For a moment Rose hardly knew where they were or why. She was breathless and quivering and too stunned for words of any sort. “I’m sorry, Rose.” She forced her eyes to open and look at him. His mouth was grim but the desire to kiss it again was still with her and she wondered faintly if all the pressure she’d been under lately had finally caused her to crack. “I took advantage of you at a weak moment,” he went on. “It was unfair of me. Not to mention ungentlemanly.” What was unfair, Rose thought, was this warm ache he’d created inside her, then left her with no way to soothe it. Numbly, she pulled away from his hold and turned toward Pie. “There’s no need for you to apologize,” she said in a voice that sounded strangely unlike her own. “It was just a kiss.” Just a kiss? It hadn’t seemed so to Harlan. His head was still muddled from the feel of her in his arms. And he suspected Rose was just as shaken as he.
