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His green gaze bore into her, and liquid heat stirred deep within her pussy. “Let them see how I’ve claimed you.”
    Her mouth dried and senses spun. This was what she wanted and yet she couldn’t allow his arrogance to go unchallenged.
    “We’re no longer in a filth-strewn back alley.”
    “If that is your preference, it can easily be arranged.”
    Her pulses fluttered. Danger reeked in every erratic breath she took and yet she hadn’t felt this intoxicated with being flesh and blood for more years than she could count.
    Three years ago .
    But then only briefly, a blink in her existence, a moment of madness she had never imagined could be recaptured.
    “Are you propositioning me, Your Grace?”
    His smile was devoid of warmth. “Would you vanish on me once again if I were?”
    So he did recall their conversation. She wondered, as she had then, what proposition he could possibly offer a woman he had just taken in a squalid alley.
    She deliberately glanced at his groin, and was gratified to note the bulge in his breeches appeared larger than ever. “That depends upon your proposition.”
    He raised her hand to his lips.
    “Meet me outside in ten minutes.” His lips brushed her gloved knuckles yet she could feel the heat of his breath in the marrow of her bones. “I don’t care what excuse you give your chaperone or your lover or whoever else you are with tonight. Just be there.”
    Before she could respond, he escorted her back to Lady Harriet, where he proceeded to charm the elderly lady until she all but swooned. Then he turned to her.
    “It’s been a pleasure, Miss Craven.” His eyes promised that he expected them to enjoy far more pleasure before this night was out.
    “My dear,” Lady Harriet fluttered her hand against her ample bosom as they watched him stroll from them. “I can scarcely believe you attracted the attention of the duke. He dances so rarely! And he appears quite besotted with you. You are quite the object of envy among all the other young ladies here tonight.”
    Morana dragged her attention from the duke’s broad shoulders, so magnificently enhanced by the cut of his black coat. Poor Lady Harriet would likely suffer an apoplexy if she discovered exactly why the duke was so besotted with her.
    “Is he a recluse?”
    It didn’t matter whether he was or not. If she had any sense she would refuse his command to meet with him. She would beckon Thanatos and they would melt into the night, the way they always melted into the night. And the duke would be left to curse her name for leaving him with a pounding erection and an unfulfilled promise.
    But for too long she’d waited for this. For too long she’d dreamed about meeting him again, and now that she had there was no way in Hades she was going to walk away.
    Not tonight.
    The contract could wait.
    “Oh he is quite sociable during the Season,” Lady Harriet said and Morana frowned at the oddly glazed expression in the old woman’s eyes. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Lady Harriet had enjoyed one too many glasses of ratafia. “Quite sociable altogether, but in a reserved manner, you understand. And he rarely invites anyone to his estate. Most odd.”
    Morana glanced at Thanatos and he caught her eye, curiosity sizzling.
    “I am a little faint,” she said to Lady Harriet. “I need a breath of air.” She patted her flushed cheek with the back of her hand and hoped the other woman wouldn’t insist on accompanying her.
    Lady Harriet smiled in a strangely vacant manner as though she didn’t find Morana’s comment in the least bit untoward. “Of course, my dear.”
    With studied nonchalance, she weaved her way toward the orchestra, and Thanatos, without missing a note, angled his body in her direction.
    “You have an assignation.” It wasn’t a question.
    She flipped open her fan to hide their conversation. “I have to get him out of my head, Thanatos. Perhaps one more tumble will cure me of this