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didn’t last long, a fraction of a second at best, but it was long enough for Shelby to see a vulnerable side of Logan she’d never known existed.   Maybe he didn’t love her in the same way she loved him, but she was his wife, and if Logan believed she’d so much as let another man touch her, that masculine pride that was so much a part of him would be completely destroyed.  
    She was his, she belonged to him, and Shelby knew with undying certainty that Logan would never make love to her again if he thought she had been unfaithful.   Not that there much chance he would want to anyway, considering she’d run out on him, but there was still one small, very foolish part of her that wanted to believe she would fight her way out of this nightmare and get her life back.  
    If only she could be sure he would never cheat on her again, or at least understand the reasons he had done it to begin with so she would know how to be a better wife, a better lover, the kind of woman who could hold on to her man.   Shelby met his piercing gaze with a fearless determination to make him see the truth in her own eyes.  
    “My reasons for leaving had nothing to do with another man.   There has never been anyone for me but you, and I would never, never betray you that way.”
    “Even though you thought we were divorced?”
    “Logan, I love you,” she said softly.   “Do you honestly think I could be with someone else when my heart belongs to you?”
    Logan studied her face for a moment, fervently praying he wouldn’t find any signs of deception.   The gnawing fear that his sweet, beautiful Shelby had been lured away from him by another man slowly began to subside.   Still, some lingering doubt remained because he was finding it difficult to dismiss behavior that was so uncharacteristic of the woman he’d married.   Never in all the countless times they had made love had Shelby taken the initiative in such an assertive manner.  
    Admittedly he had been aroused, excruciatingly so, but who could blame him when she was grinding those slender hips against him as if she wanted him to make love to her right there?   But it wasn’t just Shelby’s behavior that had shocked him, it was his own behavior as well.   She’d gotten him so worked up, so damn hot for her that he’d nearly lost control and given her what she so obviously wanted.  
    It scared him, shook him to the core, because he was always so mindful of the differences in their size.   Shelby was so small, so delicate; it terrified him to think how easily he could hurt her if he made love to her with anything but the greatest of care.   The first time they’d made love he allowed his control to slip, but even then he hadn’t unleashed the full power of his passion on her.
    “It’s the way I was acting that makes you suspicious,” Shelby continued when he didn’t say anything.   “Logan, I’m sorry.   I lost my head and couldn’t seem to stop myself.   It’s just that…it’s been so long and I wanted you to know…” she shook her head, overcome with emotion and a longing for something that could never be.
    “Wanted me to know what, cara mia ?”
    Tears pooled in her eyes.   “That I still love you,” she said in a strangled whisper.  
    “If that is true,” and he prayed to God that it was, “then why did you leave me?”
    She blinked and the unshed tears slid down her face.   “Because I’m not what you need in a woman.”
    Logan’s brows drew together.   “Not what I… mio Dio , what makes you think that?”
    Shelby lowered her eyes and stared at his chest, feeling as if her heart was being torn out all over again.   The woman he’d been with was her complete opposite; blond hair with a full, curvaceous figure and a sultry air about her that told anyone who took even a passing glance that she very much aware of just how sexy she was.   This was a woman who wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted and she would use whatever