He reached for her hand, enfolding it in his larger one. “You came,” he breathed, as though he had doubted.
“Always,” Eden replied, squeezing his fingers.
They walked in silence at first, the cool night air fragrant with lavender and roses. Eden welcomed the quiet, letting it wrap around them like a balm. Part of her wished the hush could last forever, allowing her to walk beside him without fear, without questions, just the comfort of his nearness and the serenity of a world temporarily suspended. The gardens were untamed, a vibrant contrast to Thornton Hall’s manicured symmetry, alive with unruly hedges, fragrant blooms, and hidden corners that seemed to breathe with secrets. Eden preferred them that way—untamed, honest, and full of unexpected beauty.
Gabriel led her to a secluded alcove where a marble fountain trickled softly into a mossy basin. The scent of blooming flowers mingled with the earthy tang of damp stone, and a faint breeze rustled through the ivy clinging to the garden wall. The soft chirp of crickets mingled with the trickle of the fountain and rustle of leaves. The stars overhead blinked into view, and a crescent moon bathed the scene in silver light.
He turned to face her, shadows softening his features, and cupped her face in his hands. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known,” he said hoarsely.
Eden’s heart ached with the depth of her love for him. She rose on tiptoe, brushing her lips against his in a kiss that was tender, tentative—a question and a plea.
Gabriel answered with a groan, pulling her against him. His mouth slanted over hers with growing hunger, his hands sliding from her cheeks to her waist, her hips. Eden clung to him, her fingers threading through his hair, her senses overwhelmed by his nearness.
When he lifted his head, they were both breathless.
“Gabriel,” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “Do not hold back tonight. Please.”
His eyes searched hers, fierce with longing and fear. “I do not want to hurt you. To dishonor you.”
“You will not,” she promised.
Gabriel hesitated only a moment longer before capturing her mouth in another kiss, this one deeper, more urgent. His hands slid down her back, finding the ties of her pelisse and loosening them with careful fingers. Eden’s hands explored him, tracing the breadth of his shoulders, the strength in his arms.
He shrugged off his coat and waistcoat, leaving them in a heap on the ground, and pulled Eden closer still, feeling the rapid beat of her heart against his chest.
They sank together onto the soft grass beside the fountain, the night air cool against flushed skin. Gabriel kissed her with a reverence that made Eden’s heart swell, his hands moving with exquisite gentleness as he bared her shoulder, his lips following the curve of her collarbone.
She gasped at the sensations he awakened in her, awe blooming alongside a fragile sense of vulnerability that fluttered through her chest. In his arms, she felt both utterly exposed and profoundly safe, as though his touch reached places no one else had dared to see. Overwhelmed, she threaded her fingers into his hair, grounding herself in the moment with a gesture that spoke of wonder, need, and trust.
Gabriel paused, lifting his head to search her face for any sign of hesitation. Finding none, he murmured her name against her skin. A prayer and a promise.
Their lovemaking was more than Eden could ever have imagined. Their bodies moved in a slow, aching rhythm at first—fingers trailing, breaths mingling, lips brushing in reverence. Each touch was deliberate, a gentle exploration that left Eden trembling beneath the weight of emotion swelling inside her. Gabriel whispered her name, his voice husky with wonder, and she answered with a sigh that curled around the silence between them.
But then the tide shifted.
A hunger, long restrained, surged between them. Urgent, consuming. Eden gasped as his hands gripped her hips, grounding her even as she felt herself splintering apart beneath the rising storm of sensation. Her nails scored his back, her body arching to meet his, the raw, beautiful force of their union drawing a cry from her lips. She was no longer merely touched. She was completely undone. Reshaped by the heat of him. Claimed and claiming in return. Her heart thundered as though it could echo through time.
It was not just passion. It was history rewritten with every breath—an echo of their first stolen glance beneath the rose arbor, when longing had sparked into something undeniable. A binding. A surrender. A reckoning.
His mouth found hers in a kiss that scorched and soothed, wild and reverent all at once. And Eden knew deep in her soul this was no fleeting night. It was a promise inked in sweat and starlight. A future written in skin and soul.
She saw it then, clear as a dream. Not just waltzes and whispered flirtations, but stolen glances across candlelit rooms. Laughter threading through the quiet of shared mornings. Dreams shaped together in the hush between midnight and dawn. And children wild with mischief, stubborn as she was, bright-eyed like their father.
Afterward, they lay tangled in each other’s limbs, the hush of the world around them broken only by the soft murmur of the nearby fountain. Eden nestled her cheek against Gabriel’s chest, the warmth of his skin beneath her palm, and listened.
His heartbeat, steady and strong, was the most beautiful sound she had ever known.
He pressed a kiss to her hair, his voice a husky whisper. “You are my heart, Eden. My soul.”
She smiled against his skin. “And you are mine.”
They lay there until the chill of night forced them to rise, reluctantly dressing and stealing back into the shadows. Their goodbyes were whispered promises and lingering kisses, each knowing that what they had shared could never be undone.
As Eden slipped back into Thornton Hall, her heart sang with a fierce, defiant joy.
No matter what trials lay in wait, no matter the judgment of society, or the wrath of her brother, she knew one thing with absolute certainty. She and Gabriel were bound. Not just by passion, but by a devotion forged in secrecy and strengthened with every choice they made together. She would face every consequence, every storm, with the courage their love demanded of her. A love that no force could ever tear apart.
Eleven
