Page 564 of From Rakes to Riches

“After Father passed from a sudden fever when I was eight, and I inherited the title, Mother took to calling me Rake.”

“Why on earth would your mother do such a thing?”

“Her rationale was—and still is—that a rake gets what he wants out of life.”

“You’re already a duke. Don’t you get enough already?”

This earned another humorless laugh from him. “Mother has a specific way of viewing the world.” A beat. “Too much is never enough.”

“That would certainly explain your stables.”

“The best in the land.”

“And only the best for you?”

“Only.”

His head cocked, his dark, fathomless gaze locked onto her. A flush of heat pulsed through her, provoked by its intensity.

And the smile tipping about his mouth…

She’d seen it before.

Three nights ago…

In his bedroom.

He wasn’t speaking of his stables.

He was speaking of…

Her.

His voice went low and gravelly. “I can’t help but wonder if…”

“If?” somehow emerged from her in a breathless exhalation.

“If I’ve sufficiently proven it toyou.”

Opposite her, not ten feet away, he sat propped against the stone casement, looking so arrogant and vital and assured.

Magnificent.

Her tongue nervously swiped across her bottom lip to wet it, and his gaze followed the movement.

Oh, no good could come of this feeling tracing through her…

She wanted him.

Really, she had to have him.

“You could prove it now,” she said.

Oh, that was bold.

“Would you like to test me?”

She did.

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