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here who would be, shall we say, harmed if their visits here were revealed.”
    Miranda nodded. That did make her feel better. Of course, Ethan would have to be discreet in the past. And if it came out that he had ruined her and then refused to marry her, that wouldn’t exactly cast him in a fine light anyway. So she trusted his secrecy, if nothing else.
    “Which leaves us with terms,” she said with a sigh. “I cannot be away from home for an entire summer with no one suspicious of my whereabouts, my lord. I, unlike your widows or courtesans, have a quite overbearing mother.”
    “I am well aware.” Ethan leaned back with a shudder. “How shall I receive payment on my investment, then?”
    She drew a deep breath. “What if I were only to come once a week? But I would stay the entire day and all night. You would have me for twenty-four hours and I…” She hesitated, unsure of the prudence of her next statement. But there was nothing to be done about it. She had no choice. “I will agree to do whatever you wish, whenever you wish during that twenty-four-hour period.”

Three
    Ethan straightened up in the chair as his face darkened with hot blood. For the first time in years he was actually shocked. Not horrified, but utterly surprised. The worst of it was that an innocent, willowy country miss had been the one to set him on his heels. She had no idea what she was offering. Or just how tempting that offer was.
    Miranda drew a harsh breath and continued before he could interrupt. “The rest of the arrangement remains the same. Every four weeks, I will earn a Season for a sister. Will my utter surrender, within the new confines of the agreement, still suit you?”
    Ethan groaned at her choice of words. Utter surrender. What images that conjured. This young woman, spread out on his bed, arching beneath him. Covering him. Having her in every wicked way until she begged for more. Until he had his fill. Debauching her completely.
    But that was the rub, wasn’t it? Miranda wasn’t just a lovely widow he could use and discard without doing any damage. He might not have much honor, but he knew what this arrangement could do to Miranda’s reputation. The last thing he wanted was for her to come back to him later, making accusations and demands for reparation. If he was going to accept her proposition, something he couldn’t believe he was even considering, he would have to be sure she understood exactly what surrender meant to him.
    “Once you give me your innocence, you will severely hinder your choices in the future,” he said, shifting in the uncomfortable chair. The damn erection this chit had caused was raging now, fed by all the images she was creating with her offer.
    “There is more to be experienced in life than marriage,” she said with a little shrug. “Once my family is situated, I could become a governess. Or a lady’s companion. Or…or perhaps I’ll even decide to remain a mistress, once my sisters are all married, of course.”
    Ethan shoved out of his chair hard enough that it rocked back. A mistress. So he would be training her to please other men, was that it?
    “Do you even know what that means?” he barked, surprised by the tone and strength of his voice. “Do you have any concept of what you are proposing?”
    She got up, too, and held out her hands in a motion of surrender that matched her earlier words. “Of course I do.”
    He stepped forward and grasped her elbows, yanking her against him until the entire length of her willowy frame touched his. She was taller than he had realized. Her forehead waseven with his lips and he had a height advantage on most men.
    “You don’t understand anything,” he growled, holding her firm against him with one arm while he tilted her chin up with his hand. “Once you do this, there will be no going back. You’ll never be the same. I don’t want you to come crying to me later with your regrets.”
    Her full bottom lip trembled, but she held his