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57
Keilor took in her mulishness and knew it for what it was. He chose to attack her jealousy with direct action. Ignoring her mood, he stretched out on the couch and placed his head in her lap. “I don’t dwell on the men you knew before me, love,” he told her gravely. “I expect the same courtesy from you.”
“None of them are likely to rake you over the coals in public.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or mention how I looked without my clothes.”
Several heartbeats passed in silence. “I did not go to her willing
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The Charmer 58
No one touched her, though, during the seventeen hellish days it took to reach Yesande’s citadel.Stags had never been Jasmine’s favorite animals, and she liked them even less after riding double all day, every day, with Yesande for over two weeks. The hide wore off the inside of her thighs and her backside, and she could hardly walk for the first three days. After a week she started to saunter like John Wayne, and she was certain she’d never be able to stroll with her legs together again.She only had one question for Yesande in the en
The Charmer 59
Even Yesande recoiled at her shriek.“Still think I won’t kill her?” he asked savagely, trying not retch at her gasping sobs. She deserved better than this.Yesande took a step back, pallor leaching her already pale skin. “Father’s madness,” she whispered with horror. “It did carry to you.”He allowed his eyes to gleam golden. This
The Charmer 60
Jayems winced, remembering his cousin’s reaction to that bit of news. Mathin would be lucky if Keilor didn’t break every bone in his body when next he saw him. “She was alive. Raziel and Isfael are with them.”“Small comfort,” Keilor answered morosely. He looked at but did not see Jasmine’s lemon tree.Jayems froze. “You don’t think she would betray you?” he asked in amazement. “She’s not the kind of woman to take her promises lightly, and despite the ugly rumors, I don’t belie
The Charmer 61
No amount of grueling exercise could take her mind off of her husband for long, though. With every day that went by her longing grew, until she dared not think of him while riding lest her seat on the saddle—usually behind Mathin or Raziel—become an aching torture.Oddly enough, none of her companions seemed to be affected by the increased levels of pheromone she knew she emitted at those times. Wondering if her marriage had something to do with it, she finally asked Mathin about it.He snorted with ill humor. “Isfael merely remains in Haunt, where one never feels the desire to mate, and he can still scent danger. As for Raziel and I…” He scowled. “We’ve been taking a sinus block
The Charmer 62
Mathin’s rough voice was glacial. “She was dying, maggot brain. Had I not ‘caused trouble’ you wouldn’t be holding her now.”Worried, Jasmine’s gaze swung between the two men. “What’s wrong? It didn’t hurt me, Keilor.”“You’ve done nothing, love. Be still,” Keilor told her, and said to Mathin with barely restrained violence, “She would not have been in that condition if you hadn’t botched your job in the first place. What kind of savage are you?”Mathin’s eyes ignited gold and he leaned towards Keilor with a curl to his lip. “I am not invincible, any more than you are,” he said
The Charmer 63
Since he could never tell her his thoughts, he showed her instead. With infinite tenderness he kissed her and carried her to the bed, showing her with his body how much he cherished her and the gift of her fidelity. Hearts and souls communed through hands and lips, speaking of a connection that was more than skin deep. It was a beautiful moment, and when he finally took her body, they truly became one.A long while and much loving later, Jasmine snuggled with sleepy satisfaction against her husband, reveling in the feeling of being held. Her languidly stroking hand encountered her dragonfly pendant, and she smiled, fingering it. Sighing with pleasure, she told him, “You sure know how to spoil a girl, honey.”Keilor chuckled and hugged her in response. &ldqu
The Charmer 64
Jasmine stared out her window, watching the sunset gloss the sky over the sea with bright fuchsia and gold. Her room had been thoroughly cleaned and Keilor’s stuff transferred back to his old quarters. The door was locked, and she was in the mood to reinforce her solitude with charmer commands, if necessary.She would not be the one rejected this time.What a shame she hadn’t figured out Keilor’s game before she submitted to a “marriage” with him. Nice and tight, legal and binding, at least here, or so he’d led her to believe. Thanks to a little investigation, she’d discovered that wasn’t true. The bond they’d created could be severed with about a year’s worth of abstinence.
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All her life she’d wanted something of her own, something good she’d created that no one else could ever take away. Her logical mind began to nag at her that Keilor and her marriage was that something good, a creation worth saving, but her emotional self refused that logic, bringing the image to her again and again of Keilor’s face when he’d asked if the symbiont could be removed. He doesn’t want you, that other self whispered.Rejection. Humiliation. Old foes with heavy chains bound her. Days went by as she let them torture her, wallowing in emotional filth until she couldn’t remember what it was like to feel clean and bright and full of hope. Nausea began to plague her, and she didn’t want to eat. The exercise she forced on herself in her attempts to forget Keilor wore on her, and she took to sleepi
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