Author: Brophy, Sarah

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limbs, but he had set his jaw and learned the mysteries of child soothing and napkin changing. In the process he found himself falling totally under Kathryn’s innocent spell.

He seemed to drown in those wide, innocent eyes that were so much like his, and was totally captivated by the smile that reminded him so much of the woman he loved. Kathryn every gurgle of pleasure became for him a prize of infinite worth, her every tear an enemy to be fought off with a will.

The newly discovered joys of fatherhood had almost been enough to make up for the self-imposed chastity. In that month before Henry’s summons he had found something approaching contentment, but that hadn’t stopped him from burning to be with Imogen.

Kathryn was now two months old, and things certainly hadn’t become any easier for him. Even now as he watched Imogen, he found himself gritting his teeth as his blood pooled in his groin. He had been able to deal with his lust before because Imogen had needed to heal, but now that she was radiating health and well-being he didn’t know how he was going to survive.

“Are you going to spend the whole day skulking?” Imogen asked calmly, without looking up. Her ability to do that always made him smile.

“I think I might skulk for a bit. After a month away, I find I’m enjoying the view.”

Imogen let out a less-than-elegant snort. “He abandons us for what feels like forever, Kathryn, and then all he wants to do when he finally finds his way back, is to look.” She shook her head sadly. “I hate to say it, but I think your father is a madman.”

She let out a delighted squeal as Robert lunged and swept her up into his arms.

“Now, don’t you go bad-mouthing me to Kathryn,” he said with mock ferocity. “How will she ever grow up respecting her father if her mother casually casts doubt on his sanity?”

Imogen smiled and wound her arms around his neck. “My girl will grow up to be a clever woman and she will make up her own mind as to the state of her father’s questionable sanity.”

Her laughter was cut short by his lips descending to cover hers. He inhaled her laughter, feeling like a starving man let into a feast. Time stopped entirely when Imogen knowingly parted her lips, and invited his questing tongue to explore the familiar territory once more. Robert didn’t have the willpower to stop, and found himself drinking deeply the taste of Imogen’s passion.

The small, catlike mew of pleasure that escaped Imogen drew him back to sanity and he groaned as he tore his mouth free. “I promised I wouldn’t do this,” he said raggedly.

“Making all the decisions again?” she asked with a husky chuckle. Deprived of the heat of his lips on hers Imogen ran intoxicated kisses down his neck to satisfy her own need for him. “Not to do this—now that would be insane.”

She lifted her gently amused eyes up to meet his. “I won’t let you put me in a dark box for my own protection, Robert. I’ve tried that, and I can’t say that I much cared for it. I’m much stronger than you seem to think.” She smiled mistily and ran a finger over his full bottom lip, sending a shiver of passion through his body. “With you in my heart, mind and soul, there is nothing I can’t do. Nothing we can’t do together.”

He kissed the tip of her finger, then moved it aside to capture her lips once more, but this time the kiss was as much about love as it was about lust. “This is still madness. We’re in the rose garden, for God’s sake. Anyone might see us.”

“Then let’s be mad together.”

And they were, surrounded by light and color, with their baby sleeping peacefully nearby, undisturbed by her parents’ love.

It truly was madness, but, oh, what a divine madness!

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