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When he put it that way…

“So, what do you want to know about me, Duchess?” he teased her, his warm breath fanning the sensitive skin of her neck.

What did she want to know about him?

Phoebe was tempted to say, “Everything.” However, when she thought of all his… exploits, she found herself recoiling almost instantly.

No, she would most certainly not want to hear about those things.

“Shall I regale you with tales of my boyhood?” he continued, laughing softly.

She could not help looking at him with some surprise. “You must have been quite theenfant terrible, Your Grace.”

“And you would be wrong on all accounts. I was an exceptionally well-behaved child,” he told her, looking incredibly miffed.

“And who would vouch for this claim?” she asked with a slight eye roll.

“You can ask Morton—he’s been here the longest. There is also Mrs. Craddock, who was here ever since she was a young woman.”

Phoebe basked under the warmth of his easy smile. “Are they going to tell me of the time you set all of your father’s undergarments on fire?” she teased him. “Or that time you put a handful of earthworms on each of your governess’s boots?”

He chuckled softly, leaning ever closer to her. “So, youhavebeen speaking to them about me.”

He was so much closer now. Close enough for his arm to brush against her breast. Or for him to lean in and steal a kiss.

If she had been trying to ignore the sheer force of his pull, it was practically impossible at this proximity.

“I know what you are doing,” she told him breathily.

“Hmm… And what is that, Duchess?”

She looked up at him, her lips curling into a slight smile. “How could I not be aware, when I have seen you doing it countless times?” Her smile grew. “You draw ever closer so quietly so that a lady never notices she has already become your prey. A slight brush of your thighs, your arm casually brushing against her breast…” She paused as he played with the curl that lingered at the side of her neck. “And then, you pretend to tuck her hair behind her ear.”

She looked up into his eyes and willed herself to not fall into their depths. To not become just another of his hapless prey.

Shemustresist this man.

CHAPTER 12

If Ethan had only been mildly aroused when he walked into the kitchen to find her already getting acquainted with the staff and seeing to breakfast, then he was thoroughly, doubtlessly inflamed with desire right now that it bordered on pain.

“So… youhavebeen watching me?” He smiled, strangely overjoyed that she found him interesting enough to study what he perceived to be his calculated moves.

She shrugged and pointed at his chest. “You must find a better way, Your Grace,” she told him, her eyes wide. “You cannot simply use these moves over and overad nauseam.”

That was another thing about her that he found so attractive—that expanded vocabulary of hers. The way she seemed to take in everything around her and seemed to know the perfect words to describe it.

But he could think of better ways to put that lovely tongue of hers to use…

“You know, Duchess, that I could order you to be mine?” he murmured in her ear, delighting in the slight shiver that coursed through her.

So, she was not as unaffected as she liked to pretend.

Good.

“You would have to obey me like the good, little wife that you are…”

A soft sound escaped her, barely noticeable, but it wasthere.