Unmasking the Duke's Mistress (Gentlemen of Disrepute #1)(38)

‘But she is wealthy and an earl’s daughter,’ and he heard the slight bitterness in Arabella’s voice. ‘Surely you cannot fault that she is a suitable match for you?’

‘I have no intention of marrying Lady Marianne Winslow.’

Something changed in her face as if a new thought had only just made itself known to her, and all of the bitterness dropped away to be replaced with concern. ‘You have not ruined her, have you, Dominic?’

He gave a cynical laugh that she could believe such a thing of him. Even though he was a rake. And even though everyone knew that fact. ‘You need have no fear for the girl’s virtue on my score, I assure you, Arabella,’ he said coldly.

‘At least have the decency to tell me the truth!’

‘I am telling you the truth,’ he said.

‘I heard Lady Misbourne’s words.’

‘She is misinformed, I tell you.’

‘No.’

‘Yes, Arabella!’

They looked at one another, with only the sound of their breath in the silence.

‘I will not marry Lady Marianne for the same reason I will not marry any other.’

He saw the shock, the confusion, the suspicion in her eyes. He should stop now, but he could not. He moved forwards.

‘Shall I tell you why there will be no Duchess of Arlesford? Do you want the whole ugly truth of it?’

She backed away a little.

‘Of how I have longed for you through the years?’ He stepped closer.

She edged back.

‘Of how I have relived those last moments a thousand times in my head?’ Another step. ‘God dammit, Arabella, I loved you!’

‘No!’ she cried. ‘Do not say it. I do not want to hear more of your lies. You never loved me! You only wanted me in your bed and once you had had that—’

Dominic backed her against the wall and placed a hand around the nape of her neck, forcing her to look at him that she might see the truth from which she was so intent on hiding.

‘I loved you, Arabella,’ he said savagely and stared down into her eyes.

‘Stop it!’ She tried to turn away, but he would not let her. ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘Because I loved you,’ he said again, more gently this time and he could no longer hide the hurt of what she had done to him. ‘Arabella,’ he said softly, and her gaze moved unwilling to his. ‘Arabella,’ he said again and looked into her eyes and let her see the truth.

She stopped struggling. Stilled. Stared at him. And the pain that he saw in her eyes was as raw and aching as that in his heart. They stared at one another and everything else in the world ceased to be.

‘I loved you too, Dominic,’ she said and her voice was thick with emotion.

In the silence he could hear the soft sound of her breath and beneath his fingers he could feel the throb of her pulse.

‘Then why did you marry Marlbrook?’ It was the question he had waited almost six years to ask.

She opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again and shook her head. But there could be no mistaking the look of anguish upon her face. She looked as tortured as he felt.

His hand moved from the nape of her neck to thread through her hair. He angled her face all the closer to his so close that her lips were within an inch of capture.

‘Tell me,’ he insisted.

She shook her head again in an infinitesimal motion of denial, but in her eyes he saw something of her resolve crumble and beneath it the flicker of fear.

‘You know that I would never hurt you, no matter what,’ he said softly.

‘You already did, Dominic,’ she whispered.

He felt something break apart inside of him at her answer. ‘I do not understand. Tell me,’ he said again.

She looked deep into his eyes. ‘How can you really not know?’

‘You married Marlbrook,’ he said and knew that he was missing something of monumental importance.

‘Yes.’

‘Then you did not love me.’

‘I loved you more than anything.’

‘Then why?’ he demanded.

‘God, please help me,’ she whispered and her voice was trembling. Then she raised her mouth to his and kissed him. Something of that kiss seemed to reach in and stroke against Dominic’s soul so that when she withdrew her lips he felt almost bereft. They stared into each other’s eyes, and the intensity of the moment was taut between them.

He knew that she was hiding something of the truth from him. And standing here right now looking into her eyes it did not make any difference. He still needed her at every level that was possible. And he knew that whatever else she said, Arabella needed him too. With all of the emotion that was roaring between them it was only a matter of time before she told him what he wanted to know.

His heart was beating in hard steady strokes as he kissed her. His hand slipped around hers and then he took her to bed and made love to her.

Arabella awoke with the early morning light stealing through the curtains to find Dominic still in her bed. He was snuggled against her back, his hand draped against the nakedness of her stomach and her bottom nestled into his crotch.

She lay there for a moment, letting herself revel in the warm strong feel of him before letting reality and all of its worries back in again.

I loved you, Arabella. She heard the whisper of his words running through her head again and knew she should not believe him. If he had loved her so much then he would not have treated her so badly. Words were cheap and so easily woven into a pretty pattern of lies. Actions were what counted. A man’s deeds. What he did rather than what he said. And yet even knowing all that, lying here naked in Dominic’s arms, her body bearing the scent of his loving, she knew that she wanted to believe him. Her head might know he was lying, yet her heart was a different matter all together.