sharply, but he could see there was more mischief than passion in her expression, and he let go of her abruptly and administered a slap on the buttocks he had been holding. Sybelle's arms dropped from around him, and she sighed again, far more dramatically. |
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"I see it is with you as with all men. No sooner is a woman irrevocably in your power than you become cruel." |
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"It is not cruelty but regard for your health and your good name that forced me to put a stop to our play," Walter said with perfect gravity, although there was laughter in his eyes now, too. He knew quite well that was not what Sybelle had meant. "You would surely have taken a chill had we lain down on the floor here, in spite of the fire, and what would you have said when you had no proof of maidenhead on our wedding night?" |
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"Coxcomb!" Sybelle cried, half outraged and half laughing. "First you beat me, and then you accuse me of lusting after you." |
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"Do you not?" Walter asked, and the laughter was gone from his face and voice. |
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Thrown off balance again, Sybelle raised troubled eyes. "Do you think it wrong?" she asked in return, her voice uncertain. "My mother has told me that to take joy in love with one's husband and to give him joy is good." |
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For answer Walter swept her into his embrace and kissed her hard again, but he did not sustain the kiss and he stepped back away from her when he let her go. "I think so well of your mother's advice, my love, that I dare not stay too near lest I put it to the proof too soon for your honor and mine." |
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Sybelle came no closer, and her expression grew even more troubled. "Then what shall I do? Do you now desire that I go back to England with my parents?" |
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"No!" Walter exclaimed, then raised his hand to his head and scratched it. "I do not know," he admitted. "It might be safer. . . . In God's name, Sybelle, I swear that I have not felt this way about a woman in fifteen years. I am gone back to being a green boy, so eaten with desire that I cannot think straight." |
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Extending a hand toward him, Sybelle said softly, "Yet I know you will do me no harm. Let me stay, Husband, as it is greatly my desire to do so." |
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