I signed those betrothal papers to guard the viscountcy and the distance I need to survive. Flora's quiet fear of being found wanting matches the abandonment that still claws at me, yet her yielding body keeps drawing me closer to the punishment we both crave.
Now the contract pages lie scattered across the long library desk. I step in behind her, my hand settling at the small of her back, trapping her against the wood. One turn and the skirts will rise. The degradation that follows will either seal our merger or destroy the only safety either of us has left.
