Son of a rogue and a gypsy, Hero Fiennes Tiffin was a notorious rake until a shattering betrayal left him alone and embittered in the Welsh countryside. Desperation drives quiet schoolteacher Josephine Langford to ask Hero Fiennes Tiffin to help sav...
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Josephine awoke the next morning less angry, but no less determined to teach Hero a lesson. But what was a suitable revenge?
The ceiling of her bedchamber was painted with a rustic scene of satyrs chasing giggling nymphs, and the answer came to her as she gazed at their amorous antics. Pursuit and retreat was a pattern that played itself out between male and female over and over again—the wary female fleeing, wanting to save herself for the best possible mate; the male giving chase, wanting to conquer another female. It had been the pattern of Josephine's relationship with Hero.
Since that pattern lay at the heart of her predicament, her vengeance should be in kind—it was time to play the nymph to his satyr. She would act like a proper trollop until he was half mad with desire. Then she would walk away, leaving him to suffer the worst torments of frustration.
Of course her desire for revenge was distinctly unchristian. However, after a month with Hero, her soul was so tarnished that another moral lapse couldn't make it much worse.
She was more concerned by the knowledge that she would be acting with an immaturity that ill became a grown woman. She had never behaved in such a petty fashion in her life. Regretfully she realized that it was a sign of her moral deterioration that she looked forward to it.
More seriously, there was a risk that she would be carried away by passion and give Hero exactly what he wanted. If that happened, she would deserve it, but she believed that she would be able to resist him. After all, she had managed to say no after spending a languorous night in Hero's arms, an act of willpower that still amazed her.
The greatest danger was that if Hero became too aroused, he would not be able to stop when she told him to. Again, if that happened she could hardly blame him for the results. But she had faith in his self-control, having seen it demonstrated again and again. He was not a lust-crazed boy of twenty, nor was she Helen of Troy, whose face had launched ten thousand ships.
She smiled with anticipation and tucked her hands behind her head. Now that she had decided on her strategy, it remained only to choose when and where she would put it into effect.
Hero
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