Men, arousal, and the MINE! thing: a DIW question of the day

I am still really enjoying Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas! I know I’ve said this before, but I just always feel so lucky that there is this sort of endless stream of fabulous books. Especially for me, coming late to historical romance. Sure, most of us are running out of money, but at least stories aren't running out!

Question of the day
Note: Not a spoiler. Nuthin here you wouldn't learn from the back blurb.

Okay, I have been thinking about this passage on page 85 (I’m actually way beyond that page, but I’ve been thinking about it for a day or two). It opened some questions to me.

Let me set the stage: Evie and Sebastian are travelling back from Scotland the day after the wedding and morning o’ sex, and this is that evening, another stop along the road to London. They’re in their room and Sebastian is bathing. Evie has already informed him they won’t be having sex anymore, just as they’d agreed. And then this:

He was pleased to observe that some of her composure had vanished as he bathed. Her color heightened as she took an undue interest in the patten of the quilted counterpane on the bed.

As she traced a pattern of stitches with her forefinger, the gleam of the Scottish-gold ring caught Sebastian’s eye. He experienced a strange reaction to the sight, a nearly overwhelming urge to go over to her, shove her back on the bed, and take her without preliminaries. To dominate her, and force her to admit his ownership. The rush of primal lust was more than a bit alarming to a man who had always considered himself civilized.

It was the way the ring played into everything that got my attention here. In this passage, part of his lust is sparked by the idea of their union, or his possession of her. I know our vampire, lykae and other friends get off on the mine concept, but I always chalked that up to a paranormal phenomena. Here, the sort of mine thinking plays a major part in arousal.

I read it to my husband and I asked him about the ring/lust connection:

Husband: Noooo.
CJ: Just no?
H: The glint of a ring would never play into a man’s lust for a babe.
CJ: What if the man was on his way to falling in love with her?
H: No no no. Seeing the ring would have as little to do with lust as a unicorn flying across the sky.
CJ: What if it was in a time when men had more sort of ownership over women, they were more possessions or chattel?
H: I could see a mind working up to it, but not instantly, like, Ring! then Sex! There’d be more steps.

Please don’t think I’m dogging Kleypas or this book. I frankly enjoyed this passage, and I am really loving the whole book. The day these books match up to reality is the day they start sucking. Even though that's sort of what this question is--does the ring/lust thing have any basis in reality, in male psychology.

Anyway, as my husband reminded me, does not speak for all men, and what's more, heroes come in all dispositions. But I wonder about other people’s take on the ring being hooked into Sebastian’s surge of lust.

Here are my possible explanations:

1. The ring/lust thing is something specific to Sebastian’s character. After all, he also takes to the gambling hall once it’s his, whereas before, he couldn’t be bothered to do much of anything except be a rake. Maybe Sebastian just gets really activated by connections to things.
2. This just shows the difference between the regency male and the contemporary male, and the how women were seen and treated, and the way the male was aroused. (But then, if that is true, is the ‘mine’ paranormal gang sort of regency in disguise?)
3. It’s just part of the whole fantasy thing of romance. In romance, men just get off on their bond/link to women at a far higher degree than they do in real life.
4. Men really do get into the mine thing, but the husband of CJ is naturally a far greater connoisseur of beauty and babe-ish-ness than other men. *ahem*

Please advise!