Page 585 of From Rakes to Riches

Temptation pulled at her.

Temptation to stay a few more days.

Temptation for more nights like this one.

But if she gave in to temptation, she wouldn’t be able to leave.

And she couldn’t stay.

Not after having betrayed him.

How she wished she could take it all back.

But it was too late for that.

“I must go.”

They both knew she was speaking of more than getting Hannibal settled at Newmarket.

Rake had the air of a man who wasn’t done fighting.

A man who didn’t know the fight was already lost before it had begun.

“You’ll be sleeping in the stall with Hannibal all week, won’t you?”

“Aye,” she said. “Or the blacklegs and touts will get at him. He will only drink water and eat food provided by me.”

Rake nodded. It was a sad fact of the sport of horseracing that tactics like poison were used to stop the best horses from winning, if they weren’t the pick of the blacklegs.

“Not the night before the race,” he said, firm.

“That’s the most important night that I sleep with him.”

“I’ll tell Wilson to do it,” said Rake. “You need to be fresh and rested on race day.”

Reluctantly, Gemma saw the wisdom and nodded.

“And you’re not coming up until race day?” she asked.

“I have other matters to attend over the next few days.”

Every so often, Gemma was able to forget he was a duke.

But he was one—to his very core. A man supremely aware of his duties and responsibilities.

And the way he was looking at her…

As if he now viewed her as part of his world. Perhaps not as a responsibility, but beneath his wing, like so many others in his orbit.

It felt good here. Like a place she could stay…

Forever.

Right.

She rolled away and ignored the pang of longing once her body was no longer touching his. She picked up her shirt and slipped it over her head. Trousers quickly followed.

And all the while, he watched her quietly, thoughts tucked behind his dark eyes, until she finished dressing. Then he said, “I suppose that’s my cue to leave?”

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