He leaned against the threshold.Broad shoulders bulged under his faded white shirt, which was scandalously open at the neck, revealing tufts of red chest hair.
Who was he?A robber, perhaps?
No.Tabetha would be screaming bloody murder.
Florentia tried to ignore how her body reacted to this feral stranger.Clear blue eyes—like the sky on a rare bright sunny day—danced; a wicked grin was on his face.He wasn’t classically handsome, with his nose that looked as if it had been broken a time or two, and a sharp prominent chin, that she ridiculously wanted to lick, jutting out towards her.
“Hello, Princess,” he greeted, like they were lovers or old friends, but they were neither.
Regaining her wits, Florentia ran her fingers through her hair, the ends damp from her bath and barely covering her breasts.“Who are you?”she asked, in her most disagreeable voice.
It was the voice she’d often used to insult someone.It scared most people, including her late husband.Perhaps it was that voice, and the pretense of not being afraid of him, that eventually saved her from him.The late Duke of Summerset would’ve destroyed a lesser woman.
This beast of a man, however, did not flutter an eyelash.
He stepped into the bathing chambers, his gaze lingering on her naked body before looking away.It was rude and impertinent, but also a challenge to see if she was some simpering lady of the ton.
She was not.
“I’m Tavish O’Brien, the new Duke of Summerset, and you’re in my chambers, Princess.”
Bloody hell.They’d found him.
CHAPTER FOUR
Fecking hell.
She was delicious.Absolutely fecking delectable.
Tavish stilled himself like a stone in the wind.He’d thought it’d be a fun jest to frighten that bastard Summerset’s widow.A cruel thing, especially in her dressing room.Like a horse’s arse, he’d thought he would find an older woman—in her thirties—fully dressed, perhaps looking in the mirror.No instead, he was being haunted by the devil incarnate sent to torture him.
He’d expected to frighten her, maybe send her into a fit of hysterics.Any sane woman would’ve had some sort of fear reaction when a strange man entered their bathing chamber.But not her.Not this fierce duchess in front of him.
The Dutchess of Summerset glared at him like she could slay him with a single glance.He was sure a lesser man would’ve run for safety, but he’d never been one to cower for anyone.Especially not some entitled princess.
“Get out,” she said, pointing to the door, water dripping down her arm.
The command, and the sound of her husky voice, stirred something deep inside of him.His cock hardened even more, threatening to come free from his dusty trousers.
Days of traveling didn’t have Tavish looking his best, especially when his brother insisted they travel straight to the solicitor’s office to make all the arrangements.
It was official.He was the Duke of Summerset.
He chuckled, amused and in awe of her fire.How did such a passionate person end up with an old bastard like Summerset?She looked young, barely older than his sister, if Tavish had to guess.
“I don’t take order from you, Princess.”He stepped back, intending to retreat before he did something wild like gaze down at her ripe body, wet and glistening.
He’d crossed the line of sanity moments ago and was skirting the precipice of being a complete bastard, which he was not.
Tavish had to get the hell out of there and free himself from the spell of this evil goddess in front of him.
She sat forward, her long blond hair swimming around her in the copper tub, long creamy legs officially blocking her perfectly sized breasts from his view.“I don’t care who you are.These are my private chambers?—”
He halted his slow retreat at her words.“Your private chambers?”Tavish raised one eyebrow in challenge.“Looks like these are the duke’s chambers, and you’re not the duke.I am.”
Tavish folded his arms across his chest, not missing how her gaze tracked his every movement.
“Since there hasn’t been a duke for a year, you do not get an opinion on where I reside,” she said, her voice filled with deadly venom.“Besides, society will never accept you.You’re clearly a brute.”Her eyes raked over him in disdain.
