She pulled away from him and took a step back, trying to collect herself. “I’m here for my sister,” she snapped. “I have no intention to marry you or anyone else. Believe it or not, women can have aspirations that have nothing to do with trapping unwilling men into matrimony. Now for heaven’s sakes, please leave the room so I can get dressed!”
He smirked. “No. It’s my room. You intruded on my peace, and I am in no mood to be charitable to you or anyone else.” Much to her shock, he started to get back in the bed with her still in it.
“What are you doing?” she shouted as he got under the blanket with her. She pulled away from him, but her legs were tangled up in the quilt. She tumbled off the bed, taking the blanket and him with her.
They landed in a graceless heap, limbs entangled, the quilt binding them together like conspirators in some scandalous tableau. She struggled, her palms pressing against the solid wall of his chest. He caught her wrists with infuriating ease, pinning them above her head.
“Release me!” she demanded, her voice breathless.
His face hovered inches from hers, their noses almost brushing. “Why should I? You seem far safer here than anywhere else in this house.”
Her lips parted, a retort dying on her tongue as she caught the flicker of something dangerous—something hungry—in his eyes. Her chest rose and fell against his, every inhale reminding her just how close he was.
“Do not… look at me like that,” she whispered.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Then do not tempt me to.”
He stayed on top of her, and her cheeks flamed, even as she was fully aware of his lean, muscular body pressed against hers. Heat rushed to her lower stomach from the feeling of it.
She inhaled sharply, breathing in the musky scent of his cologne. His eyes widened slightly as he looked down at her. His lips parted as his gaze went to her mouth.
For a heartbeat, the world shrank to the span of a breath—the whisper of his hair brushing her temple, the heat of his thigh pressed scandalously between hers. She hated him. She wanted him. She could hardly tell where one feeling ended and the other began.
Before either of them could move, the door swung open and the dowager duchess stood on the other side. She looked at them, her expression full of triumph as she shouted. “Scandal! Disgrace!”
Four
“Keep your voice down,” Dominic growled at his grandmother as he hurried to extricate himself from the blankets. “Or else all of your guests will come rushing to see us.”
Irritation was rippling through him, fighting with the unwanted lust and desire he felt from lying on top of Lady Selina. She was gorgeous as she looked up at him with a flushed face and eyes full of fire. It had been a long time since he had touched a woman like this, and heat rushed to his shaft from the feeling of it. However, under the circumstances, irritation was quickly winning.
His grandmother, accompanied by her maid, was barely containing her glee as she looked at him. “You must marry her!” she said. “I will not have a grandson who ruins a young lady and refuses to protect her afterwards.
Selina paled. “No, no, please, Your Grace. Nothing happened between the duke and me. I—it was simply a misunderstanding.No one needs to know. I will disappear and no longer trouble you. I swear it.”
The dowager turned to her maid with a subtle flick of her hand. “Leave us, Jane.”
Once the door clicked shut behind the servant, she turned back to Selina. “Where would you go, my dear?” the dowager said, not unkindly. “You do not have a penny to your name.”
“I can find a governess position elsewhere. I could go to Wales or Ireland, even! No one in England will need to see me again. Just please don’t tell anyone. Christine will have a hard enough time finding a husband without being connected to a ruined sister.” Her voice sounded almost frantic.
“Save your breath, my lady,” Dominic said. He didn’t stop glowering at the dowager duchess. “It is no use.” He shook his head, calling upon all of his restraint to keep from shouting at his grandmother. “She gave you directions under false pretenses. Instead of directing you to your own room, she directed you to mine, because she seems to think I’m in need of a wife.”
The young lady looked stricken.
Dominic shut the door in his grandmother’s face and turned to face Selina. “Allow me to assist you, my lady,” he said. He turned Selina around to look at the loosened corset laces. For a moment, he wished to loosen them further and help her undress.He wanted to see all of her curves on display for him. Instead, he tightened them up.
“You don’t have to help me, Your Grace,” she said, trying to move away from him. “I’m capable of dressing myself.”
He put a hand on her hip to keep her still. “You’re the one who came into my bedroom and undressed in front of me before getting into bed with me, so stay still.”
“That was a misunderstanding! I thought I was alone.”
He helped her get into the dress, unable to resist brushing his fingers against the nape of her neck as he dressed her. Goosebumps prickled on her skin, which gave him a rush of pleasure. He wondered what else he could do to elicit reactions from her.
“So you say. Whether or not that is the case, you and my grandmother have attempted to trap me in marriage, and I will not stand for it. I’ll take care of this so-called scandal.”
“Please do,” she hissed as she finally pulled away from him. She was fully dressed, but her clothing was now a little wrinkled; her hair was disheveled, and her face was flushed. Despite being decent, she looked like she had been thoroughly debauched. “I certainly do not wish to marryyou.”
