I didn't intend-we shouldn't be-I didn't...Oh!" She shut her eyes, frustrated that she could be reduced to stammering confusion.
"Why don't you run that by me again?"
The trace of humor in his voice had her springing to her feet.She wasn't light-headed, she told herself. She'd simply sat too long and rose too quickly. "Look, this is hardly the place for this kind of thing."
"What kind of thing?" he countered, rising,too,but with a lazy ease that moved muscle by muscle. "We were only kissing.That's more popular than making friendly conversation.Kissing you's become a habit." He reached out for her hair,then let it drift through his spread fingers. "I don't break them easily."
"In this case-" she paused to even her breathing "-I think you should make an exception."
He studied her, trying to make light of something that had struck him down to the bone. "You're quite a mix, Genvieve. The practiced seductress one minute,the confused virgin the next. You know how to fascinate a man."
Pride moved automatically to shield her. "Some men are more easily fascinated than others."
"True enough." Grant wasn't sure just what emotion was working through him, but he knew it wasn't comfortable. "Damn if I won't be glad to see the last of you," he muttered.

Author: Nora Roberts