Page 23 of The Scandal You Started
“Your throat might feel sore tomorrow,” Ash explained. “But otherwise it should heal quickly. If it doesn’t, that’s when you tell me.”
Rayna nodded with an appreciative smile. “Thank you, Ash.”
Victor scrubbed a hand over his mouth and exhaled roughly. “Thank you.”
“Stop raising his blood pressure,” Ash said with a playful little smile.
“Stop telling him it’s because of me,” she grumbled as he walked towards the others where Monty was talking to Dominic.
“It is because of you,” Victor said. “It’s always because of you.”
She smiled sheepishly, guilt nipping at her ribs. “I’m sorry, V. I am, really.” She snaked her arms around his waist, and he squeezed her tightly to him. “I should have given the signal, but I wanted to give him a chance to let go first. If he hadn’t let go, I would have. I planned to.”
“Don’t ever do that again. Do you understand?”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Victor released a slow exhale, then pressed a long-second kiss to her hair. “Come on. If I keep thinking about what happened, my head’s going to explode.”
His head might’ve exploded, but if she thought about what he’d seen, her cheeks were going to fry off her bones. So, with one last cuddle, she headed with Victor to join the others.
“I heard my name,” she said when Monty mentioned something about her and George.
Monty looked across George, River, and Ash to her. “I was just telling Lord Norland that you and George recently stayed at the farmhouse with two other Studies.”
Rayna glanced at Dominic, ready to agree with Monty, but the moment she was captured by the marquess’s stare, the words vanished from the tip of her tongue.
There was a blaze of raw emotion coursing through his piercing irises that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as if she were staring into the eyes of a raging predator. His gaze snapped to Victor next to her and narrowed just a touch before latching on to her again with an irritated accusation that she couldn’t quite decipher.
Her brows dipped in question, but he swiftly moved his attention to Monty. “The house sounds to be a decent residence,” he said coolly. “Except there is one problem.” River became the subject of his murderous stare. “My guardianship being in the hands of mykidnapper. For the sake of us both, I require someone else to be my Guardian.”
Rayna had had a feeling Dominic wasn’t going to like the idea of River as his Guardian, and while she didn’t exactly blame him, the threatening tone was unnecessary.
River shifted on his feet with a wince as Monty cleared his throat. “If you’d rather not have River as your Guardian,” the older man said, “then I’m sure we could arrange for George to stay with you instead.”
Dominic grunted. “Doesn’t the puppy need his own guardian?”
Rayna instantly bristled as that one nerve that so easily sent her anger spiking was pulled.
Oh, fuck no.
There was one thing she really couldn’t stand for. Never had, never would. And that was her family being insulted.
Why was he suddenly being so rude anyway?
“I’m not a puppy,” George bit out, his cheeks flushed red.
“If not George, then Zack,” Monty said calmly. “He’ll be back in a few days, so—”
“You will not keep me in here a day longer,” Dominic stated with a tone of unquestionable authority.
Then his eyes settled on her, glinting under the cool lighting.
Ah. So that’s what he wants.
His refusal to take either River, George, or Zack as his Guardian quickly made a lot of sense.
It was because he wantedherto be his Guardian.
