The Pirate's Duchess: A Regent's Revenge Novella by Katherine Bone

himself in her eyes, delving into their richest depths like a man seeking guidance from the stars. Her eyes were captivatingly unique with a single dark spec in one of them.
    “I’ve never met anyone as brave as you are, Prudence.” Never before had he felt so bound to one soul.
    He wanted to kiss her slightly parted mouth, to brand her with his scent, his touch, his sex, and make her his own once more. But he couldn’t rush it. Prudence was like a frightened doe and for good reason. She’d lost more than a husband that fated night in the stables. She was scarred by tragedy that couldn’t be shaken. What she needed and desired was love, his genuine affection, and respect. And for the first time in his life, he was determined to see her bloom again in his arms.
    His heart beat wildly in his chest, pounding like a cannon in heated battle. He wanted Prudence, wanted her more than a thousand duchies. Ever so slowly, he lowered his head and grazed her lips with his softly, hesitating before building up the courage to take her mouth and show her true love’s kiss.
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
    SIX
     
    Lord U. thundered into these offices COMPLAINING about Devon’s increase in ILLEGAL wool exports, denouncing the BLACK REGENT as the devil’s spawn. At this posting, Sherborne Mercury concedes revenue officers have yet to RECOVER large quantities of wool, rum, tobacco, salt, wine, tea, and cocoa RUMORED to be HIDDEN in the cliffs of Petit Tor.
    ~ Sherborne Mercury , 6 January 1809
     
     
    The featherlight touch of Tobias’s lips broke through her fears. Prudence’s legs weakened. She gave in to the almost-unbearably soft caress—exquisite in its torture of her longing flesh. She wanted Tobias. But before she would willingly give herself to him again, she was determined to make sure his lies and sacrifices were at an end.
    And that started with Basil.
    She broke away, inhaling an invigorating breath. She had to convince Tobias not to harm him. “You must promise me one thing.”
    “Name it,” he said, reaching out to pull her back to him.
    She licked her lips, delighting in teasing him, especially in order to get her way. “I need your promise that you won’t fight Basil.”
    His eyes sharpened like daggers, then visibly darkened. “You think of him now ?”
    She wouldn’t rest until he promised not to harm his best friend, the man who’d become one of her closest friends, as well, whom she’dplanned to spend the rest of her life wit h, if not for Tobias’s return. Basil had been good to her. Loyal. Compassionate. He’d taught her how to evaluate numbers, maintain ledgers, and manage her estate. If not for Basil, there would have been nothing left of Blackmoor. He deserved to be saved.
    The tension between them grew thick, suffocating. She struggled to breathe when he didn’t answer and pushed Tobias away before she lost herself, body and soul. And oh, how she wanted to lose herself in his arms. “I had hoped you meant what you said—”
    “Have his lips worshiped yours like this?” Tobias asked, gently yanking her close. His mouth descended on hers, quieting her protests, urgently exploring, teasing, nibbling, driving her to distraction. In truth, she was shocked by the intimacy, and yet, she gloried in it, in the velvety warmth and the sensations he provoked.
    Good heavens! Nothing had ever been as addictively satisfying. She had compared Basil to Tobias at every turn and found the earl lacking every time.
    New spirals of ecstasy rippled through her, enhanced by an urgency she couldn’t control. He drew back, giving her time to catch her breath. Her heartbeat drummed in suspended time, as if yesterday and this moment joined forces against her. He’d broken her heart, but he had come home. His diabolical secrets crushed her like a ship breaking up on a reef. For too long she’d carried a yoke of grief and anguish in her heart. No longer.
    Her conflicting emotions amplified within her. His kiss, his