Page 81 of The Phantom Duke
Maria laughed softly. “Which you are not. Lead on.”
Damien did not turn to lead the way into the woods. He stepped closer, tilting his head as though examining her with curiosity.
“You think I’m trapped by my own actions?”
Simon did, and Damien wondered if Maria, who was also uncommonly astute, might have gained a similar impression of his character.
Maria looked back at him boldly. The color in her cheeks, the slight parting of her lips and the breathless quality of her voice gave her away. Damien wondered how far he could push her before her air of confidence broke. If that was even possible.
She did not break when I tried to frighten her at the altar with talk of marital duties.
“I do. Do you have anything to say to prove me wrong?”
Damien felt the familiar siren song of anger. The reaction to being challenged that he had become accustomed to. A reaction he had learned from his father. Felt the pull of it and resisted. The anger stretched its taloned limbs, extended its dragon wings, then went back to sleep. Damien smiled, showing teeth, leaning forward so that his lips almost brushed her cheek as he whispered.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered.
Maria shuddered. She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip. Damien turned his face to look at her, studying her reaction, aroused by her pleasure.
“I… I do not know,” she stammered, still with eyes closed.
“How am I to trust you if I know you do not trust me?” Damien whispered, letting his lips ghost against her cheek.
It produced a quiver that ran through her from head to toe and emerged as a tremor in her voice, a wail quickly stifled. A moan swiftly muffled behind clenched teeth. Her forehead creased, eyes tightened.
“Lead me along your secret path. I will rely upon you to be my eyes,” Maria said in a voice husky with passion.
Damien’s breath caught. He remembered well their encounter in the water, Maria blindfolded and trusting, and his loins stirred.
“Tempting,” he said. “But do you think that wise?”
“Why would it not be, husband?”
“Suppose that I wish to lead you into a trap,” he said heatedly. “Or suppose that I take advantage of your trusting, vulnerable state.”
“Ah, you seek to test my fortitude,” she said, smiling.
Despite himself, he leaned back, wanting to see her face fully. Her eyes remained tightly closed, but her face was lifted, lips pressed together, firm and determined. He could not believe it.
Such courage. Such boldness. She should have been a general; no commander born could outwit her on the field of battle.
“Very well. Put your hand upon my shoulder. I will trust that you remain blind while I turn my back on you. And you will trust that I am not leading you to another pit trap. Perhaps seeking to rid myself of a troublesome wife.”
It felt like a dark joke, perhaps too dark. But Damien wanted rid of the doubts that had festered within him since Maria had fallen into his life. Wanted resolution to the questions that had plagued him.
And what of the weakness that comes from trust, from complete trust? How is that to be resolved? But that is academic. The curse is a present danger. Trust or no trust.
“Or perhaps, this is all part of my plan to rid myself of a troublesome husband,” Maria said. “Maybe I wish to distract you, so you wander into a trap yourself.”
“And how do you imagine that would happen?” he asked. “When I am so familiar with my own woods?”
“I will beexceedinglydistracting,” she quipped. “Any man might make a mistake, my husband.”
The face of the man in the mirror leered at him from the undergrowth as he turned from Maria, her hand resting on his left shoulder. He dismissed the face, stepping along the path and into the trees. His left shoulder became the focus of his senses. Her fingers shifted against the fabric of his coat, as though savoring the feel of his muscle, of his body.
“If you lose your nerve, you have only to tell me,” Damien said slyly.
“If you are hoping I will admit defeat so that you may hide you have lost your own nerve, you are quite mistaken yourself,” Maria said. “I am still quite willing to continue our adventure.”
