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looked, even when dripping wet, his
hair a tangle around his strong features.
    His gaze danced over her face, and when his voice came, it
was a low, soft rumble that skated across her skin like a caress. A very wanted
and needed caress. “Worried about me?”
    She opened her mouth to retaliate and couldn’t think at all.
It took her a moment too long, and when he started to chuckle, she almost
cracked him in the jaw.
    “I think I like that,” he said quietly.
    But even low and soft, his voice sounded intimate and as if
he were stroking a woman into submission.
    His voice echoed inside her, doing strange things to her
that she couldn’t define. She found her voice but it was shaky. “What?”
    “I like you being worried about me.”
    Anger replaced her concern. “You could have torn your wound
open jumping in after Tamina. What were you thinking?”
    He shook his head. “Hopefully saving Tamina. You don’t swim,
remember?”
    “I could if I had to.”
    He sniffed. “I was not assured of that. All I remember is—”
    “Stop. I don’t want to remember. Don’t you dare remind me of
that time you tried to give me a swimming lesson. It was a complete disaster.”
    “So it was. Why do you insist on being embarrassed by things
that happened when you were so young?”
    She poked his chest with her index finger. “Because I was a
fool then. I trusted too much. I trusted you.”
    Amusement played with his lips, and her gaze fell on that
mouth with a hunger that rocked her.
    “You cannot hide from me, Aknada.” His gaze turned serious
and intent.
    “Of course I can. I’m not the same woman you knew three
years ago.”
    “There are parts of you that are the same. Beautiful and
wonderful parts I refuse to believe are destroyed.”
    She flushed, felt the heat rising in her cheeks and wanted to
cover her face with her cool palms.
    She covered her discomfort and made a tsking sound in
her throat. “Other than Rayder, you have to be the most stubborn,
pain-in-the-arse man I know.”
    “So you’ve told me many times.” He winked, heat mixing with
joviality. “Or have you forgotten?”
    When she didn’t speak, his expression fell a little. As if
he expected something she wouldn’t provide. He might be dripping wet, but he
still managed to appear strong, fearless and more masculine than any man she’d
known.
    “Come,” he finally said. “If you’re concerned about my
wound, you can check it for me.”

Chapter Two
     
    Aknada wondered if she should do this. She followed Marc
through the mob of people in the great two-story entrance. Light filtered in
from a window high above, and despite the blackish clouds outside, she felt
safe in the room with so many people. If she left it, if she went to another
room and found herself completely alone with a man—well, that was another thing
altogether.
    Ahead of her lay the huge central staircase that spread out
at the top into two wings. Coming down the massive steps was a female figure,
graceful and tall. Bavarda Himalan. The woman’s garment, a long tunic that
reached to mid-calf, was flowing, filmy and pure white with the barest hint of
gold threading. She seemed to float down the staircase, her thin body
accommodating the angelic way she came down the steps. She had a narrow face to
match, but it was still striking. She smiled and no one could deny she had
great appeal. Men wanted her, and from the tales Aknada heard, they had the
woman often. But men who wanted her had better be able to afford her cost.
Bavarda was an expensive and greedy whore with tricks up her sleeves aplenty.
Many a man, according to Xandra, had found himself without money and sometimes
without a dick if Bavarda decided to snap it off with her teeth. Apparently
Bavarda had earned her nasty reputation well when she’d taken Farcam’s and
Oscan’s cocks and tossed them out the window. The men would never be the same
and had almost died. When Rayder had explained how the men had treated