Page 36 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
Dom swore under his breath. Hehadto make certain that Willa won. But their team was only two volleys behind, and moments before Longbridge explained the next task, Dom and Willa reached the needed seventy-five.
He and Willa and Kieran and Celeste all faced their host, waiting for their instructions. A stab of brotherly concern lanced him to see his littlesister swaying on her feet, her cheeks flushed from exertion and two hastily downed glasses of wine. But Kieran had a steadying arm around his wife’s waist, and Dom was busy looking after Willa.
“For your third and final task,” Longbridge said in the middle of batting the shuttlecock to Lady Shipton, “you must run a circuit through the Untamed Garden before returning here and finishing the last of the game. Andbothteammates must make the journey. If you don’t know where the Untamed Garden is, the servants will show the way.”
He nodded toward where a footman stood, pointing toward the western side of the house.
“I saw that garden yesterday,” Dom confided to Willa, “on my way back to the house. I know where it is.”
“Then less’ go,” she insisted.
When he took a step in the direction of the garden, she followed, but her legs wobbled beneath her.
“Not a good idea to run,” he noted with concern.
“Won’t win if westroll,” she insisted, then glanced at Kieran and Celeste, who started to run. Kieran held Celeste’s hand, since she didn’t seem quite steady on her feet, yet they were making good time. “But we have to gonow.”
He spun around and presented her with his back, lowering down slightly as he did so. “Climb on.”
A moment went by, then she clambered onto him, looping her arms around his neck. He gripped her legs, and then and only then did he realize thatthis might not have been a sterling idea. Her body pressed firmly to his, and her skirts rode up so that he held tightly to her thighs.
He even—God help him—touched the silken skin above her garters.
“What are you waiting for?” she demanded. “Go! Go!”
Swallowing hard, Dom took off.
It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, running with a full-grown woman clinging to you like a barnacle. Luckily, he was strong, and could carry her easily. Less luckily, all he could think about was that her crotch kept bouncing against his back, and that she had also read dirty books by the Lady of Dubious Quality, and had formed clear ideas about what she would like done to her crotch.Kisses beneath her skirts.
Run, you bastard, he reminded himself.
Just ahead, Kieran and Celeste were rounding the corner of the house, where a nearby footman pointed them to the garden. Celeste wasn’t fully balanced, but she put up a valiant effort to sprint.
“We’ll never pass them,” Willa lamented.
“Hold tight,” Dom answered through clenched teeth.
Summoning all his strength, he ran at full speed. His thighs burned as he sped past Kieran and Celeste, and he shut out the curses Kieran threw at him. Holding tightly to Willa, he bolted down agravel path, and then into the aptly named Untamed Garden.
“Duck down to cover your face,” he gritted to Willa.
Thankfully, she didn’t question his reasoning, which became apparent when branches whipped at him and surely would have cut her had she not protected herself. He felt her cheek press against his shoulder.
Ignoring the stings and scrapes, he instead concentrated on not tripping on the uneven ground.
Up ahead was the stone pavilion, marking the middle of the garden, but behind him he could hear Kieran’s and Celeste’s footfalls.
A servant was positioned inside the pavilion, and called out, “You’re to go back the way you came, sir, after making one lap around this structure.”
His lungs burned as he sped around the pavilion, yet he wouldn’t give up and hedefinitelywouldn’t drop Willa.
He passed Kieran and Celeste on their way to the pavilion, and the temptation was too much for Willa, because she called out to her brother, “This is our race to lose.”
“And lose it, you will,” Kieran wheezed as he ran.
“You—”
“Later, Willa,” Dom insisted.
