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He needed to produce a heir and soon but he couldn't bring himself to complete his duty. Not when he feared rejection.

He sighed and leaned back on his seat. Victoria had at least kept to her promise and had not held back and she had made it easy for him by not blushing or trying to prolong the mating dance.

He needed to come up with a solution and fast before they were married long and tongues began wagging over their lack of heirs.

Their former conversations played out over in his head again.

"Your grace." She whispered, placing a hand against his chest. "You are much too close."

He smiled down at her.

"I want you to understand what it will be like when we are married." He said slowly. "As you said, I am not a man to hide my attraction and I am a man of many appetites. I require a woman who is unashamed to fulfill them."

She blushed and met his gaze with steely resolve.

"Are you one such woman?" He probed further, wanting to see if her resolve would cave under such bold scrutiny. "Do you think you will be able to satisfy me, Miss Victoria?"

"I do not presume to speak as one with experience in pleasing men. Your grace." She answered boldly. "But if you will be a patient teacher, I will prove to be a most diligent student and in no time at all, I may learn all the necessary skills to please you."

Her words, pouring from lips had been full and plump and begging to be kissed, incensed the desire that had pooled in his blood begging for release since he had returned from the war. It was no wonder he had asked her to kiss him. He had not been able to resist the sweet nectar od of them and had almost drowned in her if he had not remembered he couldn't trust her.

He couldn't help but wonder where the demure woman, she had been described as, was?

She was as bold as any of his past lovers, who had whispered similar words albeit practiced, but her innocence still shone through making them all the more enticing.

He could feel the familiar stirrings of his past self and was sore tempted to put on that shroud as he had as a young man and flirt and charm this woman into a forbidden adventure that would keep her warm for the rest of her life.

He would not marry her but he wondered if she had be thoroughly averse to him setting her up as his mistress until the wedding.

She looked like she would be eager to please him in bed and he had once delighted in teaching women tricks.

Her words reminded him of the young man he had been. When he had lived without a care in the world except the next woman he would bed.

And wasn't that what he had wanted?

To feel desired again.

To feel as unafraid as he had then, without the ghosts of the war or the memory it had left across his face.

"Your grace, I assure you that I can be the partner you need." She went on, unaware of the struggle she had set off in him. "My sister is young and innocent in the ways of the world. She..."

"...is the one I have chosen and I will thank you to remember that." He warned turning back to her.

"No. I am just a woman who would do everything she could to get what she wants." She answered. "I have coached my sister through a successful season. Taught her who to talk to, who to mingle with and who to avoid. She would not be the darling of the ton without me and she knows it."

"If you are that experienced, why aren't you married and situated in your own home yet?" He asked.

He knew the question stung from the way her resolve cracked momentarily but he was undeterred.

"What happens if you fail at helping me accomplish my goal?" He asked. "It is selfish of you to only consider it from your angle and foolish to only consider the possibility of success and not failure."

"What you call foolish, I call optimistic."

"Optimism will not bring back dead soldiers, Miss Victoria." He answered not liking the debate they had just begun. "Optimism will not restore my reputation or account for the scandal divorcing you will bring."

Her steely determination had rivaled that of many soldiers he had been deployed into battle with and he knew she would do all it took to get what she wanted.

When she had defended him, she had been bold and not putting on a show for him as he gad watched from the shadows.