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r the dazzling chandeliers of the Manhattan Crystal Palace Hotel ballroom, her vision blurred
using to sign the marriage contract her adoptive father had already laid out on the table. And this was their
lver trays stepped into her path, blocking the main doors. Breathing heavily, she veered into a di
Bertram Langley, the sixty-year-old political ty
he picked up her pace, lunging at the
restroom. She slammed the deadbolt shut, her spin
he marble counters. Bracing her hands on the sink, Gabrielle lifted her head. Through the
or. His head was bowed as he wiped down a black pistol fitted with a ser elbow knocked a glass soa
the tiles, the sound echoin
blue-gray eyes cut through the shadow
med it straight between her eyebrows.
t o
She bit down hard on her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood
corridor outside, followed by a
ley is very worried abo
d back at the armed stranger. Trapped between a pack of w
wrapped around his right wrist pulled tight as his gr
he grabbed his gun-wielding wrist with both hands. The feveris
to throw her off, but a muffled voice crac
might be hiding in the wome
d shot out and clamped around her jaw. His rough thumb du
the words out through the pain, her voice ca
his sharp features wild
n the same boat now
as the bodyguards jammed a crowbar into t
ting her half off the floor. He dragged her into t
rielle's nose pressed into the hard muscle of his chest, fi
y boots stomped across the tiles as bright fl
ike a volcano. A scorching heat climbed up her spine. Her
knees to prop her up, while his lar
is palm, brushing against his skin a
. The black leather tips of a bodyguard's shoes
d, shoving hard against the stall
gers clawing into the shirt over the man'
il his thin lips brushe
eathed, his voice a b
at him in disbelief, her flushed cheeks
id down her back and pinched the curve
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