There is no time, Mary dear. Keep your lustful thoughts buried deep until you have more time.
She doctored him in as detached a manner as she could manage, but for the odd hiss of breath at a particularly bad amount of bruising.
“How does it feel?” she asked as she finished cleaning the last of his wounds with a wet cloth.
“Fine.” The deep cadence of his voice sent a quiver through her.
Detached, Mary. Do not allow his stunningly beautiful male body distract you from your purpose. Escape the traitors and return to London.
Mary finished binding his body with torn strips of clean linen she requested of the innkeep.
“That will do nicely.” She turned her gaze up to his face and was arrested by the sight.
His no-longer-swollen but scabbed and badly bruised face was dark with the heat of desire. She had seen that expression on his face in the evening yesterday and twice through the night. He wanted her.
Her body heated in response to his lust, a quivering anticipation bubbling through her, spreading its way through her body until it settled at the heart of her feminine place. Her breasts grew heavy within the confines of her dress.
Mary licked her suddenly dry lips and his gaze dropped to watch.
His muscles twitched as he moved to take her in his arms, but another knock at the door halted him.
Gabe cursed soundly as he began dressing himself.
Placing a hand over her thundering heart, Mary moved to stand behind the door. “Yes?” She called.
“It’s Richie, missus. Me master said t’ tell ye when we was done hookin’ up the hack n’ t’ see if’n ye were ready t’ go.”
She turned to glance back at Gabe, who stood already nearly fully dressed, then turned to call through the door, “Thank you, Richie. We will be down directly.”
She listened for Richie’s retreating footsteps then moved to retrieve her trunks.
Gabe left his cravat untied and ran his fingers through his hair before placing a dark hat atop his head. “Are ye ready?”
* * *
The dim rays of sun shone through the hackney’s window, lending a soft glow to the dingy interior. The sounds of the horses’ hooves thundered along the narrow, wet road and the ill-sprung wheels jostled the hack’s inhabitants. Rain pounded the roof as they drove, echoing the deafening din of Gabe’s hammering heart.
An involuntary groan escaped him for the hundredth time.Why?What the devil had possessed him to sitbesideMary when a perfectly acceptable seat was across from them? Her alluring body brushed against him with every movement of the carriage. Two damned hours he had been sitting in this hack, filled with want for the alluring woman.
He was teeming with lust, rampant with a burning, aching, urgent, smoldering desire. It was driving him mad.
Damn. Her scent filled the hack. The flowery, hypnotic aroma made him wish that he could lick it from every inch of her body.
His palms and forehead were damp with sweat, his cock was straining against the falls of his breeches and his entire body was tense. Gabe closed his eyes and allowed a litany of blasphemes to flow through his mind.
He loved her, damn it. He could not risk her safety by continuing on with her, by fogging his mind with emotion, thus endangering both of them. But by God he would do anything to have her again. And again. And again…
Another groan escaped him and his eyes snapped open as he shifted in his seat.
Mary turned her gaze on him from her view out the window and released a short, arousing gasp.
“Gabe!” She touched her small cool hand to his forehead, the contact sending a shock of awareness through him. “You’ve a fever!” She worried her bottom lip. “Oh, Gabe, perhaps we had better stop at the next inn and have another look at—”
“No!”
Her eyes widened in shock at his harsh tone.
“I apologize, Mary. We donnae have time te—”
