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inhibitions. He was going to marry her. "She loved him. Now she had to convince him that she wasn't
frightened of him.
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Evan could hardly breathe for the pounding of his heart as he stared at her soft, swollen breasts.
"You're a virgin," he groaned.
"Would you rather I let Randall see me like this?" she whispered.
His eyes flashed. "No. I would not." He stripped off his shirt and his belt before he laid her back on the
grass and spread his broad, dark chest over her breasts. He held her eyes as he began to move his
torso sensually over hers, letting his hair-roughened muscles drag arousingly over the hard tips of
her breasts.
Her nails dug into his powerful upper arms as the motion kindled a sudden, shocking desire. She
gasped jerkily.
"And this is only the beginning, Anna," he said roughly. "It gets worse. Much worse."
He bent to her mouth. He'd never kissed her like this, in such a deliberately arousing way. He teased
and tormented her soft mouth until she was openly begging for his, driven half mad by the sensual
movements of his body against her bare breasts.
She was almost in tears by the time he finally relented, and his tongue penetrated her mouth in one
deep, smooth motion. She was so aroused that she actually cried out and went rigid, pulsating with
feverish need as the kiss she thought would satisfy her only aroused a deeper hunger.
Her legs moved against Evan's helplessly. He felt her anguished need and his big body levered over
hers. He eased her legs apart and slid slowly between them.
He lifted his dark head. His eyes were black with arousal, his swollen lips parted on jerky breaths. He
rested his weight on his forearms and held her dazed, hungry eyes while he deliberately pushed down.
She felt him in an intimacy that she'd never shared with anyone before. Her eyes dilated and her lips
parted on a gasp as she felt the full force of his desire.
He watched her, certain that it was going to be just as it had been with Louisa. She was going to run...
Even as he thought it, her long legs began to tangle shyly with his. Her hips lifted, very gently. He
stiffened and shuddered, even though his eyes never left hers.
She did it again, her face radiant as she 'watched his helpless reaction.
"This is very, very dangerous," he bit off. "If you arouse me enough, I won't be able to stop."
"I don't mind."
His big hand caught her thigh and stilled her under him. "You don't understand. I could make you
pregnant."
She smiled gently. "You don't understand," she replied. "I want a baby with you."
He actually shuddered. For one mad instant, he looked into her eyes and gave in to her. His hand
moved from her thigh to the base of her spine and he pushed her legs further apart as he settled com-
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pletely between them in a blatant urgency that made her moan sharply.
"This is what you're inviting," he said roughly, and pushed, hard. "It will hurt like hell if I'm this
aroused when it happens!"
That was when she first began to make sense of all the warnings, all the misgivings. She relaxed
under his weight and her eyes held his fierce black ones.
"Oh," she whispered.
He was trembling. "Seen the light, have you?" he choked. "I hope to God you haven't seen it too late.
Lie still!" he bit off, anchoring her with a merciless hand. He looked at her, shivering with reaction as
he fought to control himself.
She watched him, shaken by his vulnerability, by her own ability to affect him. Sex had been a vaguely
frightening mystery, but now it was a wonderous surprise. She had a pretty good idea of what it
entailed and exactly why Evan was so afraid of his uncontrolled strength.
He was breathing unsteadily, his eyes closed, his forehead resting against hers.
She smoothed the dark hair at his nape gently and relaxed completely, absorbing his formidable
weight. He was calming. The rigidity of his muscular body was slowly giving way.
"So that's what it's like," she murmured, awed.
Her tone dragged a strained laugh from his throat. "Didn't you know?"
"Not really," she confessed. Her eyes closed. "Puzzles," she said.
He caught his breath at the word picture she evoked. "Yes," he managed. "Except that this particular
one can be difficult to fit together, unless it's put into place with exquisite tenderness."
Her arms linked around his neck. His chest was damp and cool against hers as the heat began to die
out of them.
"Am I too heavy?" he asked.
"Oh, no. I like the way it feels."
He nuzzled his face against hers. "How about a swim, while we're here?"
"I don't have a bathing suit," she said absently.
He lifted his head. "Neither do I. We're being married in two days, Anna. I want you to know it all
before I put my ring on your finger."
The thought of seeing him without his clothes disturbed her, but she sensed that for him this was an
obstacle that frightened him. As he said, they were going to be married. Many engaged couples did
much more together than just swim without their clothes.
"All right," she said softly.
Evan caught his breath. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." She touched his mouth with her fingertips. "I love you."
So she said. But he wanted proof. If she could look at him without fear, one hurdle would be out of the
way. Louisa's face still haunted him.
"So be it," he said quietly.
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He got to his feet and helped her up, noticing her shy reluctance to undress in front of him. He
smiled gently. "I'll walk down the path a bit. Yell when you're in the water."
She sighed. 'Thank you, Evan."
"You'll get used to it," he replied. He brushed a kiss across her mouth and moved away.
She was in the water when he came back, and she kept her eyes averted while he took off his own
clothes. Seconds later there was a splash as he landed close beside her.
"Not so difficult, was it?" he asked with a grin as she trod water beside him.
"I guess the first time is the hardest," she mused.
"And the most necessary. Come on, chicken. I'll race you."
She laughed, catching up with him. They played lazily. The feel of the water against her skin was
exquisite. She closed her eyes and floated, glorying in the sense of freedom she felt.
Evan watched her with hungry eyes, his heart pounding as he got fascinating glimpses of her
creamy body under the water. When she arched her back and began to float, her taut nipples breaking
the surface of the lake, he was totally lost.
"Oh, God," he groaned softly.
He reached for her, pulling her body totally against his as he bent to her lips.
She let him kiss her, feeling for the first time the touch of his body with no fabric to conceal its
power and strength. She hesitated, and he lifted his head.
"Afraid of me like this?" he whispered.
"Not afraid, really," she confessed. Her blue eyes searched his dark ones. "I've never been without
my clothes in front of anyone since I grew up-not even my mother."
He held her waist in his big hands and searched her eyes. "I won't hurt you. Try to remember that."
As he spoke, he lifted and turned her, carrying her toward the bank. She gasped and buried her
embarrassed face in his cool throat.
His mouth slid across her cheek to her lips and he began to kiss her with exquisite tenderness. After a
minute, she forgot her nudity and gave in to the delicious pleasure of skin against skin.
She felt the jolt of his body as he walked, then the cool air on her body and the softness of the grass
on her back as he laid her down.
He knelt over her, waiting for her eyes to open.
She looked at him, flushed and looked away.
He stiffened. "Don't you want to scream and run?" he asked tersely. "She did."
The bitterness in his voice knocked the shyness right out of her. She forced her embarrassed eyes
back to his powerful body, reminding herself that in two more days he was going to be her husband.
She had to grow up, very fast.
Her lips parted as she looked at him, and her heart began to race. She'd never seen a centerfold, but
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