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“Not cancel this wedding.”

She laughed coldly. “Oh, now I see what is really the cause here.”

“Which is?”

She smirked and flashed her eyes as a thought came to mind. A most dangerous one. “It is quite simple, really. All this time, I thought that you were just being stubborn and needed a little extra convincing. But now I see what the real problem is.” She looked right at him. “You are a coward.”

He stiffened. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” She licked her lips, knowing that what she was about to say was the wrong thing, but unable to help herself.But what else is new?“You are a cowa – oh!”

The Duke was on her.

He leapt across the carriage and mounted her. Pushing her back against the seat, his legs straddling her and pinning her down, his large body trapping her beneath its weight. His size was even more noticeable now, the way he leered over her, the power that he had... a sense of knowing that he could do literally anything he wanted with her, if he so chose.

Isabella’s eyes went wide. Her body trembled. The first instinct that swept through her was fear and terror because she was completely helpless and at this man’s mercy. But then...

... a different sensation began to build inside of her. It came with the beating of her heart. The sweating of her body. The tingling in her loins as she yearned for him to hold her down and remind her in ways that were not proper what might happen if she spoke to him like that again.

What on earth is that!

“I have been more than patient with you,” the Duke growled. He lowered his mouth so that it was inches from hers. “But my patience is very slowly running out.”

“A -- and?” she stammered. “What are you going to do about --”

“I understand that you are not happy with this arrangement,” he cut her off, his words biting. She could feel his crotch pressed into her leg and it made her quiver and moisten. “Nor am I. But unlike you, I have chosen to be the bigger person and accept it. I suggest that you do the same.”

“And...” She swallowed as she tried to meet his eyes, forcing herself even if the anger in them made her gasp. “And if I do not?”

His laughter was cold. “I have warned you what will happen. And I was not speaking out of turn, Miss Gouldsmith. You will behave yourself because if you do not...” He sucked through his teeth and then leaned in closer, his mouth going to her ear. “I promise that I will make you behave in ways that I will enjoy very much. Is that understood?”

She did not answer but she gasped at the implication, goosebumps breaking across her skin. Body turning stiff and cold yet somehow also warm. That sounded like a threat.Yet, why does the thought of it excite me so much?

“Answer me,” he growled.

“I understand,” she stammered.

“You will behave?”

“Y -- yes.”

He pulled back and reached under her chin. A single finger rested beneath it, and he lifted her chin so that their eyes were meeting. He held them, letting her see that he was being as serious as a man could be.

“Are you going to be a good girl for me, Miss Gouldsmith?”

“I am,” she said in a whisper.

He smiled and flashed his eyes. “That is all I ask. Now...” He leaned in and she thought he was going to kiss her! Her first instinct was to pull away but her second was to take it, to accept it, to submit to his will because what choice did she have?

He did no such thing.

Rather, he leaned into her ear. His tongue ran up the inside of it. He nibbled it gently, just enough that she gasped. And then he said clearly so there could be no mistaking his words. “Get out.”

The Duke pushed himself back and sat down. He glared warningly at her, the anger within still very much present but also controlled. And Isabella, shaking where she sat, barely able to breathe, unwilling to look the Duke in the eyes, did as he said. Perhaps for the first time.

She threw herself from the carriage, tripped and stumbled and then made for the door. By the time she reached it, the carriage was gone and she was on her own.

She did not calm right away. Nor did she go back inside. Her entire body was shaking in ways that she had never felt before as she pictured what had just happened, trying to reckon with their meaning. Both the Duke’s words, and her own response to them.