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“My apologies, Duchess. I thought you would have been fast asleep by now.”

Alicia caught her breath, her heart fluttering. “I could not sleep. I thought I might find a very boring book to read.”

Her eyes moved to the volume in his hands.

“Do you recommend that one?” she asked.

Seth’s smile was sly. “I do not think it will bore you to sleep, Duchess,” he said.

Alicia shivered in the cold room, and he beckoned her toward the fire, indicating that she should sit in the chair beside him.

She did so, feeling awkward in his presence, as if she were intruding.

“And why not?” she demanded.

“Because it isThe Monkby Matthew Lewis, and I do not think it would sendanyoneto sleep.”

Alicia pursed her lips in disapproval. “I have heard of that book.”

“I am sure you have.”

She snorted. “My friends all think it quite marvelous, but it is so scandalous. Is he not a holy man who is led astray?”

“Very much so, yes.”

“You know the story already?”

“This is my third time reading the book.”

Alicia shifted in her seat, frowning as he laughed at her again.

“You are shocked, Duchess?” he asked, the glint in his eyes making her even more uneasy.

“It is most unsuitable, I am sure.”

The Duke watched her for a while, making her fidget in her chair again as he stroked his thumb over the cover, his eyes never leaving hers.

She glanced at him, unsure why his gaze was so direct, when she realized he was not looking at her at all, but at her breasts.

Looking down, she found that her robe had fallen open and her tweaked nightgown was exposed to the room.

Rising to her feet, she turned, clutching the robe tightly around her, embarrassed and determined to leave. Before she could do so, however, a hand grasped her wrist.

He spun her back in his arms, and in the next instant, he pulled the robe off her.

The roughness of the movement startled a shrill cry from her as his eyes turned black with need. The dangerous heat in his eyes thrilled her beyond anything she had ever felt.

This is what I made it for, after all.For his eyes only.

Alicia could not move, paralyzed by desire, but the Duke was utterly still. It was as though he were waiting for her permission to act.

The back of his hand came up to brush against her neck as he let out a long breath.

“Would you like me to read you a passage from the book? I think you will enjoy it almost as much as I am enjoying this view.”

“You are not serious,” Alicia spluttered, scandalized.

The Duke took a step forward, and another, until she felt the solid form of a desk against the back of her thighs.