{"id":7397,"date":"2011-10-08T18:23:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-08T22:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theseasonforromance.com\/wordpress\/?p=7397"},"modified":"2011-10-08T18:23:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-08T22:23:44","slug":"sampler-saturday-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/08\/sampler-saturday-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Sampler Saturday-Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>AN HEIR OF DECEPTION<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Charlotte and Alex after a kiss&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As if from a distance, she heard what sounded like a tortured growl before he abruptly broke the kiss and set her away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For a moment, Charlotte stood there frozen, her balance not all what it ought to be. But Alex was not unaffected, his breathing just as shallow as hers. His shoulders heaved as he appeared to attempt to gain control. He stared at her and in those moments she saw the transformation in him. His expression became closed.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6825\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6825\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/beverleykendall.com\/anheir.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6825\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px;\" title=\"AnHeirofDeception\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theseasonforromance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/AnHeirofDeception.jpg?resize=200%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6825\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coming Early 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI should not have done that.\u201d His voice was a little gruff. Other than that, he was as she met him, cool and remote. \u201cAnd you should not have permitted it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Indeed, lay the blame at her feet. \u201cAlex I don\u2019t hate you, and our chemistry has always been&#8230;good.\u201d Explosive, wild, uncontrollable were words that better described the heat that had always sizzled between them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOh, I\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t still find you attractive for it&#8217;s obvious I do. I\u2019m saying I have no intention of getting more involved with you than circumstances warrant. We have a son and there is a document filed with the government that says we\u2019re bound together legally. But that is all we shall <em>ever<\/em> have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Ever. <\/em>Such vehemence in that one word. <em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For Charlotte, the word sounded too concrete and final. It held no hope of possibilities. It conveyed years of\u2026nothing. \u201cAre you saying you have no desire for more children?\u201d Alex\u2014or at least the one she&#8217;d known\u2014had wanted a houseful of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cOh, I want more children,\u201d he replied softly, his gaze steady on hers. \u201cI just don\u2019t want them with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Charlotte forced herself to breathe through the pain. He was deliberately trying to hurt her. She could tell by the look in his eyes, the provoking stare that dared her to respond. Willed her to. Swallowing hard, she tamped it down, the pain, the hurt, the jealousy, all he\u2019d undoubtedly wanted to elicit in her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&nbsp;\u201cThen you should not have kissed me,\u201d she said calmly, not sounding at all as broken as she felt inside.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAre you telling me if I did so again you wouldn\u2019t stop me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Charlotte wasn\u2019t sure exactly what he wanted to hear and sensed neither did he. \u201cIf all you just said was true, you wouldn\u2019t need me to stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AN HEIR OF DECEPTION Charlotte and Alex after a kiss&#8230; As if from a distance, she heard what sounded like a tortured growl before he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[174,261,307],"class_list":["post-7397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-publishing","tag-an-heir-of-deception","tag-excerpts","tag-historicals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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