Margaret McPhee - Temptation In Regency Society - Unmasking the Duke's Mistress

‘I should not have come,’ he said without looking round. ‘I had not realised that the hour was so late.’

‘James said you met with an accident.’

‘James exaggerates. I did not mean to wake you. You should go back to bed.’ Still he did not move. And the apprehension that had faded on her first sight of him was back as if it had never left.

‘What has happened, Dominic?’ she asked carefully.

He turned then, and still nothing appeared out of place, except that his right hand remained tucked beneath the left breast of his tailcoat.

‘A minor altercation. Nothing of concern. As I said, go back to bed.’

And then she caught sight of the dark ominous stains upon the white cuff that protruded beneath the dark woollen sleeve of his coat and, lifting the closest candelabrum, she walked towards him.

‘Arabella,’ he said, holding out his exposed hand as if to stay her. But she kept on closing the distance between them, for she had a horrible fear of just what those stains were.

‘This is not for your eyes.’

She felt sick to the pit of her stomach. Her body felt stiff and heavy with dread. ‘Take off your coat.’

‘Arabella …’ One last warning.

She ignored him and took hold of his lapel, pulling back the left breast of his tailcoat.

She gasped at the sight that met her eyes. His white shirt and waistcoat were sodden with blood. She froze, and in that single moment everything changed in her world.

‘Dominic!’ she whispered.

His hand took hers, his grip strong and reassuring. But she felt that it was wet and when she looked she could see the blood that stained it glisten in the candlelight.

‘Oh, my God!’

‘It is but a scratch that bleeds too much.’

But there was blood everywhere, and all of it was his.

‘Go. James will help me.’

She took a deep breath and raised her gaze to his. Their eyes held for a fraction of a second, a heartbeat in which everything she had told herself she felt about him these years past was revealed as a lie.

‘No,’ she said. ‘ I will help you.’ And then she glanced round at the footman and prepared to do what she knew must be done.

Dominic watched as Arabella shifted from shock to take charge of the situation. She sent the maid for clean linen and a glass, and instructed the footman with equal calm proficiency, directing James to help divest him of his upper clothing while she half-filled the glass with brandy.

Only once he sat on the sofa wearing only his pantaloons did she pass him the glass. ‘Drink it.’ Her voice was calm, but brooked no refusal.

He did not argue, just did as she directed, downing the contents in one go.

As he drank she rolled up the sleeves of her nightgown, tore a strip off the linen and dowsed both it and her hands in brandy.

Then she sat down by his side, eased him back a little against the sofa.

Her gaze met his. ‘This is going to sting,’ she warned. And her eyes held a concern that Dominic had never thought to see there again. It touched his heart much more than he could ever have imagined.

‘Do your worst,’ he murmured.

He could not prevent himself flinching from the initial touch of the brandy to the wound and saw the pain mirrored in Arabella’s eyes. Yet she did not hesitate, or weaken from her purpose.

Her touch was gentle, her movements reassuring. She worked methodically and with a calmness that seemed to stroke away his tension despite the pain. With strip by patient strip of brandy-soaked linen she cleansed the blood away until all that remained was a thin red line against the paleness of his skin.

‘We should send for the doctor. He may wish to stitch the wound.’ She had not looked at him, not once, since she had taken control of the situation.

‘No doctor,’ he said. ‘The cut is shallow. A week of binding and the skin will knit together well enough.’

‘Dominic—’

‘No doctor,’ he said again.

‘Very well.’ She laid a pad of linen against the wound, then bound it in place. And then she got to her feet, passed the tray of bloodied rags to James.

‘Thank you, James, Anne. You may leave us now.’

She waited until the door closed behind the servants before she sat back down. Side by side they sat on the sofa. Not looking at one another. Not speaking a word. The tension was still between them. But it was different somehow, as if some barrier that had been there before had given way.

The silence seemed to stretch between them.

He slipped his hand to cover hers.

‘Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?’ she asked.

‘A small disagreement with two gentlemen from a gaming den.’

‘I did not know you frequented such places.’

‘There is a lot you do not know about me, Arabella.’

‘And too much that I do know,’ she said quietly. ‘I cannot forget …’

‘Nor can I.’

The clock’s ticking seemed too loud. It seemed to match the beat of his heart.

‘It was not supposed to be like this, Arabella.’

‘None of it was supposed to be like this,’ she said and he heard the huskiness in her voice.

‘Arabella.’ He looked at her, willing her to look round at him.

She shook her head at first, but he could hear the slight sob in her breath. He stroked his thumb against her fingers where his hand covered hers.

She turned her face to his, then met his gaze, and the emotions he saw there were as raw and aching as those that beat in his own heart.

‘Dominic,’ she whispered and the tears spilled from her eyes. He took her in his arms and he kissed each one away and then he held her.

He held her and the minutes passed.

He held her. And then as if by some silent communion they both rose. He blew out all save one branch of candles, then he took her hand in his and together they walked out of the drawing room.

Within her bedchamber they spoke not one word. Dominic stripped off his pantaloons, while Arabella unfastened the ties of her nightdress and loosened it so that it slid down her body to lie in a white pool around her feet.

The candles flickered upon the nightstand, so that she could see him standing there naked. His body as tall and strong and well muscled as she remembered. A sprinkling of dark hair covered his chest and narrowed to a line that led down to his manhood. His skin glowed a honey gold in the candles’ light, the whiteness of the linen bandage stark against the rest of him.

There was no need for words. She sensed his feelings as keenly as her own. She wanted him. And needed him. Not out of lust. Not even out of desire. The need ran at a much deeper level than that, in a place that touched both her heart and her soul. She did not analyse the feeling. Nor did she think about the past.

Arabella knew only this moment. Dominic was alive. And that, had a blade pressed a little harder this night, he would not be.

She placed her palm upon his chest over his heart and felt its strong steady beat. Beneath her fingers she could feel the roughness of his chest hair and in her nose was the scent of brandy and cigar smoke mingled with Dominic’s cologne.

He threaded a hand through her hair at the scalp, angling her head so that he could look into her eyes.

She did not look away. She did not try to hide anything. They looked at each other with an honesty that belonged only to that moment. His eyes were deep and dark and sensuous and in them was a vulnerability that she had never ever thought to see.

Slowly he lowered his mouth to hers. Their lips touched, the kiss small and gentle. And touched again, before stilling so that their lips rested together, not kissing, but sharing their breath. She slid her hands up from his chest, to dip her fingers into the hollow between his collar bones, before spreading out to slide across the tense hard muscle of his shoulders. Their faces were so close she could feel the brush of his eyelashes every time he blinked.