Page 10 of The Dark Duke's Virgin

All she had to do was say she understood. Another apology, and he would let her go, and she would be able to spend the nextmonth avoiding this monster as anyone of sound mind might think to do. And yet… there was something about the way he held her and looked at her and bore down on her that had Caroline’s mind going to a place she did not even know to exist.

Her heart rate was up. Her blood was running warm. The feel of his hand still wrapped about her waist had her body breaking out in tingles that made her shudder as his warm breath licked at her lips and swept down her throat.

Yes, he was scary. Yes, he was intimidating. But that was what had Caroline feeling the way she did. So much that when she opened her mouth to speak, the words that left her lips were not of her own making but formed by something else deep within.

“And if I choose not to behave?” she dared to ask.

He looked startled, blinking back his surprise, only to catch himself and growl again, his grip increasing so that it almost hurt. “Then you will be punished as is anyone who disobeys me is.”

“Punished…?” Her body was shaking although it did not feel as if it was from fear. “And how exactly will you punish me?”

There was a glint in his eyes. A sense of excitement brought about by her question. “Cross me, and find out.”

Her heart was still racing. The words spoken sounded like threats, yet there was an air of something more to them. A sensethat this so-called punishment might not be as bad as the Duke wanted it to seem. “Maybe I will.”

“Do not test me,” he growled, and she could feel it rolling over her.

“Do not tempt me.”

He narrowed his eyes and licked his lips. It was as if he were a lion looking upon prey he was about to devour. And oh, how she wished he would. Her eyes flicked to his lips, and she licked her own, held his stare, felt a fire brewing between them so hot that it might burn down this manor as Linfield Estate had burned.

His body was still pressed to hers as he leaned in close, his mouth moving to her ear where he whispered, “You play a dangerous game, and I would hate for you to get hurt.” And then, she felt his teeth tear into her earlobe.

“Ah…” she gasped as he nibbled her ear, biting down and tearing back.

“Frederick!” Esther’s voice suddenly cried from around the corner. “Where are you! This house! I swear to God!”

And just like that, it was over. The Duke released his grip on Caroline and took a hasty step back, hands folding behind his back as he straightened and fixed a smile on his face just in time for Esther to shuffle around the corner and appear behind Caroline.

Caroline, still standing in the doorway, did not notice her at first. Face flushed. Breathing stammered. Body shaking. She trembled as she looked at His Grace, trying to search his eyes as if she needed confirmation for what just happened—as if she might have imagined it. But His Grace, somehow, looked so at ease and composed that she very nearly thought it was all in her head.

“Grandmother,” His Grace beamed, “you made it.” A quick flick of his eyes at her in warning, that fire and heat clear behind them, and then he was back on Esther. “I trust the trip went well?”

Certainly not imagined. Certainly not in her head. That acceptance didn’t make things any better. And with the Duke before her and his grandmother behind, Caroline suddenly felt as if she had stumbled into the middle of a situation which might very well be the end of her.

She had been wary of living under His Grace’s roof for what might be as long as an entire month. But now the thought terrified her… or at least that was what she told herself as by now, Caroline had become rather adept at lying.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Well, this looks friendly,” Frederick’s grandmother said with a coy smile as she waded into the drawing room. Her eyes flicked from Miss Dowding to Frederick, suggesting that she knew exactly what it was that she had nearly walked in on.

“I was just becoming acquainted with your companion,” Frederick replied calmly, willing his body to cool down and his cheeks to return to their normal hue. “It surprises me that we have not met previously.”

“Oh yes, I suppose it is a little strange isn’t it,” she sighed. “But do not read too much into it. It is not as if I was hiding her.”

“I never said that you were.”

“Although, I wish that I was here when you two met.” She reached Frederick, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek which he accepted. “Can’t have you scaring her off now, can I?”

“Grandmother…” Frederick rolled his eyes. “I assure you that I have done no such thing. Isn’t that right, Miss Dowding?” He raised an eyebrow at Miss Dowding. “We were having a lovely chat, were we not?”

Miss Dowding hadn’t moved so much as an inch since Frederick’s mother entered the room. She stood frozen in the doorway, that same look of shock written across her face that worried Frederick, for he did not need his grandmother seeing it and then coming to conclusions.

And indeed, his grandmother looked at her, took note of the red cheeks and wide eyes, and frowned. “Is everything all right, dear? You look as if you have seen a ghost.”

“Oh!” Miss Dowding gave her head a shake. “I am just a little bit tired from the trip is all. It is nothing to…” Her eyes flicked to Frederick, and her cheeks flushed a deeper red as she looked away. “It is nothing to concern yourself with.”

“Is that right…” Frederick’s grandmother eyed her a moment, that coy smile returning.

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