(Maiden Lane #10) Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt

Author:Elizabeth Hoyt [Hoyt, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2016-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

But King Heartless still nodded to his guards, indicating that the sentence should be carried out.

That was when the magician cleared his throat. “My liege, I can prove my magic is real.”

King Heartless frowned—he frowned a lot—and said, “How?”

“I can help you find your heart.”

Well, at that everyone froze, save for Prue, who hissed under her breath, “Father, what are you about?”…

—From King Heartless

Val was lying in his dusty bed, clad in a shirt, waistcoat, and banyan, munching an apple and wondering if the footman he’d sent for breakfast and Mrs. Crumb had perhaps fallen down the stairs and broken his neck, when heaven’s gates opened and an avenging archangel descended upon him in full fury.

The door to his room was flung open, crashing against the far wall and marring what was no doubt some very fine carved oak paneling. She flew in, all fiery flashing eyes and flushed cheeks, her bosom heaving beneath black wool.

She was magnificent.

“Tell them to let her go!” Séraphine ordered him imperiously. “Tell them to let her go right now.”

She stood over him, her lips wet, her body shaking with her rage, and he wanted to take her and roll her beneath him and fuck her into the mattress.

But no matter what she thought he wasn’t entirely insane—he had some small sense of self-preservation.

“Am I to understand that you’ve discovered Miss Royle?” he asked, keeping his apple prudently out of reach.

She flung out her hand, pointing presumably toward his dungeons. “Those… those apes that you hired will not listen to me. They won’t let her out. What possible reason can you have to keep Miss Royle locked in your dungeons? Do you hate her so very much?”

“No,” he replied, surprised. “Why would I hate Miss Royle? I intend to marry her.”

For a moment she stared at him, panting, breathless and wordless, it seemed, with rage.

He’d had no idea she would respond to his capture of her queen so very violently.

It was rather arousing.

“Hippolyta Royle loathes you,” Séraphine said at last, her voice a little lower. “She’ll never marry you willingly.”

“No,” he agreed, “but she’ll not have much choice once she’s ruined.”

Her eyes widened and her face went white. “You intend to rape her?”

He flinched, remembering a childish face, pale with fear. “I didn’t say that. As it happens I find rape and rapists disgusting. No. A week or so in the dungeons should do the job for me quite handily with Miss Royle none the worse for wear. By now all of London society knows that she’s gone. Once it’s discovered where she’s been staying and with whom…” He shrugged. “She’ll have no choice, as I’ve said. Even if she won’t admit it, her father certainly will. I expect to be affianced within a fortnight. “

“But…” She was looking at him oddly. “If you marry a woman who hates you and you don’t intend to rape her, how exactly do you plan to consummate the marriage?”

He arched his eyebrow and spread wide his arms, indicating his own incredible beauty.

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