Page 101 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

All because she’d dared to grasp the one thing she had wanted, truly wanted just for herself, in her whole life.

The boat rocked beneath her. Shyness and embarrassment overtook her. She kept her eyes trained resolutely on the horizon, refusing to look at him. She’d been humiliated enough already.

The heat from his body as he sat next to her seeped through the thin material of her dress.

“I finally felt seen,” she whispered.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, then surrendered to temptation and let her head relax against him.

“When I played upon your sense of duty and loyalty back in the cottage, you agreed almost immediately.”

“You always were good at using people’s emotions.”

She said it without malice, but could still feel his body tense.

“I sound like a bastard.”

“You could be.” A sigh escaped her as she leaned deeper into his warmth. Utterly shameless.

Just one minute. One more minute and then I’ll move.

“Then why did you keep working for me?”

“Because there was more to you than that. I didn’t always agree with your methods, but I never doubted your intentions. You fought for the people. For the country.”

Oh, how that had mesmerized her. To see someone who others viewed as cold, intractable, and yet come to see how deeply they cared. Unlike her mother, a vapid creature with no interests other than herself, and her father, addicted to his role but not the people he served, Julius’s convictions had ensnared her, deepened her commitment to her role, to her country, tohim.

“Wasn’t there an abbot or some other religious figure who said the road to hell was paved with good intentions?”

His voice rumbled against her cheek.

“You are a good ruler, Julius. You and your father made me proud to be Rodinian.”

He froze. Then his arm tightened and pulled her closer, enveloping her in that intoxicating cedar against the backdrop of sea air.

“How did I ever deserve you as my protector, Esmerelda?”

She lifted her head, turned to look at him. Her breath caught in her chest as she realized just how close their lips were. Her eyes moved from his mouth to his gaze. Need burned hot, making deep brown flare into amber. One hand came up, fingers grazing her jaw before they tangled in her hair and pulled her closer, stopping just shy of her mouth.

His lips parted. A whimper escaped, almost pleading, as need built in her, coiling her body tighter and tighter until she could barely resist it.

But she wouldn’t be the first to yield. Not this time.

He murmured her name once more.

And then he kissed her.

Oh, dear heaven.

No slow, teasing kiss that had brought their bodies together in the Paris suite. This kiss claimed, conquered, branded. His lips moved over hers, confident and yet with a frantic edge that made her heart beat out of control as fire suffused her body.

He crushed her against his body. Delirious desire shot through her veins. She straddled his lap, her fingers sliding into his hair as she returned his kiss, pouring over a month’s worth of longing and heartache into their embrace.

His tongue teased the seam of her mouth. Her lips parted and he plundered. With each stroke, energy pulsed through her. One hand stayed on her back and kept her anchored against him. The other quested upward, fingertips leaving a searing trail as they delved into her curls and pulled her head back. She arched against him, a protesting whimper escaping as he moved his mouth from hers. The whimper turned into a moan of satisfaction as he kissed the line of her jaw, down her neck, then lower still until his lips grazed the swells of her breasts.

“Julius...”

His hand moved from her back to her shoulder to the ties of her dress straps. She felt the material give as he pulled—

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