Page 45 of The Duke of Fire (The Dukes of Desire #1)

“Oh, come,” Oliver sighed, taking a step toward her, “Do not play ignorant; you are not that simple. I am just saying that I am here, Alexandra. For anything you may need.”

An unpleasant shiver, one she had never felt around her friend before, passed through Alexandra’s body. With a forced smile, she took a step back and took a look around the party.

“My guests appear to be growing bored, Mr. Jameson,” she said politely. “Perhaps you could assist me in gathering everyone up to play a game.”

A brief look of disappointment passed through Oliver’s eyes as she used his proper address, but he quickly recovered with a charming smile and gave her a nod.

“As you wish, then,” he replied, turning from her to face the small crowd. “Attention, dear guests,” Oliver announced jovially.

Around them, the murmurs of conversation ceased, and one by one, they all turned their attention toward Alexandra and Oliver.

“I want to thank everyone for coming to celebrate the return of our dear friend, Mr. Jameson,” Alexandra stated, thinking of taking over the speech to announce a game of cards.

“ Yes,” Oliver interrupted enthusiastically, his smile growing devilish as he stepped in front of her.

“And since it is my party, our lovely hostess has allowed me to choose the evening’s game.

Therefore, if everyone would put aside their drinks and refreshments, we shall get started with a play of Blind Man’s Bluff! ”

“What, I–”

Alexandra threw him a startled look as Oliver pulled out his kerchief with a flourish and added, “With our dear hostess, the duchess, as our first blind man!”

Laughter and a few applauses went around the room as everyone went about to do as they were told, but Alexandra clutched at Oliver’s arm and whispered, “I am not too sure about this particular game, Mr. Jameson. I was thinking a hand of cards.”

Oliver looked down at her with a smile, a predatory glint in his eye as he brought his kerchief toward her.

“What is the matter, Your Grace? Afraid of what you might find in the dark?”

“Say, old chap, you look quite familiar. Have we met before?”

Seething from the scene before him, Dominic grit his teeth and kept his eyes on his wife and the one Mr. Jameson standing far too close to her.

“Another lifetime, perhaps,” was all Dominic murmured as the lights dimmed and Mr. Jameson pulled his kerchief tight over Alexandra’s eyes. The man who questioned him gave him a strange look and said nothing more before moving away.

He had arrived only a few moments before, slipping in unnoticed since it had been half a decade since he had been seen in London society.

No one seemed to recognize him, not even his wife.

But he had recognized her. Had known her immediately the moment he had spotted her in a beautiful peach gown with her dark hair half tumbling down her back.

She was five-and-twenty now, but it was as if she had somehow aged with elegance, appearing more beautiful and angelic than ever before.

Except... her smile. He noticed that next.

Her smile was not genuine, and the light in her eyes seemed to dim and flutter every few seconds as if she had to actively work to keep it alight in front of the others.

Presently, those eyes were being covered by another man’s kerchief. Dominic’s focus narrowed in on the way the man’s fingertips stroked unnecessarily over Alexandra’s temples, then over her hair, as he drew the blind tight over her eyes, and a jealousy he never knew existed arose within him.

It is not that I have any claim on her. I should not care what she does. I don’t.

“The only rule of the game is not to let the blind man catch you,” Mr. Jameson announced with a smile that Dominic wanted to scrape off of his face. “At the sound of the bell, we begin!”

As everyone else scurried quietly to a hiding place, Dominic and Mr. Jameson stood stark still.

Dominic could tell the game Oliver was playing, and it was not the one everyone thought they were in.

He remained close to Alexandra, too close, and Dominic knew it was because he wanted her hands on him first. The hands of his wife.

Is it him? Dominic wondered, his rage and jealousy taking turns fighting for supremacy within him as the room grew quiet. Is he the man she has taken as her lover?

He was sure that many a man who walked into a similar circumstance would already be dragging the other man outside, ready to duel or come to fisticuffs, but Dominic needed to see for himself just how this game was going to play out.

So, instead of taking the opportunity to pummel the man, he stayed where he was, his attention not on his wife’s probable paramour but on his actual wife.

A wicked glee traveled through him as a servant rang a small bell, and he saw Alexandra step not toward Mr. Jameson but away from him.

That glee then nearly turned into a cynical laugh as Mr. Jameson himself openly frowned at Alexandra’s choice of movement, but Dominic quickly tampered with the sound as she drew closer to him.

For a few brief seconds, Dominic watched as his blindfolded wife stepped timidly and, with her arms out, further into the room and away from Mr. Jameson.

A soft laughter rumbled through the room as the others saw her miss her first opportunity, but Dominic did not join them as she seemed to be walking directly toward him.

That’s it, he thought wickedly, arousal beginning to swirl within his anger as he watched her approach, Show them. Show me who you belong to.

“Ahem,” Mr. Jameson coughed loudly as Alexandra’s outstretched hands drew ever closer toward Dominic’s folded arms.

A sense of pleasure roamed under Dominic’s skin as he watched Alexandra tense, then move further away from the sound instead of toward it, bringing her right before him.

His dark eyes stayed transfixed on her masked face as she now stood so close that by just swaying forward, he would brush against her.

He inhaled softly, unable to help himself, and a sense of yearning skittered through his veins as he caught the scent of lilacs and citrus.

Unable to help himself, he felt his mouth water at the inviting fragrance, and he suddenly flinched as the thought of running his tongue along the line of her neck filled his mind. Would his wife taste as delicious as she smelled? He hated himself for wanting to know.

The sound of his inhale was soft, but it was enough to give his stature away, and he watched, stone-faced, as she reached toward him with a small smile.

Dominic’s eyes flicked toward the other man as she did so, and he caught the utter displeasure in his expression as he realized that his plan did not go as expected.

A wicked pleasure filled him as he saw the disappointment in the man’s eyes, but then she touched him.

Dominic felt Alexandra’s soft, searching fingertips sear through the fabric of his jacket and shirt as if it were pure flame, forcing his heartbeat and groin to pulse with pleasure.

The urge to unwrap his arms and pull her into them suddenly overtook him, and he fantasized briefly, leaning his head forward and releasing his hold on his biceps to capture her and seal his lips possessively over hers.

“I have caught you,” Alexandra’s sweet tone brushed like silk over his ears.

“You have,” he purred, digging his fingertips deeper into his own muscles.

As if recognizing his voice, Alexandra let out a soft gasp, her warm breath feathering over his face as she looked up and reached for her blindfold at the same time.

Her cerulean blue eyes– God, were they always that deep, pure blue?

– grew wide with shock as she gazed up at his face, and unable to help himself, Dominic’s lips curved into a ruthless smile.

“Disappointed to see me, wife?”