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responded, making his way to the other end of the attic. "My bedchamber will be just about here. I
can find no sign of anything awry. Come see for yourself."
Gina hurried forward to the spot he indicated. She banged on the roof with both fists and stamped
her feet on the wooden plank flooring. Her efforts raised a small cloud of dust that made her
sneeze, but they produced no evidence of her entry to Feldbruck or of the brief reappearance of
the tunnel.
"I don't understand," she said. "There has to be a sensible explanation for what happened to
me."
"Occasionally something happens for which there is no explanation," Dominick said.
"Are you telling me to just accept my lot and live with it?"
"I suppose I am."
"But I want to understand how this happened!" "Why must you understand everything? I don't
understand much of what you've told me. Nonetheless, I accept it on faith. Or perhaps," he added
quietly, "I simply want to believe you are not a spy trying to entrap me. But, for many reasons, I
do accept your story."
"Thank you for that." Sudden awareness of Dominick's presence and of how alone they were
prickled along Gina's spine. She started for the doorway and the stairs, speaking over her
shoulder as she went. "And thank you for letting me check out your attic."
"I am sorry you did not find what you sought." He sounded so honestly regretful that Gina turned
to face him. Watching him and not where she was going, she smacked the back of her head on
the roof. She cried out and instantly felt the threat of tears. Why she was getting so emotional
just because Dominick was being kind?
"Gina." Dominick's arm was across her shoulders, guiding her the few steps to the pallet. "Sit
down."
She sat, wrapping her arms around her knees, and pillowing her head on them. Dominick knelt
beside her, watching her anxiously. "I'll be fine in a minute," she said. The attic was quiet and
comfortably warm. A
single bee was buzzing along the eaves, trying to find a way out. Dominick's fingers were in her
hair, rubbing the sore spot. Gina sighed and relaxed a little. Dominick certainly did have a
calming effect on her. When he pulled her head to his shoulder, she did not resist. Nor did she
protest when he lowered his head and kissed her.
"Would it be so hard for you to stay in this time with me?" he asked.
"As far as I can tell," she said, "I don't have any choice in the matter. I don't know when, or if, that
tunnel will appear again."
She fell silent, uncertain what she really wanted. The only sounds she could hear were the
pounding of her own heart and Dominick's breathing. The bee was still.
"You had enough faith in me to reveal your strange story," he murmured.
"And you believed me," she said, leaning back in his arms to look into the warmth of his eyes.
"Gina," he whispered. His fingers stopped their movement through her hair.
Long, silent moments passed while the tension between them rose until it became unbearable.
Gina ran her tongue across her dry lips and saw Dominick's gaze follow the motion. She couldn't
think clearly, couldn't stop what was happening to her mind and her body. It had really begun on
the day when she, newly arrived in Francia, had lain beneath him in his bed and felt his hard
manliness pressing against her. She hadn't been able to shake the memory of that sensation;
she had felt it again each time she looked at him.
She touched his face, conscious of the strong
bones of his cheek and jaw. She traced the outline of his lips. Dominick caught her hand and
kissed her palm, and all of her fears dissolved. She had already trusted him with her life; now
she was going to trust him with her body.
She let her head fall back against his arm while he kissed her throat, and she whimpered softly
when his hands caressed her breasts. She wasn't sure how he so easily removed her dress and
shift and his clothing. She only knew he was being infinitely gentle and patient with her,
somehow understanding that her past sexual experiences had been unpleasant ones.
After another few minutes Gina closed the door firmly on the painful memories of her past. For the
first time in her life she wanted to touch an unclothed man. With his eager encouragement she
began to caress Dominick, taking pleasure in his muscular strength and the contrast between his
smooth chest and hairier limbs, reveling in the hot moistness of his mouth and tongue when he
kissed her, and, finally, aching to feel the hard length of him between her thighs.
"How I have wanted you," he whispered, returning every touch she bestowed on him with his own
tender caresses. "Since the first day I met you, my beautiful Gina, I have longed to hold you this
way."
She started to protest that she wasn't beautiful, but the words caught in her throat, for Dominick
had just reached the hot, liquid center of her, and his fingers were working a magic she had never
dared to hope for.
"Please," she gasped, her hands stroking down his back, trying to pull him closer. She was a
great,
throbbing emptiness, and only Dominick could bring her the release she sought.
He filled her so slowly that she feared she would go mad from the drawn-out pleasure of it. He
withdrew and repeated the slow, sliding motion. And did it again.
Gina dissolved into a pulsating joy that went on and on as Dominick thrust faster and harder into
her convulsing body, until she heard his gasp of pleasure and he went completely still.
It was a long time before she returned to the full knowledge that she was lying naked, in a state of
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