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the sleek line of calf and ankle. He clenched his fits, swallowing hard to control his urge to fall upon her immediately. A constricted moan rose from his throat as he absorbed every inch of her beauty.
    After bending to remove her shoes and stockings, Philippe lifted Gabby into the tub, ignoring her protests. Taking a piece of soap from the washstand, he rubbed her body until a thick cloud of lather rose up around her breasts. Gabby blushed profusely as his hands traveled intimately over her.
    “Stand up!” Philippe ordered brusquely.
    Somewhat subdued by his forceful manner, Gabby had no choice but to comply. The crimson tinge of her skin deepened. His intimate touches sent her senses reeling and turned her legs to jelly, but she stood as if carved from stone, eyes tightly closed, unwilling to betray her humiliation.
    “Sit!” he ordered, speaking as if to a recalcitrant child. Automatically Gabby obeyed, only too glad to sink beneath the murky, concealing water. Then, to her further chagrin, he began to lather her hair, scrubbing until she cried for mercy. “Rinse!” he said as he turned away from her. Obediently, she immersed her head beneath the water to remove the soap. After several such dunkings that left her hair gleaming like a bright halo, she looked around for a towel and was startled to see that Philippe had removed his clothing.
    “What… what are you doing?” she asked in alarm, lowering her eyes in embarrassment.
    “Something I’ve wanted to do from the first moment I laid eyes on you but was obliged to postpone.” He moved closer and handed her a towel.
    “I’m not ready to get out yet,” she insisted vehemently, sliding back into the cooling water, trying hard to avoid staring at his rigid manhood.
    “Yes, you are, ma petite ,” he replied with aplomb as he lifted her bodily from the tub and rubbed her briskly with the towel until her skin glowed.
    “Now what are you going to do?” Gabby asked, eyeing him warily.
    Philippe drew back, a perplexed frown creasing his forehead. “Surely your mother spoke to you about what to expect? She assured me she would.”
    “She said only that I must submit to you, and little else.” The defiant tilt to her chin told Philippe that she had no intention of following her mother’s advice.
    “Mon dieu, am I to be teacher as well as lover?” cursed Philippe disgustedly. “Well, my innocent, I see that I must explain to you that which your mother withheld.” Without preliminary, and in blunt language, Philippe told Gabby exactly what he planned to do. It was time she learned the role she was to play in his life, he reasoned, a smile of indulgent amusement crossing his face as shock, disbelief, and finally outrage registered on her expressive features in that order.
    Gabby’s mouth formed a perfect “O” and her delicate, golden brows lifted several inches. “But that is not possible,” she protested in a small voice. “You are much too… I mean… surely, I am too…” Embarrassment caused her to falter. His expression told her that he spoke the truth and that somehow she must endure this final degradation.
    “Not only is it possible, ma chere, but altogether enjoyable,” he promised mysteriously. Gabby opened her mouth to protest but found her lips captured in an agonizingly slow kiss, his tongue probing, demanding. She began to struggle, Striking out at him with ineffectual blows to his powerful back and shoulders, her pleas and entreaties lost in the sigh of the wind.
    He was like a man possessed. Her budlike nipples seemed made for his mouth as he coaxed them into erectness with his tongue. His lips and hands were everywhere as he attempted to arouse a spark of desire from her shrinking flesh. His passion grew as his kisses covered her breasts, her belly, but Gabby was like one dead inside, frightened out of her wits by the man ravishing her. Finally, unable to control the fire raging within him, he forced a knee between her thighs and