Chapter 17
Standing outside Verity’s bed chamber, Dominic tried to tell his feet to move.
It wasn’t appropriate or polite to stand there for so long. What if a servant came around and caught him staring? There wasn’t even anything to be looking at what with the door closed.
Something quiet squeaked on the other side. He jerked to attention, listening, wondering. Would she come back out? Was she moving? It had sounded close to the door. Was she still there?
His hand was on the doorknob before he realized what he was doing.
“Blast it,” Dominic muttered under his breath. He hastened back a few steps, redirecting himself away from the door. Away from the room.
Away from her.
Images of Verity smiling with that bright glimmer in her eyes came to mind. It was impossible not to think of her. After all she had done this evening to help salvage the room, after their quiet but playful supper conversation…
Every time they met was an opportunity to see another side of her. Another part of the lady now distracting his thoughts too much.
The hallway smelled of lilacs. Inhaling deeply, he grimaced over the sweet scent and hastened to make his way to his bed chamber. This was not what he intended for this marriage match of theirs.
“This was just an exceptional situation today, that’s all,” Dominic attempted to convince himself. He’d already sent his valet off for the night; as he entered his own room, he undressed for the night and slipped into bed with a heavy sigh.
It had been a long and eventful day. Verity came to mind for every minute of all that had happened.
And she played on through his mind for most of the night. Any attempts for sleeping still brought her fresh smile to him. He recalled her smile and her chuckle and her playful words. The confidence she portrayed, the way she was willing to challenge him and eager to keep her head up through it all.
He hardly slept. He was distracted still into the next day after scheduling appointments for the next week in sorting out the mess of the sunroom.
At least the storm was over.
“Mr. Timmons,” Dominic said around the visiting hour. He beckoned for his butler as he gathered his hat and cane. “I’m off for the day, and then out to my club for the evening should anyone seek me out.”
“Very good, Your Grace,” his head butler acknowledged. “Shall we see you for supper?”
He hesitated before setting his hat on his head. “Don’t hold up for my sake. If I am here, then I am here.”
With a nod, Mr. Timmons opened the door for him. Already a horse was prepared for him. Swinging into the saddle, Dominic thanked the stableboy before taking off down the street.
Getting out of the house was exactly what Dominic needed. It would mean time and space away from his wife. Already he could tell the halls were beginning to smell more and more like her. And soon they would look the way she wanted them to.
Green and yellow, I told her. What was I thinking?
He grimaced over his memory of the late-night conversation with her. He hadn’t meant to dally like that. Though he’d enjoyed his fair share of flirtations in previous years, he had set it all aside to sober up his life after seeing that accident almost a year ago.
His hands tightened invariably on the reins, making his horse backpedal before he corrected himself. “Sorry, old chap,” he muttered to the horse and straightened up.
“Goodness me, what a delight,” sang a pretty voice. “It’s the Duke of Wycliffe. How do you do?”
Crossing the street from the nearby gardens was Lady Lucille, a daughter or niece of Lady Hamhearst. He’d never been particularly confident of which since she was often in hand with another spritely young lady of some relation, Lady Helena.
The two of them walked arm in arm like a pair with a maid trailing behind them at a distance to act as chaperone.
He refocused his gaze on Lady Lucille. “Good day, my lady. Very well, thank you. And I trust you ladies are in fair spirits?”
As Lady Helena giggled and covered her mouth with a hand, she said, “Fair spirits, indeed. How thoughtful you are to consider us. We worried we might be forgotten now that you are a married man. But who is to say that anything is to change?”
Reconsidering her words, he watched as they stepped up close. While Lucille greeted his horse––they’d encountered each other a few times in the gardens over the years so they were familiar with one another––while Lady Helena scooted closer to him.
He recalled calling on her a time or two. There had been other ladies that were on his mind for a future bride. He’d made sure to include as many possibilities in the beginning as possible, not wishing to limit himself.
Something had steered me away from the two of them. I can’t quite…
“Will you be at the Wilmington ball tonight?” Helena asked, leaning up while her hand rose up to brush against his knee. “I should so like a proper dance partner.”
His gaze shifted down to his leg.
Ah, I recall now.
“It is the Wilmingtons, so I am certain there will be plenty of young bucks in attendance. I wish you the best of luck.” He turned his attention from her toward the path so he might move forward. But Lucille with his horse was blocking the way.
He gritted his teeth in annoyance as Helena simpered. Her hand touched his calf this time under the premise of fixing the loose ribbon from her bonnet. “Are you certain you cannot be persuaded to attend?”
Twice. I visited twice, once under the premise she might very well be young and too anxious to know how forward she might be. Then the second time I left early with no promises or intentions made.
“I’m certain. While I can understand some disappointment, my ladies, I trust you’ll have your hands full with plenty of young gentleman. Now, I must be on my way,” he said with a level of curtness he hoped still fell into the lines of being polite.
Meanwhile, Dominic nudged his horse backward so Lucille was forced to let go of his horse. She looked awfully surprised. Then he nudged the horse to go around her as he said, “Lovely day, ladies. Do take care of yourselves and each other.”
“Farewell!”
“Do visit me soon!”
Verity would never be so apparent and impolite. She doesn’t need to be so transparent to send her message across.
He started to shake his head to himself, supposing he would need to be more mindful around young women and ensure the distance was clear between them.
While Society might deem it appropriate for a married man, especially a lord, to have his mistresses and affairs, Dominic would not be amongst those in that party.
Not after all that he knew from his father. He wouldn’t do that to another woman. And he especially wouldn’t be interested in causing a potential scandal with another young lady of note. Those two young women each deserved a proper match with a decent and marriageable fellow.
The sooner, the better, I’d say. I have no interest in them or anyone else now. The sooner I can be left alone with only Verity, the more satisfied I shall surely be.
“Your Grace. I thought that was you.”
Up alongside him rode the viscount, his brother-in-law. Dominic’s grip tightened on his steed but this time his horse merely slowed down.
“Cassian,” he said with a nod. “How do you do?”
Glancing about and behind them, Cassian replied, “Well enough. I merely wished to see how you fare.”
“Me? Or your sister?” Dominic invited him to correct. “Or your secrets?”
A tense expression crossed the viscount. He frowned, pursing his lips like he’d eaten something bitter. “I thought we might put aside our differences now that we are family.”
“The differences will remain, but I suppose that is what binds us, is it not?” Dominic suggested politely.
There might have been a part of him glad to have married Verity of all people. But the way they’d been forced together was not something he would ever be grateful for. It had been a dirty ploy by Cassian, and the lord deserved nothing for it.
“I suppose.” Cassian fell quiet for a few minutes until they reached the next block. “How fares my sister?”
“Well. You should visit her; I am certain she would appreciate the visit. She writes often to her sisters, I believe, and she might be willing to write to you as well,” Dominic added.
Cassian rolled his eyes. “My sisters have no need to write to one another. The youngest two are too busy with the season to read anything by family, anyways. But perhaps I will visit her. Good day, Your Grace.”
He left as quickly as he had appeared.
Grunting, Dominic wondered in annoyance what he was going to do about his brother-in-law.
Was this how the rest of their conversations would go for the rest of the days?
How would they behave at dinner parties?
Holidays? He couldn’t imagine keeping Verity separate from her family but Cassian’s moody ways had him tempted.
I know what he is capable of, and I don’t like it. Perhaps I should have said something when I had the chance… But alas, it is too late. I had best focus on what I do have. A wife, for example. A wife I am already thinking about too much…