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ear.
    "I do not wish to touch you."
    "Have you taken to lying now that you're a
spy?"
    Gwen tensed in his arms. "Are you that
confident in your looks, your grace?"
    "Not at all," Hunter answered honestly,
pulling her closer than what was considered appropriate. "I was
speaking of my skills in the bedroom, of course."
    "I wouldn't know."
    Hunter chuckled warmly, his lips nearly
touching her ear. "Would you like to?"
    Gwen jerked back, her face flushed. "You're
making a fool of yourself."
    "As are you." He assessed her coldly; she
squirmed in his arms. "The way I see it, every person in this room
is straining to hear our conversation. Alas, we are speaking in
hushed tones, so they cannot know what we speak of. But care to
guess what they do know?"
    "Not really." She clenched her teeth. "But
I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."
    "Good girl." Hunter chuckled and pulled her
body more tightly to his. "At this very moment, the ladies are
commenting on your blush, the way it covers your cheeks and dips
ever so naughtily down your neck into the deep canvas of your
breasts." Hunter hoped what he was doing would work, because if it
didn't, he was going to have to excuse himself and jump into the
Thames in order to cool his arousal.
    Gwen gasped.
    "The men, however, are another matter
entirely. You see, men notice the blush. That much is true. It
tells them that against popular gossip, you are in fact quite
innocent. And the way your eyes blaze tells them the rest."
    "My eyes?"
    "Yes."
    The dance was nearing an end. Hunter guided
their steps to where she would be most visible by the ton.
    "I don't understand. What do my eyes have to
do with anything?"
    "They show your spirit. Your fire, but my
dear, they speak one language I fear every man in this room is just
begging to use with you."
    She lifted an eyebrow.
    He leaned in, gripping her body so she could
not run off, and whispered into her ear. "Sex. You look like
sex."
    Gwen jerked away from him, nearly tumbling to
her bottom, righted her skirts, and slapped him across the
face.
    People gasped.
    Women began to gossip, and as expected, a few
women, ones he was sure had just given the girl the cut direct not
a week before, were huddling around her and telling her to stay
away from his evils.
    Hunter rubbed his cheek and walked by a few
gentlemen.
    One stopped him. "I say, what did you do to
make the lady so offended?"
    "The lady did not care for my advances,"
Hunter admitted, appearing to look quite put out as he shook his
head and cursed. "I thought she was tainted, but it appears the
joke has been on all us young men. To think, she wants to marry!
And it has been proven, though you did not hear this from me, that
the lady herself is untouched."
    "Untouched," another man whispered.
    And much like wildfire, or a storm, or
perhaps a giant explosion taking place in the room, it was spread
that Gwen was entering into the marriage mart, and she was
completely pure.
    Hunter walked off to a darkened corner and
exhaled.
    "Well done," Wilkins said behind him.
    Hunter did not turn around. Instead he nodded
his head just once and went in search of Gwen. By now she would be
exhausted, and he needed to watch her every move. The game had been
laid out, the pieces moved.

Chapter Five
     
    Wolf—
    The only thing you'll be eating is your words
and perhaps any crumbs of humility I decide to throw your way! You
are a deceitful, horrible person! If I find myself in your arms
again before the week is out I will pull a pistol on your most
useful and favorite anatomical part!
    – Red
     
    The man was either a genius or purely insane.
Men came in throngs from the ballroom's distant corners, each of
them expressing sudden interest in taking her for a ride in the
park or asking her opinion about some new poetry written by Byron.
Another asked her if she was free to marry as soon as the end of
the week!
    At least now she was able to concentrate on
her targets.
    Wilkins had sent her a note stating that the
following