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He reached down and picked her up in his arms.  Before carrying her to his bed.  He tucked her in.  Under the covers.  His lips twitched in humor as he did so.  She’d probably be furious with him in the morning.  Certainly flustered.  But he didn’t care. 

She was the only one from whom he could derive comfort tonight.  The suspense on the inside of him was building to an early crescendo.  And that crescendo would have to hold for three days.  Nothing would be resolved until then.  Tonight, he was seeking a distraction.

From a lot of things.

From the coming confrontations.

From the required theatrical performances.

From the questions that still lingered.

From the heartbreak he’d suffered when Ah Ro had chosen Seon Woo over him.

Therefore, he crawled into bed with a candle burning.  So that he could stare upon the face of the most extraordinary creature that he’d ever seen.  He found her even more physically captivating than he had the doctor.  He couldn’t have said that he was in love with Eun Sook.  Not after one day.  Not after the devastation that Ah Ro had caused in his heart.  He was still recovering from that disappointment.  But…he found this woman quite intriguing.

So he rolled onto his side and gazed at her lovely face.  At those unusual ivory eyebrows.  And those snowy lashes fanned out against her pale cheeks.  Those eyelashes reminded him of a fuzzy caterpillar he’d found once in the forest.  His finger suddenly itching, he reached out and slid its tip along one of those fans.  Those hairs were so fine, he couldn’t really feel anything. 

But apparently Eun Sook could, for she instantly wriggled her nose as a frown overtook her face.  He drew his hand back abruptly.  He didn’t want to be caught touching her while she slept.  But he needn’t have worried.  She hadn’t woken up.  A few seconds later, her face relaxed into peaceful slumber once more. 

And he smiled.  As his eyes continued to peruse that mesmerizing countenance.  Sliding across her wide brow.  Which was always visible since she wore her hair parted in the middle.  It was an unremarkable brow.  Except that it appeared unwrinkled.  As though no ill thought had ever disturbed it. 

His eyes then slid down the straight slope of her squat nose.  It broadened increasingly as it approached her mouth.  It was an adorable nose. 

He couldn’t help but notice that there was a deep divot below her nose.  Again, his finger was troubled.  It longed to squeeze its tip into that little well.  But he kept his hands to himself this time.

Since her eyes were closed, he found himself drawn to her sensuous mouth.  And wondered what kissing her would feel like.  Were her lips as soft as Ah Ro’s had been?

He grimaced.  That kiss had been unsatisfactory.  The woman hadn’t responded to it at all.  The next time he kissed a girl, he wanted her to reciprocate his passion.  He wondered if this woman was a good candidate. 

He considered her for a few moments.  And recalled his first meeting with her.  He grinned as he remembered her response.

“No one told me.  I told myself.”

And then she had feigned a fainting spell to protect herself from his imagined advances.  The silly woman hadn’t realized that such behavior wouldn’t have stopped a man bent on evil.  Luckily for her, he wasn’t such a man.  She’d endured him carrying her over half a mile.  Without protesting.  He shook his head.  He couldn’t figure out if she was foolish or wise.  Perhaps some odd mixture of both.

“What kind of a girl wanders alone through the king’s forest?” he’d challenged her.

His lips twitched as he remembered her irked response.

“An independent one.”

He found himself chuckling now.  She was definitely feisty.  Such behavior implied an ability to be stirred into a passion.  Didn’t it?

Then he recalled how she’d attempted to flee his bedroom.  Panic had overtaken her.  He couldn’t blame her.  He’d done an inexcusable thing.  If he were anyone but the king, he would have had to face some consequences.  Unless…she had no protector.

He frowned.  He was fairly certain that she had no defender.  Nothing he’d seen of her had convinced him that any man had ever watched over her.  That made him sad. 

Something about her tempted him to sign up for that responsibility.  Would she be receptive to such an overture?

Then he recalled one of the very first things that she’d said to him.  While brushing her fingers across his face.

“You’re every bit as beautiful as I always knew you’d be.”

So, she had undoubtedly been attracted to him. 

His lips curved into a satisfied smile.  But then his mind bent in a different direction.

Her uncanny ability to discern the thoughts and feelings of his heart still disconcerted him.  He recalled her story.  And how it had so accurately paralleled his life.  But that could be easily explained away…if she knew someone who worked in the palace and had a loose tongue. 

He frowned.

Who had overheard his conversation with his mother?  And known about the flowers?  And told Eun Sook?

She had sworn up and down that she had dreamt it all up.  But…was that even possible?

He’d been captivated by her story.  A mirror image of his own life.  Until the king had rescued the girl in the forest from the two perpetrators.  Then the story had begun to diverge from real life.  But…it did make him wonder if her own truth paralleled that of her heroine.  Was Eun Sook the daughter of a council member?  If she was, he was treading on more dangerous ground.

But that seemed to come with the territory.

Then he remembered how she’d bristled at his compliments.  And at his ready defense of her beauty.  Before she’d succumbed to obvious sorrow over her perceived imperfections.  He felt his heart twist again as he contemplated the abuse which she’d endured from others who feared her peculiarity.  Why did people always fear the unknown?  And avoid that with which they were unfamiliar?

Of course, she had reacted similarly to him.  Fearing the unknown.  He remembered how she had hidden from him when he’d admitted his attraction to her.  If he kissed her, would she continue to hide from him?  Or would her passionate nature reveal itself through the touch of her lips against his own?

He suspected she was starved for affection.  Would that make her susceptible to his advances?

He was a king.  He could take what he wanted.  Without permission.  But only if he was willing to violate his own principles.  And if he did, what kind of a king would he be?