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Duncan groaned and she could see his jaw clench. “You enjoy frustrating me.”

“You make it so easy to do.”

He closed his eyes and groaned again, that hand around her waist moving up her body and then slowly wrapping itself around her throat. She gasped and he squeezed, not roughly, just tight enough to let her know that he had her in his grip and could end her if he so pleased.

“What am I going to do with you...” He licked his lips as his eyes flicked hungrily over her body.

“Nothing,” she shot back excitedly, feeling it grow inside of her as she pushed him. “And I will ask you to let me go or... or... or I promise that you will regret it.”

He groaned again, his grip around her throat tightening. “I have asked you time and time again to behave. And still you refuse.”

“I am not yours to command.”

“That is exactly what you are.” He leaned in and she held her breath as she braced for another kiss. Only he moved past her lips and his tongue licked her ear before his teeth caught her lobe and bit down. “You are mine and it is time that you learned how to behave.”

“I am a slow learner,” she breathed in a whisper.

“Yes...” He smiled and his eyes flashed. “Yes, you are.”

She had no idea what was going to happen. What she was even saying! But Isabella could sense it was the right thing. The way that her husband’s breathing was rising steadily. The flush on his neck. How moist his lips became as his eyes devoured her and his mind went to places she could not even imagine.

“Pr -- prove it,” she said as she tried to pull herself free.

Suddenly, Duncan stepped into her, wrapped an arm around her waist and threw her up onto his shoulder as if she weighed nothing.

“Ow!” she cried out in shock as he carried her across the room where he tossed her onto the bed. She gasped and attempted to push herself up but her husband was on her before she could do much of anything.

His hulking frame pinned her down and again she felt trapped, completely at this man’s mercy. He looked at her savagely, like a wild animal escaped from captivity. And the way he breathed, it almost sounded painful as if his lungs could not handle the pressure that was building inside of him.

“What are you --”

“Do not speak,” he growled. “Not unless I allow it.”

“What does --”

His hand shot out and covered her mouth. He pressed himself in close, his lips touching the back of his hand, their eyes meeting. “I said, do not speak.”

She widened her eyes at him, as if in rebuke. And all the while her body ran so hot that she began to sweat. Shaking too. Trembling! Caught between the fear of not knowing and the excitement of wanting to find out, Isabella was too far in to stop now. What was more, she did not want to.

“This is how it will be,” Duncan said in a commanding tone. “The way you have been behaving requires punishment. But I am not a complete monster, nor do I enjoy serving it to you…” His eyesflashed their hunger. “Even if it might seem that I do. So, I will say this one time and one time only. If I go too far, or at any time you wish to end this – what you have forced me to do,” he growled. “You will say King George. Is that understood.”

A safe word. Isabella’s mind raced with the implications, her heart still beating quickly but not quite so panicked. This changed everything. What was more, it gave her a small amount of power that she didn’t realize she needed.

She opened her mouth to speak but Duncan’s hand kept it closed.

“Do not speak...” He whispered as he held her mouth. “Nod your head. Do you understand what I am saying?”

She nodded her head.

“Now, are you going to do as you are told?”

She very nearly nodded her head again but caught herself just in time. From the look in his eyes, she knew what he wanted, and she was happy to play along. She shook her head, trying her best to match his furious stare with her own cantankerous one.

“I did not think so,” he chuckled, almost looking amused. “So be it.”

His arms lifted her from underneath and then flipped her onto her stomach. Duncan then fell in next to her and pushed her faceinto the soft bedding. She tried to push him off, but he was too big, too strong, toopowerful.

And as he held her, his other hand moved to the skirt of her dress, taking a handful and then slowly sliding it up the back of her bare thighs. Continuing to pull it, he tore it over her buttocks and exposed them fully.