And just like that, all the weariness he’d been feeling faded into glorious oblivion. “Come here.” He reached out and pulled her against his chest. “This nightmare will be over soon and then we can truly look forward to a future together in harmony.”
She laughed lightly. “Do you truly think so?”
He looked down into her tempting face and curved his lips with amusement. “I suppose ‘harmony’ isn’t the most accurate description of what life will be like married to you.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “Harmony is entirely overrated. I love these adventures with you.” She paused and seemed to reconsider her statement before she amended it. “Not entirely, perhaps, but when it comes to walking through East End pubs in a nun habit, that was rather interesting.”
He laughed and it felt wonderfully good to do so. “Not a single day will ever be dull with you by my side, I’m sure of it.” He kissed her lightly on the lips and then tapped her playfully on the tip of her nose with his finger. “Let’s get out of these annoying clothes, shall we?”
“That sounds lovely.” She turned her back to him. “Would you mind helping me with my laces?”
He trailed a gentle finger along the top where her black chemise laid low on her shoulders. “It shall be like opening a package on Christmas,” he mused aloud. “And the gift of you is the best thing I shall ever receive.”
She sighed as the laces started to loosen. “I quite like being compared to a present.”
“Christmas isn’t the only holiday where I can enjoy unwrapping you,” he murmured huskily. He started to place a line of kisses from one side of her neck to the other and all along her exposed skin. With each kiss he made a list. “There is Boxing Day… my birthday… Saint Valentine’s Day… Easter…Saint Patrick’s Day…”
She gave a throaty chuckle that shot straight to his groin and hardened his cock even further than it already was. “I don’t recall gifts on Easter and certainly not Saint Patrick’s Day.”
“Then we shall begin a new tradition. Rest assured, my lady…” he murmured as he started to lick and tease her way across her skin. “We will enjoymanynew things.”
A feminine shriekawoke Lexie the next morning. She cracked open an eye to see a horrified housemaid quickly turn away from the naked couple wrapped in each other’s arms in the bed. Thankfully, nothing was showing but a tangle of limbs, but it was enough to cause a scandalous reaction. “I’m terribly sorry… Your Grace… but I was just intending to… refresh the fire…” She wrung her hands in front of her and seemed unable to move.
“Thank you, Bessie. You may go,” a husky voice said from behind Lexie.
As if a fire had suddenly been struck beneath her heels, the servant left the room like her very life depended upon it.
Lexie put a hand over her eyes and had to laugh. “No doubt our escapades will be the talk of the household this morning.”
“I don’t rightly care.” Dominic pulled her back against him, and she couldn’t resist snuggling into his masculine warmth.
She was surprised how awake she was considering it didn’t seem to be much later than dawn and she had passed a rather vigorous night with the duke. She sighed in contentment and breathed in his virile scent, the one she had come to associate with the aristocrat and the East End villain. Both were impossible for her to ignore. She might have thought she was torn between two lovers, but thankfully, Avalon and Dominic were one in the same. And after last night, she considered herself a very lucky woman, indeed.
But with the dawn’s light, so came the reminder return oftheir plans for the day. As much as she hated to go, she murmured, “I should be getting back to my chamber.”
“Because you are worried about Bessie?”
She smiled. “No. Because I should prepare myself if I happen to face Aunt Bonnie again.”
At that, Dominic turned her around to face him. If it were possible, he was even more handsome this morning with his hair in disarray and his dark eyes smoldering as they lit on her. He no longer attempted to conceal his innermost thoughts from her. She could read the love and adoration there if he hadn’t yet spoken the words aloud. “You will not be alone today.”
“I know,” she admitted. “But it is still causing me no end of qualms. Especially if what we find in the journal is as damning as I’m afraid it might be.”
“Then we will deal with that revelation. Together. I won’t allow you to face what scandal might arise.”
She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “You will just allow me the scandal that might arise from our time together in this bed without the benefits of marriage vows, is that it?”
He glanced down between them. “Oh, there is something arising, but it’s not scandal at the moment.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed away from him as she rose from the bed. If she didn’t force herself to do so, she had the feeling they wouldn’t get anything accomplished today. Her body protested, of course, urging her to return to the man who had propped his head on his hand and looked at her with seductive intent, the gleam in his eye particularly tempting, but she tied her robe about her waist. “Good day, Your Grace.”
As Lexie returned to her room, she was thankful that her maid had not yet chosen to appear. She needed a few moments to compose herself after such a blissful night spent with Dominic. She feared that her happiness would soon be ripped away, half expected it, and yet she couldn’t say why. Perhaps it was becausefor the first time in her life she was truly content and eager to live the rest of her life with Dominic, when before, she had been anticipating a temporary ruination filled with a lifetime of melancholy memories.
When she felt as though she could properly comport herself without either blushing or bursting into tears, she rang for a bath. Taking a breakfast tray in her room, she finally left the confines of her bed chamber when it was nearly the noon hour. When she inquired after the duke, she found Dominic in his study. She offered a light knock and entered the room at his summons.
He glanced up from his desk and instead of a smile, he wore a look of concern. He set aside his pen and offered his undivided attention. “I was starting to wonder if you were avoiding me.”
She shook her head. “Not you.” She closed her eyes to brace herself. “I just want today to be over.”
