Page 64 of Her Duke Next Door
“You are so beautiful,” he told Mary. “Every inch of you.”
As she gazed into his eyes, so deep and hazel, she brushed some of his hair from his face. He kissed her passionately once again, gathering her into his arms as he freed his length from her heat and tucked her into his chest, having her sprawled almost on top of him in the new position.
They lay there for a moment, catching their breaths.
“You did not go to your club,” Mary giggled.
“I did not,” he laughed. “I am glad for it.”
She smiled up at him, and her heart felt close to bursting.
I am in love with him, she thought.And I cannot deny it any longer.
Dominique leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“Mary, I wish to tell you something.”
Her heart beat faster as their legs tangled together.
“Yes, Dominique?”
He paused for a second, his gaze flicking away from hers for a moment. “So much of my life has been about escaping and women, Mary until I met you. A lot of it was running from one ghost or another. Inserting myself into London society only to wish for the nearest exit. Trying to settle down only to never feel truly settled or still. Trying to erase my past mistakes or mistreatment. Everything has been about survival and enduring.”
He cupped her face. “You have captured my desire to stay still, Mary. You have given me a reason to stop running. My past will always be there but through you, I realize it does not have to haunt me. For the first time in my life, I have a desire tostay. I dislike to see Katie as someone who endured without me but I was not strong enough to stay for her, either. But this… Our life here… We have built a family, Mary, and I finally can see a future where I remain in Livingston Castle, building that future alongside you.”
He kissed her once. “I am in love with you, Mary.”
The words sank into her, weighty and beautiful. She had never heard those words before and now she craved them.
“You do not need to say it back until you are ready,” he told her. “But I wished to say it now. I want you to be mine. Not just to protect you in the name of marriage but properly. My true, real wife. A proper wedding one day as well, perhaps, where the girls can watch us wed. Where your family can attend and you can finally feel safe.”
He grasped her hand, kissing her knuckles.
“I love you, Mary.”
And although the words were there in her heart to say back she could not bring herself to. Instead, she returned his kisses, nodding her agreeance.Yes, it was everything she had always wanted for herself.
ChapterEighteen
“What is that letter, Mama?” Eloise asked one day the following week. Mary jumped, having been stoking the fire, placing yet another letter from Hugh in the fire.
“Nothing, darling. It is nothing I need to know about so I burn them so there is no information left behind for little prying eyes to find.” She tried to make light of her slight pretense but her laugh was nervous.
The letters had not ceased and she still had not found the time to tell Dominique. Ever since their coupling last week they had barely been able to keep their hands off each other. They were finding more and more adventurous places to be. One of the storage closets, as it had provided quite a bit of excitement and fun when trying to be quick. It had heightened her climax, knowing they only had a few moments.
Another time they had slipped between the bookshelves in the vast library, and Dominique had met her gaze as he had undone his cravat and slid it between her lips to keep her quiet. One of her favorite places had been right on Dominique’s desk in his study. Her life with her husband was turning out to be exciting, like nothing she had ever let herself dare to dream of.
But Eloise peered now at the fire in Mary’s bedchamber. “You are quite pale, Mama. Are you all right?”
Fear of the letters did have her on edge. Finding solace in Dominique’s arms had been an antidote to that fear as well as sating her own desire. “I promise, darling. Do not worry about your mama.”
She had already burned three letters over the past two weeks. They all said similar threats but Hugh Yore was so persistent and Mary knew he only did not make a physical threat out of fear of the Duke of Livingston.
“Katie’s papa said to tell you that the carriage is prepared,” Eloise announced. “Well, hedidsend his butler but I asked to go instead.” She had a look on her face that said enough about how she enjoyed feeling important.
As Mary gazed at her daughter, this beautiful girl who was her whole world, the only good thing to come from her first marriage, she knew she would have endured Hugh Yore to keep her safe. If Dominique had not offered himself to her she would have found a way to endure.
“Well then, we shall not keep them waiting.” Mary smiled brightly, taking her daughter’s hand.
