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The less they liked one another, the better.

His lips brushed hers before he was ready for it, concentrating on how she must be feeling and thinking, instead of what his body was doing.

For a brief moment, he felt nothing, his lips brushing against hers in a dry, emotionless kiss, but then her mouth opened for him unexpectedly.

Without intending to, his lower lip was caught between hers, and he tasted the sweetness of her mouth as he pulled her closer.

Like a dragon unfurling from its cave, desire, fierce and unexpected, leaped up from within, clawing at him.

His mind was bombarded with images of her tiny body beneath his on the chaise longue, of her pert breasts rising and falling in shock at his proximity. He pictured her naked beneath him, driving into that tiny body, commanding her completely until she screamed his name over and over.

Seth drew back.

Happy murmurings rippled through the congregation behind him, but he could barely hear anything except the pounding in his ears.

Alicia’s beautiful face was still turned toward his, her lips parted, wet and begging for him to have another taste.

He took her arm, stiff and formal, feeling her body tense beside him as he marched them down the aisle, barely waiting for her to follow him.

He nodded at a few people in the crowd. Isaac, Michael, and Lucas were among them, waving their fists in the air as if it were the happiest day of their lives.

Seth could barely take it in. Mortification swamped him as he realized he was growing hard in his breeches—in church!

He wanted to curl in on himself and break into a run.

What the hell is the matter with me?

As soon as he set foot outside, he detached himself from his bride, noting the look of confusion and hurt on her face as he strode away toward the house.

He had to get away from them all, to gather himself and fight against the pull in his gut that made him want to throw his bride over his shoulder, take her back to his rooms, and never let her leave his bed.

CHAPTER 6

Seth could hear the raucous laughter of Lady Collingworth at the wedding breakfast.

He should be out there with his bride, sitting beside her and making small talk with all the people the Earl had invited.

Instead, he was sitting in his study, alone, nursing a glass of whiskey.

I am not hiding.I am merely choosing when I will return to the company.

The suffocation he had felt in the church had eased as he returned to the manor. Heaven only knew what Alicia thought of him, marching away from her like that.

She will have to become accustomed to my absences. Perhaps starting from the wedding is as good a thing as any.

He contemplated the glass in his fingers, the amber liquid glinting in the firelight.

Undoubtedly, his reaction to her had been due to his abstinence from vice. It had been many weeks since he had lain with a woman; his body was merely starved for touch.

Yes, that is the reason.

Still, he could not shake the disquiet that had come over him as his lips had touched hers. The heat that spread over his skin, theneedhe felt to have her right there in front of everyone. The bulge in his breeches was the only thing that had calmed.

He knocked back the rest of the whiskey, before pouring himself another measure.

Not only was his bride going to learn that he was an absent husband, but she would also believe him to be a drunk at this rate.

Staring at the glass in his fingers, he frowned at it, putting it down on the silver tray beside him and walking to the window.