Page 61 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
She stroked his hair, smoothing the now damp strands, and it was so fuckingdomesticandtenderthat tears sprang to his eyes.
His own knees burned, and he was certain he’d lost several layers of skin to the stone floor. Hopefully, it would leave a scar, so he could remember this night for the rest of his cursed life.
It was an awkward, silent return trip to the house. They walked side by side, tension stretched between them. He longed to thread his fingers with hers, but she kept her arms crossed over her chest, as if protecting herself, and so he kept his hands hanging at his sides.
His ruddy ridiculous costume itched. As he’d suspected, his knees were torn and slightly bloody, but he didn’t mind that.
He kept glancing over at her, searching her face for some sign of pleasure in what had just happened. Instead, her gaze was distracted, a tiny crease notched between her thick brows. His stomach tensed as if preparing for a blow—and yet none came. She remained quiet and far away, which was so unlike her his belly knotted even more.
The woman who had been both fiery and exposed was gone. Now he walked with a polite stranger and fuck if he didn’t hate it more than anything.
By silent agreement, when they reentered the house, they avoided the main corridors and rooms where the other guests gathered. Laughter and music filled the hallways. Someone was playing the pianoforte, and though they played well, each note jarred along Dom’s spine like metal bars being struck with a pewter cup by a prisoner demanding their release.
“Servants’ stairs?” Dom asked Willa lowly as they hovered in the shadows outside the crowded parlor.
Expression tight, she nodded. Thank God he had studied the layout of the house already so he could easily guide them to the narrow stairwell without encountering anyone. He hadn’t the stomach for anyone’s sly looks or winks, and if anyone caught sight of his knees, they’d know precisely what Dom and Willa had been up to.
Hedidn’t care if someone sniggered at the idea of him kneeling as he pleasured her. Hell, the idea was a delight. But it washerreputation that needed to be protected. She was still unmarried. Thanks to him.
They slipped up the cramped stairs, the wood protesting beneath his weight. Up and up they went, until they reached their floor, where they cautiously emerged into a main hallway. He peered out first to make certain everything was clear, and when there was no sign of another guest, he motioned for Willa to follow him out.
Then they were outside their respective doors. Despite the risk of being seen, they lingered in the corridor, their gazes holding, as if each of them wasn’t quite certain how to part.
The devil knewDomdidn’t. Words filled his mouth, so many words where he pled for her forgiveness again and again, where he vowed his eternal service to her, where he swore to give her anything and everything so long as he could be near her in any way.
You’re my dream and my salvation and my torment. I want to claim you all for myself, and kill anyone who would touch you, but there’s blood on my hands and shame in my heart, and my penance is living without you.
He said none of this. Instead, they continued to look at each other silently, until she straightened her shoulders and went into her room. The doorclosed behind her with a final click. She hadn’t spoken a word to him since the pavilion.
Within his chest, his heart withered to a tiny husk, the kind of refuse you would kick away if you saw it in the street.
He went into his room, shut the door, and slowly stripped out of the foolish costume. Nude, he sat in front of the fire and watched the flames writhe, his soul thrashing in time with them.
Creaking came from the room beside him, her room. She was taking off her costume, getting ready for bed, and more flames shot through him at the mental picture of her stripping down to nothing.
Staying in this house with her was an impossibility. He wanted her too badly, burned too hot for her, and though they’d shared pleasure a mere quarter of an hour ago, the way she’d held herself apart from him afterward showed that nothing between them had been resolved. They were just as lost as they’d always been.
Yet he was trapped here. Trapped with his beastly desires and blood-soaked conscience and a woman who rightly despised him. Short of locking himself in his room, there was nowhere to go until one of the sodding boats came, and after the near-miss the other day, God only knew when that would be.
He sat up. There wasoneplace he could go. Longbridge had pointed out on their trek aroundthe island that there was a small cabin that was regularly maintained.
After dressing quickly, Dom left his room. Striding out of the house, night was all around him. The moon had set and there was nothing but shadow on every side.
A city bloke like him would be lost in this dark wilderness within a minute. There was a good chance he’d try scrambling up one of the hills and fall and break his neck, or else he’d wind up stranded at the bottom of a gorge.
Best to wait until morning, when he’d have a little light to guide him on his way.
He went back into his room and stood by the window, willing the sun to rise. As soon as the first gray streaks of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, he’d exile himself.
Chapter 19
Willa stood with her hand pressed to the door of her room. It was morning, and she was supposed to go downstairs and join the other guests for breakfast. The guests who would include not only her brothers and their wives—who had engineered putting her onstage with Dom—but Dom himself.
She cursed and thumped her head against the wood.
Rash and reckless creature that she was, after last night’s incendiary passion, she was terribly, terribly close to flinging herself at him and forgiving him his every trespass against her. Yet that would only leave her vulnerable to more hurt.
A shiver worked the length of her body as images from last night cascaded through her mind: Dom, his face flushed, his eyes glazed and mouth open as he stroked his cock beneath her excruciatingly aroused gaze. Dom, kissing her and thrusting his fingers into her. Dom, on his knees, looking at herquim with filthy reverence just before putting his mouth on her.
