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More. I want more.

Senses aflame, she eagerly accepted the hot, invasive thrust of his tongue, and twirled her tongue around his as Frederick’s low growl sent shivers through her.

The blast of another thunderbolt caused her to jerk away from him, shattering the deeply intimate moment.

Frederick caught his breath, “Gemma…”

She watched as his eyes slowly lost their beckoning darkness and became filled with reason.

Disappointment rose in her chest as Frederick spoke.

“I-I must go,” he lurched to his feet.

She was on her feet the moment he reached the door.

“Frederick, I?—”

Gemma’s plaintive words echoed uselessly in the wake of his footsteps.

CHAPTER 16

Dawn found Frederick urging his horse over fallen trees and mounds of rocks until he came to the stream that ran parallel through his lands. Only then did he pause.

Last night he had let things go too far with Gem—Miss Bradford. Once he had finally broken free from his haze of arousal and regained his senses, he had been angry and appalled at his lack of self-control.

He had blown apart his iron-clad rule not to toy with innocents. Frederick was keenly aware and ashamed that he had started something he knew he could not bring to an honorable conclusion.

What was I thinking? Gemma is not a woman for me, she is not one for my world. I am a deviant and she is an innocent.

Her innocence had inflamed his need as nothing ever had before, and that was a stretch for him. He was doublydisgusted at himself for trespassing on territory he’d known was forbidden.

One did not kiss virgins without harsh consequences.

However, the prohibition, did not undermine the fact that a simple kiss with her had been more titillating than an orgy with a throng of courtesans.

Things hadn’t ended well last night and he knew that he had to take steps to prevent himself from seducing her again. He was still a gentleman, and the role dictated that he had no choice but to do the right thing. He would apologize, patch up any damage, and make sure he stayed away from her while she was under his protection.

Alighting from the horse, his boots sunk an inch into the sodden earth as he walked to the edge of the tributary. He gazed into the distance as his horse and Remus refreshed themselves at its banks.

Innocents must not play with devils.

She would not understand his need to maintain control in everything he did, nor would she understand his need to blindfold his partners, restrain them with rope and stir their arousal to the point they abandoned all of their inhibitions.

In relationships, like everything else, it was a simple matter of taking control or being controlled. He would never again allowanyone to parade him around like a puppet on a string as his parents had done. He always made sure that he was the one in control of any given situation.

Do I dare hope that she could ever understand me…?

He scoffed at the possibility. “Pigs will fly and bears will jump over rainbows, and I will fetch dry dirt from the bottom of the sea.”

It was impossible to even contemplate that Gemma,sweet, innocent Gemma, would understand his debauched ways, or want to unravel the twisted knots in his head and soul.

Remus shook his muzzle and trotted around the horse, while Frederick steeled himself to return to the manor and speak with Gemma.

He spurred the horse towards the stables, retracing the route he had taken to the far edge of the property. The entire estate had become heavily water-logged, but little damage had been done to the main building or the outlying structures.

Handing his horse off to a stable hand with instructions to also bathe Remus, he trudged to the main house and headed inside after pausing to scrape the mud from his Hessians.

After changing his clothes he strolled into the breakfast room and jerked to a stop. Gemma, whom he had thought wouldavoid him like the plague, was sharing tea and crumpets with his grandmother.