It was late. She looked panicked at his intent look in her direction in the firelight. “You need not appear so alarmed. I’m not going to pounce on you, Catherine,” he said in amusement. He strode to his wardrobe, beginning to remove his clothes. “I am pleased you stayed up in anticipation of it, however. It looks like progress has been made.” “I did not wait up for your attentions,” she informed him snidely. “I hoped to reason with you once more.” “I am not in the habit of repeating myself.” He shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it on the chair. “You will stay until the debt is paid.” “How can you claim to have done me a fair turn and hold me to such ridiculous conditions now?” “That contradiction is not lost upon me.” He removed his breeches as slow as possible for her benefit, his dark eyes twinkling as they met hers. “You could say that you have intrigued me, Catherine. Consider that a compliment.” He stood naked before her now, his arousal apparent.
