He helped her to the bench, letting her rest until the worst of the trembling subsided. When he finally offered his hand, palm up, she took it. He led her through the maze on unsteady legs, her body still humming, haunted by the ghost of his mouth against her skin. They emerged behind the rose garden where the terrace was visible in the distance—yet he stopped, his hand dropping to his side.
“Go back that way.” He nodded toward the terrace, his features showing indifference. “You got lost. Martha never found you.”
“And you?” Nell smoothed her hair with a frantic, nervous hand.
“I shall come from the other side.” He released her, and she felt the loss like a splash of cold water. “I shall follow a few minutes after.”
She should go. The children were waiting. She remained rooted to the spot. “What are we doing?” Her eyes were wide and searching as she looked up at him.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, his jaw tightening into a hard line. “I only know I cannot stop.”
“Neither can I.” The admission felt like a defeat, her gaze dropping to the grass.
“Go.” His hands curled into fists at his sides, his knuckles pale. “Before I drag you back into that maze and spend the rest of the afternoon between your thighs.”
Heat flooded her face in a sudden, scorching wave. She went.
She moved toward the terrace and the world she’d left behind. Martha looked smug with victory while the children were flushed and laughing. Daphne watched Nell approach, her eyes sharp and knowing.
“Mama!” Lily ran toward her, pigtails flying. “We thought you were lost forever!”
Nell smoothed the girl’s hair with trembling hands, her heart in her throat. “The maze. I got completely turned around.”
Daphne’s eyes swept over her. She lingered on the flushed cheeks, the swollen lips, and the way the dress sat slightly wrong on Nell’s shoulders. Her expression hardened, every trace of warmth gone. Martha watched as well, her dark gaze missing nothing.
“I couldn’t find you anywhere.” Martha folded her arms, her delivery as bland and flat as milk. “Or Lord Westmore.”
“The maze is treacherous.” Philippa remarked from her bench, fanning herself with a placid, rhythmic motion. “Dominic used to disappear in there for hours as a boy.”
Dominic appeared several minutes later, rounding the corner of the house. He looked casual and unhurried, not a single hair out of place.
“Where were you?” Philippa’s silver eyebrows rose in a silent, aristocratic demand.
Dominic shrugged, crossing the terrace to pour himself a glass of lemonade with a steady hand. “The far end of the grounds. I simply lost track of the time.”
Daphne’s eyes narrowed to thin slits.
“We should go.” Nell reached for Lily’s hand, her movements jerky and desperate. “The children are tired.”
“But the book!” Lily pulled back, her face crumpling. “He said I could hold it!”
Dominic set down his glass and nodded toward the house. “The library. We shall visit it before you leave.”
The library was a cathedral of leather and gold. Lily gasped and spun in a slow circle, her spectacles fogging with the heat of her excitement. Dominic crossed to a glass-fronted case and withdrew a single volume. He walked to where Lily stood and placed it carefully in her small, shaking hands.
“Careful.” His posture softened as he guided her fingers, his movements uncharacteristically gentle. “It’s older than this house.”
Lily held it like a holy relic. When the carriage was called, Philippa embraced Nell like an old friend, but Dominic stood apart. He kept his hands clasped behind his back, his glacial eyes fixed on Nell’s face with an intensity that made her skin prickle.
In the carriage, as Bramwell Park shrank behind them, Daphne leaned in close. “Your dress was crooked when you came back. And your lips are swollen.” Daphne folded her arms, one brow rising.
Nell stared out the window at the rolling countryside, her reflection ghostly in the glass. “I fell in the maze.”
Daphne said nothing for a long moment, her gaze heavy. “You are a terrible liar, Nell.”
Nell pressed her forehead against the cool glass and closed her eyes. She could still feel his hands on her and his fingers inside her, though god help her, she wanted to go back.
Fourteen
