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She let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“Thank you, Theo. That… that means a good deal.”

Nerves were still simmering just under her skin, and Theo’s proximity was stirring up heat in her gut. Anna was not sure whether she liked it or not. It was too reminiscent of the kiss they’d shared in her room. The memory of it made her skin prickle, and she bounced to her feet, pacing to and fro.

“There’s nothing we can do about it, is there?” she said impatiently. “About the debt, I mean. I could use my allowance?—”

Theo held up a hand. “Enough about your allowance. That is pin money, not to be spent on matters like these. You can save or spend your money as you wish, but it is nothousekeepingmoney. The issue will be if Lord Downton refuses to sell the debt, or will only accept payment from your mother. He can be troublesome if he wishes.”

Anna clenched her hands at her sides. “Wretched man. I’d like to drop something heavy on his head, or shoot him, or?—”

“Calm down, calm down, my bloodthirsty little Duchess.” Theo laughed, getting to his feet and coming towards her. He gently put his large hands on her shoulders, sending shivers down her spine.

She didn’t want him to stop touching her, though. Almost without deciding to do so, Anna found herself leaning into his touch.

The next thing she knew, his arms were wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. His broad chest was warm and softer than she might have expected, and it was the easiest thing in the world to rest her cheek on his shoulder and close her eyes.

“You needn’t worry about men like Lord Downton, my dear,” Theo said, his voice low. “Not ever again. You see, men like that enjoy bullying those smaller and weaker than them. He won’t much like it when the tables are turned, that’s for sure.”

“He did a great deal to get to me. I’m not easily frightened, but it was… it was scary.”

She felt him rest his hand on her back, the warmth of his long fingers seeping into her skin. Anna’s heart was hammering. Her tongue flicked out to moisten her dry lips, and she swallowed hard. Desire coiled in her gut—she could recognize it for what it was now, and there seemed no sense in calling it anything else.

“Well, that’s a pity,” Theo said, a hint of a growl in his voice. “Because you are mine, and nobody can have you but me. Certainly not that vile little man.”

She wanted something and wanted itbadly. She wantedhimto chase away the memory of the Earl’s sneering face, to remind her that nobody,nobodywould ever make her feel quite so small and helpless again.

“Please,” she croaked, the word sounding simultaneously too loud and too quiet in the still library.

“Hm?” Theo’s voice came from somewhere above her head.

She swallowed. “Isn’t… isn’t that what you wanted me to say?”

There was a heartbeat of confusion, and then she felt the Duke’s body tighten as he understood her meaning.

“I see,” he said, his voice neutral.

She had half expected a little mockery, perhaps for him to make a joke of it all.

She certainly hadn’t expected to have her chin pinched, her face firmly tilted up toward his. Anna only had time to take in Theo’s face, dark with desire and satisfaction, before he kissed her.

It was, in short, an excellent kiss.

Anna wrapped her arms around his shoulders, mostly to steady herself, and allowed him to take the lead. Her hands slid around, almost without her consent, across his wide shoulders, her fingertips dancing on the warm skin of his neck, pushing up into his thick, mercifullynon-pomadedhair.

One of his arms was firmly around her waist, pressing her against him with quite a delicious pressure, and the other hand was on the back of her head, no doubt loosening the hair Esther had worked so hard to pin up.

That was a bothersome thought, and Anna finally disentangled herself enough to gasp out, “Theo, mind my hair!”

His face was flushed, an odd look in his eyes, but he paused enough to raise an eyebrow. “Yourhair?”

She blushed. “I can’t pin it up myself, and unless we can sneak out of Lady Tether’s house with my hair all around my shoulders…”

He rolled his eyes, groaning aloud. “You ladies and your fripperies. Very well, I shall mind not to ruin your hairoryour dress.”

Anna hadn’t even thought about her dress. The bodice alone had several layers, which she would not be able to get out of or into again without help. The laces…

She had no time to think further about the construction of her gown because, at that moment, Theo lifted her with great ease and deposited her on a nearby desk.