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She got her answer the moment the door to the hotel suite swung shut behind them.
‘Faith...’ His hands were on her waist in a moment, pulling her closer into him, his lips descending before she could even think, even comprehend what they were doing here.
He reached for the zip at the back of her dress, tugging it down with impatient fingers, and Faith breathed with relief to be out of the stupid thing. What had she been thinking, trying to be anyone but herself around this man? He might not know her true name or identity, but he saw exactly who she was. He’d found her, under the disguise, and wanted her anyway.
Kisses ran across her neck, her shoulders, and she realised Dominic was whispering between each one, murmuring words of affection and longing and desire. She bit her lip, tilting her head to give him better access, and wondered if she’d ever stop being surprised by this man. This man who had looked at her body with distaste when they met, but was now admitting exactly how much he wanted it. This man who appeared every inch the respectable aristocrat every moment of the day, but was currently whispering exactly what he wanted to do to her in enough detail to make her whole body pulse.
He was so much more than she’d ever imagined that night in Rome, and she wanted him more than she could have dreamt.
Reaching up, she trailed her own kisses across his jaw, to his ear, his hands gripping her tighter as she went. Then she whispered, ‘Take me to bed,’ and felt the floor disappear under her feet as he lifted her and turned them round, covering the space between them and the bed in a very few steps.
Faith’s back hit the mattress and her greedy hands pulled him down on top of her, not wanting their bodies to be separated for a moment. This was it. Her one night with Dominic Beresford. One night to be entirely herself, whatever name she used. And she was definitely going to make the most of it.
* * *
Afterwards, in the dim light of the darkened room, Faith curled closer into Dominic’s side and tried to control her breathing. ‘We definitely have to do that again,’ she said without thinking, then winced. ‘Before I leave, I mean.’
‘We really, really do,’ Dominic said, and she relaxed. But then he added, ‘You have to leave?’
She nodded against his chest, pressing a kiss against his breastbone as an apology. ‘I do.’
‘Why?’
It was easier, admitting things in the dark. ‘I can’t be who I need to be, here.’
‘With me?’
‘In London,’ she corrected him.
He sighed. ‘And I can’t leave. Not for ever, anyway.’
If he were anyone else, he could, Faith knew. Anyone but Lord Dominic Beresford, defender of reputation and honour across the British Isles.
‘The estate.’
‘My family.’
‘Your name.’ She hadn’t meant it to sound bitter, but it did.
Dominic shifted, turning onto his side and pulling her closer against him. She could only just see his eyes in the darkness, but she could feel his heartbeat against hers. ‘It’s not just the name. It’s who I am. Who I was born to be.’
‘You were someone else tonight,’ she reminded him.
‘Just for tonight. I wish...’ He shook his head. ‘I know you don’t get it, Faith. And maybe it is just the way I was brought up, or my heritage. But...these things matter to me. Responsibility. Trust. Duty. Reputation. They do, and I can’t change that. My mother...she didn’t take those things seriously. She put her own desires ahead of her responsibilities and it almost destroyed us. She betrayed all of us when she ran away, but the family name most of all. I couldn’t do that. And then Kat...’
Faith’s heart grew heavy at the other woman’s name. ‘She betrayed your trust.’
‘She did. But more than that... It wasn’t just that she cheated on me. It was that she did it in a way calculated to cause the most damage to everything I hold dear. My family, my reputation. She hurt them. And she hurt me.’
He spoke simply, stating the facts, but the iron weight that had settled in Faith’s chest in place of her heart pulled her down further at his words. Wasn’t she doing the same? Whichever way things went. She was a runaway, a betrayer just like his mother. And she was making him take a risk of scandal and embarrassment, without even letting him know the danger was there, just like Kat. She should have told him, and now it was too late.
But if she’d told him...they’d never have had this night. And Faith couldn’t give that up, even for honour’s sake. Maybe that was the true difference between them.
A sharp ringing noise jerked her out of her thoughts, and Dominic reached across her body to grab the hotel room phone.
