Chapter 1
“She went upstairs, sir.”
Dominic waited ten minutes.
Then fifteen.
He told himself Sophia was an adult.
She didn’t need rescuing.
He told himself Anthony’s engagement was none of his business.
He told himself several lies.
Then he went upstairs.
He didn’t find Sophia in the guest room.
He found his bedroom door partly open.
Inside, lights glowed from the bathroom.
Dominic stopped.
Sophia’s purse lay on a chair.
His black dinner jacket was missing from the back of it.
Then he heard her.
A whisper.
Soft.
Broken.
Almost swallowed by the running faucet.
“Dominic.”
He went completely still.
Maybe he had misunderstood.
Then came another shaky breath.
“God, Dominic…”
He walked toward the bathroom.
Sophia stood in front of the mirror wearing his jacket over her dress.
Her cheeks were wet.
Both hands gripped the marble vanity.
Her eyes were closed.
She didn’t hear him approach.
“If you’re going to whisper my name in my bathroom,” Dominic said, “you should probably lock the door.”
Sophia spun around.
Her face went white.
“Dominic.”
His gaze moved from her eyes to his jacket wrapped around her shoulders.
Then back.
“How much wine did you have?”
“What?”
“How much?”
“Two glasses.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Sophia.”
She swallowed.
“I’m not drunk.”
“Good.”
He entered the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind him.
Her breath caught.
Dominic didn’t touch her.
That mattered.
Especially now.
“You’re wearing my jacket.”
“I was cold.”
“You said my name.”
Her cheeks burned.
“I was upset.”
“You said it like you weren’t thinking about dinner.”
Silence.
Dominic took another step.
Sophia’s fingers tightened around the jacket.
“Say it again.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“My name.”
She stared at him.
“Dominic.”
“Again.”
This time it came softer.
“Dominic.”
He felt something he had spent three years refusing to name.
He had noticed Sophia long before tonight.
Before Anthony’s cruelty became obvious.
Before the engagement photographs.
Before she had stopped wearing red shoes.
He had noticed the way she challenged people without humiliating them.
The way she remembered the names of waiters.
The way she laughed when genuinely amused instead of politely.
He had noticed everything.
And then she had become his nephew’s fiancée.
So Dominic had done what honorable men were supposed to do.
Nothing.
Until tonight.
He moved closer.
“Sophia, look at me.”
She did.
“Do you think about me when you’re with Anthony?”