Page 25 of Seven Days with her Duke (Hearts of Whitmores #3)

CHAPTER 25

T hough he’d slowly gained control over his uneasy stomach––emptying it had done the trick––there was such a pounding in his skull that Dominic was near ready to pry open his forehead to bring himself comfort.

The arrival of Eleanor was a surprise, but he was hopeful for the tea to soothe his troubles.

Or it would have if she let him drink.

Before Dominic had a chance to enjoy even a sip of the tea––he’d watched her carefully prepare it just the way he would need it––Eleanor was there snatching the cup from his hands.

“What!” he snapped more from shock than anything else.

Eleanor said nothing as she spilled the tea out of the cup, splattering the tray. It splashed on the bead. When she let go of the porcelain, it fractured into pieces loudly enough that they both winced.

Several shards fell to the ground at his feet, the cup no more. A mess was displayed before them on the tea table like he’d never seen before.

Or rather, I’ve never seen Eleanor cause before.

Vague memories of their childhood came to mind. She liked chasing after him and Nicholas, but she’d still enjoyed the finer disciplines of becoming a lady. He had complimented her once for descending the stairs gracefully and she’d blushed for a week.

Turning to look back up at her, Dominic needed a minute for his mind to piece together what had just happened. How she had snatched the cup and broken it.

“It’s not a lyre. They are very different instruments,” she said heatedly, never giving him the chance to think. “You know better, and you have no reason to insult me thus.”

He growled. “I wasn’t insulting you; I was telling you it doesn’t matter.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “So, I don’t matter?”

The spark was so familiar, a punch to his gut that stole his breath away. His lungs strained. He blinked at her several times over, feeling his blood rushing through his skull. For a moment, he could forget his hangover and the headache banging inside of him for something else.

“I didn’t say that,” he managed but she was already turning away. “Where are you going?”

After all, she couldn’t just leave a mess. And he needed answers for her behavior. The world was beginning to feel to him like everything was upside down. As he grasped her wrist just as she reached the door, Eleanor twisted to face him with a dark look.

“As if you would care,” she snapped. “I’m going out. I need a ride that will take me far, far away from you right now.”

“I don’t think so.”

She reached for the door handle but couldn’t go any further when he tugged her back toward him. Dominic hardly knew what he was doing. His grip was loose, just enough she couldn’t escape him. In the back of his mind, he hoped not to bruise her, but it wasn’t his first thought as she groaned in frustration.

“Let me go,” she demanded, shifting her strategy so she turned to him and laid her hands on his chest. He froze, not knowing what to think, until she gave him a push.

When he stumbled back, however, she was forced to follow. “You’re not going anywhere,” he decided.

“And why not?”

Such stubbornness sounded from her that the familiar sound put an ache in his chest of such longing he didn’t know what to do with himself.

He had missed her, he realized.

In the next moment, however, Dominic brushed it all away. He couldn’t miss or think or want Eleanor. That wasn’t how this was going to work. He had tarnished his life enough that he couldn’t just bring her into his life any more than he had. There was the protection of his name. A lifetime of security. But that was all he could give her besides pain and heartache.

A lump formed in his throat as he thought over their time together during the season. Cut so terribly short, he’d enjoyed Eleanor’s witty barbs sent his way and how she challenged him. She made him think of warm, summer nights and melting flavored ices. Sweet and tangy and full of promise.

“Blast it.” He swallowed in the hopes she didn’t hear his voice break. “You can’t.”

She moved her feet back further in the hopes of breaking free only as he scooped up her other wrist. Hardly knowing what his body was doing, Dominic watched her huff and puff and wrestle to make her escape. The remorse and guilt he usually felt was fading at the sight of her pink cheeks and glittery eyes.

“You obstinate man,” Eleanor was saying. “You don’t care, remember? What I do or where I go. And I want to go away!”

“No, you belong here,” he said.

Her lips pursed. “Here?”

“With me.”

The words were out in the open, laid bare too soon. A wintery frost enveloped him. Seeking the only cure, he pulled Eleanor close against him in an intimate embrace. She put up her hands to catch herself, landing on his chest.

Warmth flooded through him. Not wanting to give her the chance to escape him, Dominic slipped his arms around her neat little waist. She made a choking sound as her breath caught and stuttered. It reminded him of a butterfly’s wings.

Destroying was something he had always been good at, he recalled, so he destroyed the anticipation building inside at once by leaning down to steal up Eleanor in a stormy kiss.

She managed a small gasp just as their lips met. Taking the advantage, he kissed her long and deep and hard before growing gentle. The stiffness in Eleanor melted away at the same time. They seemed to meet in the middle, clinging to each other. He felt one of her hands caught up in his hair, the tension at his roots sending sharp stings through his scalp. It only made him want to kiss her more.

All reason escaped Dominic right then.

He didn’t know what he was doing, only that he knew he needed to do this. He needed to hold Eleanor. To kiss her. To pull her close against his body so she could feel the furious beating of his heart. Whatever hangover he had suffered previously was forgotten. He held a soft, sweet woman in his arms and never wanted to let go.

Until he began to remember just who she was.

“Wait,” Dominic stuttered, breaking off a kiss just as she looped an arm around his neck.

“Don’t you dare,” she said with a scowl before taking her turn to steal a kiss from him. He lost his breath. Hearing the thudding of his heart in his brain, he supposed he had lost his senses. That didn’t particularly bother him. Not yet.

The two of them held each other close. He could hardly tell if they were still embracing or tussling, the way they grasped at one another. But they couldn’t seem to let go for several long minutes until he had learned every angle of her lips with his own.

Everything was going splendidly as he lost himself in the moment, not realizing how badly he had needed to feel this connection. It was splendid until he heard a ripping sound and froze, finding his hand tearing her sleeve.

Immediately he removed himself.

“It’s all right,” Eleanor said at once to reassure him.

But he saw the red cheeks and bruised lips, the wild look of wonder in her eyes. Eleanor had no idea what was going on. She was pure and inexperienced. Of course she would think it was all right.

Seething hatred roiled inside Dominic at once. A familiar friend he was beginning to grow comfortable with. He gritted his teeth while shaking his head, wondering how he could dare let go of himself for even a second with Eleanor there. What had he been thinking? How could he do this to her? It was only a sleeve, but he could too easily do her an injury.

“Dominic––”

“Don’t.” He forced himself to watch her flinch at the harshness of his tone. Sucking in deep breaths, he grimaced. “You were right. You should go.”

How quickly the blush faded then, leaving her pale. “But…”

“Get out,” Dominic told her. “I don’t want you here, do you understand me?”

Outside in his room he heard thunder shattering the heavens as though to emphasize his point. But still Eleanor didn’t understand. She shook her head and swallowed loudly.

“We should––”

Except he couldn’t bear to hear another word from Eleanor, let alone look at her. The temptation to reach for her was too much. Whatever had started between them had been slow but certain, burrowing under his skin until he was too willing a victim. If he stayed here, he didn’t know what he might do.

And it scared him. Dominic looked away but not before he caught sight of the tears forming in Eleanor’s eyes.

Was she angry? Scared? Embarrassed? He fled her and he fled the questions, skirting around the room to make his escape. Not knowing where to go, Dominic hurried out the door without his coat or hat.

The rain soaked him before he was off his property, and for that, for once, he was beyond grateful. He needed this cold to sink its way into his bones until he knew nothing else.

Especially not her.

It could have only been a minute or less of kissing, Dominic knew, but he couldn’t get the dazed look on her face out of his mind. She had no experience. She didn’t need someone like him attacking her like that. A lady like Eleanor deserved clean, chaste kisses from a husband who had not spent half his youth carousing about with all the wrong sorts of people.

I may very well be pitying myself, but it’s all I can do to protect her. I can never be near her again, surely. I’ll have to send her away or lock myself up. What else is there to do?

Down the lane Dominic went. He cared little where his feet led him, around the next street or so. Hardly anyone was out in this weather. Those who did pass by in their covered carriages glanced out to stare. If anyone spoke, he didn’t hear them.

It was only when the night grew dark that a small part of him worried about finding his way back home. So then he slowly trudged back. His boots would be ruined and falling apart by morning. He didn’t care. He ruined everything else in his life.

Shivering and nearly frozen over, Dominic returned to a worried household. But he brushed them aside to collapse on his bed with the hope to forget everything once and for all.