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“But you would stand by and watch another man spank and humiliate me.” The tears tipped over and slid down the pallor of Evelyn’s cheeks.
“I’ll ’appily punch ’im on the nose fa ya,” the younger one offered brightly. “Just say tha word.”
Hunter saw the momentary temptation to accept that offer in the gaze Evelyn turned toward him.
But it was only a fleeting rebellion, for she lowered her gaze and shook her head. “That is very kind of you, Davie, but I feel I must refuse your offer lest His Grace turn his ire upon you and render your situation here even more unpleasant than it already is.”
Hunter disliked the sound of defeat he heard in Evelyn’s voice, when minutes ago she had been a defiant hellion unafraid to tell him exactly what she thought of him. Much as he had disliked the chastisement, he couldn’t deny that most of it was the truth. Even if his greatest fault toward these men was neglect rather than deliberate intent.
It certainly was not true, however, that he had any intention of making these wretches’ lives even more unbearable than they were. “Perhaps,” he addressed Evie, “instead of telling me where I have acted without thought or concern for others, you should instead think of ways in which you might assist me in correcting the situation?”
Her eyes widened. “Me?”
He nodded. “You have made no effort to hide the fact that your sympathies lie with these men.”
That temper once again flashed in her eyes. The color also returned to her cheeks. “Perhaps if you ever managed to see anything beyond the end of your haughty nose, you might find reason to sympathize with them too.”
“As I should also sympathize with your situation?” he taunted.
She glared. “My situation is completely different from theirs.”
“But you believe both are due to my neglect?” he bit out.
“Disinterest, rather, in regard to myself,” Evie stated dully.
His nostrils flared. He knew that he could no longer claim to be disinterested in any degree with regard to Evelyn Gardener. “Can you blame me for feeling that way?”
She sighed, her gaze no longer meeting his. “Not in the least. Which does not mean,” she rallied, “that I am willing to continue being ignored.”
Much as he wished it were otherwise, Hunter doubted that he would be able to ignore Evie, or dismiss her completely from his thoughts, ever again.
“We’re wasting time when we should be packing up camp and moving deeper into the woods,” Paul Harker snapped, ending their conversation, his narrowed gaze fixed on Hunter. “Despite what ’Is Grace ’as said, I don’t believe ’e would ’ave chanced coming ’ere alone.”
Wise man, Hunter admired appreciatively.
Of coursehe wouldn’t have ridden alone into the woods—arrogantly or otherwise!—with the intention of securing his ward’s release from these desperate, and therefore dangerous, men. Until now, it had suited his purpose to keep the attention of these men on himself and so giving the men he had brought with him time to assemble and then surround the camp without detection, awaiting his command.
Which he gave with an abrupt nod of his head. “Sorry, Harker,” Hunter stated sincerely as a dozen armed men now stepped into the clearing, their rifles pointed toward the six raggedly clothed men responsible for abducting his ward.
A ward who was now glaring at him with accusing crystalline blue eyes.
* * *
Lincoln hadn’t, as Evie had thought, come here alone, after all!
Evie felt… What did she feel?
Ridiculous for so obviously having doubted the duke’s intelligence by making that assumption.
Renewed humiliation at now knowing not just her six kidnappers had witnessed her being spanked by the duke, but also twelve other men, some of whom she recognized from having seen them working on and about the Lincoln estate.
But perhaps most embarrassing of all was the knowledge of how her body had betrayed her by reacting to having Hunter St. John spank her.
At first, the force of his hand landing on her bottom had hurt too much for her to be aware of anything else. But she had slowly become aware of an unaccustomed and pleasurable heat between her thighs. It was accompanied by a slickness Evie had initially thought meant she might have lost control of her bladder, before realizing that wetness was increasing the deeper the level of heat grew between her thighs.
Her breasts had also plumped, the rosy tips tingling and becoming engorged so that they almost spilled over the neckline of her gown.
Humiliating or not, having Hunter St. John spank her had caused an unprecedented physical arousal, which was still evident in the slick heat between her thighs and the sensitivity of her engorged nipples pressing against the bodice of her gown.
