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

Her back arched in surrender as she offered herself up to that pleasure. One of Cedric’s hands was caressing her other breast, and she felt suddenly weak as burning heat coursed through her whole body. She offered no resistance as he moved them further into the bed so he was now lying on top of her. She wanted this, wanted Cedric. 


The smoldering fire inside Cedric ignited. 


The taste of blackberries and sunshine filled his head, a bright explosion of sweet and tart, and suddenly he couldn’t think. It felt as if he’d been waiting half his life for this moment. He wanted more. And he wanted it now. 


Everything fell away. His father. His brother. His mother. All the pain in his heart that he told himself he didn’t feel and all the anger underneath it. All of it was gone. There was only this. Only her. 


Her sweet mouth and the heat that leapt between them. And the hunger that followed hard on its heels. 


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