Page 34 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
She stumbled over the next few words, but collected her wits enough to join him in the following lines.
“But none to me ever yet proffer’d such love,
as to lie by my side and give me a shove
With his dil doul, dil doul, dil doul...”
Dom’s voice went hoarse, and together they fumbled over the last part of the verse.
“Oh, happy were I, if I had a dil doul,”they stammered together.
The spectators cheered again at the conclusion of the song, and though Dom hadn’t appeared affected by the strenuous physical activity moments before, now his face had gone red as a cherry.
He and Willa stared at each other, and shewishedshe didn’t have such a vivid imagination, to make her speculate on all the ways she could bring a blush to Dom’s cheeks, or the means by which he might make her breathless and flushed, but damn it if she did.
“Now on to fifty volleys,” Mrs. McDaniel cried.
“A hundred pounds Dom and Willa get there first,” Finn added, but Baron Hunsdon shook his head.
“Your lack of faith only goads me on,” Kieran said stormily. “And we just reached five and twenty volleys, so we can catch up.”
“Not until you sing first,” Willa reminded him. She gave a provoking wave of her hand. “Go on and dazzle us with your vocal brilliance.”
As Kieran and Celeste began their own roundof singing, Willa turned back to Dom. “We’ll be halfway to fifty by the time they finish.”
“Bloody right, we will.” He held up his racket, and at her nod, served.
It was a trifle difficult to pay attention to lobbing the shuttlecock back and forth as the other teams began to reach the twenty-five volley milestone, and the air was filled with the cacophony of many voices belting out lines about giving maids shoves with dil douls.
Yet Willa was determined to be the victor of this game, and so she did her best to shut out everything surrounding her that wasn’t Dom. And the shuttlecock.
Damn it—why were all the words today very close to the same word for a man’s genitals?
And why did Dom look more and more appetizing as he moved with athletic grace to hit that ruddy shuttlecock? Later, she could let her mind run riot, imagining him lightly sheened with sweat from his exertions doingother things. Right now was about reaching fifty volleys before anyone—especially Kieran—did.
Forty-eight, forty-nine.
“Fifty!” Dom declared as she successfully propelled the shuttlecock back to him. “Now what?”
Mr. Longbridge didn’t stop swinging his racket as he called, “You see the glasses of wine my servants are filling?”
She noted a footman pouring ruby-hued liquid into tall glasses on a silver tray. When he was finished, there were four full goblets, the sunlight gleaming in the wine.
“The next feat is to drink two glasses of wine as quickly as possible,” Mr. Longbridge explained. “Only when your goblets are drained can you proceed on to the next milestone.”
The spectators whistled and clapped at this latest development, and Dom shot her a concerned glance.
“Before you ask,” she said, striding toward the footman with the wine, “this is well within my capabilities.”
“Right. School for genteel young ladies.” Dom was quickly beside her, and together they reached the servant with their drinks. “They taught you lots of useful skills.”
“All my abilities were part of an independent course of study.” She took one of the goblets, and Dom did the same.
“What else? Spitting? Brawling?”
He tipped his head back and as he was swallowing his wine, she said, “A thorough and complete reading of the Lady of Dubious Quality’s erotic oeuvre.The Highwayman’s Seductionis my favorite, especially when he kisses her beneath her skirts.”
Dom promptly spat out his wine. Fortunately, he managed to turn his head in time to spew theliquid on the grass, rather than on her or the footman. But it had been a close call.
