QUOTE : He gazed at her for what seemed like an eternity before reaching out to stroke her cheek. “I’d just like to forget. Forget every last thing.”<br />Her heart beat erratically from the emotions flickering through his eyes. Need and want. Fear and hope. She couldn’t tell where one emotion ended and the next began. The only thing she could tell for certain was that, in the subtle flicker of candlelight, something had changed between them. Profoundly changed. Desire coiled in and around them like a vine and settled low in her belly. Heat blossomed over her, quashing her ability to think straight as he bent his head and touched his lips to hers. She closed her eyes to everything but the feel of his mouth on hers, in a kiss so different from their first that it astonished in comparison. This was not the wild and savage connection they had shared behind the assembly rooms. Yet, there was passion in its tenderness, and hunger in the languorous fusion of their tongues.