he said. Carissa sat up abruptly, her head cocked. “I hear no one.” His face was firm; the softness she’d seen after he’d brought her to the brink of heaven had vanished. “Trust me.” His eyes met hers. “I must go.” She nodded, straightening her clothes as she climbed to her feet. She was adjusting her laces when his hand took hers, and he tugged her to him. “Goodbye, Carissa.” His kiss was hard, and needful, and full of things unspoken. “Wait,” she said after he released her. He’d stepped away from her with such speed that he was already all the way across the stable, his horse untied. How had he moved so fast? He stopped, then looked at her in silence. “I don’t even know your name,” she said, suddenly overwhelmed with an inexplicable sadness. He’d delighted her with a sensual feast, but now she understood fully what she would never again have with a man. She would be married and well cared for, true. But this moment—this feeling—was gone forever. “Tiberius,”
