Dominic's Nemesis

by D. Alyce Domain

  Dom paced closer, he could see another nearby. Kathleen. Good, for once she was on her post. Eden’s lilac warmth beckoned him, feeding his…attraction? Addiction? Obsession? He knew not what to term the strange emotion that had seized him and continued to intensify. He ached to be with her, near her, touch her, know her.

  In his haste to reach her, Dom did not consider what he would do once he had heaven within his grasp. He shied away from disembarking in front of Kathleen. Not because she would be shocked or scared. Dominic knew full well that Ethan had spilled the family secret to his wife. He was mortified at first. The idea of someone he barely knew and trusted even less knowing something so damning about him flung him back in time…to Italy. The threat of being labeled a scourge and cast back in the path of torture and misery up-surged every time he laid eyes on his brother’s wife.

  Dom avoided her for months after he learned that she knew. Once he’d gotten over the initial horror, he and Kathleen had come to a sort of truce. He’d become familiar with her essence. She possessed a strong life force of dazzling blue-azure…loyal to a fault and filled with a tumult of love. Dominic could not have wished for a more perfect match for Ethan. With time, he found that he could be at ease with his sister-in-law in a causal way, but he wasn’t yet comfortable enough with the brass Scottish woman to actually show her such an intimate piece of himself. Astral travel was his haven, his secret self, and his soul’s savior.

  On the other hand, if he exited into invisibility he could avoid Kathleen but Eden would sense him as she had before. He was ill prepared to handle her knowledge of his…uniqueness, as Cael would term it. His essence wobbled, like a scissor-legged drunk. He couldn’t delay much longer or he would lose consciousness, which always plopped him from the astral onto the corporeal. He slipped back to monitor only Cael. Ahh, his brother was once again alone and safe and probably annoyed with him for absconding without so much as a by your leave. But Dom would deal with that later. For now, the ethereal blonde reclaimed his full attention.

  Dominic paced back a ways, he estimated…spatial arrangements such as depth, foreground, and background meant nothing on the astral. Everything—which was nothing, black space—existed on the same plane. Right blended with left, up blurred into down, front was back and visa versa. Hopeful that he stood a chance of shimmering outside of which ever room they occupied, Dom shed his astral self and his invisible cloak. Legs shaky at first, he leaned heavily against an end table outside one of the lesser-used sitting rooms.

  He’d had several extra parlors and sitting rooms and of course bed chambers aired out for Ethan, Kathleen and Eden. The two women must be within one adjacent the portrait gallery. Dom hadn’t been in the room in years, keeping to his private suites. Drained, physically and mentally, he slid along the wall to the door, which stood ajar. He could hear Kathleen making soothing cooing noises as if she spoke to a child.

  “Eden.” He thought only of her as he kicked the door out of his path.

  Both women snapped around to stare at him. His spectacles were in place. His clothes were their usual sober eloquence: black coat, silken vest, and trousers, over-starched white shirt, and impeccable cravat. Only his unsteady gait confessed exhaustion. Dom did his best to compose himself, stiffening his spine.

  “Dominic.” Her voice was a breathy whisper. She drank in his form like a dessert dweller guzzling from a life-saving spring.

  “Dom?” Kathleen’s crimson brows peaked. “We thought ya in town.”

  “I was. Now, I’m here.” He stated flatly, eyes falling on Eden. She was reclining atop a brocade curb-back chaise, piled high with ridiculous little pillows that spilled out onto the floor. Her shining hair tumbled around her shoulders, attractively disheveled. One hand fluttered near her chest, the other clutched a teacup with white-knuckled fingers. Kathleen stood over her, in full mother-hen stance.

  “What the hell happened? Why does she look so…distressed?”

  “Why assume somethin’ more has happened.” Kathleen countered, shifting so that her wide skirts obscured her charge from sight. “‘Canna it be delayed reaction from tha numerous other tragedies tha lass has suffered.”

  “She was perfectly composed when I took my leave.” He leveled. “Now she’s trembling and white as a sheet.”

  “‘Tis naught a sip of hot tea and a good night’s rest canna cure.”

  He stepped further into the room. To keep his balance, he touched each and every piece of furniture he passed on the precarious trek to the chaise on which Eden sat. “You do not look yourself either.” This, he noted with renewed unease. His sister-in-law was not one easily ruffled.

  Kathleen humphed. “I think ‘tis safe ta say dat no one in dis room is quite themselves tonight.”

  “Tell me what’s happened, Kathleen, or I will track down Ethan and have him ring it out of you.” An empty threat, of course. He could not have astral-ed across the room, much less brought another person back with him…and he certainly couldn’t imagine his peace-keeping brother haranguing information out of anyone, much less his brazen Scottish wife.

  “Will ya now?” She challenged.

  “I want to know who dared to overset guests in my home?”

  Eden poked her head around Kathleen. “It was nothing, really.” She declared on the heels of a shaky laugh.

  Seeing that he would not be denied, and their head butting, however innocent, caused her charge further anxiety, Kathleen conceded. “Tha wee one and I went for a walk on tha grounds. When we returned, ‘twas a man lurking about. Rattled her, ‘tis all. Renfred and Booth escorted him off tha estate. He blustered he’d be back with tha district magistrate.”

  “Not a thief then?”

  “Definitely not.”

  He nodded, with solemn understanding. “A muckraker. My uncle?”

  “A muckraker ta be sure, but not yer uncle. Called ‘imself Matthias Montgomery. Claimed ta be actin’ on official orders.”

  * * *

  Eden trembled anew, not liking the turn events were taking. Preoccupied with a lingering fear, she’d lost the thread of the conversation. There was one thing she had to know, and she couldn’t wait a minute longer.

  “Dom-inic?”

  His shaded gaze shifted downward to meet her hurt-filled hazel eyes. He ached to erase the angst and caress the shivering from her limbs.

  “You didn’t…send that awful man for me, did you? He—”

  “Is that what he said? Bloody Hell.”

  Eden almost chuckled, even in her shaky state. She had never known anyone who cursed quite so matter-of-factly. She watched him come forward, sliding by Kathleen to seat himself in front of her atop the coffee table. Tree-trunk legs crowded her.

  “Tell me, Eden.” His voice lowered to a beguiling smoothness as he took the tittering cup from her hand. He meant to put her at ease, she imagined. He needn’t have bothered. Her name on his lips liquefied her insides. At the moment, she would do anything he asked of her.

  “He said he’d been charged to investigate the mental stability of a resident of this estate. I just assumed he meant me.”

  “No, lass.” Kathleen bent to reassure her. “Here now, drink yer tea.”

  “Forget about him. He won’t be bothering either of you again.” He set the cup aside out of both her and Kathleen’s reach and took Eden’s hands in his, pulling her to her feet with him. “Tea can wait until morning. I am taking you up to bed. Kathleen, please wait for me here.”

  “‘Tis ‘no proper. Yer accompanying her ta bed.”

  Dom scoffed testily as he turned them both for the door. “I could have slept in her bed for all you know.”

  A conspirator’s smile played on the redhead’s lips as she watched them exit. “Aye. Ya haven’t yet, but yer thinkin’ about it. My Ethan will be pleased.”

  * * *

  They walked to her chamber in silence, though not an awkward silence, as she would have predicted. Eden needed only a moment to realize that Dominic was not himse
lf, or at least, he wasn’t himself as she had come to expect. He seemed troubled, vulnerable somehow, his movements slothful and over-prudent. Almost like his hand on the small of her back, the other caressing the tender flesh of her wrist, the entire act of escorting her to her chamber was more for his benefit than hers. What had wrought the change? She wished she’d been paying closer attention in the sitting room. Maybe then she might have gleamed a clue. But it couldn’t be helped. She’d been too shaken from her encounter to think clearly.

  She reached the chamber door a step ahead of him, and paused, uncertain. Should she open the door, and if so would he follow her inside? Or should she turn and wait for him to bid her goodnight? Neither scenario prepared her for what actually happened.

  He never stopped walking until he’d backed her up against the closed door, the hand caressing her palm ventured upwards to lose itself in her hair. The hand at her back inched around to rest on one hip, steadying. The nearness and heat of his body caused her breath to catch…becoming deep and gasping. She felt the brush of his hair, an exhale of breath, the cold metal tip of the spectacles as he dipped, resting his forehead for a moment at the junction of her shoulder….then turned his face to her neck.

  “You were alone with him like you are with me now? That’s why he frightened you so.” He demanded in an urgent whisper, delivered shockingly near her ear. “Answer me, Eden.”

  Eden’s pulse beat staccato, too stunned to do anything but as he commanded. “Yes.”

  “Did he touch you…hurt you? I have to know. Tell me, or I will strip you naked and search every inch of your body until I’m satisfied you are unharmed.”

  Something in his manner put her in mind of a child in need of smoothing. “Shhh, Dominic, I am untouched. Kathleen—”

  “I will thank God Ethan married her to the day I die.” And then his lips were on her. First, worshipping her neck with hot wetness. His hand tilted and guided her head until he could capture her lips in a devouring exploration. His tongued her mercilessly, plundering her mouth at a frantic rhythm born of passion and fury, robbing her of breath. In danger of melting right out of his grasp, Eden wrapped an arm around the scorching mass of trembling muscle pressing into her slender frame. Ahhh, to be cherished again, touched, needed, she came alive…for him. Accepted him with open arms and a tarnished heart. She matched his pace, though she’d never been kissed before, somehow instinct too over.

  The fervor eventually cooled. He backed off, his body giving hers room to breathe, his lips slowed to a tantalizing stroke…until at last, he pulled back altogether, his mouth placing a last soft touch to her swollen parted lips.

  “Forgive me. I…” He seemed not to know where he was, dropping his hands from her hair and body. Eden watched him began to retreat from her. The air around him thick with shame and regret. “I am not…myself.”

  “I prefer this you.” She grasped the lapels of his jacket to keep him within reach. “Don’t go.”

  “I must. Kathleen…” He glanced down the hall from whence they’d come, only turning back to face her when she palmed his cheek in her hand.

  “Shhh…you’re safe with me.” Eden curled her lips into a smile, stroking his cheek. “That’s it. See, everything is fine. Stay a moment longer.”

  He let her urge him a step closer, placidly staring down at her. Their roles somehow reversed. She the caregiver, he the recipient.

  “Dominic, I wonder if …” Eden trailed off as her hand inadvertently bumped the rim of his spectacles. He went stiff. She could see the outline of his eyes darting back and forth panicky, behind the tinted lens.

  “It’s alright.” She reassured him, palming his cheek again. “Let me see you…I want to know if you’re unharmed…and I have to see for myself.”

  She inched her finger up ever so slightly to grasp one thin metal arm of the spectacles. Slowly, methodically, she slid them forward off his nose, revealing—

  “Nooo…” The word came out on a moan of agony.

  And then the strangest thing happened. He was gone. Vanished. Her arm still hung in the air caressing empty space.

  Chapter 11

  Dominic descended the grand staircase decked from heel to crown in pomp and circumstance, spectacles riding rigid on his nose. A livery-ed Renfred met him at the bottom step and fell in beside him.

  “Master Ambrosi, sir, your brother arrived some time ago. His became quite agitated at finding his wife absent. I was obliged to direct him to Mrs. Raine, whom Nell discovered asleep in one of the upstairs sitting rooms. He relocated her to their chamber.” If Renfred found the events at all peculiar, he did not convey as much in his rendition.

  “How is Mrs. Raine this morning?”

  “Resting comfortably.”

  “And Ms. Prescott?”

  “Also still abed, sir.”

  “I am not certain how much longer our guests will be visiting. I hope to have them settled elsewhere soon, but from now until such time as I deem it unnecessary, neither is to leave the house without an escort, Renfred. Is that understood?”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  “Where is my brother now?”

  “I believe, helping himself to breakfast in the dinning room.”

  “Thank you, Renfred, that will be all for now.” Dominic strode purposefully for the dinning room as the butler fell back and returned to his post in the foyer. Dominic arrived to find the doctor at the sideboard, piling his plate.

  “Ethan. This is a surprise.”

  “How so?” He arched a brow over his shoulder. “I said I would return.”

  “I wasn’t expecting you this morning, is all.” Dominic procured a plate, and began filling it.

  “That much is obvious.” The doctor shot him a withering glance. “You mind explaining why I arrived to find my wife snoozing in a parlor like a common doxy?”

  Dominic managed to adopt a sheepish mien, despite his shaded eyes. “Forgive me, Ethan. I blade her wait for me, meaning to speak with her about the woman, but eh…I was delayed. There have been some odd goings-on of late—”

  “The first of which being your deigning to host a meal with the interlopers. Shocking indeed.” Satisfied with his meal choices, the doctor took up a seat at the main dining table that occupied the central space in the room. “Miss Prescott will be joining us, will she not?”

  “I have no idea. Renfred informed me that she is presently still abed.”

  “At brunch time?” A brow shot heavenward.

  Plate in hand, Dom strolled to pull back a chair opposite his brother. “As I said, there have been some peculiar happenings recently.”

  “Such as?” The doctor inquired just before the first forkful passed his lips.

  Dom shied away from the topic. “How was London?” He inquired, as if he hadn’t been in town just last evening.

  The doctor swallowed before he answered. “I wasn’t there on holiday, Dom. Now then, what’s afoot?”

  “I prefer to delay the particulars until Cael is present, so I won’t have to repeat myself but you may as well know… a dangerous situation is brewing. We will have to vacate the women of course. And be quick about it, I want her and Kathleen prepared to depart on the morrow. Perhaps the three of you can share a carriage back to town. I’ll astral to Cael’s later and we can discuss what is to be done then.”

  “Whoa, Dom. I thought we agreed it was best Miss Prescott remained here, under close supervision.”

  “Things change.”

  Breakfast forgotten, Dominic felt he brother’s gaze shift to his face and rake over him. “Hmmm…yes, I see they have. But regardless, she is my patient. I will decide when she is ready to be moved. She has endured too many sudden upheavals as it is and one more will not help the healing process.”

  “That is out of your realm of expertise. Cael is the head doctor.”

  “She may well harm herself.” His brother reminded him.

  Dom scoffed at this. “Thus far, my estate hasn’t lessened the calamities th
at befall her. She has been here a week. During which time, she nearly drowned in the pond, almost plunged to her death in the library, and been accosted by a hell-bent lecher on the grounds.”

  “Is that what happened while I was gone?”

  “Yes.” He stated, irked anew. “The woman is prone to disaster. She is no safer here than she would be sheltered with you and Kathleen in London.”

  “She cannot live with Kathleen and I forever.”

  “No more than she can reside here indefinitely.” He reasoned.

  The doctor looked as if he wished to argue, but instead said, “Where will she go then? The village? An inn? A rented house in town?”

  Anywhere but here! Dom thought. “I was thinking an obscure relative of some sort.” He waved a hand causally as he brought a forkful of eggs to his mouth.

  “Relatives will require time to locate.” His brother argued. “At least delay until we can arrange for proper relations to see after her. I’ll not cast such a fragile creature into the world alone and unprotected.”

  “Fine. She can stay…for now.” He conceded with a long exhale. He ignored the answering arch in Ethan’s brow, knowing but beyond caring that his reaction to the girl was obvious to his perceptive brother. “But begin looking into her ancestry immediately. From what she told Kathleen, there is, I believe an English branch of the family.”

  “You’ll have to take care of it.” He shrugged off the responsibility like an ill-fitting coat. “I cannot tarry. I just wanted to check in on Kathleen and Ms. Prescott before I made headways to the village. There’s a patient of mine there and I promised to look in on how his leg is healing. Bad break.”