Page 66 of Her Duke Next Door
“You would not like the excitement?” He sat closer to her. “Me, pleasuring your every whim in our carriage, knowing we might be close to being caught? I think that element excites you further, Mary. I think you enjoy the risks. I think you like that our coupling is not always done in a private bedchamber.”
He ran a finger up her arm and only pulled away with a smirk when the girls returned.
“Mama, you are very red,” Eloise commented. “Are yousureyou are all right? Between this morning and now you are acting rather odd.”
Dominique raised a brow at Mary as if to askwhat happened this morning? When she blinked, she saw the flames eating the letter, hiding the evidence of her secret.
I wanted to tell you today at the picnic, she thought as if confessing in her mind was enough.Forgive me for keeping this from you for so long.
Had he not distracted her with scandalous talk, or had the girls played for longer, Mary would have found the moment to tell him.
But as they began to eat their way through their packed picnic, Mary vowed to find another time.
* * *
The following morning, Mary went down for breakfast to find her husband already dressed in his traveling boots.
“Dominique?” she asked, her voice shaking. “You are leaving again?”
Her heart dropped to her stomach. Perhaps he had told her pretty lies, words she drank up, as she grew to trust him more and they bedded one another. But now he was leaving her…
“Mary, I know how it looks,” he told her. “But please hear me out. Let me assure you that I am not leaving in the ways I once did.”
“But—”
“Please.”
Behind him, Katie was angry-faced with her arms crossed, while Eloise looked helpless.
“Your brother’s proposal was indeed to do with some business,” Dominique told her. “We are investigating some land we might own together. Christian, Alexander, and I. We are all due to travel today to meet at the location which is a few days’ ride away. Forgive me, Mary, I do not wish to go. Please believe that. I promise you it is not the same as it once was.”
He cupped her face, holding her gaze as if he might share the truth she refused to acknowledge.
“Please do not go,” she whispered. How was she to know it would definitely be for business? It was not as though she could write to her brother if he was already leaving that day. She might not catch him in time if she visited, either. She could confirm with her parents or Anne, she supposed.
Mary gripped his jacket lapels. “Do you swear it? That you shall come back?”
“I shall,” he swore. “I shan’t be gone for longer than two weeks, I do believe.”
“Two weeks is an awfully long time,” she murmured.
“You are leaving me again, Papa!” Katie complained, drawing both of their attention. Instead of her papa, she ran to Mary, who embraced the girl.
“I will be back, darling,” Dominique promised his daughter, crouching to look at her.
“That is what you have said before!”
“I know, I know. And I am sorry. I am so sorry, my Katie, but I promise Papa will be back before you know it. I need you to be good for Mary. I would like to bring you back a gift from my travels. Is that all right, darling?”
“No,” Katie pouted. “I do not want a gift.” But then she paused, sniffling. “Although, Papa, I think maybe I am being unfair. You have stayed with us for a long time and I think you have been better with me. You have been here with me more than ever.”
She set teary eyes on Dominique as Mary released her so Katie could embrace her father. “Thank you, Papa.”
He relaxed as he embraced his daughter, his own eyes bright with unshed tears. “I promise I shall return. This is not like the past when I have left.”
Katie nodded. “Please can I have a new necklace? If you ever have to leave again, I wish to keep you with me. Something pretty.”
“Of course,” he said. “It would bring me great joy to do that for you. And you, Eloise? What might I bring you from my travels?”
