Chapter 40
Rayna:
Hi
Don’t be alarmed don’t panic don’t ask me questions right now but after the opening exhibit there’s something I have to tell you
It’s going to complicate things so I want to talk to you properly
I just hope I don’t end up losing your trust because of it
V:
You will never lose my trust Rayna
Whatever it is, whatever happened, we’ll figure it out together I promise
Just come see me whenever you’re ready
Dominic
It was painfully unfair how quickly time passed when one was living in utter bliss. But two weeks spent with Rayna in a foretelling of what married life would be like with her vanished just so.
And they were the happiest two weeks of Dominic’s life.
They weren’t so different from how he’d spent the rest of his time in the future with her, and yet every moment was somehow so much more meaningful and enjoyable now that she was his.
Oh, they were still keeping it a secret, and Rayna had moments where doubt waned the happiness in her charcoal eyes, but she was affectionate with him. She initiated touches and kisses outside of sex, and he no longer had to downplay how much he loved her in return.
It was perfect.
All that was missing was his ring on her finger or locket around her neck, a few children running between them, and a way for his family to still be a part of his new life with Rayna.
None of the joy solved the impossibility of their relationship, but it made Dominic hopeful that they’d find a feasible way. It also made the dwindling time they had left easier to put to the back of his mind when the night of the Tregency exhibit’s opening gala finally came around.
“This is—” Matt cut off with a huff as he tried to loosen the white cravat around his neck with a single finger. “Much stiffer than I’d thought it’d be.”
Dominic chuckled and turned to him in the corridor they were lingering in, not far from the first-floor hall the evening event was being held in.
“May I?” he asked the shorter man.
Matt stretched his neck, allowing Dominic to carefully and neatly fold the stiff cotton so it wasn’t rubbing so high under the man’s chin.
Satisfied with the way it sat, Dominic straightened. “How is that now?”
Matt rolled his head around, testing his range of movement.
“Better, thank you.” Then he shook his head with a dissatisfied smile as his brown gaze travelled the space around them.
“I don’t know why the Events team wanted us to wear cravats too.
What was wrong with just wearing tailcoats like last time? ”
“I suppose it adds authenticity to our Tregency attire,” Dominic said with a chuckle, rotating on the smooth soles of his polished black slippers—“smart shoes” as Rayna had called them—to look around the lively corridor.
People he recognised from the Events team were rushing around in neckcloths and tailcoats or elegant evening dresses, sorting out last-minute details with the museum security or technicians wearing headphones—headsets.
Cassie was fussing amongst them, her round, curvaceous figure wrapped in a wondrous red gown.
Over all the quick chatter, a quadrille could be heard dully, played by the live orchestra rehearsing in the hall.
Missing were Rayna and Hania, who they were waiting for, so that the five of them could head around to the hall’s main entrance on the opposite side of the floor and welcome the first attendees of the gala soon to start arriving.
As Dominic shuffled to face Matt again, his attention caught on a gilded mirror on the dark, painted wall. He did a double-take, caught off guard again by seeing himself dressed so.
The white cravat, shirt, and waistcoat, black tailcoat, and crisp suit trousers weren’t an exact replica of what he wore in his own time. But the style of the clothing and the feel of the stiff fabric around his neck were enough to awaken an odd jumble of emotions inside him.
Comfort in the familiarity of the garments. A wistful longing to see his family and live part of the life he’d always known. A thoughtful comparison of the clothing he’d spent the last three months wearing. Recognition of who he was, his family name and his position.
There was a whisper of doubt there too, because even though he hadn’t worn a neckcloth in months, it felt natural, like a second layer of skin. It made him question whether he could really fit into the future when he’d only ever known the past.
Only for a second. Because it wasn’t his only layer of skin anymore. He had chinos and T-shirts and trainers and boxers now too.
They were both him. Two sides of the same coin, and he didn’t want to erase either version.
“Oh, they’re here.”
Dominic blinked upon hearing Matt’s voice and gave his reflection one last curious glance over before searching in the direction of the other man’s attention. When he found the they in question—no, when he found his future walking towards him—he…froze. Solid.
Suddenly, Dominic was standing in his quarantine room at the POTeM lab again, his heart ricochetting so hard it punched the air out of his lungs, as he stared at Rayna.
Like he was seeing her for the first time again. Like, for a moment, he’d forgotten how mind-bogglingly beautiful she was, and he’d only just been reminded of it. Impossible, because he realised it every day, yet the vision she painted was like nothing he’d ever seen before.
In a dark green silk dress, she looked…like the queen of the forest.
The queen of his heart. His happiness. His life. His home.
The bodice was pleated horizontally across the slightly curved neckline, covering her generous breasts, while down her ribs and waist, the pleats were vertical, creating the illusion of a corset.
It gently hugged her lavish hips before cascading to the floor.
And every step she took flashed a teasing, tempting glimpse of the shape of her legs that a man could write a whole book of poetry on without having a single poetic bone in him.
Two-inch straps of the same folded material went across her upper arms, leaving her shoulders bare.
A gold necklace with a teardrop pendant hung around her neck and matching earrings dangled from her lobes, the waves of her rosewood-red hair dancing around them.
Her cheeks were painted with a lovely rouge, her lips with a duller pink, her lashes in black, and as she laughed with Hania, the shimmer on her eyes and cheekbones glowed even brighter.
But his favourite part, other than her, was the ivory silk gloves that ended above her elbows.
They ruined him. Nearly brought him to his knees, quaking and whimpering.
Sobbing like no man should.
Not just because they filled his head with all the erotic things he wanted to do with her in those gloves, but they also created the image of her walking into a Season ball on his arm.
As his wife. In his time. Meant to be.
It was her other side of the same coin. A hopeful possibility.
Entirely unwilling to release the wonderstruck delight floating through his chest, Dominic held his breath until Rayna’s glittering gaze collided with his. His lungs deflated as her laughter fizzled out into a bright grin that made his cheeks feel fuzzy.
Her lashes dipped in perusal, lazy and lingering, pausing somewhere below his chin.
He shifted as he tugged sharply at the ends of his sleeves, not exactly feeling shy or conscious but gosh did he hope she liked the way he looked. He received his answer when she pinned him under the heavy glow of her stare, and his chest puffed with pride like a damned male bird.
She and Hania stopped to collect Cassie from the man with a headset she was waving her hand around to, then the three of them came towards him and Matt. Dominic’s feet automatically moved him too, eager to be close to Rayna quickly. Matt followed suit.
“Okay,” Cassie said, grinning in a look of both stress and amusement. “I think this lot are sick of me telling them to double-check everything, so now that we’re all here and ready, should we head off to welcome in the guests?”
Dominic was listening to Cassie. He hummed his agreement as the others verbalised theirs.
He just couldn’t take his eyes off Rayna, even when she flicked him a quick warning to focus.
Up close, he realised she’d grown a few inches in height, likely because of some heeled slippers, and all he could think about was—
“Mr Dominic Thorne.”
He blinked and whipped his head around. Cassie, Matt, and Hania were grinning teasingly, while Rayna looked playfully disgruntled.
“I know Rayna looks absolutely stunning,” Cassie said with laughter lacing her words. “But try to focus on the guests until everyone’s seated at least.”
A guilty smile tugged at his mouth as his cheeks heated. He cleared his throat and straightened, clasping his hands behind his back. “Certainly,” he said with a nod.
Hania threw her head back and cackled, while Cassie shook her head, and Matt’s shoulders bounced with laughter. Then the older woman led the way, Matt and Hania followed, and Dominic slunk beside Rayna.
Unable to deny the chivalrous urge, or rather the possessive need to claim her, he offered her his elbow. Surprisingly, she took it, but he hated that his clothes prevented him from being able to feel her gloved fingers caressing his skin to gooseflesh.
“Everything you were thinking was written on your face, Dominic,” she grumbled quietly, a reluctant smile playing hide-and-seek on her mouth.
“I apologise, sweetheart,” he whispered, drinking her into his soul. “But you look lovely in silk. Exquisitely breathtaking. And I was not prepared to witness it.”
She rolled her eyes, her grin widening, and though it was hard to tell over her makeup, her ear warmed to a delightful shade of pink.
Rayna