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put him up against Aaron Prescott any day!"
    "It isn't Prescott he'll be up against," Gage pointed out calmly. "I'm the one he'd have to face first. And something tells me you won't ask him to take that risk."
    "What makes you think that I wouldn't?" She breathed tightly, knowing with sickening sureness that he was quite right.
    "Because you wouldn't ask a man to fight your battles for you unless you were prepared to commit yourself to him in return. I got the feeling from what I saw tonight that you're a long way from committing yourself to King Tanner. Which means you'll be fighting your own war, doesn't it, Rani?"
    "For a messenger boy you're making a lot of assumptions!" she lashed back, infuriated at the accuracy of those assumptions.
    "But I'm not just the messenger, Rani, and you know it," he retorted steadily. "I'm the battlefield commander Prescott has selected."
    "Just how much is he paying you for this, Gage?" she taunted harshly.
    There was a dangerous stillness about him as he met her eyes. "Does it matter?"
    Definitely his weak spot, Rani told herself with satisfaction. Gage Fletcher didn't want to discuss his own motivation for accepting this job. She zeroed in on that weakness with grim satisfaction.
    "Just curiosity. One does wonder how much one is worth in a situation like this," she murmured. "I must say, I'm impressed with Prescott's ability to snap his fingers and have you at his beck and call. I was merely wondering what the going rate is for this sort of thing. Who knows? I might want to hire you myself sometime in the future. Or someone like you. If I paid you enough money, Gage, would you run and fetch for me?"
    The stillness in his kneeling frame had been the quiet before the storm. Before she understood exactly what was happening, Gage seemed to explode into action. He moved, stretching out one square hand across the churning water to grasp her around the back of the neck.
    Rani started to struggle, but everything happened much too quickly. She was being dragged out of the water and up onto the edge of the small spa before she could even utter a half-strangled protest.
    "Gage! Stop it! What do you think you're doing?"
    Then she was on her feet and the gold towel was wrapped once around her water-slick body. Still the hand at the back of her neck gripped her as if she were a kitten, holding her in place, and then she was being hauled against Gage's massive strength.
    Stunned at the rush of events, Rani lifted her gaze In wide-eyed protest, her lips parting for the stream of abuse she intended to hurl. But the words were stopped in her throat as his mouth came down on hers.
    "The fee I'd charge you for doing your running and fetching has nothing to do with money!" he grated roughly against her lips. Then his arms were around her, crushing her into his warmth while his mouth sought to dominate hers completely.
    The controlled explosion of his power was translated into a kiss that was wholly unlike anything Rani had ever experienced. It seemed to pour itself into her, swamping her senses and wiping out the fleeting thought of resistance. Rani sagged beneath the shock wave of the embrace, her body leaning into Gage's strength for support.
    His mouth moved on hers with electrifying intensity, and she knew Instinctively that the initial assault was meant to stun her responses. There was a damp heat in the contact of their lips that flowed through her like lightning. Locked to him by arms of sinewy power, her senses swirling about her in the darkness, Rani let her lips flower open to admit the surging thrust of Gage's tongue. She seemed to have no choice.
    With a muffled groan he acknowledged the victory, seeking out the taste and feel of her inner warmth. Then her own tongue was located and coerced into an intimate battle that was incredibly exhilarating. She began to fight back for the sheer excitement of the skirmish. Unaware of what she was doing, her hands lifted to the broad shoulders of the man who