There are times when I think it must be wrong to love any man as much as I love you.

My grandmother used to say that when you loved like that you 'tempted Providence.' Isn't it dreadful to believe that you could tempt Providence by loving ?" He kissed her throat where a loosened strand of dark hair had fallen against the whiteness.
"Will you do what I ask, Gabriella ?" So it was all to begin over again! He had not really given in, he had not really yielded even while he was kissing her.

She closed her eyes, leaning her head on his shoulder.

For a moment she felt as if a physical pain were pressing into her forehead.
"Will you do it, Gabriella ?" It was as if he put his soul into his voice, wooing her tenderly away from her better judgment.

He was testing his power to dominate her; and never had she felt it so vividly, never had her will been so incapable of resisting him as at that instant.
Moving slightly in his arms she looked at the clear red brown of his throat, at his sensitive mouth, with the faint dent in the lower lip, at his bright blue eyes, which had grown soft while he pleaded.