A Gentleman Never Tells (25 page)

Slowly, her strength returned.

Gabrielle lifted her head. After a long intake of breath that ended on a shaky sigh, she noticed the fire burned low, giving peaceful warmth and a golden glow to the afternoon shadows that filtered through the windowpanes. She caught Brent’s expression and saw he was filled with pain, too, and in that moment she knew he needed to be in her arms as much as she needed to be in his. All the emotions swirling around inside her were impossible to fathom, so she didn’t try. She didn’t know why, but in her grief she wanted this intimate contact with Brent. For some reason, she had a strong desire to feel alive.

Gabrielle touched the injured corner of his mouth where Godfrey had hit him. It was the third time his lip had been cut in that spot since she’d known him. “Does it hurt?”

“Like hell,” he said with a lopsided grin. “But I can take it.”

“Good.” She smiled and then whispered, “Kiss me.”

Brent looked down into her eyes as he brushed her hair away from her face. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, even though I locked the door when I came in.”

“No one will bother us.” Gabrielle pleaded again, “Kiss me, Brent.”

He slid a hand to the back of her neck and cupped it. “Don’t ask this of me, Gabrie. You’ve been through a lot today. This is not the time for me to be showing you how much I want you.”

She moistened her lips and swallowed hard. “But don’t you understand, Brent? I need you right now. I desperately need your strength and your touch.”

“Damnation!” he whispered and covered her mouth with his. His kiss was fierce but much too short.

She wound her arms around his neck as his lips found hers and moved tenderly over them. He cupped each side of her face with his hands and kissed her nose, her cheeks, and her closed eyelids. He kissed her lips again and again before letting his burn a trail down the slender column of her throat and back to her face. She entwined her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, lifting her chest up to his and drawing strength from the passion he gave.

Their tongues swirled in each other’s mouths as their bodies strained to get closer. Without really knowing why, she started pulling the tail of his damp shirt from the waistband of his trousers. All she knew was she wanted to feel his skin beneath her hands.

“Yes,” she heard Brent murmur into her mouth as her fingers found the warmth of his body. She splayed her hands and shot them up the length of his gloriously muscular back. She loved the power she felt in his firm, broad shoulders.

Their kiss deepened and turned desperate as he captured her lips with his again. His tongue explored inside her mouth with eager yet soothing strokes. Brent’s hands moved up her rib cage to fondle her breasts. His fingers searched for and found her nipples hidden beneath the layers of her clothing. At his touch, they puckered and rose. Ripples of desire tightened across her breasts and shot pleasure down her body to settle into her most womanly part.

Gabrielle moaned softly.

A few moments later, his lips left hers. Brent’s hands stilled. He sighed and let his forehead lean against hers as he fought to control his labored breathing.

“This is going way too far, Gabrie,” he mumbled. “I’m not such a beast as to be so insensitive as to take advantage of you at a time like this.”

Her heart lurched with love, with wanting. He had always been a gentleman with her, and she shouldn’t expect any less of him now.

“You aren’t,” she whispered earnestly. “Earlier today you told me you were giving me the freedom to choose whom I wanted. And I’ve known for some time now I want you.”

“Don’t tease me. You have been doing your best to make me walk away from you for weeks now.”

“I know, but that was because I’ve always been ashamed of how forward I was that morning we met, ashamed you were humiliated and treated like a common footpad, ashamed my father forced you to say you would marry me. You deserved your freedom as much as I wanted mine.”

“None of those things mattered to me. They never did, because the harder you tried to push me away, the more I was determined you would be mine. Don’t you know the reason you couldn’t get rid of me is because I’ve fallen irrevocably in love with you? And because I love you so much, I had to give you the one thing you wanted from me, your freedom to choose whom you wanted to marry.”

Gabrielle gasped.

Had he said he had fallen in love with her?

Yes! He loves me!

Her love for him, knowing he loved her, welled up inside her. Gabrielle felt as if her heart burst open like spring’s first rose. She loved him for never getting angry with her for all the ridiculous things she put him through. She loved him for helping her with Brutus and never once complaining. She loved him for telling her he wasn’t going to force her to marry him.

“If I am free to choose, I choose you. I love you, my lord, and I want only you. Don’t deny me the comfort of your love right now, Brent.”

“Gabrielle, this is not the time to tempt a desperate man. Do you really want to be mine for the rest of your life? There will be no going back if we go further right now.”

She smiled. “I love you, Brent. Make me yours.”

She slid her hands back under his shirt and moved them up his rippled ribs, brushing over his smooth, tiny nipples. She heard Brent’s hissing intake of breath, as if she caused him pain, and stilled her hands.

“Does that hurt too?” she asked.

“No, my lady, but it is torture for sure. If you want to touch me, please touch me wherever you wish.” He quickly untied his neckcloth, wound it from around his neck, and slung it away. He yanked the rest of his shirt out of his trousers and pulled it over his head, sending it the way of the neckcloth.

Gabrielle’s breaths quickened at the sight of his strong chest. Firm muscles filled out his skin. A patch of light brown hair showed low on his stomach just above the waistband of his trousers. She looked at his broad shoulders with awe and touched him again.

She smiled at him. “You are magnificent.”

He chuckled softly, and she gazed into his warm brown eyes, enjoying the delight she saw in their depths.

He reached over and covered her mouth in a brief but passionate kiss. “You must play fair, Lady Gabrielle. I must look at you, too.”

She turned her back to him. He kissed her nape and across her shoulders as he quickly made short work of unlacing her bodice. His lips on her back sent chills of pleasure skipping along her spine. She faced him and helped him slide the long velvet sleeves off her shoulders, down her arms, leaving the fabric to puddle around her waist. They did the same with her sleeveless shift.

“We don’t have enough time for me to completely undress you. I want to give you lingering kisses, loving touches, and sweet words, but your aunt will be—”

Gabrielle stopped him by putting her finger to his lips. “I know. Just kiss me, touch me, and whisper to me. Show me what it is I’ve been wanting since I first saw you standing in the mist.”

“With pleasure,” he whispered. He gently reached into her stays and lifted first one breast and then the other out of the fabric, letting them billow above the undergarment. A tremor of expectancy shivered through her as he looked at her with appreciation in his gaze.

“You are beautiful,” he said huskily, letting his fingertips glide easily from one side of her chest to the other, from the gentle swell of one breast to the other, and down to her very sensitive nipples. “Your skin is smoother than silk or satin.”

“Thank you,” she whispered and gasped as he bent his head and kissed the hollow of her throat, teasing her skin with his tongue. He palmed both breasts and lightly squeezed them, filling her with wonderment.

Her head fell back and her chest arched forward. He kissed her shoulders, her neck, and her chest before finally letting his mouth cover her breast. She sighed contentedly, knowing she had wanted him to share this intimacy with her. His tongue circled her nipple, bathed it, and then gently drew it fully into his mouth. Gabrielle felt the most wonderful sensation bloom and blossom inside her, and her senses reeled in delight.

“Mmm,” he mumbled. “I love the scent and taste of your rain-washed skin.”

Her breasts tightened and her abdomen quivered with anticipation. Tremors and shivers tingled along her spine again, down her abdomen to settle and gather between her legs. She wound her arms around his neck and head, hugging him to her, and gave herself up to the exquisite feeling he was giving her.

“I never knew I could feel this way,” she whispered.

He raised his head and sought her lips. “Just wait,” he breathed into her mouth. “There’s more, so much more. I wish I had the time to show you all I want to, my darling.”

He gently laid her on her back on the softness of the rug. He stretched his warm body beside her. He rose on his elbow and let his gaze drink her in. He looked into her eyes for a long moment before his gaze drifted down her face and lingered over her breasts before sweeping back up to her eyes again.

“There’s still time to say no. We can wait until we are married.”

She smiled as she reached up and ran her hand across his muscular chest. “I don’t want to say no. Just kiss me, my love.”

And he did.

Brent rose over her and seared his lips to hers. He propped himself up with one hand while the other slowly inched her skirt and shift up her legs, bunching the cloth around her waist. He found the waistband of her drawers, and on instinct she lifted her hips and helped him slide the garment to her feet to kick away. Suddenly his hand found the warm spot between her legs and he cupped her.

Startled, she jerked.

He stopped kissing her and gazed down into her eyes. “Do you want me to stop?”

This was the man she loved and wanted to marry. She touched his cheek with her fingertips. “No.” In answer, she lifted her hips and pressed into his hand. “I don’t know what you are doing to me, but I don’t want you to stop.”

“It might hurt the first time,” he said as his hand and fingers continued to fondle her, stroke, soothe, and excite her all at the same time.

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and nodded, but wondered how such heavenly sensations could turn into pain. “I’ve heard that.”

“And you’re sure you want to go forward?”

“Have no worries on that, my love.”

Brent smiled and lowered his head and caught the rosy tip of her breast into his mouth. With his tongue, he sampled her heated skin over and over again, and she delighted in every touch and each new and building sensation.

Her hands roved over his back, his shoulders, down his buttocks, and back up again. She eased her hands around to his chest, to his nipples again, where she teased them by raking her thumb across them. She explored his narrow hips and firm, rounded buttocks. With eagerness, she then moved her hands down to the front of his trousers and was amazed by the hardness she felt beneath them.

Brent murmured his delight. “I love the feel of your hands on me,” he whispered. “Unbutton my trousers. Slide them off my hips.”

She slipped the garment past his lean, warm hips.

Gabrielle smiled and gave herself up to the worshipful way he caressed her, kissed her, and treated her. She savored every sensation, every tender caress. The gentle, gliding movements of his hand on her body thrilled her, and she never wanted him to stop. Suddenly, Gabrielle gasped and arched into his hand with a jerking motion. She buried her face into his shoulder as waves of explosive sensations tore through her with gripping speed before fading into pleasant, languid ripples.

“Brent.” She whispered his name softly before collapsing back down onto the rug with no breath left in her lungs, no strength in her muscles.

With no time to catch a breath, Brent settled his body over the length of her as his mouth covered hers. His lips were moist, hot, and demanding. He kissed her deeply, roughly, crushing her body and her lips beneath his. With his knees, he opened her legs and then pushed inside her.

Gabrielle jerked and gasped loudly, not expecting such sharp pain. She trembled and twisted beneath him.

“It’s all right,” he whispered against her lips. “Remember, you knew it might hurt the first time.” He kissed her gently and moved slowly. “Stay with me, Gabrie, and it will get better. I promise.”

And it did.

He made love to her with gentleness that overwhelmed her. His movements were slow, sensual, and reverent. He kissed her, stroked her body, and moved so gently on top of her that, before she knew what was happening, she once again gave herself over to an indescribable pleasure that kept mounting between her legs.

She joined the hungry rhythm of his hips meeting hers, his body moving in and out of her with long, sure strokes that grew stronger, fuller, with delicious sensations, until she stopped and cried out, breathless with exquisite gratification.

She heard Brent’s breath quicken, felt him tremble, and she gloried in pleasing him in this way. Brent covered her mouth with his in a bruising kiss. As her body shuddered, he slid his arms under her back and cupped her to him.

He lay still and heavy upon her, breathing deeply. Her hands made a slow trail over his back, down to his buttocks and up to his shoulders again. She wanted to hold him forever in this moment but knew she couldn’t.

Gabrielle was the first to stir. “I’ve never felt such extraordinary feelings,” she said on a contented sigh. “It was so much more than I expected.”

“For me, too, my love,” he answered. “And all I can think right now is I want to enjoy the same feelings over and over again. But we can’t. Your aunt and sister will return soon.”

She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I know.”

He rose on his elbows and looked down into her eyes. “Are you all right with what we did, Gabrie?”

She smiled. “I’m very much all right.”

He nodded and rolled away from her and started straightening his clothing. Gabrielle sat up and started the task of tidying her clothes as well. They worked quietly until he saw her trying to tighten the lacing at the back of her bodice and he said, “Let me do that.”