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  Her heart gave a massive thump and her mouth went dry. She couldn’t say anything, couldn’t move. All she could do was lie against the headboard, caught in the curious paralysis of fear, her gaze locked with his. She had never thought she would be afraid of Ben Lewis, but she was. Her thoughts scattered like fireworks, sparks shooting in all directions.

  His face was hard, his jaw set. She was acutely aware of the pack lying on the floor. All he had to do was pick it up and walk out, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. But he didn’t even glance at the pack; he never looked away from her. She had never seen that expression in his eyes before, so savagely intent that she shivered in primal alarm.

  “B-Ben?” she managed to gasp.

  He straightened away from the doorframe and stepped inside the room, soundlessly closing the door behind him. With two paces he was at the side of the bed. His big, muscular frame seemed to blot out the rest of the room. Her breath came in quick, shallow pants as she raised her hands to protect herself, knowing the gesture was useless.

  He bent down, ignoring her action, and slid his big hands under her skirt. His hard fingers hooked in the waistband of her panties and peeled them down her legs. The coolness of air on her bare flesh made her acutely aware of her nakedness, her vulnerability. Shock reverberated through her with the realization of what he was going to do. He pushed her legs apart, opening her to him, and stared down for a moment at her exposed female flesh. Then his gaze lifted, to lock with hers once more and remain there. He moved between her spread thighs, placing one knee on the bed while his other foot remained firmly on the floor. Silently he unbuttoned his pants and opened them, freeing his erection. With one hand braced on the mattress beside her, he shifted deeper into the notch of her legs and positioned himself.

  She couldn’t stop herself from tensing in anticipation. His entry was rough and inexorable, jolting her, and all of her inner muscles tightened in reaction to that deep intrusion. The heat of his body wrapped around her, drawing her own heat to the surface. He held himself in her to the hilt until he had overcome that inner resistance, until it had softened to a clinging caress all along his shaft that she knew he wouldn’t mistake.

  “Put your arms around me,” he rasped, and mindlessly she did.

  As her arms slid around his broad shoulders she felt him shudder, perhaps with relief. He leaned over her and she pressed her face to his chest, catching her breath at the slow, deep power of his thrusts.

  She was stunned, disoriented. She felt the overwhelming possessiveness of his lovemaking and was keenly aware of the claim he was staking. He was refusing to let her go.

  He tilted her face up with his free hand, cupping it, holding her gaze with his as he thrust into her with increasing power and speed. The headboard thudded against the wall. She clutched his rib cage as he drove her higher and higher toward climax, the glorious, maddening tension coiling in her muscles. She could feel him getting even harder inside her, and she heard her own small cries as she lifted her hips to better receive him. He never let her look away, and when she climaxed, when he pounded into her with his own release, it was with those fierce blue eyes holding hers, forcing her to accept that she was his.

  Afterward he gently bullied her into the bathtub and turned on the shower, getting into the tub with her. “But what about Angelina?” she mumbled, leaning against him. Her legs would barely hold her, they were trembling so much.

  “They won’t bother us.” Hungrily he kissed her. He couldn’t bring himself to stop touching her. “I’ve been waiting for you. They understand. They think it’s very romantic.”

  “You’ve been waiting for me?” she asked numbly. “But how—”

  “Airplane,” he said succinctly. “Senhora Sayad has one. Haven’t I ever told you that I have a pilot’s license?”

  “No.” She couldn’t respond to the gentle teasing in his tone. She stood under the tepid spray, her arms hanging at her sides. The water was wonderful; she felt so weak and limp that she thought she might swirl down the drain, too. She swallowed. “Why didn’t you just take the pack and leave? You know I couldn’t have stopped you. You didn’t have to do . . . this.” She was very much afraid that he had made love to her merely to soothe his ego, wounded when she escaped with the Empress.

  “You don’t seem to get the picture. It was you I came after.” He rubbed the soap into a rich lather and began sliding his hands over her body. “You won’t get away from me again.”

  “But why aren’t you angry?” she asked helplessly, struggling to understand.

  “I am. I’m so damn angry I just might fuck you again.”

  She sputtered with laughter, then the shock and the strain caught up with her and she began to cry. Ben held her close, rocking her in his arms as they stood under the spray. He murmured soothingly, his head bent down to hers. At last it seemed the only thing he could do to comfort her was to make love to her again, so he did, lifting her up and sliding into her. Her sobs caught on a gasp; then a moment later she made a deeper sound of pleasure.

  The raw sexuality of their joining soothed him, too. For a few hours he had been terrifyingly aware that he might have lost her forever—until she accepted him into her body with that stunned acquiescence, until her arms closed around him, he had been the most frightened man on earth. He didn’t intend to let her out of his sight for the next year, at least. It would take that long for him to recover from the panic.

  23

  Manaus was overwhelming. There were too many people, too much noise. Using Senhora Sayad’s small airplane, he had flown them into Manaus, an abrupt transition that had taken too little time. Instead of days, the trip had been accomplished in a few hours.

  He arranged for the senhora’s plane to be returned to her, then they took a taxi straight from the airport to the hotel where she had stayed before. At least they were fairly presentable, she thought wryly; thanks to Senhora Sayad and the Moraeses, both they and their clothes were clean. Angelina Moraes, practically beaming that she and her husband had helped bring two lovers together again, had even insisted that Jillian use her makeup.

  Ben held her at his side as he checked them into a suite at the hotel. “A suite?” she murmured. “I don’t have that kind of money.”

  “I do. Don’t worry about it.”

  They retrieved the belongings she and Rick had left behind, and the relieved manager also returned the letters she had written, beaming at her as he congratulated her on having returned safely. He asked about the two gentlemen, and behind Jillian, Ben gave a warning shake of his head. Understanding, the manager quickly made another comment and didn’t give Jillian time to reply. Then he personally escorted them to their suite.

  Ben put Rick’s belongings aside, and while Jillian was unpacking her clothes in the bedroom he called down to the manager and quietly explained the situation to him. He told him to do whatever he wanted with Kates’s belongings. Then he arranged to have some of his own clothes collected and brought to the hotel.

  Jillian could hear him on the phone, but didn’t go to the door to hear what he was saying. They hadn’t discussed the Empress at all. She was tired, tired to the bone. Ben had changed the rules of the game, and she didn’t know what to do anymore. All she wanted to do was sleep for a very long time, and maybe when she woke up she would feel like beginning the battle all over again.

  Ben walked into the bedroom. “We’ll have room service tonight. Stay in and rest.”

  “What do you usually do on your first night back?” she asked idly.

  “Buy a bottle of whiskey and get laid.”

  “You’re deviating from tradition?”

  “You’re exhausted. I can wait,” he said.

  She nearly fainted at hearing those words come from Ben Lewis’s mouth. He scowled at her exaggerated double take and swooped her up in his arms, then placed her on the bed. “Let this stuff wait until later,” he said, slipping her shoes off and just as easily sliding her out of the rest of her clo