Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
She blushed as she took his hand. “This is a wonderful surprise,” she said. “What inspired you to bring me to the opera?”
“I wanted to show my appreciation for everything you have done," he said. “I was hoping this was a nice surprise. I do not know if you enjoy opera music.”
“I enjoy it very much,” she said. “It has been years since I have had the pleasure of listening to it.”
“It has been a while for me as well,” he said. “However, there is no point in me having my own box seats at the opera if I don’t use them now and then, now is there?”
She smiled cautiously as they sat down. “Thank you,” she said.
“This is very nice.” She bit her lip, wanting to say something that had been on her mind for the past day.
This might not exactly be the right time to say it, but…
“I wanted to apologize,” she said. “About the room, I mean. I did not mean to overstep any boundaries—”
“It is all right,” he said. “The room makes Percy happy, and it helped him get his voice back. That is all that matters. Now, let us enjoy our time together.”
She smiled and nodded in reply. As the show started, Selina grabbed Dominic’s hand in excitement.
She was so delighted that she forgot herself for a moment.
Dominic looked over at her, and Selina blushed, prepared to apologize and pull her hand away.
But she never had the chance. He smiled and squeezed her hand gently.
Selina got lost in the music and the performance. The opera was even better than she remembered. Maybe that was because she had taken it for granted before, but she would never do that again.
As they watched the performance, she was very aware of Dominic holding her hand. His thumb stroked her knuckles through her glove, and every touch sent shivers down her spine. She could smell the light, clean scent of his cologne and felt his body heat radiating off of him.
She wanted to move closer to him, to cuddle up against him. How would it feel to have his strong arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders?
These are dangerous thoughts. Save these fantasies for tonight, when you are alone in your own room.
She shivered hard enough for him to notice. “Are you cold?” he murmured.
She blushed, but before she could say anything, he was taking off his suit jacket and draping it over her shoulders. Immediately, she was surrounded by his warmth and scent. She pulled the jacket tighter around him. “Thank you,” she murmured.
He smiled slightly at her and nodded.
But now that his jacket was off, he was only in a white dress shirt and his waistcoat.
His shirt was just big enough to conceal the muscles that she knew were there, but she knew if she leaned against him, she would feel his muscles through the thin fabric of his shirt.
How would he react? Perhaps he would accept it if she told him she was a little tired and leaned against him…
No. She had indulged herself too much already. This was not one of her nightly fantasies. This was reality, and he wanted nothing to do with her that way. If she told him she was tired, he would insist that they go home and go to bed, and the last thing she wanted was for this night to end.
Her cheeks were a little warm as she thought about how much she indulged herself in those fantasies when she was alone in her room, when she pretended that he would ever care for her the same way he cared for Eugenia.
After the show was over, she expected him to drop her hand and leave immediately, but instead he took her arm, almost possessively, as they leisurely made their way out of the box. “That was wonderful,” she told him.
“I enjoyed it as well,” he said. “I definitely enjoyed the company.”
Her cheeks grew warm, and she looked away, even as longing filled her. She cleared her throat as they stepped out into the night air. Their carriage pulled up for them, and they got inside. “Perhaps soon we can go on an outing with Percy,” she said. “Perhaps we can go to Hyde Park on Saturday.”
“Yes,” he murmured as he looked out the window. “I am sure Percy would like that.”
Happiness filled her. Encouraged, she said, “It will be good for him if you take a more active role in his life. Not just for the occasional outing in Hyde Park.”
He looked at her, frowning slightly. “A more active role?”
“Yes,” she said. “I know you were skeptical a few weeks ago, but do you not see the benefits?”
“No, I do not,” he said. “I am happy to take you and Percy on the occasional outing, but I do not see much point in my trying to have a more active role in his life. He is already making such good progress thanks to you. Why should we change what is already working?”
His words quickly dashed her hopes. “He needs his father,” she said. “I know it is a strange situation for you, but I think both of you would benefit greatly from seeing each other more.”
She hesitated before speaking. “I am not trying to replace Percy’s mother, and I am also not trying to replace your first wife. I would not ever expect you to love me the same way you loved her. But can you at least try to be there for Percy’s sake, if not for mine?”
All traces of good humor had been wiped from his face as she spoke. He glowered at her and drew the carriage curtains closed for privacy from passersby.
“Let us get one thing straight,” he growled.
“The only things I felt for Eugenia were responsibility, dread, and despair. It was a marriage of convenience from the start, and even though I tried to care for her, she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with me, so I stopped trying. The only good thing that came out of my first marriage was Percy.”
Selina looked at him, surprised. She also had no idea how to respond to what he was saying.
The duke grimaced and looked away from her. “Eugenia was in love with another man,” he said. “A man her father disapproved of. But he approved of me. She hated me for marrying her, and she hated Percy as well.
Selina gasped, “I am so sorry…”
Dominic barely paused to hear her. It was as if he were in a rush to get it off his chest. “When her former love passed away, we ended up fighting. She decided to join him by throwing herself off the balcony. She blamed me…”
She could do nothing but stare at him.
Finally, he continued, “I did not know it until it was too late, but Percy was under the bed and he saw the whole thing.”
Selina brought a hand to her mouth. “I truly had no idea…”
“No, you would not have had any idea. I did not tell anyone exactly what happened.” Pain crossed his face. “In a way, the rumors about me are true. I killed Eugenia. If I had said something different—if I had been quicker to stop her—”
Selina reached out and grabbed his hand. “That was not your fault. She was sick. There was nothing you could do.”
“You cannot possibly know that,” he said, his voice husky with emotion.
She moved so she was sitting next to him in the carriage. “I know you. I know you are not cruel, and you never would have done anything to encourage her to harm herself, no matter what you felt about her. What happened was not your fault.”
He shook his head. “I should have stopped her.”
“You could not have.”
“I should not have let Percy witness her mother’s death.”
“You did not know he was watching.”
They were so close now, their lips inches apart. His gaze lowered to her lips. “I want to kiss you,” he confessed.
She smiled. Instead of replying, she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his own. He groaned softly and did not hesitate to grab her and pull her into his lap. This feels better than my wildest dreams.
His hand tangled in her hair, carefully undoing her hairdo to let it fall loose around her shoulders. He growled softly. “You have no idea how much I think about you just like this,” he whispered as he started to trail kisses down her jaw, down her neckline.
His lips burned her skin, and she moaned in response. “Dominic, we cannot do this here,” she whispered. “We are in a carriage.”
“I do not care,” he growled. “I have wanted you for too long.” His hands went to her bare arms and then her back.
She felt his fingers brush against her skin at the nape of her neck before going to the laces of her dress.
With expert fingers, he undid the laces of her dress and pulled it down, along with her corset, to reveal her breasts.
She gasped, her nipples already hard. Her face flushed red now that she knew how exposed she was to him.
“You are gorgeous,” he growled as he pulled back to look at her. “Even more gorgeous than I had imagined.” He pressed kisses against her breasts. He took one of her nipples into his mouth, teasing the sensitive nub until it was hard.
She cried out and pushed her hips against his own as pleasure radiated through her. It was all too much, but at the same time, she wanted so much more. “Please, Dominic,” she whimpered. “I want more. I want you.”
“You have me,” he whispered. He stopped tormenting her breasts so he could claim her lips again. “You taste so sweet, Selina. So perfectly sweet.”
She whimpered, and her body shook with the sensations.
However, before he could do more to her, the carriage pulled to a stop in front of the manor.
Dominic growled in frustration at the interruption. He barely had time to help Selina fix her dress before the driver opened the carriage door for them. He nodded his thanks to the driver as he grabbed Selina’s hand.
He had to restrain himself from pulling her out of the carriage and picking her up in his arms. He had tasted more of her than he had ever had the privilege of tasting before, but it was not enough for him.
He needed more. He needed her in his bed, now. Restrain yourself. You are not a brute. You do not wish to scare the one woman who has never been afraid of you.
But all of his instincts were telling him to claim her. He put his arm possessively on her back and guided her into the manor. He bent his head down low to whisper in her ear. “Tonight, you shall stay in my room, Duchess.”
She shivered and nodded. “Please.”