I have taken her in to keep her safe.” Duncan searched for the truth in Cristiana’s eyes as he lay over her, his blood still pounding from the eye-crossing release he’d found in taking her. Part of him was furious about this newest lie uncovered. But another part of him was still pumping a victorious fist in the air that he had been the first to claim her. The first to breach her tender walls. She had not lain with some random man. She’d merely taken in a child to raise. A child she cared about enough to impart her name and shed her honor. A child who bore her distinct resemblance. It could only be the daughter of her exiled sister. “Do not mince words,” he warned, berating himself for letting her chase him off so easily five years ago. Perhaps if he had demanded she honor their contract then, there might have been tenderness between them instead of lies and regret. “The girl is of your blood. Since I now know she is not your daughter, she can belong only to Edwina.”
