Forever changed by his capture at the hands of the French, Viscount Carlisle is no longer the naive, carefree idiot who left the shores of England. He has spent eight years trying to find the man who betrayed him, but his plans are thwarted by the t...
What's a woman to do when the man she loves seems hell-bent on denying the passion that burns between them?
Why, she takes him to bed, of course! Bound by a wager, he cannot refuse her request and she plans on using each of the seven nights to her best advantage.
Sooner or later, Cassius Godwin, Earl of Pembroke, would have to admit that there was no one else for him, save her.
Or, at least she was about seventy-five percent sure that he would.
She never minded a game of chance.
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"Cassius, are you avoiding me?" The lilting voice made Pembroke's hand freeze over the chess piece. He'd set up the board at this late hour to indulge in an activity he saved for the moments that he found himself much disturbed – playing against himself. He closed his eyes, refusing to look at her, because if he turned she would know that she was the reason he found himself unable to sleep.
Could one avoid a hurricane? You could close your eyes, plug your ears, but that wouldn't stop you from knowing it was there. It wouldn't keep you from feeling the wind whip your body, or steal breath from your lungs.
"I have not given you leave to use my Christian name," he grated out, ignoring her, ignoring his body's response as he heard her come closer.
"Do I frighten you, Cassius?"
God, the way she said his name, like a silken caress against his senses. How did she make it sound so erotic? That breathy voice of hers had been made to drive men like him to madness.
"Why would I be afraid of you?" His years of training as an aristocrat ensured that the response came out cold and cutting. She laughed in response, seeing his deflection for what it was.
The answer was yes. She terrified him. He knew what women like her did to men like him. They played around with men like him until they ceased finding amusement and then discarded them like old playthings. Chewed out and ruined with nothing left in them.
She already consumed so much of his thoughts, and that with him avoiding her at every turn. If he gave into the temptation, she would laugh as she wrecked him and then she would go on to her next conquest without a second thought.
"Because you want me," he felt her breath, hot on his ear and his cock went hard. Of course, he wanted her. There were few men who didn't. She was like an Aphrodite come alive, her figure lush, her mouth wide, her eyes these ethereal pools of golden brown a man could get lost in forever. He wanted her in ways that were disgusting, depraved, that sickness in him always threatened to break loose whenever she was here. She came and sat in the chair across from him.
"I'll make you a deal, Cassius," she purred, batting those long eyelashes at him in a way designed to bring a man to his knees. "Play a game of chess with me, the winner gets a forfeit."
