Chapter 49
DRASKO
Madeline was a smart woman, and her approaching him and his wife was certainly with purpose.
“She is beautiful,” Madeline said, her eyes on Grace in the crowd, who, in turn, chatted with other guests but glanced in Drasko’s direction and was now downing her third glass of champagne.
Drasko never dwelled on his past relationships, never promised women what he couldn’t give. Those in the past were fair exchanges. Madeline knew it well, and several years ago, they had had quite a grand time together.
What surprised him was the unusual nostalgia in Madeline’s voice when she was telling him about her trip to Russia, yet her gaze leisurely swept over Drasko’s form.
What he enjoyed was Grace’s hostility as she studied Madeline from a distance.
“You are not interested,” Madeline reproached, noticing his eyes on Grace.
“Pardon me?”
Madeline was an admirable woman of intellect and beauty, the qualities he’d once appreciated in her, yet they didn’t affect him anymore.
“You cannot stop looking at your wife, Drasko dear.” Madeline gave him a sad smile. “She is indeed lucky. And judging by the way you look at her, so are you.”
He didn’t know what to say to this, to the woman who had once occupied his thoughts quite a bit.
His eyes shifted to where Grace had just been, but she wasn’t there.
“Please, forgive me, Madeline, but I do need to go.”
She nodded, the light in her eyes fading.
“You deserve to be happy, Drasko,” she said, trying to hold on to him for longer. Her gaze was etched with melancholy. “I hope you finally realize that letting someone in your life is not a weakness.”
She had always understood him, accepted what little of himself he had to offer, and wanted more. Every woman always had. And at last, Drasko had a woman he wanted to give all of himself to, but his dear wife was nowhere in sight.
He pushed past the people, searched all around the ballroom until he saw her and Julien walk toward the entrance doors.
“Grace?” He caught up and blocked her path.
She smiled one of those smiles that didn’t reach her eyes. “Julien and I are leaving.”
“Julien and you.” He cocked his head.
Julien cleared his throat. “I was merely escorting Grace, Mr. Mawr.”
“What is the matter?”
“Nothing.” Grace tried to walk around Drasko.
He blocked her path again. “Grace?”
“You are humiliating me,” she whispered and tried to bypass him, but he stepped in front of her.
“How so?”
Julien stepped aside, awkwardly studying some Greek sculpture.
Grace looked down at her hands. “The way she looked at you, that woman, the way others looked at both of you, talking.” She met Drasko’s gaze. “Tell me there was nothing between you two in the past.”
That anger in her eyes made them the prettiest shade of burned honey. Her nostrils flared. Her rouged lips were pursed. His wife was jealous of another woman, upset, delightfully so.
“I cannot say that,” he admitted.
“Ah!” That bitter flash in her eyes was back. “Go on then. Maybe the headlines tomorrow will wonder why Drasko Mawr needed a wife at all when there are plenty of women to keep him company.”
She pushed past him.
Julien shrugged. “Is Elias Bayne here?” he inquired.
“Yes. Somewhere. Do be mindful.”
“Of what, Mr. Mawr?”
“Of Elias. I don’t want to lose my wife’s instructor to wild sea adventures.”
Drasko motioned a hurried goodbye to amused Julien and caught up with Grace.
“So, we are going home. Fine,” he told her. “I would love a private performance.”
He flashed smiles to the passing guests and caught sight of Grace’s little glares in his direction. Rakshasa on his back sang at the fact that his wife acted like a possessive lover. Finally!
The hurried clicking of heels behind them and a loud voice stopped them in their tracks.
“Leaving?” The marchioness caught up with them. “So soon?”
“Newlyweds,” Drasko explained with a smile. “My wife is very protective of our evenings together. If you know what I mean.”
“Liar,” Grace whispered as they were walking out into the courtyard a minute later. “You should have stayed with your little paramour.”
“She is not.”
“But she was.”
“A lot of things happened in the past. Or did you think I was saving myself for an arranged marriage all my life?”
She glared at him as they approached their carriage, reluctantly took his hand as he helped her inside and held her impossibly lavish feather skirt. She pushed his hand away, that pretty scorn on her face making him grin.
“Mr. Mawr?” A figure approached, right away blocked by Tripp—Papadakis.
Drasko motioned his guard to step aside.
“I heard Mrs. Mawr’s performance at the ball was divine,” said Papadakis.
The press, of course, was not allowed inside, but the man’s presence here was quite timely.
“One of the songs my wife performed was composed by her,” Drasko said to the man. “ Two Chances of Bliss , a truly poetic piece. Print it tomorrow.”
Papadakis nodded, scribbling in his notepad.
“Heinrich Wollendorf attended,” Drasko added. “ The biggest diamond rivals came together for a night of beautiful music. Mrs. Grace Mawr might have tamed the diamond war, if only for an evening. Print that too. Don’t mention the marchioness.”
He hopped inside the carriage and shut the door.
“Enticing newspaper rumors?” Grace asked with bitterness.
“Is something I said not true?”
“You didn’t need to mention my song.”
“Do I hear regret? If you don’t want your private life known, you don’t sing about it to hundreds of people. But you did. Will you at last admit to yourself that you are very much infatuated with your husband? Because your jealousy was a clear sign.”
“What am I to do when my husband openly converses with his former paramour?”
He understood her bitterness now.
The frequent thought in the last weeks that she could’ve ended up with Charles had angered him, disgusted him, and infected his mind with horrible visions. If even a fraction of such feelings coated her words right now, then he was done torturing her.
His playfulness deflated in an instant.
The carriage started moving, and they sank into the dimness of the small space, so very intimate, just like everything when they were alone.
“You still don’t see it, Grace,” he said quietly.
“See what?”
He exhaled loudly in tension.
They had danced around each other for weeks, and he was about done waltzing through this marriage business. He had never been afraid of his feelings.
With her? Well, she had changed that. Pride was the answer. But also that same silent dread at the thought that she would be punished for his affection. And yet, he so desperately wanted to take a chance.
“My problem is that I have a wife who I cannot stop thinking about,” he said finally, tense as a rod, confessing for the first time.
“This two-nights-a-month business is nonsense. The only reason I can keep myself sane is because I have the memories of the night in the music room, and the night you stayed in my bedroom. It’s hell, for I go in circles through those memories.
And yes, I can serve myself with my hand.
But I shall never go to another woman, nor can I look at any other woman, because my wife takes up my entire bloody mind. ”
He had always been truthful with women he courted and bedded. And yet, Grace was the only one he hid his feelings from.
“You are lucky we have an agreement,” he continued.
“Because I wouldn’t have let you out of my bedroom for weeks otherwise.
I have to change my sheets every day because they are soaked with my need for you.
I have to excuse myself at meetings because I think of you and it makes my body react in a way that’s inappropriate in public.
So, other women, Grace? They don’t exist. There. ”
Grace stared at her hands, and he couldn’t make out if she was shocked by the explanation or happy. This was a confession on his part, however small, and he clenched his teeth, waiting for her reaction.
“So…” she whispered. “You haven’t been with other women since… since we married?”
That was some accusation! “No, I have not. And I don’t intend to.”
Silence followed, testing his patience.
“Tell me you are jealous, Grace, and I will never talk to any woman I was close with.”
“How many?” She gave him a side glance.
He stifled a relieved chuckle. “ That I won’t tell you.” His wife was curious, and that was a good sign already. “Tell me you were jealous, and I will never so much as say a word in their company.”
“I am,” she said softly and pursed her lips but turned to meet his gaze.
“Good. I am your husband. Only you get to touch me.”
“And I don’t get to very often.”
Stunned, Drasko cocked a brow. “Do I hear a complaint?” he inquired carefully.
“I am merely stating a fact.”
“Perhaps you should tell me more often what you want, darling.”
“Perhaps…” She leaned into him, and her hand glided to his thigh, the gesture so surprising that he instantly felt himself grow hard. Her champagne-sparkly eyes flicked to his lips, a wicked smile on hers. “Perhaps, my husband is incapable of fulfilling his marital duties.”
In-bloody-capable?
He had to repeat the words in his mind again, had to do a double take, to make sure it was, in fact, his wife, leaning so close to him, touching him in a way that only happened in his bedroom. One time. One night.
“Say that again?” he dared her.
Her hand didn’t move. She had had quite a bit of champagne, enough to loosen her mouth, and that mouth was undoubtedly asking for attention.
She didn’t repeat herself and didn’t look away when her hand on his thigh shifted, making his body come alive under her touch.
He dropped his eyes to her lips again. “If you so much as move your hand an inch closer to my privates, I will abandon the silly notion of being a gentleman and show you right here and now how dedicated I am to marital duties.”
Her gaze burned with that hesitation again. The desperation of wanting it and yet being afraid—so obvious despite how much she tried to hide it.
A part of Drasko wanted her to move away, just so she burned with her need for longer, until they got home, because he was not letting her go tonight. Absolutely fucking not.
But the bigger part of him dared her.
And then her hand moved. Just an inch. An inch in the direction of no return, burning Drasko with prickling heat.
And he was done playing this game.
A single thought ran through his head, “I’ll wreck her tonight,” before he pulled her flush against him and kissed her.