Page 38 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
Dom tore his attention from Willa’s retreating back to see their host holding both bottles out to him.
“If you want them,” Longbridge added.
“I want them.” Dom took the wine from the other man. It didn’t matter if it was the best vintage or tasted of actual sunshine and diamonds. All that he cared about was if the wine could get him good and drunk, drunk enough to stop feeling the pain that cleaved him apart whenever he hurt Willa.
Chapter 12
Willa spent the next few hours in her bedchamber, nursing a sore head and an even more tender heart.
Damn it, what did Domwantfrom her? One moment, he was her greatest champion and ardent admirer, making certain she triumphed over her brother, and the next, he literally pushed her away.
“Are you in terrible pain, my lady?” Isla hovered anxiously by her bed. “That was an awful groan you just gave. Shall I fetch some laudanum?”
“A club to the skull will suffice,” Willa answered. “Anything to hasten me to unconsciousness.”
“I don’t have a club,” Isla mused, “but Cook’s clootie dumplings are quite stodgy, so they might serve.”
“No mention of food, if you please.” The queasiness in Willa’s stomach was partly due to the aftereffects of hastily consumed wine, but mostly fromthe spinning top that was her response to Dom, and his wildly oscillating behavior toward her.
The best she could do, given the circumstances, was brazen it out. But then, she’d always been good at being brazen. Being vulnerable, on the other hand, was much more difficult. And terrifying.
“Thereisan old family remedy,” Isla said as she dabbed a cool cloth on Willa’s forehead. “It tastes much worse than a peat bog, but cures a bout of crapulence within minutes.”
“Worsethan a peat bog?”
“Aye, my lady.”
“Yet effective.” Willa exhaled, which sent a bolt of white pain through her head. “You’d earn my gratitude if you mixed some up for me.”
“Back in a trice, my lady.”
Isla was true to her word, and returned a few minutes later with a mug of something that was as thick and sludgy as the promised peat bog, with an oily sheen glossing its surface.
“What’s in this?” Willa asked, wincing as she sat up to drink the concoction.
“If I told you, my lady, you wouldn’t drink it. Best not to smell it, either.”
“Better to dwell in ignorance.” Pinching her nose, Willa tipped the mug back, drinking down its contents. She blessed her lack of gag reflex as she swallowed the viscous mixture that had a flavor reminiscent of rotting cabbage, but not quite as pleasant.
The effects could be felt almost immediately. Willa’s pounding head subsided to a soft throbbing, and her stomach went from a roiling sea to a calm lake.
“My God,” she said in wonderment as she stared at the mire of remains coating the bottom of the mug, “you could make a fortune selling this to aristocratic men.”
During her brothers’ bachelor days, she imagined, they would have paid substantial amounts for a cure like Isla’s.
“Aye, but I’d rather see them suffer for their overindulgence.” Smiling wryly, Isla took the mug back from Willa. “If you’re feeling well enough, Mr. Longbridge has invited all the guests to the beach. Most everyone is down there already, but should you like, I can change your clothes in no time and you can join them.”
“Is Mr. Kilburn down there, too?”
“The great big fellow? Sam says he dresses like a gentleman but talks like a working lad, and is far nicer than most of the other nobs—I mean the other genteel guests.”
“That’s the one.” Willa slung her legs around to sit at the edge of the bed, and to her relief, the room didn’t spin. Her heart, however, swung in her chest like a pendulum at this accurate description of Dom.
“Aye, I believe he’s gone to the shore.” Isla peered at her. “Or you could stay here, my lady.Just because you’ve recovered from too much drink doesn’t mean you have to tromp around and spend time with anyone you don’t want to.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Isla and the other servants were aware that there was something going on between Willa and Dom. Underestimating the staff’s perspicacity and knowledge was always a mistake.
Willacouldstay in her room. Hide. Avoid whatever it was that brewed between her and Dom.
