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“And so what if I did?”

“It does not bother me. In fact, I wish you had asked me first.”

“Oh…” That caught her by surprise, the honesty in his voice. She tried to redirect, certain she was misreading. “And why is that? So that you could tell me no? I am not yours to command, Duncan. I thought I made that perfectly clear.”

“On the contrary. If you had spoken to me, I might have asked him myself. No doubt he turned you down, likely because of our marriage. Not much point in seducing a married woman. One married to another duke, no less.” He chuckled. “I imagine he was quite distraught.”

“Oh...” Isabella blinked. “I... I did not think – I assumed that you would not allow it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because...” She tried to answer but none came to her. If this was two weeks ago, her answer would have been simple. Because Duncan was a controlling monster who would never allow her such things. Only now, after the last few days, that argument felt somewhat flat.“I am not sure,” she ended up saying instead, rather meekly.

“We have a serious problem, Isabella,” Duncan sighed as if pained. “And I think that you know we do. I am not accusing you of flirting with the duke.”

“I was not flirting!”

“I know you were not,” he said calmly. “I would never assume such a thing of you. But when I saw the two of you speaking just now, I was…” He grimaced. “I was angry, truth be told. I saw the two of you and my first thought was…” He clicked his tongue. “Truthfully, I wished to storm up to the man and punch him in the face.”

Isabella balked. “You – you did?”

He chuckled. “I might have wanted to kill him, such was my… my anger at seeing the two of you speaking in such a companionable manner.”

“Then why didn’t you?” she said without thinking. The thought of her husband reaching such heights of anger excited her in ways she had not felt in days.

“Would you have liked that?”

“I… no. Of course not. I just meant…”

“I know what you meant,” he sighed. “But I do not think you understand what I meant.”

Isabella studied her husband’s face in the darkness. When he had brought her out here, she had assumed it was to chastise her, to remind her that she was not to speak in such a friendly manner to other men. That he might be angry!

The truth was, she had been glad for it. It might not have been her intention but at least it was something. A genuine reaction from the man, something that she had been craving because these last few days had felt false and so unlike what she wanted from this marriage.

“I was jealous,” Duncan said, almost sounding ashamed of the fact. “I saw the two of you and…” A bitter chuckle. “And it wasconfronting, to say the least. My mind went to places I have tried so hard these last few days to keep it from going.”

“And where is that?” She stepped into him, meeting his eyes, wanting him to rise to the occasion because she could sense that he was working so hard to control it.

“I think you know where.”

She flashes her eyes suggestively. “Why don’t you show me?”

“Is that what you want?” There was a growl to his voice, and it sent a shudder of anticipation through her.

She had forgotten how it felt to feel so utterly and completely helpless like this. Alone as they were. Outside and in the dark. She glanced past his arm, barely able to see the door back inside the ball room. They might as well have been in the middle of nowhere, for how isolated they were.

“What do you expect?” she shot back, looking up to meet his eyes. She could not see them in the dark, but she could feel them on her. She could feel the way they burned as she trapped her.

She could sense the rage building in her husband. She could feel the heat pouring from him. He had tried to be kind. He had tried to be nice. But that wasn’t him. The real him was hidden, slowly peeking out, about to do unthinkable things to her because she had been a very bad girl and she deserved nothing less.

Isabella could feel the warmth spreading between her thighs. She could feel herself growingwet. Salivating. Skin prickling with desire. All he had to do was take her and she would melt...

And yet... for some reason, inexplicably, he wasn’t.

“I do not...” He clicked his tongue with extreme frustration. “I don’t know what I am going to do with you.”

A hot flush ran from Isabella’s loins through to her chest and she nearly collapsed from the sheer pleasure. “It makes no difference. I have beenbadand there is nothing you can do about it.”