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instead.
    “How dare you lay your hand on me, Grendell!”
    To her surprise his hand wasn’t withdrawn. In fact he tightened his grip and moved closer, so close that his body brushed against hers. Goosebumps rose on her skin and she felt her breasts begin to ache and tighten. Oh no, no! This was not good. She must escape him now, at once,
    before her body betrayed her completely and something happened that must not happen.
    “Lady Melina.”
    S he attempted to shrug his hand off, and when that didn’t work she began to prise at it with her fingers. Bu t still he would not relinquish her. His grip was iron, but gentle; he was not hurting her, just holding her.
    “Let me go,” she hissed.
    Was he smiling? Melina could see the curve of his sensual mouth, and before she could stop herself she looked up into his dark eyes. No, no, no! But it was too late and already she was sinking into the midnight pools, feeling her heart begin its heavy pounding.
    Pleasurable
    sensations
    rippled
    through her—it was as if her body was no longer her own to command—and she struggled to maintain control. And then his mouth was on hers. Hot and hard.
    She was too shocked to move. A blast of heat scolded her as if she stood in the doorway to hell. But why was hell so pleasurable? Why was she feeling as if being here, in his powerful arms, was exactly where she should be?
    Her own weakness frightened her and suddenly she was struggling in earnest.
    His mouth slanted over hers, his lips moving in a constant mesmerising caress. Melina twisted against him, desperately seeking escape. Not because she was afraid, it wasn’t that, but because she was weakening rapidly in her resolve not to join in.
    His kisses, the press of his body to hers,
    was
    eating
    away
    at
    her
    determination. From the moment he’d been introduced to her by her father, she’d wanted him. Wanted him in a way so sensual, so carnal, it made her burn with need and shame.
    A lady of her rank did not desire a lowly bodyguard! And yet it seemed that this lady did.
    “Melina,” his husky voice was a groan. “So beautiful . . .”
    In a moment she’d be lying spread beneath him.
    He r panicked elbow found his solar plexus and he huffed out a breath.
    Melina took advantage of the slackening of his arms to wriggle free, and then backed away a yard or two. Rumpled, her fair hair coming down, her blue eyes flashing. This was better. She felt back in control now, and suddenly she was angry.
    “A bodyguard does not dare to touch a lady,” she said in a low voice. “My father will arrest you and have you thrashed for this.”
    He stared at her a moment, absently rubbing the spot where her elbow had struck him, and there was no fear or remorse in his face whatsoever. In fact there was a glint to his eyes that told her he’d enjoyed their tussle and a smirk to his lips that suggested he might be about to do it again.
    She mightn’t escape the next time.
    She might not want to.
    With a soft cry Melina spun around and ran through the garden, her skirts fluttering about her, and her long fair hair tumbling from its braids. Her gaze was fixed on the castle door that led to safety from the urgent sensations rampaging through her body, from the man watching her go, and from the knowledge that beat in her temples like a drum that she must go to Lord Saunders a virgin or the alliance with her father would be voided.
    In the airless garden a blackbird began to sing, the sound sweet and pure, and suddenly tears were stinging Melina’s eyes. She was in a snare. Even while her lips were burning from Grendell’s kisses and her body was aching for his touch, she knew he was forbidden to her. Her destiny was already written.
    Life was unfair. She’d seen the way the serving girls looked at Grendell. If she were a lowly maid she could have had him in her arms by now. In her bed.
    She could love whomever she wished and it would not matter.
    Once, last year, she had come upon one of the maids