Cracking open an eye, Suzanne immediately realized she’d overslept.

Something she’d never done before. The sun was bright and blazing through her window.

Another warm day, no doubt.

Another night with little more than two hours of sleep.

After the evocative encounter with Leo yesterday, she’d tossed and turned, pondering his words. And becoming frustrated with herself for neglecting to ask what his mysterious third reason was for coming to see her.

It was still ridiculously niggling at her. Adding to the ever-growing list of Leo-related torments that kept her up.

And then there’s that apology…

What little repose she’d had was plagued with dreams of Leo. Hot carnal dreams where she’d given him carte blanche with her body.

Just as she had that night long ago.

And oh, how he’d utilized his natural carnal talents to bestow the most mind-melting pleasure.

Those vivid images filled Suzanne’s mind, instantly heating her blood.

She rolled onto her side and squeezed her knees together, trying to combat the scintillating throbs coming from the bud between her legs. She was hungry for the one man who knew how to feed her famished senses.

The very man she could never have and hold forever.

Lucille’s and Rosalie’s elevated voices pierced the quiet, wafting up from her shop to her second-floor bedroom. It was their commotion that had awoken her in the first place.

And, God only knew the reason, it was only escalating.

They were being far too loud for her frayed nerves.

Suzanne groaned and pulled the covers over her head, trying to drown out the noise, wanting the world outside her room to go away. Yesterday had been a dismal failure. Neither the lace merchant nor the blacksmith’s wife had had any money to pay her for their tonics, bringing the number of patients who now owed her payment to an unprecedented seven. And after three hours of trying, she’d sold the total sum of two matchsticks.

Clearly, her lucky cloak was dead.

All its wonderful luck had drained out.

The day Leo arrived.

What were the chances that he’d left for his grand château and this ordeal was over?

The door slammed open, startling her. Gaspard, sleeping on the corner of her bed, leapt to the ground with a sharp meow.

Rosalie was flushed and wringing her hands. “You’ve got to come. Right now.”

Suzanne sat up, pulling the covers to her chest. “What’s happened?”

“The entire town is here, and they are demanding to speak to you.”

“The entire town?” she repeated, skeptical. Rosalie was known to exaggerate from time to time.

“Yes! THE ENTIRE TOWN! For God’s sake, HURRY!”

* * *

Suzanne washed and dressed in wild haste and flew down the stairs, clutching her shawl. She stopped dead in her tracks at the doorway.

Stunned by the sight before her.

A throng had descended upon her shop. Dear God, it truly did look as though the entire population of the town was there.

Lucille, Rosalie, Rolland, and two of Leo’s men had managed to maneuver the crowd into some semblance of a line. A line that went well out the door of her shop, spilling onto the streets.

The moment they saw her, the mass surged toward her, a roar erupting.

She jumped back in surprise.

She caught a word here. And one there. But could make no sense of anything they were shouting.

“What is happening here?” Her voice barely carried over the chaos.

“The Duc de Mont-Marly,” was all Lucille shouted in response as she and Rolland were trying to keep the three feisty Alard spinsters back, their red hair a perfect match for their temperament. The three stout middle-aged sisters couldn’t have appeared more determined to get past them.

“He’s commenced a contest,” Rolland added, then to the three siblings at the front of the line, “Ladies, please. A bit of patience. You’ll each have a turn.”

A turn for what? “What sort of contest?” Suzanne barely finished her question when Camille Alard, the eldest not to mention the shortest of the Alard sisters, kicked Rolland in the shin. He yelped as she raced around him and grabbed Suzanne’s hands.

“You should go with the duc to Montbrison because he is very handsome, and he has good teeth. You can always trust a man with good teeth.”

Suzanne blinked. “Pardon?”

“Have I convinced you?” Camille asked, her hazel eyes wide, looking ever so hopeful.

Oh no. He couldn’t have. He didn’t… He wouldn’t enlist the town to— “What in the world are you talking about?” Suzanne posed the question, praying she was wrong in her deduction.

“The Duc de Mont-Marly has offered ten louis d’or to the individual who convinces you to accompany him to his château and spend the upcoming fête with his family,” Camille explained. “I think you are mad not to go.”

Dear God, he did! And he’s offering ten gold coins!

Suzanne’s gaze shot up, taking in the mayhem once more. Normally placid townspeople were clamoring for her, pushing and shoving, trying to get closer. Those who were still outside, trying to get in.

“Well?” Camille prompted, impatient for her reply.

“I’m afraid not.” Oh, she was going to kill Leo…

“Step aside.” Marie Alard pushed her older sister out of the way, ignoring the protest she received from her sibling. “You should go with the duc and visit his family because you will have a lovely time with them. He has kind kin.”

“How on earth would you even know that?” Suzanne asked, feeling frustrated and furious at the bane of her existence: Leo d’Ermart.

“Well, he looks as though he has kind kin,” Marie reasoned. “Also, he told us so.”

She couldn’t believe Leo had done this.

She had to get out. There was a duc she needed to see. One she might push off the nearest cliff just so she could have some normalcy in her life again!

And perhaps some sleep.

Suzanne stepped around Marie but didn’t get far. The youngest Alard sister immediately blocked her path.

“You should go with the duc to his château because he has wonderful shoulders. It’s always much more pleasant to dine with a man with wonderful shoulders.”

“I don’t think so.” Suzanne managed to get only another two feet when the shoemakers, Monsieur and Madame Falque, stepped in her way.

“The duc is delightful company,” the wife said. The husband added, “He has excellent footwear!”

Actually, the duc makes me pant shamelessly, and I couldn’t care less about what he sticks on his feet…

“If you’ll please excuse me…” She inched her way out, all while Leo’s praises were bellowed at her from every direction. “He is very handsome!” “He is rich!” “He’s utterly charming.” “No one turns down a duc!”

“He lives in a grand palace!”

At last she breached the doorway.

Rising up onto the balls of her feet, she tried peering over the crowd, looking for Leo’s camp.

It was gone.

In its place was a larger horde of townspeople than in her shop.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then made her way across the street to the inn with as much dignity as one could muster while being jostled and verbally accosted with the attributes of the Duc of Mont-Marly.

It took many aloud “Excuse me” and “Pardon me” over the calamity, and several idiotic responses like, “No, I don’t think the duc’s exceptional clothing and intellect are deciding factors,” before she finally reached the inn.

After snatching open the door, Suzanne slammed it shut behind her, and locked it. She slumped against it, the roar of the crowd barely muffled by the barrier.

The innkeeper, Joseph, rushed to her. The tall, elderly gentleman was her father’s age.

“Good day, Mademoiselle Matchet.”

She was already marching across the room toward the stairs. “Good day, Joseph.” She tried not to sound gruff toward the kindly man. “Which room is the Duc de Mont-Marly in, please?”

“He’s on the second floor, mademoiselle. In the largest room we have—at the far end of the hall.” Joseph cleared his throat. “And might I add…you should join the duc for the upcoming fête because he is, well, a duc, after all.”

Et tu, Brute? Why was she suddenly feeling like Caesar in the book she’d read once from the d’Ermart library by the Englishman William Shakespeare? Leo had gotten to dear Joseph, too. “Thank you, Joseph. And I’m quite aware of his title.”

“Well, perhaps you should consider that he is a wealthy man.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“With much power and influence.”

“I’m aware of that, too.”

“What about his enormous manhood?”

That stopped her dead in her tracks. She turned. “Pardon?”

Joseph turned dark crimson. “Oh, no…no, I…I didn’t mean… What… What I meant to say is that he has great presence. He… He’s a tall, masculine man. The very kind women like. A very manly man…Not… Not to suggest that you have any interest in the duc in that regard! Or… Or to imply there is anything untoward about his invitation…I’m… I’m needed in the kitchen. Please, excuse me…” He rushed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

She shook her head.

Fuming, Suzanne raced up to Leo’s room. She raised her fist and pounded on the door.

The door was snatched open.

Standing there was the one and only Leo d’Ermart, his dark hair wet. Wearing nothing but his black breeches. Her heart missed a beat. She watched as two water droplets dripped from his hair onto his shoulder. And ran down his skin.

One along his chest.

And the other down the length of one muscled arm.

It was the most riveting sight she’d ever seen.

Her cheeks grew hot. Her whole body warmed. That familiar hunger roared through her senses. She couldn’t tear her gaze away, devouring every devastating inch of him. Seized by the urge to run her hands over every dip and ripple on his chiseled chest and sculpted abdomen.

Upon seeing her, a slow smile formed on his lips. He raked a hand through his hair. “Good day, Suzanne.”

Her mouth felt dry. Her nipples were tight, pressing against the inside of her chemise.

Dear God… Focus!

“What…” Her voice came out as a mortifying squeak. She swallowed hard and tried again, with a more forceful tone this time. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

He leaned his forearm against the doorframe. She tried ignoring the appealing flex of his bicep that came naturally with the movement. “I just finished my bath. What a shame. You could have joined me.”

Her sex moistened at the mere suggestion.

Standing this close to him, seeing that wicked gleam in his light green eyes, and with nothing more than the simple cloth of his breeches covering his muscled form, it was very difficult to give him a piece of her mind.

Not when her mind was on his skin—remembering how warm and delicious it was. His strong arms, and the incredible feel of being in their embrace.

And then there was that generous, utterly noticeable bulge in his breeches. Knowing he wanted her made her clitoris pulse in time with her quickened heart.

How was it possible that he drew her just as powerfully as he had all those years ago when he’d melted her heart?

“I have a question,” she said, pushing away the past.

“Ask whatever you like. I’ll be truthful.”

“That’s excellent. What I want to know is—are you deranged?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“Do you know I cannot leave my shop? I cannot even BE IN my shop, for I am assailed with people trying to convince me to come with you to Montbrison—just to win the fortune you have dangled before them!”

Amused, he cocked a brow. “Have any succeeded?”

“Only in inspiring thoughts of your demise.”

He chuckled, reached out, and captured her hand. “Don’t just stand there. You can tell me all the things you want to do to my body inside.” With that, he yanked her into the room and shut the door.

She was suddenly alone with the all too alluring Duc de Mont-Marly. Suzanne’s gaze shot to the large bed a short distance away.

Oh, this is bad. Very, very bad.

Especially with how responsive she was to him. Anticipation was mounting by the moment—as was the fever in her blood. Putting her at a disadvantage. She silently cursed Leo for introducing her to sexual pleasures.

And what it was like to be this man’s lover.

This was a situation perilously fraught with potential heartache for her.

Suzanne drew in a deep breath and let it out, then pulled her hand from his. Her skin tingled where he’d touched her. Distancing herself from Leo was so foreign to her, when for so long all she ever wanted was to draw near.

They’d been so close once, he felt like a piece of her.

And she’d carried on just fine without that piece for the last seven years. Liar! a small voice from deep inside her heart vehemently objected. She quashed the voice.

“What if someone is in need of medical care urgently? How in the world is anyone going to approach me—or Rolland—for help when you’ve caused pandemonium in the streets and in my establishment?”

“You underestimate me. I had my men visit every home, informing them about the contest, and what to do should they need medical attention. They were directed to come here to the inn and speak to Joseph. They would then be escorted immediately through the crowds, directly to you.”

She blinked. “Oh.” Stop saying that. Say something else. “I see…” That was equally brilliant, Suzanne.

Leo stepped forward.

She took an instinctive step back and came in contact with the door. He pressed his palms to the door just above her shoulders. The delicious scent of his soap and heat from his body instantly enveloped her.

“I think you are afraid of me.”

She laughed. “I am certainly not afraid of you.” Terrified was more accurate, of all that he was making her feel.

When there shouldn’t be any connection between them anymore.

She slipped her hands behind her, pressing her palms to the door, to keep from reaching out and running her hands over his beautiful body. She was so sorely tempted…

“Then come with me. Jésus-Christ. How much more obvious do I have to make it that I’m still in love with you?”

Her heart lost a beat.

Tears suddenly welled up in Suzanne’s eyes. A flood of unsettling emotions swamped her, shaking her to the core of her being. She began to tremble.

“Please, don’t…” Were the only words she could push past the lump that formed in her throat. Barely an audible whisper.

“Don’t what, chérie?”

“Don’t toy with me. Not now. I can’t survive another heart-spearing from Leo d’Ermart.”

Gently, he rested his forehead against hers. “You’ll never have to again. I’ve never stopped loving you. Not for a minute. I know I’ve said the words before. I meant them then. As I mean them now.”

Her heart was pounding wildly. Hard, powerful thuds.

Oh God. What frightened her the most was that part of her, a small corner of her foolish heart, wanted to believe him. So badly.

He lifted his head, then cradled her cheek in his palm, her gaze captured in his beautiful eyes. “We are not the same people we once were, Suzanne. And the circumstances for us are different now. I want to make up for the past and forge something new. Better than before.”

She clasped his wrist and should have pulled his hand away. But didn’t. “How, Leo?”

“Dieu, it’s good to hear you say my name again.” He smiled. “You’ll just have to come with me and see… Tell me you’re ready to take a chance. We owe it to ourselves to take the gamble.”

“It could cost me dearly,” she said softly.

“It could cost us more if we don’t try.”

“You haven’t as much to lose.”

“I disagree with that statement. In losing you, I lost a lot. Something I don’t wish to have happen again. Come home with me, Suzanne. You have family, people who care for you at Montbrison.”

She blinked back more tears. His words wrapped tightly around her heart.

He gently brushed his thumb across her cheek, just as he’d done the other day. The delectable sensation shimmered over her nerve endings.

It felt as though she was drowning. Physical yearnings and soft feelings for this man pulling her under.

He stepped back and released her. The moment he broke contact, she felt immediately bereft. “What say you? You don’t want to stay here and spend Christmas alone, do you?”

No, she didn’t. The thought of it was abhorrent.

Leo watched Suzanne as she turned her head, clearly contemplating his invitation. She gave her ear an adorable little tug, then dropped her arm to her side. “Where can this possibly go between us? What future is there, Leo?”

He couldn’t get enough of hearing his name from her lips. Soon, he’d have her screaming it in ecstasy. “You’re going to come with me. We’re going to see where this takes us.”

He already knew where he wanted this to go. He wanted her to be his. Forever more. He’d sent Gilles to Montbrison at dawn to make sure everything would be in place when they arrived. He had a few surprises to delight his headstrong beauty.

And he couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

“And if I refuse, do you have any more schemes planned?” she asked.

He grinned and crossed his arms. “Of course. It’s what I think about at night: ways to get you to Montbrison. And the different ways I’m going to have you come for me.”

For an instant, he saw raw interest flare in her eyes. His sac tightened. Christ, he had to have her soon. His body was so taut, he was ready to jump out of his skin.

She shook her head and looked down at the ground. A few ear tugs later: “All right. I’ll return to Montbrison. I’ll stay until Christmas and make perfumes for Elisabeth and Aurore. But nothing more.”

“No.”

Her delicate brows shot up. “No?”

“No.” He took her by the elbow to the window of his room. “Your things are being packed as we speak. The crowd has been made to dissipate, just as my men were ordered to do once you entered the inn. My carriage is readied and on the street.”

She looked out the window, then back at him, clearly surprised that his words were true.

Leo stepped behind her, slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him. She softly gasped. The moment her soft little derrière came in contact with his hard, straining prick, he closed his eyes, and swallowed down his groan.

It felt so good to hold her against him.

He reveled in the pressure against his prick wedged against her warm bottom. It took everything he had to fight back the urge to roll his hips. His cock clamored for the friction. For her. His one and only Suzanne.

“Neither one of us is going to hold back while at Montbrison. To be clear, when we get there, you’re all mine,” he said in her ear, then nuzzled her neck, enjoying the sultry little sound that escaped her throat. “I’m after a complete surrender. Body and heart.” He was so attuned to her, he could sense not just her arousal but each time tender feelings for him rose up inside her.

Feelings she was trying to quash.

Feelings he wanted to continue to foster.

“But first, beautiful Suzanne, we are going to relieve this agony we’re both in. I know how to read your body. I know you’re wet for me. I know your sweet little clit is in need of attention. And so are your perfect pink nipples. They’re straining against your chemise for me, aren’t they? I’m going to fuck you, then make love to you, then fuck you again. In that order.”

She gave an excited little shiver. And it reverberated through him, all the way down to the tip of his cock. A dab of pre-come seeped from his prick.

“Leo…” Though it was uttered as an objection, a wonderfully weak one, he loved the breathless way it slipped past her lips.

“There’s a surprise waiting for you across the street in your room. Go get it. And meet me at the carriage in one hour,” he murmured in her ear. He’d been hard for days. If she didn’t leave his room soon, he feared he’d break his promise and take her on the bed. Right now.

Reluctantly, he pulled away.

Taking her hand, he walked her to the door, and opened it. She stepped out into the corridor, looking as aroused as she was unsure.

“I don’t know, Leo—”

“I haven’t lied to you once since my return,” he interjected, cutting off her words. Not wanting her fears to get in the way. “Trust in me… Just one more time, Suzanne. I promise you won’t regret it. I have some surprises at Montbrison I think you will like.” She looked so adorable standing there, even in that horrible dung-colored dress. Leaning in, he lightly bit that sweet little earlobe she’d been tugging, just to make her gasp.

“Go,” he said, then closed the door.

There was quiet for a moment. He waited, silently willing her to go and do as he bid. Then, to his delight, the footsteps retreated from his doorway.

Only to rush back before there was knocking at his door again.

Frowning, unsure why she’d returned, Leo opened the door.

“What’s the third reason?” she blurted.

He cocked a brow. “Pardon?”

“The third reason you came to Maillard. When you arrived, you said you’d come for three reasons. You told me what the first two were. But you never said a thing about the third reason. What is it?”

It was obvious that this had been on her mind for some time. He couldn’t help but smile. It proved he’d been on her mind. And that he mattered enough for this to niggle at her thoughts.

“Ah, yes. That important third reason. I neglected to mention it? Truly?”

“Yes!” The single word came out tinged with frustration.

“Well then, I’ll have to tell you what it is.” He paused for dramatic effect. “…At Montbrison.”

Her mouth fell agape.

Leo shut the door, grinning.