He tried to hold her back, but she just reached past him and pulled the latch. He almost fell as the door opened behind him. She closed the door behind herself and locked it.

“My lady,” he said. “Stop. Please.”

“Oh yes, I’ll stop,” she said. “When it pleases me. Or should I say, after you please me?”

“I told you, we’re finished. If my father finds out—”

“Oh, bugger your father. He’s as much of a bumbler out of bed as he is in it. He’ll never know.”

“Your husband is just downstairs—anyway, it doesn’t matter, Trudana. You know what I’m here for.”

“If your father wants his globe back, he can come get it himself,” she said. She put her hand on the front of his breeches.

“You know he couldn’t come see you here,” the prince said. “It’d be a slap in my mother’s face.”

“He gave it to me. It was a present.”

“It’s magic. My father thought it was just a stone, but Khalidor demanded it. Why would they do that if it weren’t—no!” he slapped her hand away as she tugged open the laces.

“I know you like it,” the duchess said.

“I do like it. But we’re finished. It was a mistake, and it will never happen again. Besides, Logan is waiting for me downstairs. I told him what I was doing.” The lie came out easily. Anything to get away from this woman. The worst of it was how much he had enjoyed her. The woman might be ugly, but she was more skilled than almost any of the women he’d bedded. Still, waking up and seeing her the first thing in the morning was more than he wanted to think about ever again.

“Logan’s your friend,” she said. “He’ll understand.”

“He’s a great friend,” the prince said. “But he sees things in black and white. Do you know how uncomfortable he was with me leaving him downstairs while I came upstairs with my father’s mistress? I need you to get the gem. Now.” Sometimes, he could just thank the gods that Logan was a known prig.

“Fine,” she said peevishly.

“Where is it? Your husband could come in any second.”

“My husband just came home today.”

“So?”

“So whatever else he is, the pig’s faithful, so he’s practically burning with passion whenever he gets back from a diplomatic assignment. He’s recuperating downstairs. The poor dear, I think I exhausted him.” She laughed, and it was a harsh, callous sound. “I kept imagining it was you—” With what she must have imagined was a seductive look, she shrugged her shoulders and the front of her dress fell open. She rubbed up against his body and tugged at the laces of his breeches again.