The Duke was standing in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets, his head tilted to one side. It was a relaxed, casual pose, and yet the way he looked at her was anything but casual. The deep midnight of his eyes burned and he radiated a subtle, sensual energy that made the air around him crackle. 

He looked like a man who’d never heard the word ‘no’ in all his life. Unluckily for him, ‘no’ was the only word she had.

“There's no reason why I should stay,” Anna clasped her shaking hands together in an effort to still them. “I’m not marrying you.”

His gaze flickered, his mouth curving slightly, and she had the disturbing thought that far from putting him off, her insistence was only inciting him further.
“But you haven’t heard my proposal yet,” he said mildly. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“I don’t need to hear it. I already know that my answer will be no.”

“Of course. But you can hardly tell your father that you heard me out when you haven’t, in fact, heard me out…. Anna.” 



A LADY FOR A DUKE

Cedric couldn’t give her the whole story, but he could give her some of it. It would admit her some power, yet he knew, as he had back at Haerton, that now was the time for honesty. And that he wouldn’t get what he wanted unless he gave it to her. 


“I want sex with you.” He told her. 


“Me?” This time she sounded shocked. “But… I… why should that matter?” 


“You have passion. And I am a connoisseur of passion. I want yours and I think that perhaps you want mine too.” 


Anna said nothing. And suddenly Cedric found himself on the edge of his seat, tension gripping him, every part of him focused on the phone in his hand and on the woman on the other end of the line. 


“One night,” he said in that bare-bones voice, all his seductive techniques deserting him, leaving only demand left. “That’s all I will ever ask of you. Just one. 


And I can tell you this with absolute confidence, that if you want to enjoy your first time with a man then I am the man you should enjoy it with.” 


17