A Dangerous Diversion by Michelle Helliwell

Author:Michelle Helliwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999496562
Publisher: Michelle Helliwell

Chapter Fourteen

Morning sun stretched across the gardens at Everwell, the beams breaking through the row of tall oaks and maples that marked the property line between it and the Coughlins’. The branches were well-budded and becoming lusher by the day. Elouise looked down at the spot where she and Dominic had shared their kiss, her blood stirring at the memory of it.

Dominic Ashe might be a stickler for his moral code, but his touch was absolutely sinful.

That rather ill-advised kiss had served one purpose at least: silencing her running at the mouth about her past. He hadn’t asked her about it, hadn’t demanded any confessions. Somehow, it had simply felt safe to share and out it came. She hadn’t discussed her past with anyone in years, and definitely no one outside the confines of the Spinsters. Her shame had been her own, not spoken of since Phillipa and Lady Em had plucked her out of that jail cell on her twentieth birthday.

He hadn’t judged her. He hadn’t made platitudes. He’d just listened.

And then he’d kissed her like she had never been kissed before.

How on earth she was supposed to concentrate on anything, much less creating a credible back story for Dominic Walker, she had no idea. Every moment he was out of her sight, he occupied her thoughts. Every moment he was nearby, her body prickled with awareness. Even this morning, as she’d laid in bed, her body had been attuned to his as she heard the knob of his door open quietly, followed by his footsteps on the stairs.

Elouise had never been a morning person, but today she found herself quite miraculously awakened by the mere knowledge that Dominic Ashe was nearby, no doubt rolling up his sleeves to flaunt his forearms to the horses in the barn or the chickens in their coop, or in service of whatever task Tilda would have him doing.

She turned away from the window toward her little dressing table, giving herself one last check in the mirror to make sure she was presentable, tucking an insistent sandy curl under the hairpieces she used to give her hair the illusion of length. For a traitorous moment, she’d actually considered leaving her hair in its natural, shortened length. But Dominic had been far too adept at getting underneath her defences.

She went to the kitchen where she met Gemma, sitting at the large kitchen table, idly stirring a steaming bowl of porridge. She was so engrossed in a letter she was reading that she appeared not to notice Elouise’s arrival.

“Good morning,” Elouise said, both as a means of introduction and as a means to alert Gemma to her presence.

Gemma barely looked up.

“Good morning.”

Elouise went to the cupboard, caught off guard by Gemma’s muted response. Gemma was usually bright in the mornings but today she sat, her shoulders hunched forward, as if trying to make herself invisible. Hiding away was one of Gemma’s natural talents, but not like this. Elouise grabbed a pretty pink-and-blue patterned bowl and took it to the stove, filling it with freshly made porridge and sat down opposite her friend.

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