The pleasure came swift and shattering, stealing every sense until she was lost in him.
Just before release claimed him, he withdrew, groaning as he spilled over her belly, his breath ragged, his muscles taut from the strain.
For a moment, he hovered, chest heaving, head bowed. Then he gathered her close, one hand at the nape of her neck, the other cradling her hip, grounding them both in the stillness that followed.
His mouth found hers in a kiss that was all devotion and disbelief.
When it ended, he stayed close, forehead pressed to hers.
Neither spoke.
There were no words.
Only the slow return to breath, to the shape of his body wrapped around hers. And the quiet certainty that she belonged there.
Chapter Sixteen
St Luke’s, Chelsea
Some men stepped into church and came out reborn.
Gabriel’s rebirth came with the trust and tenderness in Olivia’s eyes last night, in her thighs tightening around him, drawing him deeper, welcoming him in a way that awakened something he thought long dead.
He loved her.
He’d held her for an hour as she slept, trying to pinpoint when that truth had taken hold. He would die for her. He had known it since the night he sensed her distress and tore back to World’s End, since the fear of losing her had slashed through him and stolen his breath.
With her, he saw a future. Something bound them together, something no mortal man could sever. And woe betide the fool who tried.
He’d wanted her again the moment dawn touched the room, but she’d slept so deeply in his arms hehadn’t had the heart to wake her. After all she’d endured, she deserved rest. She deserved peace.
And yet fear clung to him, a vagrant begging for a penny he did not have to give. No matter how he tried to shake it, the wretched thing followed at his heels, whispering of dangers he could not name, of shadows waiting to steal what he held most dear.
Even the hush of St Luke’s and the holy presence did little to calm his restless spirit. Not when the devil lingered at his door.
“You’re certain the rector won’t be here?” Olivia observed the empty pews, her gaze lifting to the lofty nave and majestic stained window. “With our luck, he’ll have misplaced the records, and we’ll never know who owns that wretched plot.”
“I believe the rector is giving a sermon at the Ladies’ Benevolent Society on the Christian duty of justice.” Gabriel approved of the old maxim,an eye for an eye, and intended to punish everyone who’d conspired against them. “It includes luncheon.”
“How do you know?”
He gestured to the vestibule. “It’s on the noticeboard outside.”
She turned to him and smiled. “I must have missed it. The late night has left me fatigued this morning. Thankfully, little escapes your notice.”
“Other than the mysteries surrounding your father’s riddle and the childhood friend who may or may not be dead.”
He suspected the answers to both were a clue away.
It was imperative they found it quickly.
“On a more important note,” he said, his thoughtsnarrowing to nothing but her. “I wondered if you might care to lose an hour’s sleep tonight.”
She didn’t play coy or feign flirtation. “If you’re inviting me to your bed, Gabriel, just say so.”
“It is an invitation, but not necessarily to a bed.”
Her tongue swept lightly across her bottom lip.
