AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. I said I wasn’t stupid, but I am, Artemis. Gascoyne is a snake and a blackguard and a swine and a cad…” Phoebe’s voice cracked on a sob. “I hate him, Artemis. I hate him. But most of all, I hate myself. For being so weak and so naive and so needy.” And then her whole face crumpled, and she collapsed onto the arm of the chair in a storm of tears.
The sound of Phoebe’s weeping was heartrending, and Artemis’s own vision blurred. She hated Gascoyne too, but other than giving him a verbal flogging, she had no idea what to do to make him pay for treating Phoebe so badly. So she simply stroked her sister’s back and murmured soothing words until Phoebe’s paroxysm of crying eventually abated.
Then she summoned Hetty and asked her to fetch a pot of chamomile tea and some toast, and once Phoebe was tucked up in bed and had fallen asleep, Artemis farewelled Aunt Roberta and then walked the short distance to Dartmoor House.
***
Dominic was replacing the crystal stopper on the whisky decanter when there was a knock on the library door.Bloody hell. He glanced at the longcase clock. It was nearing ten.
“What is it?” he called. It had been a long, draining day, and he wanted nothing more than to sit before the fire, dram in hand, until the alcohol did its job and blunted all his sharp edges. Until he stopped thinking about Gascoyne and what he’d like to do to the sodding prick for all of the damage he’d done and the pain he’d caused over the years.
Until he stopped yearning for Artemis. Christ, if she would have him, he’d be the happiest man alive.
And then, as though the Lord above had answered his prayers, the butler opened the door and announced, “Miss Jones to see you, Your Grace.”
Dominic immediately put down his tumbler and crossed the floor, his legs devouring the distance between them in a handful of strides. “Artemis.”
Her face was pale, and there were shadows beneath her dark-brown eyes. And he just knew in his gut that Gascoyne had ruined her sister. Forcing himself to smother his simmering anger and to maintain a calm exterior, he added, “I thought I wouldn’t see you until tomorrow.”
“I know,” she said grimly. “But I needed to talk to someone about Phoebe and Gascoyne, and I didn’t think you’d mind if I dropped by at this late hour.”
“Of course not. Here. Take a seat.” He gestured toward the fireside. “I just poured myself a whisky. I take it you’d like a sherry?”
“Yes, please.” She cast him a grateful smile, and when she claimed his favorite chair again, he didn’t complain. In fact, he rather liked it.
No, it was more than that. He loved it. Artemis belonged in his favorite chair in his library. In his bed and by his side. As soon as this business with Phoebe and Gascoyne was effectively dealt with, he’d somehow make her see that shecouldtrust him. That she could be happy with him. That choosing to be his wife and duchess and, if she wanted it too, the mother of his children, wouldn’t be a mistake.
Once Dominic was installed in the opposite wingback chair, and they were both nursing their drinks, he said, “Tell me what’s happened. All of it.” And Artemis did.
By the time she’d finished, he was filled with so much glacial fury that he felt as though his blood had all but frozen in his veins. His hands had formed into fists on his thighs, and his resolve was harder than freshly forged steel that had just been plunged into a bucket of ice-cold water.
His mind was crystal clear.
“Dominic?” Artemis’s voice was laced with hesitancy. “What are you thinking? I have this horrible feeling I’ve just made a terrible mistake by confiding in you. Please promise me that you won’t do something rash and ridiculous to punish Gascoyne. Like calling him out.”
Dominic made himself smile but suspected the expression on his face was more of a grimace. “If Ididdecide to call Gascoyne out, it wouldn’t just be to avenge your sister’s honor. It would be for the callous, reprehensible way he treated you too, Artemis, when you were a debutante. And for all of the loneliness Celeste has had to endure because of his relentless campaign to socially destroy me. I can’t forgive him for any of that. I’ve had enough.”
She nodded. “I have too. But he’s not worth losing your life over. I certainly didn’t come here to ask you to take revenge against Gascoyne for ruining my sister. Both she and my aunt bear some responsibility in all of this too. I simply wanted to share what had happened.” Her voice softened. “Most of all, I didn’t want to shut you out.”
“I understand,” he said. “And it means a lot—more than I can say, in fact—that your first thought was to come to me.”
“It was.” She smiled, then put down her barely touched sherry as the longcase clock struck the hour. “Now that I’m reassured that you’re not going to turn into a slavering beast of retribution, I suppose I should go.”
“Yes…” She was right of course, about leaving. For the sake of appearances, she should return to Cadogan Square.
She rose and he followed her to the library door. “I can see myself out,” she began, but then Dominic caught her hand as she reached for the handle.
“Wait.”
She raised a quizzical brow. “What is it?”
“I…” He sucked in a breath. Beneath the ice-cold anger crystallizing his veins, he felt something else. Something hot and potent, surging through his blood. Hardening his cock.
Lust and longing and something else he dared not put a name to.
“I want you,” he said, his voice low and rough. And then he pushed her up against the door, crowding her in with his body, crushing her ridiculously full skirts with his hips and his legs. His mouth grazed hers. “Let me love you.”
Because hewasgoing to call Gascoyne out, despite everything he’d just said to Artemis, and if this was his last night on earth and his very last opportunity to make love to this extraordinary woman, by God, he was going to make the most of it.
