Nicholas stood still before her, and she found that the compulsion in her was greater than her will to resist. Leaning up toward him on her toes, she hesitated only a moment before touching her lips to his.

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“Don’t touch me…” he said in a thick and deep voice, keeping his back to her.

She thought she heard the hissing noise again, but she listened to him and stood where she was, watching him in absolute puzzlement.

“It’s all right, Nicholas. You don’t have to feel as if you’re pushing me too far or anything like that. I want this… I wanted to kiss you. I want-” She almost spoke the truth about wanting much more than just his kiss, but seeing his reaction to just kissing her, she realized before she spoke it that he might not be ready for a connection like that with her.

He tilted his head back slightly and breathed out slowly. She waited silently, her mind a hurricane of questions, her heart beating hard, her breath shallow, wondering who he was and what had stopped him in such a heated moment.

Nicholas finally turned back toward her. His jawline was set hard and his eyes were sharp, but his voice was steady and calm. “We need to go. This shouldn’t have happened between us.”

Her heart caught in her throat and she felt her stomach tighten.

Walking to the bedroom door, he held it open and waited for her to walk through it. She followed him down the hall and to the first floor, and back out to his car. Nothing was spoken between them and she had begun to wonder if she shouldn’t have kissed him to begin with, but she knew that she could not have held back in that moment with him in his bedroom. The thought of how he had kissed her, held her so tightly, and touched her body made everything in her tense as her breath caught again.

He sniffed the air subtly and turned to look sidelong at her as he drove down the narrow road to her home. She lowered a brow curiously as she got the distinct impression that he was completely aware of what she was thinking and feeling about him. She bit pensively at her lower lip, wondering on it.

When they reached Grayson Manor, he walked her to the door and his expression softened some. He smiled at her as she turned to say goodbye to him.

“Thank you for the visit today and for showing me your beautiful home. I’m sorry if things went further than you wanted them to.”

She meant it, at least that she was sorry if he hadn’t wanted to go that far. She wasn’t sorry that it had happened; she was still tingling and warm from the feel of him with her.

The corner of his mouth turned up and he reached his hand to her face and stroked the back of his fingers over her cheek gently. Every place where his skin touched hers left a trail of electricity sparking beneath his touch, making her wish that he was touching more of her. Her heart skipped a few beats and she let her gaze drop to his mouth for a brief moment

“I very much enjoyed kissing you; don’t doubt that. It’s just better that we keep this… safe.” His eyes held hers for a lingering moment, and then he dropped his hand and stepped back from her. “You’re quite irresistible as it is, without stoking the fires of temptation.” He smiled fully at her then and inclined his head in a slight bow. “Thank you for an intriguing and exciting day. I enjoyed it.”

Everything in her felt as if it was rushing through her again, and she drew in a deep breath and tried to steady herself.

He turned from her and went back to his car, and Claire watched with longing as he drove away down the lane. She rested one hand over her heart and sighed. There was some tendril of relief in the back of her mind that she was leaving England not too long from that moment, because she knew that if she was staying in England, it would be extremely difficult not to fall for Nicholas Ryder.

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