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into his arms. His lips pressed briefly, and then he angled his head to deepen the kiss.
    Mercy curled her fingers into the lapels of his coat and savored the moment, to hold someone desirable and warm against her body. It had been an age since she’d been kissed with such passion. With such tender desire evident in the hungry merging of their mouths. Mercy opened to him fully. His tongue invaded, setting her nerves alight with long dormant desire. She slid her hands upward to curl behind his head and lay her body along his. Randall’s hands firmed on her back, tucking them close together until she blazed with need.
    But then he stopped, pushing her away and retreating until a respectable distance stood between them. Dazed, Mercy could think of nothing to say. She blinked at the space he had stood in just moments before. Had her kiss been repulsive and clumsy? She set a hand to her mouth, overcome with panic.
    A knock rattled the door. Mercy took a deep breath, and then another. She must have missed the first knock by her servant, unlike Randall. She glanced at him, but he had turned his back to her and wouldn’t meet her gaze.
    “Come in,” she called nervously, but she wished that servant to the very devil for disturbing what could have been the best kiss of her life.

 
    Chapter Seven
     
    Leopold was in hell and unlikely to ever return. He hadn’t meant to kiss the duchess, or hurt her feelings by avoiding her first attempt. But the desire simmering behind her gaze proved impossible to ignore. He was only human, fallible, and fast losing his mind. She was the Duchess of Romsey, his superior, and a relation by marriage to boot, even if the connection was far enough removed not to be improper. He should not be having such lustful thoughts about her, especially when the child was in the room.
    But in all fairness, she’d started it.
    Only he was aware of how unwise it truly was.
    Waiting for the tea tray to be settled helped to douse his lust because the duchess stopped gazing at him with such wanting eyes. Did she know that men would fight to the death for such warm appraisal, for the touch of her hand upon their sleeves? Given her heightened color, she was affected by that kiss so at least he wasn’t alone with his impossible thoughts. But he had to ensure such a lapse never occurred again. He could not become any further involved in her life. He was merely passing through on his way to make his own future. He could not act on his desires again without the risk of discovery.
    When the duchess passed over his teacup, he was very careful not to touch her fingers. Another brush of her skin, coming so close on the heels of their kiss, would be unwise. He didn’t trust himself in her presence, and he wasn’t certain whether to trust her either. The fact that she had initiated a kiss of her own made him wonder just how she’d been spending the year since his cousin’s death. The gossip could be wrong. Had she taken lovers already?
    The thought made him sick to his stomach.
    After a few hasty sips, he put the cup down. Better to get his inquiries over and done with and be on his way before he did something stupid. There was no cause for him to linger.
    He cleared his throat. “The reason I returned to Romsey was to make enquiries about the location of my three younger siblings; Oliver, Rosemary, and Tobias. They have been lost to me for many years. I’d like to know what’s become of them.”
    The duchess’ cup rattled to the table between them. “You mean you don’t know where they are? But you sound for all the world like a man who’s seen them every day of his life.”
    The last decade had been unbearably empty without his family. He’d noticed their absence more with each passing day. He touched his head, and then his heart. “All I have of them reside here.”
    “Oh. That is so sad” The duchess dabbed at her eyes as they turned glassy bright with unshed tears. “But why come here looking for them? We