Tess held his gaze, a flicker of doubt in her green eyes.
She swallowed hard. “You don’t sound as if you want to go.”
“Of course I don’t. Hell, I didn’t even want to part from you last night.” He held his breath a moment. “But my contract—”
She glanced away, toward the field where she’d stood the morning before, no doubt questioning everything. When her gaze met his again, her expression was carefully composed.
“I do understand, and a couple of days isn’t long.”
It would certainly feel like it to Dom, and he feared she’d erect barriers in the meantime. He already wanted to tear them down.
He wanted to say, Forget the goddamned contract. Forget the Van Arsdales. Forget London. I’ll stay.
But Eve deserved this dig. And Tess deserved more than being pulled into whatever scandal and censure that might result from him breaking with the Van Arsdales.
“It won’t change anything between us, Tess. It won’t change what I feel for you.”
A flicker of something crossed her face. Hope, he thought. But then, just as quickly, it was gone.
Tess gave him a small, aching smile. “I fear I’ve put us on opposing sides now.”
“You haven’t. I understand why you don’t wish to take their money or dig under their auspices. But Eve and I are bound to them, and they’ve funded all our work thus far.”
“There’s more though.” She hesitated, bit her lip, and then admitted, “I’ve urged Lord Fenbridge to break with them. To take control of the dig himself.”
Dom didn’t think that could happen. Van Arsdale’s lawyers were legendary, his contracts were notoriously entangling, and they’d already claimed ownership of the most valuable piece yet uncovered.
“You don’t want Fenbridge to?” she asked, one tawny brow arched as if in challenge.
“I don’t think it’s possible for him to, Tess.”
She stepped back, and Dom had the sudden, gut-wrenching realization that she was already pulling away. It wasn’t because of the dig; she was preparing herself for some break between them that she’d always foreseen.
“I should go,” she said softly.
He wanted to stop her. To tell her that her leaving the dig and his trip to London were irrelevant. He wantedher, regardless of all the rest. He wanted to tell her that he was going to London with every intention of coming back to her, and he’d count the hours until he did. This wasn’t goodbye.
But she’d tell him not to overpromise. Promises wouldn’t reassure Tess. He needed to prove himself with actions, and regardless of what he said, he had to part from her today. Only when he came back would she know, and God, he prayed she’d believe him and let him love her.
So he let her go.
As she turned and walked away, the wind carried the scent of primroses, and Dom had never hated the smell of spring more.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Van Arsdales had paid for a room for Dom at The Metropole where they’d secured an entire top-floor suite. But after his first meeting with a reporter from one of the London dailies, he left the hotel and made his way to his family town house in Manchester Square.
Since their marriage, his youngest sister, Alexandra, and her husband, Detective Inspector Benedict Drake, had taken up residence. It made the town house feel like the family home, and Eve and Dom were thrilled with their decision to make it their own.
Though he had no real sentimental attachment to the house, he yearned to see Allie, and as the hansom cab dropped him outside, he hoped he’d find her at home.
Lottie, the maid who answered the door, looked shocked to see him, but she dutifully led him to one of the sitting rooms, where Allie was settled behind a desk clacking away at her typewriter.
He spied a pile of her books on a side table too.
“I’d like one of those books of yours before I leave,” he told her by way of catching her attention.
“Dominic!” She flew from her seat to embrace him, and he swung her around as he used to when she was a girl. It made her giggle, and that made him smile.
