Page 181 of The Scandal You Started
I love you. You’re not allowed to forget that. You’re never allowed to forget me. Promise me you won’t.
Those had been his words as he’d made love to her for the last time.
In the moment, she’d thought he meant that he didn’t want her to forget what they’d had. But what if…
The ring, his words, hit note. It was like Dominic knew…
“What did he do?” Rayna rasped apprehensively.
Victor held her stare for a long second, then shook his head. “He didn’t go back because he wanted to leave you.”
Raw hope and unease gripped her chest. “V.What did Dominic do?”
Chapter 53
Dominic
24 January 636 PR
Dominic scratched a feathered quill in swooping letters along the page, sitting at his desk, when a knock sounded at the door opposite. He didn’t call out with a summons, but a second later, the heavy, dark wood creaked open.
“Mr Harris is here to see you, my lord,” Candreas announced at the threshold.
Dominic hummed an acknowledgement and punctuated the end of his sentence.
Riding boots clacked against the dark wooden flooring as Dominic dropped his quill in its holder on the engraved silver inkstand his father had once used too. The steps were softened by the ornate rug that lay across the middle of his office in his family’s estate before halting.
Dominic moved aside the correspondence to his solicitors and smiled faintly at his manservant. “Thank you, Hamilton.”
Candreas gave a stiff bow and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Dominic shifted his attention to the slim, blond-haired man as he listened to his manservant’s steps fade away down the corridor.
Wearing a dark grey greatcoat with a black beaver hat clutched in his hands, he sent Dominic a familiar, awkward smile. The midday crisp sunlight of a clear, winter sky coming from the windows on Dominic’s right turned the man’s grey irises as light as murky glass.
Dominic observed him for a long moment with an ache swamping his chest, the gentle crackle of a fire filling the silence.
“Do you want me to bow?” the man asked hesitantly.
A quiet chuckle shook Dominic’s chest as he stood from the velvet-cushioned chair, leaving his cravat and morning coat hanging on the back. “Not at all,” he said and walked around the engraved dark wood desk that matched the rest of the furnishings in the room.
The man let out a little grunt when Dominic smacked his arms around him and embraced his slim frame.
“Hello, River,” Dominic muttered. “It is good to see you again.”
River awkwardly patted Dominic’s back. “It’s good to see you too.”
Dominic held him back by the shoulders, then gestured towards the red-cushioned settees before the fireplace. “Come. Let us sit by the fire. It is rather cold today.”
“How was your journey here from the city? Did you hire a horse this time?” Dominic said once he made himself comfortable in the corner of the sofa perpendicular to River.
The Norbridge Estate, the main residence of the Norland family since the fourth marquess, was located within the countryside that surrounded Tanbridge City. It was a few hours’ distance on horseback and nearly a full day by carriage, which River had learned the hard way.
“Yes, I did,” River said. “But I had to stop a few times, because my face was going numb in the cold.”
Dominic chuckled. “I see.”
They both fell quiet as they stared at each other.
