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laughed. Bringing Olivia had been for support, but she was already proving to be helpful in other ways. If Liam’s hulking bodyguard could be swayed by Olivia’s attention…well, all the better for her plan.
    “Well, once you distracted him, I was able to enter the private bathing room and…”  
    She found herself almost blushing as she recalled the searing encounter that had followed. She hadn’t quite intended to go so far, but the moment she touched him, she had felt a wild, unexpected desire to have him. All of him.
    “Your seduction is underway,” Olivia finished when she wouldn’t. “So what is your next step?”
    Violet bit her lip. “I have captured his attention by giving him pleasure, then walking away. He was taken aback, I know that from his face and demeanor. He will be thinking of me, I’m certain, but if I pursue him, his desire may fade. When we next meet, I must make him believe it is an accident.”
    “Reel him in,” her friend said with a knowing nod.  
    Violet hesitated. Why did the truth have to sound so damn cold and unfeeling? And why did it make a pit form in her stomach that she would never reveal to Olivia?
    “I suppose that is one way to say it,” she admitted with a sigh. “But for now my next move will be to write to Lord and Lady Rothcastle and tell them I have encountered Lord Windbury. I’m sure they are awaiting my report.”
    Olivia arched a brow. “And will you give them details of that ‘encounter’, as you so appropriately put it?”
    Violet shook her head swiftly. “Of course not. They know what methods I shall employ to gain his trust, but I would never be so crass as to elaborate on them. There are some things better left unsaid.”
    Unsaid like that she had felt something… odd …when she kissed the Earl of Windbury. Something…special. She would never confess such foolishness to Olivia or anyone else, because that would be utterly stupid. And untrue. It was definitely untrue.

Chapter Three
    Liam paced the length of his office before he stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window and stared out onto the rolling hills of his small estate just outside of Bath. He had things to do at present, a great many things.
    But he was doing none of them. He was staring out a window thinking about a woman. A woman whose body, touch and kiss had been haunting his mind for two days, since their wicked encounter at the bathhouse.
    Violet Milford.
    “Are you still mooning about that woman?”
    Liam jumped and turned to face the door. He found Malcolm there, leaning on the doorjamb. His friend looked utterly unimpressed that a sexual encounter with a courtesan could leave Liam so nonplussed.
    “Are you talking about that woman you let into my private bath?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
    Mal’s stern expression softened as he laughed. “She had a pretty friend, Windbury—what was I to do?”
    Liam shook his head. They were a pair, that was for certain. “It’s good to know your loyalty is so connected to your cock.”
    “Ah, well, you didn’t seem to have such a bad time, at any rate. Even if she hadn’t distracted me with perfumed hair and soft lips, I probably would have let her in.” Mal shrugged.  
    Liam flashed to Violet’s lips closing over his cock. To her body squeezing around him in wet, heated urgency. He could hardly breathe. “No, I didn’t have a bad time.”
    Mal lifted his gaze from the papers he was staring at in distraction. “She could still be in Bath, if you have an interest in seeing her again.”
    That was certainly a benign way to put the desire currently coursing through his veins. It was strange. He hadn’t had an interest in a woman beyond a night of pleasure for a very long time. But he was so damn drawn to the exotic beauty who had so unexpectedly intruded upon his privacy.
    “Do a little research,” he said, hoping his tone was even. “If she is still here in Bath…”
    He trailed off, and Mal nodded. “I’m certain you’ll