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the scrunchy thing he’d slid from her thick hair into his pocket, and gave her an unrepentant grin. ‘Good,’ he said, regarding his handiwork. ‘But this…’ with his other hand he began to tease out the ruthlessly restrained locks into a mass of gleaming soft waves ‘…is better…much better.’
    â€˜Now look what you’ve done!’ Tess fumed, belatedly pulling away. She couldn’t understand why she’d just stood there and let him. It wasn’t as if she’d enjoyed the soft touch of his fingertips against her scalp. The drugged lethargy that had stolen over her couldn’t possibly be classified along with pleasure.
    â€˜I am.’ There was unnecessary force in his voice. There was also a weird expression on his face—it was the sort of expression that made Tess’s heart thud and her throat close up.
    â€˜It’s all mussed up.’ She lifted a fretful hand to her head.
    â€˜I must look messy.’
    â€˜Want to muss mine?’ he offered, raising a hand to his glossy raven head.
    Hot desire smothered her like a heavy blanket. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think—she could imagine, though. Her fingertips actually tingled as she imagined sinking them deep into that luscious dark mass to trace the outline of his skull.
    Emerald eyes wide and shocked, she shook her head dumbly.
    Rafe shrugged. ‘Fair enough. Don’t forget I offered, though.’
    â€˜I won’t.’
    â€˜I think you should definitely aim for sexy, not neat.’ His eyes were on the glossy waving chestnut strands that fell just below her shoulders. ‘Competition will distract Chloe.’
    That was uncalled for and a little bit cruel. ‘Very funny!’ she snapped. The day she could offer Chloe competition was never likely to dawn and they both knew it.
    â€˜If Chloe went out without her make-up and designer clothes nobody would give her a second glance.’
    It occurred to Tess as he took hold of her chin and tilted her face first one way and then the other, subjecting her clear-cut profile to a comprehensive appraisal, that she really ought to complain about this sort of high-handed treatment.
    â€˜You’ve got the most incredible skin.’ He made it sound like an accusation. ‘All over,’ he added hoarsely.
    Tess stiffened and tugged her chin free. ‘How would you know?’ Galloping alarm deepened the green of her eyes by several shades.
    Rafe shrugged. ‘I did put you to bed, and you weren’t wearing anything under that…’ he searched for an accurate description of her nightwear ‘…thing.’
    â€˜What a complete sleaze you are!’ She choked, going hot and sweaty all over.
    â€˜My hand quite unintentionally—yes, unintentionally ,’ he repeated firmly in response to her hoarse derisive hoot,
    â€˜came into contact with your behind— so hang me ! I could have dropped you—would you have preferred that? I’ll remember the next time.’
    â€˜There won’t be a next time.’ Tess’s breathing was laboured and noisy. She couldn’t wipe away the image in her head of his fingers moving over…Self-derision swelled in her tight chest. Has it come to the point when sexual thrills are so sparse in my life that I’m reduced to wishing I’d been conscious while I was being accidentally groped?
    â€˜I had no idea you were such a prude.’
    If he had been privy to some of the fantasies swirling around in her head, he’d know how wildly inappropriate that description was! ‘Don’t you dare take that patronising tone with me, Rafe Farrar!’
    â€˜And considering you were the one squirming and strangling me…Talk about overreaction.’ He began to talk fast to cover up the fact that he’d just revealed how memorable her sleepy embrace was turning out to be. ‘What did you think I’d done?