Katherine Langford is in London ready to make her debut to society when she discovers that the home next door is being rented by the "Murderous Marquess" Hayden Rowling. Always impulsive, Katy decides to sneak over and take a peek at the notorious M...
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How could my treacherous flesh crave the touch of a murderer?
Hayden stiffened in shock as Katy's lips brushed his jaw, scattering soft kisses all along its rigid curve. He closed his eyes, a muscle working in his throat, as her lips sought the corner of his mouth. But it was the bold flick of her tongue against that vulnerable spot that made him groan, coaxing his mouth into melting against hers, no longer able to resist the carnal innocence of such a kiss.
Wrapping his arms around Katy, Hayden slanted his mouth over hers, thrusting his tongue deep into the silky heat of her mouth. Her tongue curled around his, maddening him with its wordless promise of pleasure. Pleasure he had denied himself for far too long. Somewhere in his mind, love and loss had become inextricably intertwined. But Katy was seeking to give, not take, and he was powerless to resist such a generous offer.
Until he glanced up to find Justine laughing down at him, mocking him for succumbing to the very temptation that had once proved his ruin.
Hayden thrust himself away from Katy, struggling to catch his breath.
If he dared to look at her in the moonlight with the spun gold of her hair tumbling down her back, her lush lips moist and swollen from his kisses, her misty blue eyes imploring, he knew they'd both be lost. He'd have her beneath him on the divan, her nightdress rucked up around her waist, before she could draw another breath.
"I already told you once," he said, his voice so harsh he barely recognized it himself, "I neither want nor deserve your pity."
"Is that all you think I have to offer you—pity?"
Hayden closed his eyes, steeling himself against the husky catch in her voice. "I'm sure you have much to offer, my lady. But I have nothing to give you in return."
"Because you gave it all to her."
Even as his silence condemned him in her eyes, Hayden could not resist stealing one last look at Katy.
Although her eyes glistened with unshed tears, that stubborn little chin of hers had lost none of its determination. "Then I hope the two of you will be very happy together. I'm beginning to believe you deserve each other."
With those words, his wife turned and walked stiffly from the room, much as his daughter had done earlier in that cursed day.
Biting off an oath, Hayden swept one of the porcelain shepherdesses off the mantel and hurled it at Justine's portrait with all of his might. The figurine shattered against the canvas without leaving a single mark on her angelic face.
Katherine
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