Page 50 of Enticing the Devil

Because even now, as he castigated himself for his lack of control and foresight, he couldn’t help but feel another surge of desire for the woman. Those stolen moments when she’d held him secure with her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck had felt more deeply satisfying than anything he’d known before.

Her quiet gasps and sighs and moans had flowed through his blood like molten honey—rich and sweet and so fucking erotic.

He was a selfish beast of a man to want her again so fiercely after having been buried deep within her barely an hour ago. Would she be sore? Her body tender where he’d touched her? Had she been frightened by the strength of his hunger?

His desire was replaced by a fresh wave of guilt and regret.

But he’d laid his course. The way forward was clear. His stomach clenched. He had no choice.

And neither did she.

Chapter Eighteen

Anne woke with a disturbing sense of foreboding. It was the same feeling she’d had when she’d eventually fallen asleep the night before. Except worse.

Because despite the very passionate kiss Beynon had given her before he’d left her, the expression clouding his darkly handsome features had been...stricken.

Her heart seized painfully at the memory.

Though she couldn’t possibly doubt his passion for her in the moment, it had been shockingly clear afterward that he’d regretted the experience. A truth made all the more wrenching by the fact that she’d never felt anything so heart-achingly beautiful as what she’d discovered in his arms. He’d triggered something inside her with his deep kisses and strong hands. Something wild and willful and a bit dangerous.

She’d finally been released from whatever invisible bonds she’d so ignorantly accepted all her life. But her liberation was covered by a dark shadow. Because he hadn’t felt the same.

In fact, she’d never seen a man look more like a bear caught in a trap than he had last night.

Of course, she understood most ladies would anticipate a formal proposal after engaging in such scandalous activities with a gentleman. But Anne knew better than to expect such an offer. The man’s words to his brother still rang clearly in her head.

No, Beynon Thomas had no desire to take her as his wife. What happened between them had been about physical lust—an eruption of passion and sensual need. She was not so naïve she couldn’t understand that.

And why would she want to marry the man anyway? They were entirely incompatible. He was stubborn and rude and never listened to her. And it’s not as though she had to worry about a lack of innocence keeping her from marrying anyone else. She’d already resigned herself to spinsterhood.

As soon as she had an opportunity, she’d make it clear to Mr. Thomas that she had no expectations and would certainly not demand any sort of declaration from him. Not now or ever.

Unfortunately, setting the man’s mind at ease proved to be difficult when he was nowhere to be found. Not that she was actively searching—quite the opposite, actually, since she did her best to keep busy with various tasks throughout the day so as not to seek the man out. No matter how strongly she felt compelled to do so.

Tonight was the last event of the competition—the dramatic readings. She and her partner were to perform a short dialogue from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust. Anne was familiar with the play and the rather emotional scene they’d been assigned. She certainly would have liked to go through it few times with Mr. Thomas before reading it in front of others, but the practice wasn’t entirely necessary.

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