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but a jest!  Can you not take a tease?  Please, open the door.”
     
    She stopped, listening for
movement inside, or a response.  Either he was performing his silence trick
from the night before, he couldn’t hear her, or he didn’t want to.  She’d not
give up now that she’d found him.  “You’re behaving like a child.”  She stopped
and giggled at the incongruity of the situation--she felt like her father
dealing with one of her sisters’ tantrums.  “I’ve come to make amends.  You
cannot continue to avoid me ... unless you’d rather set me free.”
     
    The latch clicked, and the
door swung slowly open.  She held her hand out, in case it was some trick, then
moved through the doorway.  He was standing, facing her with his arms across
his chest.  His expression remained dark.
     
    “I’m not a child.  I have
seen centuries of existence--”  He stopped his tirade as she clutched her
stomach and laughed.  He frowned at her.  “What do you find so humorous?”
     
    Bianca wiped tears away and
grinned at him.  “My apologies,” she sputtered at his fierce expression and
clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle another round of giggles.  He looked
nothing so much like a man whose pride had been pricked.
     
    Damian smiled as if it
suddenly dawned on him what she’d found so funny.  It was a true smile that
reached his eyes, warming them with life, and it wiped all thought of humor
from her mind.  Seeing those beguiling lips turned up sparked a reaction low in
her belly, and her heart fluttered as he moved forward and met her in the
center of the library.  He looked intent on some purpose.
     
    She looked up at him,
breathless all of a sudden to find him so near.  She opened her mouth to speak,
but he raised a hand to silence her.  “Hush.  Hold a moment.”  Damian circled
her.  “This is not how this gown is meant to be worn.”
     
    She startled when his hands
touched her back, and she realized he’d removed his gauntlets.  His cool
fingers slipped through the weight of her hair to touch her back gently, and
her skin tingled at the slight contact, prickling with gooseflesh.  Her neck
felt ripe for the taking, eager for the feel of his lips.  Never before had she
felt so exposed, and it was strange that he evoked such vulnerability within
her.  She should not feel anything, least of all this odd weakness.
     
    With care, he tightened her
lacings until the gown clung tightly to her waist, and her breasts swelled
above the neckline.  She felt the slight brush of his hands on the small of her
back, but knew she must imagine him lingering so near her buttocks.
     
    He moved around her with an
appraising eye, examining her body from foot to head.  She swallowed tightly as
his gaze locked with her own, and pleasure glimmered in the blue depths of his
eyes.  The light mood of before seemed to have changed to something darker,
more seductive, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it was all in her
imagination.
     
    “The indigo suits you, Lady
Bianca,” he said with a husky drawl that tightened the expectancy of her
nerves.
     
    Bianca resisted the impulse
to shiver.  “Thank you, my lord.”
     
    “Damian,” he corrected.
     
    “Damian.  I ... I’ve come
here to strike a deal.”
     
    He arched a brow, looked down
the bare sweep of her throat and breasts.  “But we’ve already made one, unless
you’ve thought of something more ... pleasurable to us both.”
     
    She swallowed again, trying
to moisten her suddenly dry throat.  He’d told her he had no such interests,
and she’d almost believed him.  Could immortal beings share the appetites of
men?  No, she must remain focused.  It made no difference to her if he felt
desire.  “I believe I could not heal you before because my powers are not
strong enough.”
     
    His eyes hardened at the
reminder of her failure.  “Go on.”
     
    “To increase my strength, I
must gather certain things to give me aid.  But