Page 26 of The Scandal You Started
All four men watched through the observation screen as the marquess sat upon his bed with Rayna by his side while Ash prepared to sedate him one final time.
“He, uh…I think he likes her,” River added.
Victor sighed and pulled off his glasses to press his thumb and forefinger over his eyes.
“Think?” George echoed, throwing a hand out to the glass. “It’s damn obvious that’s the only reason he wants her as his Guardian. And I’m not saying he’s a threat to her, but he’s determined and bloody stubborn. Even if Rayna stands her ground, it doesn’t seem clever to let them live together. Alone. For four months.”
There was a minute or two of silence as they all watched the marquess’s body fall limp as the sedative did its job.
“There’s no rule that says a Study can’t make advances on their Guardian.”
Victor, George, and River glanced at Monty when he spoke.
“We all saw that she wasn’t the instigator, so no rules were broken,” the older man added. “And no matter what happens, hewillreturn when the project is complete.”
At that point, the clack of the metal door sounded, and River and George moved away to meet Ash and Rayna as they exited the room.
Victor held Monty’s concerned frown, knowing it reflected his own thoughts.
“There’s no certainty history won’t repeat itself,” Monty murmured.
Somewhere in his gut, Victor felt the weight of those words.
Knowing what it possibly meant for them all, he should have been keeping Lord Norland and Rayna apart…
So why wasn’t he?
Chapter 8
Rayna
In the five-plus hours Dominic slept after Ash had put him under, Rayna had packed a suitcase at her house, while River had collected clothes roughly in Dominic’s size from the lab wardrobe. Then she’d driven herself to the farmhouse she and Dominic would be calling home for the next four months before he too was transferred there in his state of slumber.
She was sitting in a navy, velvet armchair next to the wooden bedside cabinet and double bed placed in the corner of his bedroom when he awoke groggily. But the moment he spotted her, his eyes glowed wolfish and bright, and he flashed her a lopsided smile.
“Well, this is a lovely surprise,” he purred so damn huskily that it vibrated in her belly.
He didn’t seem to think it was as lovely, though, when he wobbled to push himself upright as she let him know he was in the farmhouse. After which she gave him the option to eat or wash, and then laughed when he asked for a servant to run him a bath. She delighted in the way his expression slowly dropped as she explained there were no servants.
“What you mean to say is that you would like me to do everything I have always had done for me by myself?” he confirmed in humoured disbelief. “I would be the joke of thetonif anyone caught word of this, little witch.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s a good thing none of them are going to find out then. And I didn’t say you’d have to do everything by yourself.” She pointed a warning finger at him. “But I won’t be ordered around like a servant, so don’t even try to, or we’re gonna have serious problems.”
He leaned into her and grinned with playful exaggeration. “Ah, but I wouldn’t dare do so.”
His ensuite bathroom was tucked in an alcove at the end of his bed, along with a built-in wardrobe. She instructed him to drink the glass of water on the cabinet while she prepped his bath and put out the shaving kit he asked for.
When she came back out as the water was running, Rayna watched as Dominic struggled to get himself up from the bed. She might not have felt remorse when Ash put him to sleep in the lab after the way he’d acted, but her skin pinched from the inside in that moment.
It wasn’t just that the anaesthesia hadn’t worn off properly, but the past two weeks hadn’t been easy for him, and it’d clearly taken a toll on his body. But he was a man who’d grown up in an environment where his pride was everything. He didn’t and wouldn’t ask for help, especially not from her. Neves forbid a woman see him as human.
So rather than waiting or offering, she announced her assistance under a guise so he couldn’t argue.
“I’m going to help you bath this once because you have no idea what anything is in there, and by the time I finish explaining everything, your bath will’ve gone cold,” she said, digging through the chest of drawers along the wall of the bedroom door. “You’ve got five minutes to put these boxers—I mean, smalls—on and get in the tub while I wait outside.”
Of course, he was shocked. By both her offer and the size of the black boxers she dangled in front of him. He tried to argue that it wasn’t right for her to bathe him, suddenly deciding he was actually an easily scandalised nobleman rather than a flirtatious oaf, but she walked out of the room, ignoring him.
Fifteen minutes later, Rayna was sitting on a little black stool to the side of the white bathtub in the white-tiled and grey wood bathroom, while Dominic was sitting in the tub, the soapy water rippling against his upper abdomen.
