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reconciled," he said
softly. The couple did not even see them.
    Jerrod looked into Sandra’s face. It was
flushed, she was aroused as much as he was. Her lips were swollen
from his aggressive kisses. Her eyes were wide, alive, full of
desire.
    He took her hand lifted it to his mouth, and
kissed it gently. Sandra's eyes fluttered shut, her lips parted
slightly and she wetted them with her tongue. A look of ardent
desire spread over her beautiful face. He resolved to do that
regularly for as long as he was here.
    A pain tore through his heart. As long as he
was here.
    Could he let this go any further? For he knew
if he took her to his bed, he would never want her to leave
it.
    And he would never want to leave
her.
    "It seems I made rather a spectacle of myself,"
he said, his voice far huskier than he had hoped. "In public. Not
the act of a gentleman. Forgive me, Sandra, for such crass
behavior."
    She opened her eyes and looked at him with
confused indulgence.
    Before she could reply, he stood, still holding
her hand. "Perhaps it would be best if we returned to your home at
once."
    Sandra stood close, hip to hip. "And, Mr. Ross,
what do you have in mind?" She whispered seductively.
    No. He could not. As tempting as she was, he
could not make love to her. It would make their parting even harder
to bear. And he had to leave, he could focus on nothing
else.
    He stepped away. "I am quite tired, all this,
these last couple of days, has been much to absorb. I think I would
like to retire for the night." His voice was far cooler than he
intended. But he could not allow anything between them.
Anything...more.
    Her look of playful confusion was soon replaced
with a look of hurt rejection. Damme. He felt a right cad, but it
was for the best.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    The next day, before calling Brian, Sandra gave
Jerrod some books on electricity as he wished, getting a promise
from him to not touch anything. No playing with the electrical
sockets, she teased gently. But really, she did worry. There
was so much he did not know, like how to protect himself. She had
to do it. Protect him. Surely she was capable of protecting
someone. She had failed so miserably with her student. Maybe that
is why she brought this strange man into her home, thinking she
could save him in some way, help him, protect him and show him the
way. That, and he stirred her desire, bringing out feelings she
thought she would never have for any man.
    She had gotten no sleep the previous night,
knowing he was just down the hall. His heated kissing yesterday on
the bench still consumed her thoughts, haunted her dreams. Oh God,
never, never had she ever felt what she had from just the slightest
touch of his hand.
    She closed her eyes. And what he did, kissing
and sucking on her breast, almost worshipping it. She would have
gone back home with him and dragged him to her bed happily. But
Jerrod had made it quite clear that was not going to happen. Was it
his era's gentleman sensibilities? Or, maybe he decided, he didn't
want her that way. She just assumed people from that era were
passionless, regardless of what she read in romance
novels.
    Jerrod proved her wrong, very wrong. And it was
obvious he had not gotten much sleep either. His eyes were
red-rimmed, dark circles were heavy on his face. Things were a bit
strained this morning, over their tea and toast. He would hardly
look at her, answering her repeated attempts at conversation in
mono-syllables. Not unfriendly, just distant, like he was lost in
his thoughts. She couldn’t blame him, really. So much had happened,
so quickly, in so many ways.
    She had to admit, his brush-off of her
yesterday still hurt. But there was no disguising his interest. She
had been all but impaled on his blatant erection. She had turned to
liquid under his magical lips. So...why?
    Of course, they hadn't discussed the
possibility of his having to stay. Then what? She had taken him in
as one would a stray cat. Is that what he was, her pet?