Whether anyone could torture the names out of Melly or not, he had certainly tortured me with this new information. And the suggestion that the girls should take me out clubbing.

"But darlings, you haven't thrown Bliss a bachelorette party! Don't let the inconvenient fact that she's already married stop you. There's nothing conventional about this marriage. Or dear Bliss." Melly smiled at me. "Bachelorette parties are meant to make memories and bond. To have embarrassing stories to tell your grandchildren. Take Bliss clubbing. Please! Buy her some strippers. The woman's new groom has abandoned her on her honeymoon. It's the very least good friends can do to cheer her up."

"No strippers," I said. "I'm not sad, really. I don't need cheering up."

Melly took my face in both hands. "Bliss, darling, you know I love you. Which is why I'm giving you this exceptionally good advice. It's clear you're, at the very least, infatuated with Ren. If you play it right, the two of you could have some fun during this imposed year of marriage."

I opened my mouth to protest.

His grin widened. "How do I know the details? You just confirmed one." He lowered his voice. "I may have lowered myself to sleeping with a clerk well below my station to get the information I wanted."

"You're terrible," I said. "And you have highly unethical conquests."

"Terribly efficient," he said, unperturbed. "Back to my point: if you play the game very well, you might even get to keep Ren permanently. Which means making him fall in love with you. To do that, you have to make yourself a valuable catch. You have to let him chase you. And winning you can't be a sure thing. Men like the chase. It's part of the bonding process. You're at a supreme disadvantage, already being his forced duchess. But you're a clever woman. You can rectify that." He glanced at the girls.

"She certainly can," Smithy said. "You'll join us?" she asked Melly.

"I would love to. But I'm off to Edinburgh on business this evening," Melly said. "I'll want all the details, naturally."

With that, my fate was set. Clubbing it was. Preceded, of course, by all the necessary preparations and chase-setting maneuvers possible. It was an afternoon of see and be seen in all the hotspots of London, of acting as if I was having the best time imaginable and didn't care at all about what people were saying about me. About Ren's fight with Cory. About having lost my fiancé on the altar.

I wondered, as I laughed and flirted my way across London, whether I was doing the right thing or making a mess. All I knew was that I was confused and slightly terrified. Who was the man I'd married? My simple marriage of convenience, if there was such a thing, had turned desperately complicated. Was I provoking Cory by my actions? Or reassuring her I didn't want Ren? Was I provoking Ren? Did I want him?

Yes, of course I wanted him. But did I want him? As a real husband, not just a lover, not a toy for the little rich girl to play with and throw away.

That evening, I found myself at one of London's hottest clubs. Having been photographed and followed around all day, tweeted about, gossiped about, I supposed I was leading a merry chase. If Ren cared to look. But despite Melly's no doubt good advice, I couldn't put my heart into clubbing. The club was full of attractive men. Guys I would have jumped at just days ago. But Ren, the mystery around him, and Manly's commission to me had spoiled me for everyone else. I only wanted Ren. And wanted him badly.

I sat at the table with Dusty while the others were dancing to retro music and finding their own conquests. Eighties music was so upbeat, but I was in a less happily enthusiastic mood.

"You're not even trying," Dusty said, elbowing me. "You have it bad for Ren. I'm so sorry. Now pick yourself up and have some fun. I don't need my friends turning into old, boring married women."

I shook my head. "I'm worn out, is all. Mentally exhausted. Maybe I should just call it a night."

Just then, two attractive men approached our table. Dusty perked up. She knew them—one of them, at least—and was interested. She invited them to join us. Why shouldn't she have fun? With the eighties music encouraging her, she should fall in love. At least for a night. Personally, I was ready for a dramatic eighties piece about unrequited or destroyed love.

For Dusty's sake, I played along, making small talk with the one Dusty left me. "Wingmanning?" I whispered to him.

"Is that what you Americans call it?" he said. He had a sweet smile and a lovely accent. Under other circumstances… "Yes, I am. Rather obviously, I'm afraid. And you?"

"The same," I said, casting a quick glance at Dusty.

He had to lean in and shout into my ear to be heard over the music. "You're the new duchess, if I'm not mistaken? The Deadly Duchess?" He spoke with such mock seriousness.

I laughed. Maybe this could be fun. "My notoriety precedes me. I am. Does that frighten you? I'm highly lethal. To old men, anyway. And deserted by my groom. That's a really deadly combination. A woman scorned." Why did I suddenly sound so flirty? I must have had one too many already. Or maybe I was just soothing my vanity. Ren might be able to desert and resist me, but other men still found me attractive and enticing.

My companion laughed, opened his mouth to say something equally witty I was sure, and froze as he looked at someone across the room.

I looked up just in time to see Ren, looking absolutely heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and terrifyingly angry, walk in. My mouth went dry as he searched the club. Our eyes met across the room.

He strode across it to me.

"Uh-oh," I whispered. "I'm about to live up to my reputation. It appears my ball and chain has just arrived. Let me do the talking."

The band began one of my favorite eighties covers about monsters. My own personal demon came to a stop next to me. Even though it was dark, the steam, some might say the sulfur, was easy enough to see rolling off him. His jaw was set. His eyes hard. Ren ignored the others at the table. His gaze bored into me.

"Ren, darling," Dusty said. "What brings you out tonight?"

"I'm here to collect my wife." He grabbed my arm. "Duchess?"

Dusty slid around the table and stood next to Ren. "Looking for another fight tonight? You've come to the wrong place. Cooling-off period? Come. Dance with me." She grabbed his arm to haul him to the dance floor.

He shook her arm off and tightened his grip on mine.

"Duke, darling. Obviously, you're not the only one who's capable of escaping the castle. Of all the gin joints in the world, you had to stroll into your loving wife's." I grinned dangerously, mocking him. I was surprised my voice still worked and I sounded so calm. I bottled up my anger at him. For deserting me. For Cory. For making a spectacle of himself with her. "Join us?"

"Not tonight." He grabbed my purse from the table and handed it to me. "Let's go home." He pulled me to my feet.

My companion and Dusty's mark got to their feet.

"It's all right." I smiled sweetly at them. "Ren's right. It's time we went home." I hugged Dusty and whispered to her, "I'll be fine. Call you tomorrow?"

She nodded and glared at Ren. "Treat her nicely, Ren."

"Sorry our evening was cut short," I said to our new companions. "Lovely meeting you—"

Ren took my hand and pulled me away from the table and across the dance floor.

"You might dance with me," I said. "One of my favorites is playing."

He glared at me.

"The monsters really are coming down the hall tonight." I stood my ground.

He swept me into his arms, caught the back of my head with one hand, and forced my gaze to his.

I stared back at him, daring him to do whatever it was he had in mind. Daring him to make people talk.

His lips came down on mine with brutal intensity. Despite my anger, I kissed him back, sliding my tongue into his mouth. Teasing him. Running my fingers through his hair. Pressing up against him as he slid a knee between my legs.

He pulled away suddenly, breathing hard. And I was sure it wasn't from the exertion. "You're mine, my wife. Act like it."

"Gladly. When you start acting like my husband."

"No time like the present." He pulled me off the dance floor, out the door, and to his car.

"How did you find me?" I asked as I slid in and buckled up.

Ren started the engine and turned to me, the corners of his mouth twitching like all his anger was spent and he was genuinely amused. "Never trust Melly. I thought you knew better."

I laughed. Actually laughed. Melly, you devil. My anger at Ren evaporated. "That little snitch." I should have known better. Maybe subconsciously I'd wanted Ren to find me and do exactly what he'd done—drag me home with him.

Ren roared out of the parking lot, racing toward somewhere.

I touched his cheek lightly and ran my fingers over it. "Where, exactly, is home tonight? I have a beautiful penthouse suite at my favorite hotel—"

"My place. It's close by and private." He took a corner fast and grabbed my knee. "What did Melly tell you about me?"

"Nothing you want to hear. What did you tell him to get him to tell you where I was?"

"Tell him?" Ren looked at me as if I were crazy. "All I had to do was flirt a little."

"You used your masculine charms on him?" I took a deep breath. "Damn you. You have the advantage over me there." I studied him. "You had to have told him something. Gossiping with Melly is always an exchange."

"Maybe I told him I fell in love with you at first sight," he teased. "That you're my soul mate and I can't live without you. That I had to find you or die."

"And maybe hell just froze over," I said. "I'll get it out of you eventually."

He turned into a posh neighborhood and then into a private driveway between two stately Regency row houses. We waited while an automatic gate opened for us. Between and behind the old homes, tucked in an odd-shaped lot completely invisible from the street, a beautiful, modern house appeared. It was lit up, the light spilling into a small but well-maintained and -designed yard where a tree was shedding its fall leaves.

My breath caught. I recognized the architect's signature on the house. "Yours?"

He nodded and pulled into the garage.

"Your design?"

"Absolutely."

"But I thought you lived in a flat?" I was stunned as I got out of the car and followed him into the entryway of a house that was spacious and sleek, the complete opposite of the castle. From the entrance on the ground floor, a wall of glass faced the yard, or garden, as the Brits called it. The plan was open living. He'd decorated with modern furniture in graceful curves and stark lines, and art that was expensive just on the face of it. One beautiful black sculpture sat on the entryway table by us in front of an enormous mirror.

"You thought wrong." He caught me in his arms again and pulled me into a kiss just as urgent and possessive as the one at the club.

Something about Ren's kisses were always burning and passionate in a way that sent my heart racing and made me lose control. What would making love with Ren be like if he ever went about it leisurely? Or was that a pipe dream? Something for old age if we ever made it there together?

Ren cupped my butt and pulled my hips against his, insistent and wanting as he ground against me. His need fed mine, and mine was already threatening to go off the charts.

Were we really such animals? I wanted him so badly. I didn't even care who or what he really was.

He tossed off his jacket without breaking the kiss, thrusting his tongue intimately deep into my mouth. He was so skilled that he could have thrust it all the way down my throat and I would have whimpered with delight. The way he kissed me was intoxicating and addictive, unlike any man ever had.

I could have been completely happy necking with him all night. But we had better things to do. Higher heights to climb. I unbuttoned his shirt, running my tongue around his lips and grazing them with my teeth.

He pulled me tightly against him again, catching me off guard. I let out a gasp. He liked it when I gasped. He liked taking me by surprise. And I liked that he liked that.

His fingers were hot as he unzipped my dress and slid a strap off my shoulder, kissing my shoulder. Sucking on it. Grazing it with his teeth. His kisses moved to my collarbone and the tops of my breasts, to the hollow between. He slowly, tantalizingly, pulled my dress down until the soft folds hung on the peaks of my tightly budded breasts.

My breasts ached for his touch, for the skill of his tongue and the heat of his mouth. I arched them toward him, daring him to make good on his seductive promise. Take them, Ren. Make me yours.

I swallowed hard, tingling between my legs. Tight. Wet for him. We'd barely just begun, but I was already lost to him.

"You really should heat your home," I whispered hoarsely. "It's freezing in here." I glanced at my breasts. "As you can plainly see."

"Nice try, Bliss. Your breasts like me. They want me. Look at them begging." He gave the gentlest of tugs to my dress, exposing my pointed breasts to the cool air and the endless reflections in the mirror over the entryway table and the glass walls around us. My dress fell down around my waist. I leaned back against the entryway table, facing Ren, watching my reflection in the glass behind him.

He tweaked my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers until they were darker than I'd ever seen them. He bent his head toward them as if he was about to kiss them.

But, damn him, he didn't.

"Beautiful, beautiful breasts," he whispered to them, his breath hot on my nipples. "Large and round. So firm. Your nipples like my touch, Bliss. Your body was made for me."

Moments ago, I'd been wondering what "leisurely" would be like with him. Now I cursed it. This was torment, pure torture. I grabbed the top of his head and pushed his mouth toward my nipple, biting my lip so I wouldn't beg.

"Not so fast, duchess." He continued his gentle, almost reverent massage. His fingers were skilled. He was driving me mad with lust.

The ache between my legs was growing. My breathing was shallow. My breasts felt larger and rounder, as if they were growing with each touch. "If you're not careful, we won't make it to the master suite." I grabbed his head, trying to force him to look at me.

He resisted, continuing with his erotically gentle massage. He kissed the tops of my breasts again and traced my areolae with his tongue. "I have no intention of making it to the bedroom, duchess." He slid his hands up my thighs, inching my dress up.

I glanced at the walls of glass around us, imagining the pictures and the headlines and his neighbors talking.

"Relax," he said, feeling me tense. "No one can see." His voice was so seductive.

"I've been followed by cameras all day—"

"Trust me, Bliss." He slid his finger into my panties and inside me.

I was slick and ready for him, so whether I trusted him seemed moot at this point. I was a fool in lust. I moaned softly. It was unreal how desperately I wanted him.

He pulled his hand from my panties and returned his attention to my breasts, tapping my breasts gently around my nipples, slowly, like a master. The sensation was…indescribably wonderful. My eyes rolled back. I arched my neck and tipped my head back. "Ren."

He gave a quick, sudden tug to my nipples and put one in his mouth, sucking hard. I gasped again as the pleasure spread throughout my body, building and building. Seemingly out of nowhere, wave after wave of the most powerful and unexpected climax washed over me. I let out a moan of pleasure. Louder and louder with each wave. My knees went weak. I was trembling.

Ren released my nipple, then pulled my dress up over my hips and his dick out of his pants. My eyes flew open as he grabbed me and sat me on the table. I kicked off my panties and opened my legs. He entered me as the waves continued to come, urging them to bigger crests with each deep thrust.

Everywhere I looked, I saw a reflection of us shagging. I was mesmerized. Unable to close my eyes, I found his face. He thrust urgently, clasping my hips in his hot hands and driving into me with abandon. The statue and lamp next to me on the table rattled and wobbled. But Ren didn't seem to care if they toppled and shattered.

His face was a mask of desire, but he held my gaze through each and every thrust, looking for something. Just like I was.

I gasped again and arched my back as I climaxed a second time, rocked to my very core. I could love this man. A scream escaped my lips.

Ren shuddered and held my hips against him. I watched his face as his orgasm rocked him, memorizing his look of ecstasy, seeing it all around me.

He collapsed into me, resting his head on my shoulder.

We were both breathing hard. We were both shaking.

"First breast orgasm?" he said between heavy breaths.

"Is that what that was?" I tried to sound sassy, but I swore I could feel him smiling. "Next time I'll be prepared."

When he lifted his head, he was grinning. He pulled me off the table into his arms and carried me upstairs to the master suite. "That was only round one."

"Round one?" I said. "Did I win?"

"You blinked," he said in my ear.

"You mean I came first?"

He laid me on my back on the bed. "First one to come always wins."

"It's a no-lose scenario?" I said. "I like that. Best two out of three?"

"Only three?" He braced himself over me. "We can do better than that."