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.‘No?’ Her brows rose.‘I would be interested to know why not.’‘Then it is an interest I am afraid you will just have to continue to endure,’ Dominic growled.‘After only a few days of having you as a permanent fixture in my life, of feeling responsible for you twenty-four hours a day, I am more convinced than ever that my decision never to be tied down by such an arrangement was the correct one.’ He meant to be insulting, and he knew he had succeeded when he saw the sparkle of anger in the deep blue-green of Caro’s eyes.A spark of anger that Dominic had deliberately incited…‘That situation can be rectified any time you choose to let me leave both your home and your company,’ she came back challengingly.‘Unfortunately, it cannot.’ Dominic sighed.‘Not until Brown has been brought to justice.Never fear, Caro,’ he added mockingly.‘I am sure that Brockle House is large enough for us to successfully avoid spending time in each other’s company, if that is what you wish?’‘I wish it more than anything!’ There was an angry flush to Caro’s cheeks as she turned away from him to present him with her profile as she stared out of the carriage window.Dominic accepted that it had been cruel of him to bedevil her in this way when their lovemaking had ended so disastrously earlier today.When she had been present as they pulled Ben’s body from the burning building.His only excuse was that his baiting of her had briefly cast aside her bewilderment and pain over Ben’s death, to be replaced by a little of the usual fiery spirit he so admired and which was such a large part of her nature.A spirit Dominic dearly hoped would help see her through, what he was sure, were going to be several difficult days…Chapter Fifteen‘Caro, when I said earlier that you might avoid my company as much as is possible for the duration of my stay here, it was not with any intention that you would eat your dinner in your bedchamber whilst I am left to dine downstairs alone.’She was completely unmoved by the impatience in Dominic’s tone as she turned to look at where he stood in the open doorway of her bedchamber.It had been almost two hours since they had arrived back at Brockle House.Dominic appeared to have bathed and changed out of the soiled clothing of earlier into a black evening jacket and snowy white linen with a meticulously tied neckcloth.Evidence, perhaps, that in the interim he had sent to Blackstone House for both his valet and his clothes.Caro had spent those same two hours trying to come to terms with the fact that Ben Jackson was dead.To accept that her friend had perished in a fire Dominic believed had been started deliberately by Nicholas Brown or one of his close associates.For years she had chafed and fought against the sheltered life she had been forced to lead in Hampshire, with the result that she had not hesitated to put her plan into action once she had decided to run away to London as a means of avoiding the arrival of her guardian and his unwanted offer of marriage.She had believed herself to be thoroughly capable of taking care of herself, and that spending several weeks in London would be an exciting adventure she would remember for the rest of her life.Nothing about her previous life could possibly have prepared her for such stark reality as she had witnessed today.She gave a slight shake of her head.‘I have not eaten my dinner in my bedchamber.’Dominic scowled darkly as he strode forcefully into the room.‘In that case, why haven’t you?’She gave a listless shrug.‘I am not hungry.’‘Caro—’‘Dominic, please!’ She stood up restlessly, also having bathed and changed into the deep rose-coloured gown.‘How can I possibly eat when every time I so much as think of poor Ben’s fate I feel utterly nauseous?’Dominic’s expression softened as he realised that, while he’d had some little relief from her tempting charms in the past couple of hours, suggesting they avoid each other’s company had not been particularly beneficial to her; he could see the evidence of the tears she had obviously shed once she was alone in the slight redness about pain-darkened eyes and the pallor of her cheeks.‘It will not help anyone if you make yourself ill—’‘You cannot expect me to eat when Ben is lying dead in the morgue!’ Caro’s voice broke emotionally over the last, and she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking, as she once again began to sob piteously.Dominic felt a tightening in his chest as he witnessed her distress, taking the two steps that enabled him to reach out and take her into his arms, her head resting against his chest as she wept.He had never been at ease with a woman’s tears, and, after the intimacies they had shared, he found Caro’s especially difficult to bear.Her close proximity was even more difficult as he felt her arms move about his waist and the warm spread of her fingers across his back…Dear Lord! Desire, arousal were the last things he should be feeling when she was obviously so distraught [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]