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"She sighed and put the glass under the lamp on the nightstand. I sat beside her and then took her in my arms. I kissed her lips and felt the immediate fire. She pushed her breasts against me. I squeezed her breasts so desperately it was a wonder I didn't hurt her. God, this is Heaven; you're in the wrong place. I slipped my hand up her leg and touched her silk panties and the heat behind them.

" 'Pull'm down, tear'm off,' she said in my ear. 'Panties are cheap. Panties are nothing. ' She was crying. I could hear it.

"I kissed her on the mouth again, and her tongue shot between my lips. Oh, Lord, God. I kissed her plenty, and I ripped her panties over her ankles and off her spike-heel shoes, and I cradled her foot in my hand and kissed her instep.

"Under her breath she cried. I gobbled her wet tears.

" 'Lord, it's wrong,' she whispered. 'I know it's so wrong. You, my baby Tarquin, but I need it so bad!¡¯

" 'So do I, lady,' I said. 'You can't imagine!' "

Chapter18

18

"IT WAS what we call the middle of the night. One, two in the morning -- something like that. All of Blackwood Manor slept. I slept. Big Ramona snored. I woke now and then. I had a vague sense of a conversation with Rebecca. We were on the lawn, in the antique wicker chairs from the attic, and she was explaining to me that all the old wicker had been hers, that Manfred had bought it for her.

"She was so happy that I'd taken it down and had it restored, that Pops had painted it white. How handsome it was.

" 'You are my world, Tarquin,' she said.

"But that was only part of what she tried to tell me. She was trying to talk of other things, things I must do, how justice would be achieved, and I was arguing with her.

"How thin and indistinct was all this. I woke and stared in front of me and all the fabric dissolved. Then I turned over again and I was talking to her.

"Suddenly, I was wrenched up out of the bed and dragged across the floor!

"I was fully awake in an instant.

"Into the bathroom I was forced by powerful hands that hurt my arms. My head was smacked against the wall. I was lifted off my feet and held that way, and by the thin light from the door through which I'd just been dragged I saw that it was a tall man who held me.

"His hair was cleanly brushed back from his high rounded temples, and his large dark eyes were fastened on me.

" 'Oh, so you burn my books, you little imp, do you!' he whispered to me, his breath warm and odorless against my face. 'You burn my books! You play with me!¡¯

"I could feel my emotions coming together and I knew all of a sudden that what I felt wasn't terror after all, it was rage, the same rage I'd felt when I'd done the thing that had so angered him.

" 'Get away from me and get out of my house!' I cried. 'How dare you come into my very room! How dare you trespass again!¡¯

"I struggled violently to get free. I pushed against his chest with all my might. He was immovable.

"His eyes were a glare in the shadows. Of the rest of him, all I saw was an open white shirt with white cuffs and a black coat. And he let me down on my feet slowly.

" 'You little fool,' he said, gripping my shoulders, and he smiled, and for the first time I saw his mouth, very finely shaped, with thick but perfectly sculpted lips.

"Again, I went wild in his grip. I pushed my knee against him, I kicked his shins. I gained nothing!

" 'Never go near the island again!' he hissed. 'Never touch what's mine, do you hear me?¡¯

" 'You're a liar and a trespasser,' I said. 'Bring your claim in a court of law!¡¯

" 'Don't you realize I could kill you?' he returned with blazing anger. 'I have no qualms about it whatsoever. Why do you protest? Why do you do foolish things? What's so precious to you?¡¯

" 'What's rightfully mine!' I said. 'Get out of my house before I bring it down on you. ¡¯

"Of course I knew that no one could hear me. Ramona slept like the dead. The house was too big, the walls too thick, and here we were in a windowless tiled bathroom.

"Suddenly he released his grip. My shoulders ached. He didn't let me go, however. And then when he spoke it was more calmly: