Page 4 of How to Love a Duke in Ten Days

Instead, she felt the whisper of cold air against the backs of her stockinged knees.

“No.” The hoarse objection ripped out of her once again as she reared back and did her best to twist away.

His hand clamped on the back of her neck, slamming her back over the desk with such force, her cheek ground against the grain.

Terror pierced her more than the pain. This was no simple punishment. No retributive fury.

A current of something angrier,uglier,pulsed in the atmosphere around them. What had she done to evoke such a malevolent reaction from him? How could she take it back?

“Please.” Fighting to remain calm, she struggled to lift her neck. “Let me up. You’re hurting me.”

“Do you think the boys squirm and plead so prettily?” His question was punctuated with hard consonants, as though he’d spoken them through his teeth.

If she slid her eyes all the way to the side, she could just make out his shadow over her.

“Do you?”

“I—I—” Helplessness stole her words. Relieved her of all reason.

“No, Lady Alexandra, they take their licks.” The unwelcome heat of his breath on her cheek should have warned her. But, being uninitiated in the ways of men, she never could have dreamed that his tongue would follow.

The moist path he left across her cheekbone evoked such revulsion, she had no time to react before her arms were tangled in the layers of skirt and petticoat he’d tossed above her waist.

Stunned, she desperately tried to decide what to do. Should she fight him? Should she scream, hoping to rouse one of their teachers from their beds? Would they protect her? Would they expel her? Should she plead for his mercy? Or give in to the tears stinging her eyes and nose and hope they softened his ire? Should she submit to the lashing and be done with it?

“Thin enough to see the treasure beneath,” he murmured, confusing her utterly. “I think I’ll keep them on.”

Her panic-muddled thoughts only just processed that he referred to her white merino drawers when the first blow snapped against her tender rear.

Had he used the strap, she might have remained submissive. For the sake of a deserved punishment. For the protection of her future goals and her close friends.

She’d havetaken her lickslike a man.

But the bruising imprint of his fingers on her backside—the sound of flesh against hers, the pain of it, the absolute degradation—drew a violent response of which she’d not considered herself capable.

He was able to deliver three more punishing blows before her struggles became too wild for him to subdue with one arm.

He used his body, then, to pin her to his desk. Shaped it to hers. Torso to torso, hip to hip.

“Be still,” he panted, his serpentine voice thicker than before. “Or I’ll not be responsible for what you drive me to do.”

“Youwillbe responsible,” she hissed. “I’ll make certain the law holds you responsible.”

His dreadful laugh filled the room. “Who do you think they’ll believe, Lady Alexandra? The respected headmaster whose family has educated ancient kings, or the spoiled little thief, making outlandish claims to save her reputation?”

His question gave her a moment’s pause.

Who, indeed?She was nobility in England. But here, so far from home… what power did she wield?

“Let me up.” She’d meant it as a demand, but it escaped as a plea. “Do it, or I’ll ruin you.”

“Not if I ruin you, first,” he snarled into her ear, driving her painfully against the desk with his body.

The shape of what she felt against her backside injected new terror into her veins. Greater strength. More conviction.

She became a wild thing, bucking and rearing against his solid strength. Frantic noises she’d intended to contain words broke from her. She’d meant to command him to stop. Then she tried to beg. But to her everlasting vexation, the sounds escaping seemed to only contain different forms of the word “no.”

She said it in every language she knew.