“It wasn’t for my lack of trying,” he insisted, hoping her suddenly serious expres

“It wasn’t for my lack of trying,” he insisted, hoping her suddenly serious expression meant she believed him. “All I wanted was to speak with you alone. In the end, I didn’t even manage that much.” He reached hesitantly toward her face to twine a long golden strand of hair around one finger. “Forgive me. There was so much more I wanted to tell you.”

In one quick fluid movement that caught him totally unaware she dipped forward, molding against him like melting wax and sliding her arms around his waist. “You could tell me now.” They were cat-purred words, soft as velvet, but they stung like fiery arrows upon his lips and there was only one sensible, one possible response to such an onslaught.

Instant, unconditional surrender.