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Miss Dowding was a different breed entirely. She did not baulk. She did not cower. She did not care! She challenged him in a way that nobody else had, and it infuriated him as much as it turned him on.

He could sense it happening as he held her eyes. He could literally feel his arousal peaking as he bore down on her, trying to bend her to his will while being rebuffed. This went beyond wanting her to comply with him. This was about an entirely different type of control.

Before he could stop himself, his hand shot out and grabbed her waist as he had the last time the two had spoken. She gasped but did not pull away. If anything, she stepped in closer, seeming to dare him as his grip tightened on her.

“What did I tell you?” he growled at her. “The last time we spoke.”

“Nothing I care to remember,” she shot back, licking her lips as she continued to glare at him.

“I told you that you were playing a dangerous game. One that, if you kept at it, would you see you get hurt.”

“Is that why you bit me?” she asked, her voice dropping. “A warning?”

His chest tightened, and his eyes flicked to her ears… and then her neck. When he had bitten her last time, it had been on impulse, and he had been unable to help himself because he had needed to show her that he was not one to be played with. And now…

“Admit that you do not wish for this role. Say it, so I can tell my daughter that you have turned her down.”

“No.”

He could feel himself begin to sweat, and his grip on her waist tightened. “I am not used to being denied. Especially by guests of my own household.”

“And I am not used to be manhandled.”

“Perhaps you ought to be.”

“Perhaps I should scream?”

“Finally, putting that tongue of yours to good use,” he responded through his teeth. “It would be the first time.”

“Oh, it has other uses, I assure you.”

“Is that right?” he chuckled.

Her eyes went wide. “I did not mean—I was simply referring to its use regarding defending myself against your boorish insults.”

“Is that so?”

“What else could I possible mean?”

His body was shaking, and he could feel himself sweating through his clothes. The urge to lean down and tear into her neck was real. The desire to shut that door and ravish her until she succumbed to his demands was more than he could handle. And as he looked from her neck to her plump lips, Frederick knew there was little he could do to stop himself.

“I have seen the way you look at me,” he said, unable to stop himself.

She half-pulled away without seeming to want to. “I do not know what you are speaking of.”

“Do not pretend that it has not crossed your mind,” he growled. “What it might be like to put those lips and that tongue to actual good use for a change.”

Her lip curled in anger. “I would rather have my tongue pulled out than consider such a thing.”

“What a waste of a good tongue.”

“That is not?—”

“So, if I was to kiss you now…” He stepped in closer, right on top so that their two bodies were almost one. “… what would you do?”

“Why don’t you try it and find out.” She flashed her eyes at him in warning, as if she meant to slap him across the face if he dared. And yet, she still stayed close and was not fighting him now was she looking as if she meant to.

“What did I just say about denying me?” And then, unable to stand it any longer, he pulled her into himself, unsurprised that she didn’t so much as feign resistance.