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I can’t respond to that Only sit up and scoot back to the center of the bed,with fear

Dried blood covers his hands And his jaw and throat and chest He’s naked, and almost every inch of his tall, powerful form is filthy—his tanned skin not just covered in blood but in dirt

And his penis is erect

Hugely erect

I can hardly take , thick cock There’s blood all over him, and I’m immobilized by uncertainty and terror, yet lust still has rip My pussy clenches with desperate yearning as I stare at the blatant evidence of Gideon’s desire for me

A sardonic smile twists his firm lips “And now there is the scent of your fear It is also sweet to the beast” A cold, steely edge scrapes away the rough growl in his voice “But not to me Why did you come, Cora?”

“Mr Singh Your parents’ solicitor” I struggle to pull coherent answers fro my mind “He contacted me on their behalf”

“My parents were killed nine years ago” Over asp of disbelief and dismay, he asks, “Where is your father? He was supposed to protect you and keep you away from this place”

“He died this past fall” Raw grief aches in my throat My father His parents “He had a stroke several years ago that left him bedridden Then…he slowly faded”

Ain his jaw, Gideon averts his face before saying gruffly, “I aood man”

He was But also a man who practically lockedand everyone I loved

“I am sorry to hear about your parents, as well,” I tell him softly “They were always very kind to me”

“Kind to you?” A hard, short laugh barks fro you here They must have left instructions to do it after your father passed”

“I don’t know anything about that Singh said there was a debt owed I wasn’t sure what it was—perhaps unpaid wages? But I caain”

And to see Gideon again But thebefore er, taller, stronger Gideon had once been so kind and even tee that Gideon has now, and never had he seemed so…feral

Or so ravenous

Nervously ain—then rises to his broad chest, where blood has dried in smears and drips Drips, as if he were a messy eater And that deer had been torn apart Yet how could a man do that?

I don’t kno it’s possible But I also don’t think I’ anymore

“You ca smile appears on his lips “And what do you think of Blackwood Manor today?”

My gaze snaps to his “I think you should be ashamed of yourself”

Soreen eyes “So I should be” Yet it is not contrition but arrogance that draws his angular features into hard, i lines “The debt oas not to your father It was a debt your father owed to me”

Gideon had only been seventeen e’d left What couldabout?”

“He took so of mine”

“You’re saying ?” Firmly I shake my head “He would never do that”

“I did not say he stole I said he took as mine” With a predator’s fluid stride, he stalks silently to the edge of the bed, where he leans over and braces his hands on the mattress, his eyes on level with mine Each word succinct, Gideon says, “He…took…my…bride”

His bride

Hardly daring to breathe, I whisper, “Me?”

“Did you not agree to be old chain around his fist “Did I not give you this necklace as I vowed to make you my wife? Did you not accept it?”

“I… I…” Of course I did But bewilderment and fear prevent that admission Because I don’t understand any of this “Why did he take me?”