“You mean green.” His hand cupped her jaw, tilting her face back to his. “That smoke really got to you.”
“Perhaps. But no, it is yellow. I know, Greene House is yellow. It’s a whole thing.”
His lip curled up on one side and he chuckled at that. And that chuckle sounded nice. And she was sure she didn’t just imagine it, but that damn chuckle took a gentle leap and then a tuck and roll into her heart. She had to have been hallucinating from the smoke to think that.
It didn’t take too long to reach her new home, but as she unlocked the door, she realized he didn’t intend to leave right away.
“I’m home now. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure you will, but I’d still like to tend to your injury before I leave.”
At the intensity in his eyes, there was no point in arguing, so she led them into the house, down the hall, and into the kitchen.
“It’s nothing,” she started to say when he sat her down and took her hand in his. “Ow!”
“Apologies,” he murmured softly, brushing a small circle on her wrist. “You’ll want to wrap this for extra support. Let me…” His voice trailed off as he turned to find some cloth he could rip into strips. Tenderly, he wrapped the bands around her hand. While on his knees. And she couldn’t stop thinking about the strength he exuded, even from such a humble position.
Once her wrist was wrapped, he held it longer than necessary until she finally pulled it away. Then he stood and turned around. That’s when she noticed it.
“You’re bleeding.” Lucy stood to her feet, reaching her hand out to the place on his shirt stained in red.
Damien looked down. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“That’s what I said about my wrist.” With her good hand, she turned his shoulder and sat him down in the chair. “Now it’s my turn to make sure you don’t bleed out on your way home.”
A gruff laugh left his lips, but it died as she slid his jacket off his shoulder. He let it hang on the one side while she tugged at his shirt to get to the exposed skin. His legs widened and she instinctively stepped between them.
It was scandalous. That’s exactly what it was. But she didn’t care.
Shifting in his seat, he cleared his throat. But this rake? He couldn’t possibly feel awkward about this small amount of skin. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I’ll just take a quick look to make sure the bleeding has stopped.”
“No. I-I—” he stuttered when her fingers grazed his ribs. Odd. “I mean here at Greene House.”
And she saw no point in glossing over the truth. It was bound to get out soon enough, especially since they were looking for two more roommates. “It’s a spinster house.”
He coughed.
“Spinster house?”
“Yes.” And she looked him dead in the eye when she told him the next part. “None of us who live here plan on marrying. I’m not marriageable, and besides…I have other plans for my life.” Now…those plans she would keep hidden. Especially from him.
“Why don’t you think you’re marriageable? You seem marriageable to me.” His eyes widened at the admission. “I mean, notto me, to me. I’m not going to marry either. But you know…to someone. Else. Other than me.” He might as well be a lumberjack for how choppy his words came out.
“Why won’t you marry? You’re a duke. Don’t you care about having an heir to take over the dukedom?” It was a touch too sarcastic, too mocking, to be directed at a duke, but she stood with her back straight and chin pointed out all the same.
“It’ll fall to my cousins.”
“Why—”
“I can see us going around in circles about this. You don’t want to share your secrets, and I don’t want to share mine.”
“True.” And since she really didn’t want to open up about her secrets, especially the truth she knew about him, she simply nodded and pulled at his shirt again. “I can’t see where all the blood is coming from. You’ll have to take this off.”
“That, I can do.” He stood, towering over her. She watched, hungrily, as he pulled his layers off. Leaving only his exposed torso. Rippling muscles, bunched in places she didn’t know had muscles. “Am I bleeding there, too?”
That’s when she realized her fingers were feathering their way down his chest. Half way down. She was so close to touching thattrail that disappeared down his breeches. A shiver flew up her spine. God, she was wicked. To be tempted by this man.
