It didn’t sound like a grand passion to Sophia, the kind she would expect with a man
like Dominic, who was obviously a man of fire. But it did sound like something she
herself would try to seek, and would surely never find, because it simply wasn’t in
her. “Do you miss her?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “For a while, I didn’t know what to do next. She had been like
an anchor to me and suddenly I was adrift again.”
“What did you do after?”
“I found the theater again. It’s always been what I come back to in the end.”
Sophia closed her eyes against a sudden wave of longing. “I don’t think I have anything
like that.”
“Like what?”
“A home. An anchor.”
Dominic was quiet for a long moment. Sophia wondered if he had drifted to sleep when
he suddenly spoke again. “What was your marriage like?”
“I don’t really like talking about myself,” Sophia said with a laugh. “My marriage
was just a mistake.”
“What sort of mistake?”
“My reasons for marrying Jack were almost entirely the opposite of yours with Jane.
I knew very well it was no way to a stable, respectable future.”
“Then why did you do it?” Dominic asked. He sounded as if he genuinely wanted to know.
But Sophia wasn’t going to tell him the truth—that after her encounter with him at
the Devil’s Fancy, she had been feeling even more reckless. “Jack was a half-pay officer,
very handsome and dashing. He came from a respectable enough family, but there was
no money there, no estate. My family could not approve of him. I met him out riding
at the park one day, and he flirted with me. He was so charming. And when he wanted
to call on me and my mother forbade it, I couldn’t resist. So I started writing to
him in secret.”
“It sounds like a play,” Dominic said. He seemed amused rather than shocked by her
tale.
“It was a young girl’s romantic folly, that’s all. I just took it much too far.”
“Were you sorry you married him?”
“At first I was. After the excitement of the elopement and going to live abroad, I
realized that housekeeping on almost no money was not much fun. And Jack was quite
fond of his drink. That was what killed him in the end. We had only been married a
few months.”
“But you’re not sorry now?”
Sophia thought about his words for a moment. “No, I’m not. I’ve learned so much about
myself now. I’ve learned I can be strong when I must. I sometimes do wish I had a
family like yours, Dominic. But I do well enough on my own.”
“Do you think you’ll marry again?”
“Probably not,” she said with a laugh. “And I think we have talked enough for tonight.
You need your rest.”
“I’m not so tired,” he protested. “I want to hear more.”
Sophia propped herself up on her elbow to study his face. She could see that, despite
his protests, he was struggling to stay awake. His eyes were closed, and she could
see the strain of everything that had happened that night in the lean lines of his
face.
“Sleep now,” she said. “I’ll tell you more tomorrow, though I fear there is little
more to say about my pitiful marriage.”
Dominic nodded, and as Sophia watched, he slowly drifted down into sleep. Despite
her tiredness, though, she couldn’t find rest herself. She lay there as the candle
sputtered lower and lower, listening to Dominic’s breath become deep and even in sleep.
At least he could rest and start to mend.
She reached for a book on her bedside table, an English novel she had not had time
to begin yet, and started reading as she kept vigil over Dominic. He slept for a time
as she lost herself in the story, a romantic tale of pastoral love between a marquess
in disguise as a shepherd and a pretty, virtuous milkmaid. Sophia thought it would
make a good play for Dominic.
But as she replaced the burned-down candle, Dominic started to mutter in his sleep.
Sophia turned back to him just as his fist shot out, and he shouted an incoherent
curse.
“No, Dominic!” she cried. “You’ll open your wounds again.”
She tried to pin his arms down, half-lying on top of him, but he was too strong for
her. In his nightmare, he had no gentleness or care. He tossed her off and she landed
hard on the floor.
As Sophia pulled herself to her feet, she glimpsed the
tied-back curtains at the window and had an idea. She had to keep him from hurting
himself all over again. She took the gold cords from the hooks of the draperies and
came back to the bed to resolutely press him down to the mattress.
He still cried out in his sleep, obviously having a terrible dream, but Sophia straddled
him and held his arms down with her legs. She took first one hand, then the other,
and tied them as tightly as she could to the bedposts.
When she finished she was exhausted with the effort, but he seemed quieter. He fell
back down into sleep, still frowning but not shouting out. Sophia lay down beside
him and tumbled into a troubled sleep of her own, Dominic bound at her side.
It’s too bad he’s asleep
, she thought ruefully as the darkness closed around her. Otherwise it could be rather
fun.
My brother Nick has come to visit, and he did indeed bring news. He has recently been
at Court himself, and he thinks he knows the reason why the Duke of York is coming
to visit. The duke has recently found himself in need of funds, and he has become
involved in a plan to raise money on foreign notes. I cannot understand it myself,
but Nick is very excited about the idea. He has always been in need of more coin himself.
I admit that anything that has royal approval would appeal to my John, but I can’t
help but feel some disquiet at this idea. Yet I will not be consulted, and I must
finish the preparations for the visit.
S
ophia, Sophia. Untie me.”
“What…” Sophia pulled herself up out of sleep at the sound of Dominic’s voice. She
rolled onto her side to find that he was awake now, his eyes open and bright, free
of the nightmares that had caused her to bind him to the bed. But his hands were still
tied.
She smiled and sat up slowly to swing one of her legs over his hips so she straddled
him again. “I’m so sorry, Dominic, but I had to tie you. You were thrashing around
too much with your nightmares.”
“I am awake now,” he argued, watching her with narrowed eyes.
“Are you? I’m not quite sure…” Sophia slowly leaned over to kiss the side of his neck.
She parted her lips and savored the sweet-salty taste of him, the way his breath turned
harsh at her touch.
His body grew tense under hers. “Untie me,” he demanded. “Now.”
Sophia laughed and reached up to loosen the cords around his wrists. “Are you sure
you want me to let you go just yet? There’s so much else we could do…”
Before she could say anything else, he rose to meet her and his mouth swooped down
over hers. Open, hot, hungry, as if he wanted to devour her. The thought flickered
through her mind that he must be still dreaming, but as always when she was with him,
it awakened something deep inside her, that flame of longing and pure need. When he
kissed her, he swept her away on a river of fire, swept her away to her true self.
Sophia opened her lips to his and drew her tongue over his. His taste filled her,
brandy and darkness, and she moaned.
As they kissed, deeper, hungrier, their tongues entwining, she laid her hands flat
on his hard shoulders and felt the damp heat of his skin. He groaned deep in his throat,
and his hands fisted in the ropes as if he wanted rip her chemise off her.
His passion made her feel bold. She slid her caress lower, slowly, savoring the delicious
way his nearly-naked body felt against hers. So strong, so hard, so hot.
This
was what she craved, what she needed. It made her feel alive at last.
She traced her fingertips over his flat nipples and felt them pebble under her touch.
She scraped the edge of her thumbnail over one, and he growled low in his throat.
She pressed slightly harder, hard enough to give just the slightest edge of pain.
His body shuddered, but he went on kissing her as if he was starved for the taste
of her.
Sophia slid her touch even lower, feeling every inch of his taut, damp chest, his
bare skin. He felt like hot satin stretched over iron muscles, and the light whorls
of golden hair tickled her palms. She dipped the tip of her smallest
finger into his navel before she moved even lower to the band of his trousers.
And suddenly she felt her newfound boldness, the temptress inside her, flee as his
rock-hard erection brushed against her hand. She drew away.
“Fuck it, Sophia, don’t stop now,” he whispered fiercely as his mouth tore away from
hers. He pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to her jaw and the soft curve of her throat.
He bit at her there, drawing her skin lightly between his teeth.
Sophia gasped and let her head fall back as she caught at his shoulders. His mouth
opened on the pulse that beat frantically at the hollow of her neck. He licked at
it, swirling the tip of his tongue just there.
“Dominic!” she cried. She felt his hand twist in the loose braid of her hair and he
wound its length around his wrist as if he would bind her to him.
He didn’t raise his head. His open mouth swept over her collarbone, the little hollows
just at her shoulders, until the tip of his tongue traced the upper swell of her breast.
The edge of his teeth scraped over her tender skin, and her hand curled against him.
“You like that?” he whispered.
“Do you like
this
?” Sophia moved her hand lower and lower, a slow slide until she covered the hard
ridge behind the wool fabric. She slid her fingers down in a soft caress until he
groaned. She pressed the pad of her thumb to that sensitive spot just at the head
of his penis, and he seemed to grow even harder in her touch. She reached up and untied
his hands, longing to feel his touch on her.
“Sophia,” he whispered darkly. Suddenly he pulled her chemise over her head, tearing
her hand away from
him. She knelt on the bed in front of him, her body naked for a man as it hadn’t been
in so long. Not since those first heady days of her marriage to Jack. A wave of sudden
cold shyness swept over her as she remembered how many women Dominic must have seen
this way, women taller, thinner, with bigger bosoms than hers. Lack of confidence
had never been something that troubled Sophia, but she had never cared so much what
a man thought of her before.
When he just looked at her with those beautiful green eyes, silent, she tried to turn
away and reach for her discarded chemise. But his hands were already on her again,
and he spun her back into his arms.
“So beautiful, Sophia,” he said roughly as his head lowered to her breast. “You are
so damnably beautiful.”
Sophia smiled. Yes—when he looked at her and touched her like this, that strange shyness
fled, and she felt beautiful again, in a way she hadn’t in so long. Desirable. Wanted,
and not in that way she had felt her beauty used in gaming rooms with Jack, as a commodity,
a distraction. Truly beautiful. As his mouth closed hard on her nipple, drawing her
in deep, her head fell back and her eyes closed. She felt the braid of her hair fall
down her back, and the heat of his lips on her aching breast. She bit her lip to keep
from crying out. Her whole body, which had felt frozen and numb for too long, roared
back to burning life again.
He covered her breast with his palm, his fingers spread wide to caress her. One fingertip
brushed over her engorged nipple, and a cry burst from her lips. She felt him smile
against her, just before his teeth bit down lightly.
She reached desperately between their bodies to unfasten his trousers and push them
down over his lean hips. His hard cock sprang free against her abdomen, and as she
held it naked in her hand at last he groaned. His teeth tightened on her nipple before
he arched his head back to stare up at her.
Sophia looked down into his eyes and saw that they were burning and dark, the green
almost swallowed in black lust. She bent to kiss the side of his neck, to bite at
him as he had with her. He tasted salty and sweet, intoxicating.
As she kissed him, she ran her open palm up his penis to its swollen tip. There was
a drop of moisture there, and she caught it on her finger to spread it up again, slow,
steady, hard. Dominic’s hands suddenly tightened on her backside, his fingers digging
into the soft skin as he dragged her even closer. Her hand dropped away from him,
and he slowly pressed the tip of his cock against the soft nest of damp curls between
her thighs. He moved up and down, lightly teasing at her swollen cleft.
“Dominic,” she whispered against his neck.
“So wet, so hot,” he answered, in a voice so deep she didn’t recognize it. He pulled
her flush against his hips, and then suddenly they tumbled back together to the bed.
He came down on top of her, his hips between her spread legs, his lips taking hers
in another wild, desperate kiss.
Sophia wrapped her legs around his waist and arched up into him. He was large, strong,
and completely overwhelming. She felt surrounded completely by his heat and power.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She tore her lips from his kiss and tilted her
head back to try to gulp in a breath, to try to find a particle of sanity. Her hands
dug into his shoulders as if she would push him away—or cling to him.
Dominic seemed to sense something was wrong. His hands slid around her waist, and
in one swift movement, he lay on his back with her on top of him. She straddled him,
her legs tight to either side of his lean hips. He stared up at her with an almost
feral gleam in those extraordinary eyes, as if he was so hungry he would devour her.
Yet he made no move; his body was taut and still with perfect restraint.
Sophia braced her hands on his chest, letting him support her. She slid them down,
a slow, hard glide over his warm skin. He felt tense under her caress, as if he waited
for what she wanted to do. It made her want him even more when she saw he would give
her control like that.