The net was close at last.

She seemed to feel it pressing on her throat.

"You are not--to kiss me," she managed to say.
He frowned at the condition, but he conceded it.

The game was so nearly his that he could afford to be generous.

Besides, he would exact payment in full later for any little concessions she wrung from him now.
"I'm bein' awfully patient," he said pathetically.