Once he had released her hair, he began on the buttons of her dress. They were dratted things, tiny and not made for large fingers like his own. But he managed well enough, and soon her gown gaped open at the waist. He fitted his hands inside the silk, around her chemise, drawing her back toward him between the V in his legs. When her bottom came against him, he nearly groaned aloud.
He helped her sleeves down her arms, trailing his fingers along her skin behind the silk. Remembering how much she had seemed to enjoy his mouth on her neck earlier this evening, he repeated the motion, satisfaction filling him when he heard her sigh in response.
Her gown soon fell down her slim body to the floor, and he took a moment to appreciate her form in only her stays and chemise. He quickly unlaced the stiff garment about her waist, allowing it to join the clothing beneath them. He picked up her clothing and laid it before the grate to dry. He turned back for her chemise but she stepped away from him, her eyes teasing as she waved a finger in front of him.
“Not yet,” she said. “It’s your turn now.”
He grinned at her challenge as she stepped back toward him, undoing the remainder of his shirt buttons. Thankfully he currently wore far less clothing than she, and soon his shirt followed her own clothing to the floor while her hands came to the fall of his pants, freeing him in a few swift motions.
He stepped out of his breeches, coming toward her now, and she backed up until she was against the bed—exactly where he wanted her.
Gabriel now found the hem of her chemise, and in one motion it flew off of her.
Before Elizabeth had time to even feel any embarrassment due to her current state of undress, Gabriel picked her up and placed her gently on the bed. Instead of following her, he took a moment to step back and appreciate what lay in front of him. Elizabeth squirmed uncomfortably once she realized what he was doing, but he leaned over and stilled her with his arms around her.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he whispered, and she raised an eyebrow.
“Do you say that to all the ladies?” she asked, and her words cut into him for a moment, but he shook his head truthfully.
“Never before,” he said, fully meaning it, and he could see she was fighting back a slight smile.
But when she spoke, her words made him laugh more than anything, for they were so practical, so Elizabeth.
“I’m cold,” she said, narrowing her eyes when he chuckled, and he sobered, nodding as he pulled back the blankets and she crawled in.
He followed, bringing a hand forward to cup her cheek.
“That’s what you get when you chase after a man in the rain at midnight,” he teased, and she pinched him.
“I was not chasing you,” she said, and he chuckled as he leaned in, ready to capture whatever words were coming next with his mouth.
“Say what you want,” he said, “but either way, Elizabeth—you’ve caught me.”
He didn’t allow her to respond, but fused his lips upon hers, stroking, loving, and promising what was to come. Her hands were upon him, seemingly everywhere, and he grasped them in his own as he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take her touch.
He trailed his lips down her neck, over her collarbone to the swell of her breast, where he began to lavish his attention upon first one pink bud and then the other. She bucked up against him, and he grasped her hips in order to still her.
Elizabeth, however, was having none of it, and she positioned herself beneath him, begging him to enter her. He slipped a finger between them to ensure she was ready for him and finally gave in to what she wanted, filling her in one swift stroke.
Elizabeth cried out in pleasure as Gabriel stilled for a moment, unsure of just how long he could restrain himself, to keep control over his pace.
He had imagined this moment over and over again for the past few months, but nothing could have ever prepared him for how it would feel to join with her again. It was indescribable magic, and nothing in his life had ever felt so right.
Gabriel always seemed to be reaching for something, trying to entertain himself through his schemes, his plans, his… well, yes, his manipulations, though they were always for the right reasons. It was the only way he seemed to be able to find satisfaction in his life. Until now. Now he knew that everything else was just a facade, and this was the truth he was looking for.
At Elizabeth’s urging—damn, the woman was impatient—he began moving back and forth in long strokes, intent on providing her with all of the raptures he was feeling himself.
Her hands seemed to be everywhere—in his hair, over his back, sliding along his hips and down his thighs.
“Elizabeth,” he groaned, and when he didn’t think he could hold back any longer, she tightened around him, crying out, though what she said, he had no idea, for he let go himself.
After a moment of recovery, Gabriel rolled over to take any weight off of Elizabeth but stretched an arm behind her head to draw her in close to his side.
She lay there next to him, her head on his shoulder, and yet he could sense the tension that remained within her body as she didn’t allow herself to completely relax against him.
But that was his Elizabeth, he thought with a smile. Never completely allowing anyone in, keeping her guard raised for fear that without it, she would be hurt.
“Elizabeth,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “You are magnificent.”
She chuckled slightly and placed a hand on his chest. “I can’t say I did much of anything.”
“You were here,” he said simply. “You came to me.”
“I shouldn’t have,” she said, her voice just above a whisper now. “I didn’t even realize what I was doing, if I am being honest. It was as though something drew me here, something… unexplainable.”
It was their desire for one another, he wanted to tell her, but he knew that too much explanation would only scare her and drive her away. Gabriel could already see that passionate fire beginning to ebb, to be replaced by the cool exterior she used as a shield. He wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted her to be open with him, to allow him to know her thoughts as he had known her body. But it was clear that Elizabeth wouldn’t be having any of that tonight.
She was silent for a moment, and Gabriel readied himself for the words that he knew were coming next.
“I should go home.”
“Of course you should,” he said, smiling slightly, and then winked at her, knowing it would only irk her. “That doesn’t mean you have to.”
“Gabriel!” she exclaimed, pushing herself up now and looking at him with wide eyes. “Of course I have to. I shouldn’t even have come here to begin with. It was foolish. It was impulsive. It was—”
“Perfect,” he finished for her with a grin, and she sighed in exasperation.
“What?” he asked, bringing his other arm behind his head in over to prop it up to look at her. “Do you not agree?”
Her cheeks flushed a very pretty pink as she swatted at him. “I will never forget it.”
Gabriel bristled slightly at her words—words which suggested that this was a one-time event with little chance of recurrence. But that, he determined, would certainly not be the case. No, his decision had been made the moment she stepped through the door of his study. Lady Elizabeth Moreland would become his wife. Even if it did take some time for her to realize it.
*
Elizabeth settled into the comfortable seats of the carriage as it conveyed her home. While she had refused to allow Gabriel to accompany her, when he found out she had hired a hack to bring her to his house, he had insisted that she return home in one of his many carriages—one, he assured her, that was nondescript, with no suggestion of who might be the owner. She had finally relented and now, with the cool night air flowing through the open window onto her flushed skin, she had a moment to consider all that had just happened.
Gabriel had been right when he had said it was perfect. In all honesty, Elizabeth had
little remembrance of the first time they had come together, so hurried and hasty they had been that night in the gardens. But she would never forget tonight for the rest of her life.
Elizabeth knew there was little chance she would ever marry. Not now, not when she was so focused on her role at the bank. She would not marry someone who wasn’t of her choosing—and so far, no one had fit such a role.
No one but Gabriel. A duke. A man who had broken her heart. A man who could not be trusted—not only for his indiscretions but for the fact that life was a game to him, everyone within it pawns for him to move around on his chessboard. Elizabeth didn’t like to be played and, if she were being honest, she was worried that Gabriel would soon become bored with her, as he was with everything else in his life after a time.
But tonight, for one night, she had forgotten all of that. She had given in to her desires, the longings that she had been unable to quench. She knew part of her would always love Gabriel, no matter what else had occurred. And that part had better be satisfied now, for this was never happening again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Having only found sleep by the early hours of the morning, when Elizabeth finally rose the next afternoon, she felt as though she had wasted an entire day. There was so much to be done, and here she had squandered most of the day in bed. Though now that she was awake, she was unsure of just how productive she would be, for her mind was in a fog and her limbs seemed to feel heavy as she dragged them down the stairs. She had slept a bit, true, but it was a restless sleep, one filled with thoughts of Gabriel and the uncertainty of her future. Would she continue to relive this memory with him over and over, both her body and heart aching over the fact that this would never happen again?
After a quick conversation with the housekeeper about making up a plate for a late lunch she would eat at her desk, Elizabeth began to make her way into the study but was stopped by a voice from the drawing room.
“Elizabeth?” her grandmother called. “You have a visitor.”
A visitor? Elizabeth began to follow her grandmother’s voice, wondering if it would be Sarah, or perhaps Phoebe, and she contemplated whether she should tell them about last night.
Then she stepped into the drawing room and her jaw dropped.
For there, in the pink corner chair, sat Gabriel, leaning back into the velvet, a smug smile on his face as she walked through the door and took him in.
“Lady Elizabeth,” he said, standing. He placed his cup of tea on the table in the middle of the room and walked toward her, stopping in front of her and taking one of her hands in his. He lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it, and Elizabeth’s cheeks warmed as she remembered where else his lips had recently been.
She quickly regained her composure, hoping her grandmother hadn’t noticed the brief lack of it, though Gabriel was already looking at her knowingly. When she glanced up at him, he held her gaze for but a moment before he slowly, subtly winked at her.
Had he not heard anything she had said to him last night? Of course more likely, knowing him, he had completely disregarded her words, instead, simply doing as he pleased.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to assess just what he was up to this time, but he quickly released her hand and returned to his seat, picking up his small teacup as he went. The fact that he, a big, broad-chested male, looked so at ease sitting in the dainty chair with a tiny cup of tea in his hand was not lost on her. Was there anywhere he didn’t look as though he naturally belonged?
“Well,” Justine said, looking back and forth between the two of them, clearly sensing the tension now thick in the air. “I suppose I will leave the two of you. The door will stay open just a crack so that no can ever suggest that I was anything but a proper chaperone.”
Elizabeth did laugh slightly at those words, for her grandmother was far from a chaperone, nor had she ever any intentions to be one. But it did help to maintain appearances, though with whom, Elizabeth had no idea. When the door shut nearly all the way, leaving the two of them alone, Elizabeth rounded on Gabriel, who had made himself quite comfortable, crossing one leg over the other as he reclined in the chair.
Elizabeth’s grandfather had rarely frequented this drawing room, and so her grandmother had decorated it as she chose. The walls were a pale gold, the curtains cream, and some of the accents—including the chair upon which Gabriel sat—were a decidedly pinkish color.
Not that it seemed to bother Gabriel.
“What are you doing here?” she asked pointedly, remaining standing herself so he would know that she was expecting him to be leaving shortly.
“I told you I would be coming,” he responded, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Yes, you did, but that was before…”
“Before we made love?”
Elizabeth didn’t think her cheeks had ever before flamed so hot. She cleared her throat. “Before I explained to you why I felt it was best that we didn’t see one another anymore.”
“Elizabeth,” he said, drawing out the syllables of her name in a way that made the hairs on her arms stand on end and a tingle begin in the center of her belly. “I told you I was going to call on you and call on you I have. Yes, I did hear you when you told me you no longer wanted to see me. However, that was not how we left things between one another. If anything has changed between us, last night would only have brought us closer together, would it have not?”
Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and began to pace across the room, unable to bring herself to sit down.
“Gabriel, before… before anything happened, I told you how I felt, what my thoughts were regarding our relationship with one another. You heard them, did you not?”
“I heard them,” he said, his face unreadable. “However, I have never taken you for the type of woman who would be with a man to whom she wasn’t… committed.”
Elizabeth couldn’t meet his eyes. Somehow in the sober light of day, all that had transpired between them seemed almost like a dream, and she could hardly believe it had occurred. Now she had difficulty even speaking of it. Whereas Gabriel… Gabriel didn’t seem to have a problem with anything. It seemed as though everything came easily to him, for there was nothing with which he struggled.
“I am also not the type of woman to say things of importance if I do not mean them,” she said, stopping and turning on her heel to look at him.
Gabriel finally stood and slowly sauntered across the room. He had a nearly predatory look in his eye, and with every step he took, Elizabeth took one away from him in equal measure, until her back came flush against the wall and she jumped, startled. A satisfied grin came over Gabriel’s face as his step never faltered, and when he was but inches from her, he leaned over her, one arm stretched out above her, his hand on the wall, trapping her in front of him.
Elizabeth’s heart pounded, but not with fear—oh, no, it was with anticipation, despite the fact she had vowed this would never happen again.
He lifted his other hand to cup her cheek, and he stroked her skin with his thumb.
“Elizabeth,” he repeated, his face inches from hers, though he made no move to kiss her nor come any closer. “You have reservations, sure. I understand them. I gave you reasons to distrust me in the past. You have responsibilities now. No one is aware of all of this better than I. But,” he slid his finger down to rest under her chin and tilted her face up so that she had no choice but to look into his deep blue eyes, where she was afraid she would become lost. “Can you truly tell me that you have ever felt anything close for another man to what you feel for me? For I can honestly say that never before have I met another person—man or woman—with whom I enjoy conversing with so much, for in you I have met my match. Your sensuality, although hidden, is incomparable to any I have ever encountered before. In short, Elizabeth, you fit my every need, and I cannot imagine a life with anyone else.”
Elizabeth swallowed hard. He was correct in everything he said. She had never felt for ano
ther man what she felt for him, and he was as cooly intelligent and as hotly passionate as she could ever ask for in a man. Yet, while he had asked her of her feelings toward him, he had said nothing about what was in his heart, what he actually felt for her. Did he love her? Could he love her?
And with his words, he certainly couldn’t mean—but then a hard, determined look flashed in his eyes as his jaw tightened, and she realized that yes, he clearly did.
He pushed back from the wall, took her hand in his, and sank down to his knee in front of her. Elizabeth wanted to pull him up, to put a finger to his lips, to tell him not to say the words, but she found she was stunned into shocked silence. She could only stand there mutely looking down at him, like a deer who had sighted a torch.
“Be my wife, Elizabeth,” he said, his voice more demanding than pleading, for he was a man for whom nothing was ever denied. “Marry me, have my children, be my duchess.”
Elizabeth remained frozen. Say something, a voice in the back of her mind urged. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed her eyes, gathered her thoughts, parted her lips and tried again, but still, no words came.
“I believe the appropriate response is, ‘yes,’” Gabriel said, clearly not pleased at having remained bent upon the floor for so long.
Elizabeth tugged at his hands, and a dark look crossed his face as he rose, though he kept a tight grip on her fingers.
“I know that, Gabriel, and I want to say yes, truly I do,” she said, her heart at war with her mind.
“But?” he asked, releasing her hands now, and she felt bereft without his touch upon her. “I simply do not understand what could be holding you back.”
“The reasons I gave you to keep distance between one another—they still stand,” she said, hearing the desperation in her tone, and she vowed to keep such emotion from it for the remainder of the conversation. “If I marry you, I will give up everything that’s important to me—except you. Your life would be nearly unchanged. You could participate in the same activities, attend the same clubs, keep the same hours. All that would be different is that you would not only hold your own fortune but mine as well.”
Regency Scandals and Scoundrels Collection Page 109
