Gabe stood, frozen. Mary’s question hung in the air between them, her expression one of wonder. She could not possibly be asking what he thought she was asking.
“What what feels like?” Gabe whispered.
Mary’s eyes widened. “Good heavens, did I ask that aloud?”
She was not… She couldn’t possibly be… Gabe’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You did.”
“Well.” She waved a hand through the air in apparent unconcern. “I don’t know what possessed me to say it. Think no more on it.”
Mary flounced down the hall, but Gabe remained still, his feet entirely immobile.
She had come markedly easily, but then, so had he. Her attentions to him had been well practiced, as he had expected. But thinking on it, Mary’s reaction to his ministrations had been untutored and noticeably inexperienced.
Could Mary be a maiden?
Just as quickly as the notion had entered his mind, he dismissed it with a silent scoff. In all the years of Mary’s service to the crown, it was impossible for her to never have made love to a man. She was a beautiful woman and was proficient in the ways of pleasuring men; some bloke must have taken her to bed long ago. Her innocence was undoubtedly all but a clever act to entice lovers.
He could not help the sudden, fierce frown that creased his forehead, nor the speeding, angry tempo of his pulse. Curst bizarre and entirely unwanted emotions.
Mary was entitled to bed whomever she chose. But Gabe would make certain that he would be the next. Brief, and perhaps flippant, as their tryst had been, Gabe most certainly wished to continue in their physical association. He had never felt such remarkable pleasures as he had with Mary. And as green as she seemed in the ways of her own gratification…
Gabe’s eyes widened as sudden anticipation leapt to his breast. Good God, why had he not realized it before? Mary had unquestionably had past lovers, but what of her own completion? Could every cad before him never thought to reciprocate the gift of orgasm? Had they all taken what they liked of her and never taught her the delights of her own body? Could he be the first man to ever give her such satisfaction?
He hoped he was. In fact, he was almost certain that he was.
The thought sent a burst of absurdly optimistic pride through him. And God help him, but it got him half hard again just thinking of teaching her all the ways her body could delight her.
Suddenly very aware that he was still standing in the middle of the dim corridor, already half aroused again, Gabe decided it would be prudent of him to make himself scarce.
With a grin on his lips and eagerness in his heart, he made his way through the shadowed, eerie halls and returned to his guest bedchamber, the oddly spooky nature of the house not dampening his mood one jot.
* * *
The door stood closed, but Gabe let himself in. Mary sat writing at their bedchamber’s desk, her gaze shooting up in alarm when he entered.
“Oh!” she gasped. She had lit a taper and placed it beside the ink blotter on the table. Firelight flickered dimly over the room, the candle upon the desk giving a warm light to Mary’s flushed cheeks.
He grinned, locking the door behind himself. “I did not mean to startle you.”
She returned his grin with a shy smile then bowed her head once more over a sheet of parchment. “Not startled,” she mumbled. “I’m simply glad that I have not been caught being naughty.”
Gabe’s brow creased. “Naughty?” He strode toward her. “Whatever are you doing?”
“Forging those documents while they are still fresh in my memory.”
Gabe nodded, “Ah.”
He removed his coat and draped it over the back of a chair.
“Tell me, Gabe…” she started, her head still bent over her task. “How will we replace these documents? It is far too late tonight to make an escape before others are awake, and the traitors will be watching you.”
“Yes,” Gabe scrunched his face as he considered their options. “Our best choice is to replace them on the morrow. If you will distract the others, I will replace them.”
Mary nodded. “Very well.”
Gabe cleared his throat. “I should probably inform you that I promised your…er…charms to Boxton and Reddington for tomorrow evening.”
Her head snapped up. “I beg your pardon?”
“They came to the room while you were sleeping and I—having thought that we would have made our escape this evening—believed the best way to be rid of them would be to relent and promise them a ‘private performance’ tomorrow evening.” He cringed. “I’m sorry, Mary. I—”
She shook her head. “Please do not fret. If we are fortunate—and I believe we are—we will have quitted Kerr House before they seek me out.”
She gave him a quick smile before she bent her head over her work once more.
His thoughts wandered back to their interlude in the linen closet and a slow grin grew on his lips. Mary; so experienced, yet so innocent in the knowledge of her own body.
He glanced at the clock on the mantle. They had several hours before they were expected to appear at the morning meal. He could have her here. Now. She was amenable enough to his attentions in the closet, she would likely be most receptive to the many delights he could bring her in a bed.
His grin grew and his breath came fast. He wanted her. God how he wanted her!
But first he would tease her…
“Mary?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Mmm?”
“Why did you—”
“Oh!” Her head snapped up once more. She dropped her quill on the table next to the ink. “I must tell you, before I forget once more.”
A clever evasion. “What is it, Mary?”
“Lady Kerr called on me earlier this evening, as I prepared for my performance. She—”
“Are you finished?” Gabe interrupted.
A frown crossed her brow. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your forgeries. Are you finished?”
“Er—yes.” She clucked her tongue. “You’re not listening, Gabe. She arrived unannounced, unwelcomed, and…in the middle of my bath.”
Gabe shrugged one shoulder as he leaned one hip against the table. “Surely she left directly the moment she learned of her error?”
“Actually, no. Lady Kerr questioned me on my association with you and then—”
“Ah, yes,” he interrupted, a haughty tilt to his chin. “I see. The lady sought your blessing for a romantic interlude with me, and—”
Mary clucked her tongue. “No, you arrogant arse, she—”
Swift as a thief, Gabe swept down to steal her lips in a kiss. Hard, rough, and passionate.
His heart beat wildly in his chest as other parts of him prepared for what would be most unquestionably a memorably gratifying experience.
* * *
Mary’s body awakened with the memory of pleasures recently discovered, while her mind raced.
Gabe. Kissing her! Again! Oh heavenly day! Her stomach fluttered with renewed arousal, her already satisfied feminine flesh throbbing with the desire to find fulfillment once more. She squeezed her thighs together in an attempt to ease the passionate ache. She groaned. The motion only intensified her wanton desire.
She explored his mouth, running her tongue along his teeth and over his responding tongue. It was the very same mouth that had so pleasured her breasts scarce minutes ago and the memory of his intimate touches sent her lust ever higher.
Mary knew what he wanted; they were in their guest bedchamber, alone, with their tongues intertwined. It was plainly obvious.
Gabe wanted her. In his bed and surrounding his body. Tonight. Now.
If she never had another opportunity to make love to Gabe she would deeply regret not having him now. He would always be her first. It was fitting in a tragically poetic sort of way. He had been her first friend, her first love, her first kiss, and now her first lover, in the true sense of the word.
Gabe wrapped his hands around her upper arms and pulled her from her seat to stand flush against him. His arousal pressed firmly into the softness of her stomach and heat washed over her body, the molten lust sending liquid desire to her feminine core.
Her hands worked nimbly with the buttons of his waistcoat, the nervousness that she had felt before their previous encounter was gone, replaced by simple, human need. She needed to have him within her, filling her. He must be just as eager, for he pulled roughly at the buttons on her bodice.
Their mouths locked in a wickedly passionate kiss as they undressed each other. First Gabriel’s waistcoat and cravat, then his shirt. Mary nearly sighed with relief as his torso was exposed, one corded muscle at a time. Goodness, but he was a finely sculpted man! Rubbing her hands over his muscled chest and rippling stomach, Mary revelled in the sheer masculinity of him. She had burned to do this when she had seen him half nude this morning, and she would certainly not squander this opportunity now.
Pulling her lips from his, Mary half bent to boldly lick the deep crevice up the centre of his torso.
Gabe hissed a breath and she moved to scrape her tongue over his flat male nipples. “Ye tease me something fierce, leannan.”
Mary would have grinned if her blood hadn’t been pounding in her ears so. This man did something remarkable to her body. With hands and tongue she explored the contours of his chest.
“I cannae take it any longer,” Gabe growled.
With a deep groan, he nimbly pulled at her black bombazine sneak-work costume, effectively leaving her only in her night rail.
“I have seen ye in this nightwear too many nights in a row…” Gabe said between kisses, his practiced accent slipping, “and evera night I have thought of taking it off ye.”
“Have you?” Mary breathed.
“Aye, damn it. Aye!”
His lips caught hers in a fervent, if not entirely sensual, kiss. She opened her mouth willingly under his as he gripped the low neckline of her night rail and ripped. The loud rent echoed off the walls of their guest bedchamber, mingling with Mary’s loud gasp as her mouth broke from his.
Her breath caught as she saw his hungry gaze. She shook her now-ruined nightclothes from her shoulders to join her dress on the floor. She stood, nude, before him, allowing him to eat up every inch of her with his gaze.
Gabe’s breath came faster, his chest expanding greatly with each gravelly huff. “Ye’re… God, Mary!”
His mouth crushed hers, his kiss deep and rough.
Gabe wrapped his arms tightly around Mary and he lifted, carrying her effortlessly to the bed and depositing her atop the dishevelled bedclothes, before eagerly unfastening the buttons of his black trousers. His gaze never left her body as he freed himself, shucking his trousers and kicking them away. Mary’s gaze, however, was entirely consumed with his jutting manhood. Good heavens! Is that what she had held in her hand? It was positively stunning. As odd-looking as the male appendage was, on Gabriel it was…beautiful.
Her gaze was locked on him as he leapt atop the bed and positioned himself above her. His hand grazed her hip and her waist, sliding further to rest upon her breast. Her skin heated beneath his scorching touch, but she exulted in his reverential attentions.
“I ken ye experienced yer first orgasm this verra evening, lass…” his voice was rough as gravel.
Mary’s eyes widened in shock. How could he have known that? Oh, yes, of course. Her blunder. She opened her mouth to reply, but Gabe flicked his tongue over her hardened nipple. Her jaw dropped open on a gasp, her eyes drifting dreamily closed.
“Ye will reach many more, if I have anything te say about it.”
His teeth gently abraded her and she hissed a breath.
He lowered himself to her—his tough, male skin rubbing intimately against hers—and she wrapped her arms around him, the feeling of his warmth so deliciously intimate. The sensation was electric, enticing, and dangerously addicting. She slid her hands up his back toward his shoulders, then down again until she cupped his rear, eliciting a rough, quavering gasp from him.
Then she felt it. The tip of his manhood prodding at her opening. She spread her thighs to give him better access, with nary a hint of feminine alarm at her first coupling.
He groaned long and deep as he pushed further, the thickness of him widening her opening nearly unbearably. The dampness of her womanly folds allowed him easy passage as he pressed ever further.
“God, Mary, ye feel so—”
He halted, tensed. His face, first expressionless, suddenly wreathed in horror.
Concern touched her heart. “Gabe?”
He stared, unblinking, at the pillow beneath her head, his face contorted with disgust. “I have made a grievous mistake,” he said, his English accent perfectly in place once more.
He withdrew from her body, but Mary grabbed desperately for his shoulders.
“No! No, Gabe! You must tell me what is the matter. What have I done to displease you?”
He freed himself from her grip, his expression cool and remote. Stepping down from the bed, Gabe retrieved his trousers and jerked them back on.
“You have done nothing wrong. My apologies, Mary, but I…I cannot…” He shook his head then retreated behind the privacy screen.
Mary sat up on the bed, the frigid fingers of painful rejection clawing at her. Her body still ached with need, the painful reminder of his rejection throbbing in her mons.
She could hear Gabe performing his ablutions on the other side of the screen, and shame washed over her. Had she not been enough for him? Had she not lived up to his expectations? Had she done something? Said something? Lord, she didn’t know.
With a glance toward his hiding spot, Mary hurried to the chest of drawers to retrieve another night rail and quickly put it on. As confident as she was in her own skin, Gabe’s reaction to her made her feel not just humiliation and hurt, but distinctly…undesirable.
She ran silently on the pads of her feet back to the bed and wrapped herself beneath the coverlet.
Her stomach knotted sickeningly as his expression flashed through her mind’s eye. How could she have been so foolish as to think that Gabe wanted her?
The sting of embarrassing tears burned behind her eyes and she cursed herself for her weakness. The dim light from the coals now scarcely lit the room, and through Mary’s watering gaze, the entire room wavered.
She had known he would hurt her again, yet she had fallen for his charms regardless of that knowledge.
Fool! She swiped inelegantly at her damp eyes with the back of her hand.
Curse Gabriel Ashley anyway.