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supposed to be doing.
    “Do I look presentable, then?”
    He studied her reflection. “You look like a woman who needs to be pleasured by a
    man.”
    “That was not our intent, was it?”
    “It was always mine, but perhaps I have pushed you too far this evening.”
    He stepped back, his voice cool, and removed her hand from his cock. She wrapped
    her arms around herself at the sudden loss of contact. She felt like a lapdog whose
    owner no longer thought she was amusing.
    “Then should I go now? Are you done with me tonight?” For the first time, she
    noticed there were no clocks in the room. It was if time stood still for their erotic
    interlude.
    “Perhaps you should put your waistcoat and new coat on.”
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    Antonia’s Bargain
    Antonia grabbed the waistcoat Gideon held out to her. If it hadn’t been for the
    substantial swelling in his groin, she might imagine he had lost interest in her. He stood
    back and watched her struggle into her coat. She held her tongue, refusing to indulge in
    a fit of womanly pique that she suspected he would treat with indifference.
    His gaze swept her figure and she drew herself up to her full height. It was a
    pleasure to stand next to a man who towered over her. She was tired of following her
    aunt’s advice and bending her knees in an effort to look shorter.
    “Walk across the room.”
    Determined not to balk at his commanding tone, Antonia obeyed. When she
    reached the far wall, she turned and walked back.
    Gideon shook his head. “You need to take longer strides and carry your shoulders
    higher.”
    “If I carry my shoulders higher, my breasts stick out.”
    He considered her for a long moment. “They are bound, are they not? Therefore
    you should not have a problem, Try it again.”
    Antonia set her teeth and repeated the process, trying to model herself on her
    cousin Charles.
    “That was better.”
    “Good, shall I go now?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Are you so eager to be off then, my dear? Have I failed to
    live up to your expectations? Did you imagine I would plunge you into my male world
    of debauchery without teaching you how to protect and disguise yourself?”
    Antonia stared at him. What had she expected? Not this buildup of tension and
    awareness in her body which made her want…what exactly?
    “You have been more than kind. I appreciate all you have done for me.” Her words
    sounded false and stilted to her own ears. He must think her a fool.
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    Kate Pearce
    Gideon took her hand and kissed her palm. “Next week, I promise you we will
    move on to other more interesting male pursuits. Now perhaps you should go home.”
    She was being dismissed like a child. Next he would pat her on the head and give
    her a penny like her father used to do. Why did everyone think she was so biddable?
    Greatly daring, she stood on tiptoe and kissed his mouth. His arms coiled around her
    waist and held her close but he didn’t kiss her back. Trapped in his embrace, she simply
    glared at him.
    “I am sending you away for your own good, you know,” Gideon murmured.
    She wiggled to get away but he easily held her still.
    “Nonsense, you are sending me away because you are bored with me.”
    He laughed. “There are a lot of things you don’t understand about men yet, my
    dear. One of them is that you can only tempt a man so far.” He set her away from him.
    “If you were a man you would understand that after touching a woman so intimately,
    I’m hard and ready to fuck.”
    His blunt language, which she suspected was intended to shock her, simply
    reawakened the slumbering heat he’d aroused earlier. She reached out and stroked the
    bulge in his breeches. “Does it hurt you to be like this?”
    He didn’t pull away from her touch. “Not yet, but it will ache like the devil if I do
    not attend to the matter soon.”
    “You will manage this by yourself?”
    He smoothed a hand over his groin, curving her fingers around his hard flesh. “I’ll
    decide that when you