Claiming the Courtesan

Who knew a man’s body offered such delights? Certainly not Lon

cing muscle and bone.

She could touch him like this forever. And still ask for more.

“Ah, mo cridhe. I’m already purring. Surely you hear me.” His voice even sounded different, softer, hinting at a Highland lilt.

to set her free.

Her scream as she’d fallen down the cliff still echoed in his mind and made his gut clench with horror. He’d come so close to losing her. And now it seemed he was to lose her indeed.

Yesterday, he’d learned a number of salutary lessons. None welcome. All well overdue. Among them, that he’d leap over that cliff himself b

demanding paramour shouldn’t have been so difficult. Hadn’t she shared her body with this man for over a year?

But her voice cracked as she spoke. “Your Grace, it’s all right if you…I mean, I…I won’t object if you want to—”

“No.” He spoke firmly, as though argument would never c

art of his carefully cultivated control. But he wanted her to recognize that everything in this house was his—including her—and he treated his possessions as he liked.

Barefoot and still wearing his breeches, he swaggered over to where she stood. She retreated a step before she gathered her courage and held her ground.

Futile courage. Much better for her if she’d taken to her heels. But of course, she’d tried that last night and had only delayed her inevitable fate.

As he’d told her, he knew every hideout on this estate. When madness gripped his father, Kylemore’s very life