Page 40 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
It made sense, now, that Dom’s abandoning had hurt so much. Part of her had believed it was because of the unhappiness that lurked beneath the surface of her brashness. As if, because she wasn’t a wholly joyful person, she deserved to be cast aside.
Her throat tightened at the thought.
“All of us were in the midst of personal battles,” Miss Steele answered.
“You’re very kind to excuse my behavior.” She took in a deep inhalation of briny sea air. “Do Istillterrify you?”
“A little,” the other woman confessed.
“I’ll do my best to be less terrifying.”
“Please don’t, Lady Willa,” Miss Steele said quickly. “I would like to be a bit more terrifying, in fact, and would hate to think that you’d dimmed your light merely to make someone else feel better about themselves.”
“Perhaps a happy medium can be reached,” Willa mused.
“Terrifying, yet approachable,” Miss Steele suggested.
“I hope this means that we can be genuine friends now.” Willa smiled at Miss Steele, a sincere smile, and she exhaled when her smile was returned. “Please, call me Willa.”
“It does. And I’m Lakshmi.” She looped her arm through Willa’s.
Warmth spread through Willa, chasing away the chill of old and bitter memories. She didn’t want them to touch her any longer. They only served to hold her back, and keep her in a place of fear.
She shot a glance at Dom. He wasn’t standing all that far away—perhaps he’d overheard her conversation with Lakshmi. But his attention was fixed on the men in the boat, who were struggling to bring it to shore. Dom scowled at their efforts to combat the waves, which kept pushing the small vessel back from the beach.
Dom suddenly strode into the sea, water churning around his boots and then his thighs as heapproached the boat. With one hand, he grabbed the craft’s prow.
“What is Mr. Kilburndoing?” Lakshmi asked, astonished.
“I don’t know,” Willa confessed.
She gaped as Dom hauled the boat and its four passengers toward the beach. He looked like an old sea god, shadowy and determined, dragging a quartet of hapless sailors to safety.
At last, he pulled the prow of the boat to the beach and let it drop. The men inside the vessel tumbled out onto the sand, a heap of limbs and curses. Dom stood over them, hands on his hips, shaking his head.
“You sodding nobs need to respect things you can’t control,” he growled at the men at his feet.
Dom’s gaze went straight to Willa, rooting her to the spot. A thrill clenched low in her belly at his primal display of strength and determination, and even from the distance between them, there was no mistaking the heat that flared in his eyes as he stared at her.
It wasn’t the waves pounding the shore that roared inside her.
“Good thing the sea’s nearby,” Lakshmi said dryly. “In case a fire breaks out.”
Yet there wasn’t enough water in the whole world to drown the flames that now licked through Willa. They would burn her to ashes, if she wasn’t careful.
“I see a boat on the horizon,” Finn noted.
Willa’s heart leapt as she peered toward the sea. There was indeed a small boat dancing on the waves. Was this to be her escape from the island, and a chance to flee from Dom? She wasn’t so certain anymore. She shot a glance toward Dom, and he wore an equally conflicted expression.
While everyone on the shore nattered to themselves, Willa stared at the boat. Dom appeared in her peripheral vision as he, too, watched the boat.
She held her breath for goodness knew how long, and wasn’t certain whether her dizziness came from lack of air or the fact that she didn’t know if she was quite ready to leave this island, and Dom. They were just beginning to understand each other better—but did shewantto understand him better?
The boat drew closer to the island.
“You’re squeezing my arm rather tightly,” Lakshmi noted.
“Apologies.” Willa released her hold on the other woman.
