She held his gaze. “And you exude a power that draws me like the earth’s magnetic pull.”
He looked at her mouth. “Then what chance have we but to collide?”
He was on her in a heartbeat, kissing her open-mouthed, the woman he’d watched, wanted, and never meant to touch. Her lips were Spring itself, stirring what lay dormant, reminding him he was flesh and blood, every inch a virile man.
So much for being the tutor and this her lesson. Any hope of mastering his desire vanished when she twined her arms around his neck, arched into him and moaned into his mouth.
She wanted him.
And by God, he burned for her with equal madness. He needed her under him, against him, anywhere he could feel her.
The thought should have sobered him. So why the hell was he dragging his hands down her back, clutching her bottom, crushing her body to his? He needed her heat, her breath, the slick slide of her mouth beneath his. He craved the friction, the exquisite tension coiling between them. Hewanted to see pleasure flare in her eyes, hear her whisper his name like a prayer.
Olivia, tell me to stop.
Damnation, say it now!
The plea echoed in his mind, but she didn’t say stop. She tangled her fingers in his hair, tugging hard as she deepened the kiss, her need so fierce they stumbled into the door.
A guttural growl tore from his throat as he fought to ignore the throbbing ache straining in his trousers. Hell, this was pleasure and torment entwined. And he craved it like a drug.
If he didn’t stop now, he would touch her. Slide his hand up her thigh. Find her slick and ready. Feel her pulse against his fingers. Make her shatter against the bedchamber door.
The Almighty, aware of his turmoil, sent someone to intervene. Not an angel, precisely, but a dutiful housekeeper who was so shocked upon finding them in a passionate clinch, she dropped the jug of water she carried.
“Good heavens. Forgive me.” Mrs Boswell fell to her knees, dabbing frantically at the spill with a cotton handkerchief. “I came to bring her ladyship a fresh pitcher and didn’t realise?—”
“Leave it, Mrs Boswell.” He released his grip on his wife’s bottom and cleared his throat. “Give us a moment.”
“Of course, my lord.” She scrambled to her feet and scurried down the corridor as if there were a prize for the first to reach the stairs.
“So much for a private experiment,” he said, staring after Mrs Boswell. If he looked at his wife now and found desire in her eyes, he doubted he’d have the strength to walk away.
“Experimentis the right word.” Her breath caught, the husky edge confirming she was far from composed. “If desirewere a lesson in chemistry, I’d have singed more than my eyebrows on the burner.”
Trust her to make him laugh when he ought to repent.
“It did get rather heated for a moment.” The air had cooled, yet the fire she’d kindled still burned beneath his skin. “Tell me, have you decided which you prefer? The tender or the urgent?”
She hesitated, and that silence was its own kind of invitation, forcing him to meet her gaze, to feel the ache of desire left unspent, to imagine what might follow if they carried the lesson a little further.
“Are we still saying things we should keep to ourselves?” she asked.
“I think we’ve passed the point of keeping secrets.”
She swallowed. “As my friend, I’m grateful to you for taking a novice under your wing. And as for my preference, I like kissing you, Gabriel, regardless of the tempo.”
The comment found a chink in his armour, and damn him if his heart didn’t soften like iron in the forge.
“There are more than two ways to kiss.” The words slipped from his mouth before his mind caught up. He was almost inviting her to enhance her studies. “Which is why desire is a dangerous game for two people bound by a pact of friendship.”
Her understanding smile stung like salt to an open wound. “Yes, but we can use our wedding day as an excuse. Say it was a means to mark the occasion as memorable.”
More than memorable. He would carry it with him for the rest of his days. “It’s late. I shall bid you good night, Olivia.” He placed a hand over his heart and bowed.
“Good night, Gabriel. I shall rise bright and early to beginour investigation. After all, that’s the reason we find ourselves here.”
It was undoubtedly the reason.
