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shirt, he brought his arms up around her and propelled them both toward the surface in a rush.
    She blinked the water from her eyes. Opening them wide, she found herself staring directly into his ridiculously handsome face, which was split with an engaging grin.
    “I knew you could not resist.”
    “Bloody hell,” she whispered. “You’re mad.”
    He just smiled bigger and arched his winged black brows. “Were you attempting to rescue me?”
    Feeling exceeding disconcerted, not only by the realization he had not been in any danger at all, which was astounding, but also by the fact that he continued to hold her against him in a way that had them pressed to each other from chest to knee. His arms were tight enough around her middle that she was lifted off the floor of the natural pool while the water lapped just below her breasts.
    Planting the heels of her hands against his shoulders, she exerted some pressure.
    He didn’t budge.
    “Admit it,” he said, narrowing his gaze to strips of vivid green.
    She did not miss how his voice lowered to a warm drawl. Nor did she miss how the muscled shape of his shoulders felt hard like marble yet far from cold beneath her hands. Nor could she possibly ignore the heat that seeped from his body into hers even while the water swirled frigidly around them.
    “You were devastated by the thought I might expire down there alone in the murky depths.”
    Hannah executed a gentle eye-roll at his last statement. “This pool is hardly murky. And how on earth did you manage to stay down there so long without breath?”
    He shrugged, and the movement caused an interesting friction against the peaks of her breasts.
    Hannah shook off the delightful sensation.
    “When I was six years old, I got a cramp while swimming in the pond on our estate and couldn’t get to the surface. One of my brothers saw me thrashing about and rescued me, but I discovered I rather enjoyed the attention I garnered from my brush with death. Mother was so rattled she did not allow me back to the pond the rest of the year. I spent my time practicing how to hold my breath, extending the time I could resist the urge to inhale. When the next summer came along, I played a little prank on my siblings.” His smile turned naughty and Hannah’s heart took a little dive. “They didn’t think it was nearly as funny as I did.”
    “I imagine not,” she chided. “That is a terrible prank.”
    “I learned early that in order to be noticed in a family the size of mine, one often needed to go to extremes.”
    That explained a lot. “Just how large is your family?”
    “Ridiculously large.”
    “How ridiculous?” She was curious despite herself.
    “I have two older brothers, four younger, and five bright and beautiful sisters, the youngest having been born just three years ago. She was a bit unexpected.”
    “You have got to be joking,” she accused. To an only child, the numbers were simply astounding.
    “Not at all,” he said with a wide grin. “My parents are still very active, you could say.”
    “Oh goodness, I would rather you didn’t.”
    “Does the idea of procreation make you nervous?”
    She eyed him warily. His tone was light and joking, but he still hadn’t loosened his inappropriate embrace.
    And she had long since stopped trying to get him to.
    “Of course not,” she replied honestly. “It is a natural occurrence in the animal kingdom. For all our airs as human beings, we are far more animalistic than we would like to admit. We have simply learned to disguise our instincts behind manners, or we have forgotten them altogether in the hopes of distancing ourselves from the natural world.” She sighed, thinking of her life before England. “It is rather sad really.”
    “You are a source of unending astonishment.”
    Hannah studied his face for evidence of ridicule. “Don’t you mean amusement?”
    She gave another push at his shoulders. He shrugged again and finally loosened his hold enough for