Page 5 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
She glared at her brother, and then spun to face Kieran, who had the temerity to walk hand in hand with his own wife as if he couldn’t be happier or more in love.
“Hopefully, Longbridge didn’t have a sentimental attachment to whatever broke,” Kieran added blithely.
Clearly, he didn’t care that he’d deliberately brought the one man Willa had no desire to ever see again to this house party, to this island.
Oh, God.Her heart slammed in her throat. She was stuck on anislandwith Dom.
She ran from the room, racing past everyone, even Dom. Heedless of the voices crying out for her to come back, she ran. Heavy footfalls sounded behind her, but she didn’t pay them any attention as she sped down the gravel path, toward the stairs that led to the pier. The pier where the boat that had brought Dom still waited.
All she had to do was reach that boat, and then she’d be safe. She’d sail away from this infernal place and Dom and all the heartbreak he’d givenher, and she would never, never again trust her brothers.
She skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs, and her heart plummeted from her throat to the bottom of her stomach.
The boat was already sailing away.
“Wait!” she cried, waving her hands over her head.
“Come back!” Dom shouted from beside her.
She glared at him. “You’ve norightto want to flee the island.I’mthe jilted one.”
He said nothing, his brow lowering heavily.
“Then again,” she added tightly, “this is entirely like you—running away.” Turning back to the retreating ship, she tried again. “Ahoy! Don’t leave!”
Dom also shouted for the boat to return. They both possessed voices that could get quite loud—she specifically remembered a fight shortly before the wedding where they’d yelled so vociferously at each other, everyone in the vicinity had to cover their ears—and yet, despite their strident pleas for the boat to come about, it sailed on. Until it was no more than a speck approaching the horizon. And then it was gone.
She was trapped on this island with Dom.
Her stomach knotted. “There has to be some way off this blasted chunk of rock,” she muttered.
“Longbridge,” Dom growled. “He’ll know.”
Willa ran back into the house. Solid, forceful steps on the stone floor sounded behind her.
Mr. Longbridge was in the parlor, amiably chatting with her traitorous brothers and their wives, as if this wasn’t the most catastrophic day in recent memory.
“Therewillbe a boat tomorrow, yes?” she demanded without preamble.
The host only smiled easily. “Afraid not. Gordon isn’t due back for some while.”
“When?”she pressed. There must be a finite amount of time that she was stranded on this island, in this house, with Dom.
Mr. Longbridge only shrugged. “Hard to say. We’re well provisioned, so there’s no specific day that he’s scheduled to return. At the least, he’ll be back in a fortnight.”
Behind her, Dom swore lowly. There was something almost poignant in hearing him use foul language. When they’d been courting, he had tried to keep coarse words out of their conversations, but every now and again a Cockney-accented curse slipped in, as if there was a part of himself he could never fully change. It had thrilled her, to be wooed by a man who was so unlike all the others of her social circle. She’d loved how different he was from everyone else she knew.
Her hands clenched at her sides. This was all Kieran and Finn’s doing.
She stormed up to them as they congregated around the fire, Celeste and Tabitha standing with their husbands. At least their brides looked wary, but not her damned brothers.
“You have a hell of a lot of nerve,” Willa fumed, “looking at me without an ounce of remorse.”
“I’ll just see to my other guests,” Mr. Longbridge said, slipping out of the room.
“This was a coordinated effort,” she said hotly, looking back and forth between her brothers.
“Wheedlin’ us both into coming here,” Dom added, his voice tight.
