Even knowing his child would not have been labeled a bastard, that he—or she—would have been considered the legitimate issue of the Duke of Lushing, she’d not been able to place her own wants and needs above Aiden’s. She’d felt the tension in him increasing as passion gave rise to mindless lust, as his body sought surcease, as he went beyond the boundaries where he could stop. Because she had continued to ride him, determined to force his capitulation, the spilling of his seed—not into a sheath but into her. She’d felt powerful, in control, until the only thing that mattered was gaining what she wanted.

“For God’s sake, Lena, I beg of you—”

Then those words ground out through his clenched teeth had bombarded her soul, reached into her heart. She couldn’t imagine this man had ever before begged anything of anyone. And yet he begged of her. As his growl had echoed around her, his body had stiffened, and when she’d known his seed would be pouring forth, she’d not been able to stay.

In the end, she’d not been able to stay at all—not on top of him, not in his bed, not in his rooms. She’d heard the confusion in his voice as he called out to her, and she’d been unable to face him.

From the moment he’d first approached her at the club, he’d asked nothing of her. He’d charmed her and given her all she’d demanded. And then he’d requested something of her, and she’d not been able to deny him.

The rawness of his entreaty had shamed her; her actions had mortified her. Not only because she’d been willing to steal something so precious from Aiden, but because she’d been planning to pass another’s child off as Lushing’s. She’d been willing to betray two men who had never done her any harm, and in so doing she’d have betrayed herself.

As the guilt had bombarded her, all she’d wanted was to escape from Aiden and herself. But there was no escaping herself, her failure to protect those she loved. There would be no heir. She might be the Duchess of Lushing, but she would have no husband with a revered title to stand beside her, no great dynasty to provide power and influence. She had failed to produce an heir after seven years. No young titled gentleman in need of a son would risk taking her to wife. She would fade into obscurity. She deserved no less.

What a fool she’d been to agree to Winslow’s plan.