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made her tremble, an instant response that she neither considered nor controlled. It simply happened, just as heat began burning a path along her arms and up her neck, before it reached her face to set her cheeks on fire. Words failed her, her thoughts centering on the blush staining her face.
To think that she might still be capable of blushing ... Such an innocent action felt misplaced but it also sent a tingle of excitement through her heart.
Synclair lifted a hand and gently stroked her face before she shook off her astonishment. “How could you doubt that I would follow, Justina? I spoke my intentions clearly to you at Amber Hill.”
“Your intentions?” She stepped away from him, not because his touch offended her, but to escape the sheer enjoyment of having his skin against her own. “You locked me in a chamber.”
“Only for a week, and then you were given the freedom of the castle. Considering the peril you allowed Bridget to run into when you showed her the way out of Amber Hill, a week was a small penance. But it was by Lord Ryppon’s order and one designed for your protection. Your guardian is unfit. He sent you to deceive us and send Bridget into the night where she might have been harmed. Keeping you in the castle was to prevent you from returning to a guardian who has no conscience about how he uses you.” His voice was edged with hard command, but instead of striking her as arrogant, Synclair seemed worthy of the tone. His eyes sliced into hers. “You were the one who kept to your chamber after that, Lady. It was no simple task to meet you outside it.”
And yet he had managed it far too often for her faltering self-discipline. Each time he’d managed to intercept her had chiseled away at her resolve to push him away. Now, with his eyes on her again, she could feel every hole in the walls around her heart.
“I had to sequester myself because you lacked the sense to stay away from me.” He was too large and too tempting. Justina stepped away from him, needing distance to regain her composure. There were solid reasons why she could not allow him to pursue her; she simply couldn’t think of any of them at the moment.
“If either of us lacks sense, Lady, it is you.” Synclair didn’t follow her. The knight swallowed further words before they crossed his lips, frustration darkening his face. He gripped his wide belt and drew in a deep breath.
“Your guardian is unjust, Justina.”
“That is not uncommon nor does it change the fact that he is my guardian.”
He took a step toward her. “That does not excuse him.” Fury edged his words, noble fire that stole the breath from her lungs. All of her reasons for refusing him flew back into her mind. Her knees nearly buckled beneath the weight.
Justina clasped her hands together, making herself steady and poised for the rejection she must give him.
Synclair didn’t give her the chance. He closed the gap between them, his hand cupping her chin and holding it.
“Do not waste yet more of your breath.” There was a hard warning glittering in his eyes and his tone was as sharp as steel.
“I must. You cannot champion me.”
“I assure you, Justina, I can.”
She drew in a deep breath, frustration biting into her. Trust the man to take her words as an insult.
“It is not a matter of your ability; I am not a good match for you.”
The fingers clasping her chin tightened to the point of discomfort but he stiffened and forced his grip to relax before true pain needled her. He lifted his hand away and she pulled in a deep breath, determined to cut him with her next words and send him away before he was smeared with the stains of her sins. She couldn’t bear that idea, and it tormented her unmercifully.
“That is my choice, madam, and what I have decided is that you shall be mine.”
“Synclair—”
He moved lightning quick once more, reaching out to slide one arm around her waist and pull her against his body. He also stepped forward so that she felt like he was capturing her, and indeed the knight was. She felt his strength wrap around her in a solid curtain that blocked out everything except him.
“Mine, Lady. I swear it to you.”
Swear ... For a man such as he, that was a solemn oath. She witnessed it flickering in his eyes as her breath lodged in her throat. Justina shook her head, every fiber of her being refusing to allow him to come anywhere near her sordid life.
“I have said it, Justina, and I plan to keep my word.”
His mouth claimed hers in a motion that was forceful and demanding. She leaned away from him, seeking escape from her own longing for him. The hand that had cupped her chin found the back of her head and held it steady while his mouth reclaimed hers. There was no further way to avoid his kiss. He took her mouth, demanding that her lips part to allow the kiss to deepen.
God help her, she wanted to do exactly that.
Running through her was a current of excitement she had never felt before. In spite of her husband and lovers, a single kiss had never sent her blood racing through her body at such a speed that her head spun in a lightheaded manner. She had never noticed that a man’s mouth might taste sweet.
Synclair’s did.
A soft moan rose from her chest, somehow escaping through their joined lips, and the kiss changed. Synclair still held her hostage to his demands but his lips began to slip and slide across her own, gently teasing her lower lip before she felt the tip of his tongue flick over the sensitive skin. She shivered. Enjoyment took command of her body, making it impossible to control her responses. For all her experience, she discovered that she was powerless against his kiss because of the sweet sensation it unleashed upon her.
“Your body craves my touch, Justina. I can feel you trembling in my arms.”
She clamped her mouth closed against a sharp cry because she had never heard Synclair use such a tone before. It was deep and husky, touching off a moment of panic because she recognized how devastating that voice would be. She would become enchanted by it, in but a few more words.
“I am no stranger to lust.”
He growled at her, the hand holding the back of her head tightening while his eyes narrowed with his displeasure. She could see his temper straining against his control and the battle mesmerized her.
“Do not belittle yourself, Justina.”
She pushed against his chest, struggling when she knew that the only way she might be free was by his will. “Release me now.”
He grunted but his embrace opened, allowing her to place distance between them. She felt chilled the moment she moved, her body lamenting the steps that she took away from him. The skin of her lips was suddenly more sensitive than it had ever been, longing for her to return to him and offer him a kiss in return for the one he had given her.
“I am honest with you, Synclair. I have no more liking for it than you. Yet it is the truth. You must not seek me out.”
“And you, madam, would be wise to learn that I am not given to making declarations lightly.”
He meant what he said, she could hear the determination in his voice. It was there in his expression, too, and Justina discovered she had too much liking for the way he looked when he was staring at her. It was so tempting to sink into his gaze and allow it to wrap around her like a cloak that could cut the chill of life’s injustices.
A blast from a hunting horn broke through the early morning from somewhere back in the trees. The sound startled the horses, sending a twist of fright through her belly as she heard the stallion snort; if the animal reared up they would be directly beneath its sharp hooves. Synclair twisted in an instant and reached for the reins of his stallion, gripping the leather just as the horse was rising up. With a powerful motion of his thick arms, he controlled the huge animal, moving in a slow circle as he soothed it with several long strokes down its face. Justina blew out a stiff breath