Page 42 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
“Thanks just the same,” he answered over his shoulder. “I’ll let you two buffoons vie for the title of the island’s least inept marksman.”
Sensation danced along his skin, an awareness that made him turn back in time to see Willa, Celeste, Tabitha, and Miss Steele all tromping out of the house. A long scarf dangled from Willa’s hand, snapping in the breeze.
A hundred yards away, the women stopped their march. The wind molded Willa’s skirts to her legs, revealing the temptingly ripe curve of her hips and arse as she strode toward him and her brothers.
“Are you three done murdering innocent fruit?” she asked, coming to stand a few feet away. “We’re playing blind man’s buff and don’t want to wind up accidentally getting shot. An ignominious end.”
“Take your game elsewhere, Will,” Kieran answered. “We were here first.”
She made a disgusted noise. “Just throw rocks at your targets. Or each other. That way, you only hurt yourselves.”
Kieran rolled his eyes, and Finn shook his head, but the brothers answered in unison, “Whatever pleases you, Will.”
She smirked, triumphant.
Dom could only chuckle at her typical display of bravado.
But then... there was something else beneath her boldness. Her words to Miss Steele circled him. He’d never known that she’d endured so much. She had never told him. She was a fighter who’d faced soul-crushing adversity. And he’d believed her a pampered princess.
He felt her gaze on him now, a careful regard that seemed to reach all the way inside of him. Her expression was thoughtful, as if she was trying to figure out something written in code on his heart, and he wasn’t certain if the notion was disturbing... or set his body and soul to blazing.
“That was an excellent shot you took a moment ago,” she said after a moment.
“Had a prime teacher,” he answered.
A flush crept up her cheeks.Shehad been his teacher. Soon after they’d first met, they had gone to a shooting range and she’d been an unexpectedly patient, thoughtful tutor, showing him the best ways to shoot. Not just pistols, but rifles, as well. She’d carefully gone over all of the steps needed to load, the best ways to aim, and how to fire without falling on his behind.
It’d actually been something of a miracle that he’d been able to absorb her lessons, since she’d had her body pressed close to his as she showed him how to properly hold the gun and sight his target. Thesensation of her snug to him had been far more explosive than any gunpowder. He could still feel her, even now, in a hot echo along his flesh as the woman herself currently stared at him with rosy cheeks—as if she, too, recalled that afternoon at the shooting range. As if she, too, had been so overwhelmed with the delicious torture of those hours that she’d also gone home and been forced to make herself come with her own hand.
He hadn’t had a climax since he’d arrived at this island. With her room beside his, the past night he’d heard her move across the floor and imagined her preparing for bed or taking a bath. Knowing that she was steps away made it impossible to bring himself off—too inflamed by her nearness to do anything but lie in bed, aching. He wasn’t a quiet man when he climaxed, and the thought of her hearing him come was both agonizing and arousing.
“Teaching something is easy,” she answered, slightly breathless, “when the pupil’s so eager to learn.”
Instinctively, he took a step toward her. To his shock, she didn’t back away. She swayed closer to him, her own gaze on his lips, and he couldn’t fucking remember why he should keep away or why he’d ever fled from her.
“Are we doing this or not?” Miss Steele called across the lawn.
Dom jolted as he and Willa seemed to both comeback to attentiveness at the same instant. Slightly dazed, she blinked and looked around as if she’d forgotten where she was.
He put needed distance between them. He might be a scoundrel, but he wouldn’t seduce someone he’d hurt. Especially in front of her brothers.
“Go on with whatever it is you’re doing,” she said with a vague wave of her hand. “I’ve my own game to play.”
With that, she spun on her heels and strode purposefully toward where the other ladies waited. It would have been wiser not to watch her go, but he’d never been wise where she was concerned.
“Clearly, we brought you both here for a reason,” Finn murmured.
Dom didn’t listen. Instead, he watched as Tabitha stood behind Willa and tied the scarf around her eyes in preparation for blind man’s buff.
Once the scarf was secured, Tabitha, Celeste, and Miss Steele spun Willa around in circles several times, then danced away the moment they let go. Willa staggered a little once she stood on her own. The ladies’ cries of “blind man” drifted across the lawn, but despite the covering over her eyes and her disorientation, Willa charged after them.
She was utterly courageous in her pursuit, nothing hesitating or uncertain in her steps while chasing after the other women.
“Damn,” Dom said lowly, admiringly. “She’s fearless. Despite...”
“Despite what?” Kieran asked.
“Did you know?” Dom asked, spinning to face the brothers. “That she used to run away from school?”
