The shaken look in her brown eyes echoed in the pit of my stomach. “No.”
“Yes. Now go pack.”
She crossed her arms, and tilted her head, exposing the smooth curve of her neck. “I’m not leaving.”
“Now is not the time for heroics. You have helped your brother. I will find out who is responsible. Your family will be back together by the end of the week. You will be safe.”
She poked me in the chest, hard, her fingertip resting against my bare skin. “I’m not leaving you.”
“You are.”
“You are in far greater danger than I.” Her finger trailed an inch down my chest before dropping to her side.
“I’m in no more danger than I’ve ever been. Especially from myself, it seems.”
“Oh, Gabriel.”
I bent over to pick up my shirt, unwilling to look at her any further.
She touched my arm. Lightly. “I’m so sorry for what I said.”
“It was only the truth. It should be me on bent knee before you. For my cruelty and cutting words.”
She cradled my face in one hand. “No. What I said wasn’t the truth. Please.” She pressed her other palm flat against my chest, over my heart. “You are nothing like them. Any gestures you might have picked up are just gestures, nothing more. It is the will that is important. It’s the intention behind the action. Pleasure, not guile. And when I look in your eyes, I see...I seeyou.”
I threw the shirt down and pulled her to me, lips crushed to hers, hands cradling. I spun her toward the wall, pressing her against it. Her legs climbed mine, pushing my trousers down, heel pressing into my calf. One freed leg pressed between hers, rubbing up, making her ride my thigh, causing deliciously caught cries. Her hands pressed into my hair, her legs pulled me flush.
I pulled a hand down her side, down her back, cupping her buttocks and grinding her against me, pressing her back into the wall and tilting her hips up.
My fingers wound under the fabric and between her thighs where she was wet and hot and pushing into my hand. I slid a forefinger along her heat. Spirits, all I wanted to do was to push into her so hard that we wouldn’t know how to separate. I curled the tip inside, the sounds of her body pushing me farther over the edge.
“Please, please.”
I wasn’t sure who said it, but I brought my hand up to touch her cheek and aligned our bodies, hitching her higher against the wall, then sliding her down onto me. I pressed my face into her hair, against her throat, and thrust upward, her cries breathy and stuttered against my ear.
I withdrew and pushed into her harder and farther. Incredible and frustrating. Almost, and not enough. I wanted, needed, to be deeper. I pulled her against me, away from the wall. She wrapped her fingers around my neck, her eyes drugged and unfocused, and I quickly spun us to the bed, pushing her down on top. Bending over her, driving into her. Spirits, yes, this. Her head thrust back, her dress crushed and splayed up her chest. Her heels climbed the small of my back as I pulled out and thrust as deeply into her as it was possible to go.
Power shot from me straight into her.
She moaned and the bed shook, and for the second time the world stood on end.
Her body pulsed around mine in frantic waves, looping the power back into me, and I kept driving, heady and undone, driving magic into her, and gulping it in return, until someone roared and I was coming into her with a force that I didn’t think possible.
Her legs fell to the side, tremors and aftershocks pushing and pulling the waves of wild magic, and I collapsed on top of her, breathing in deep clutching breaths, the echoes thrumming from her chest, her mouth.
I pulled her up with me as I crawled the bed, my knees catching upon her ravaged dress, the bodice pulling down and exposing a neglected breast.
I leaned down to kiss her bared skin. “Luscious Marietta, or Marvelous Marietta, perhaps that should be your new name?” Her breath hitched, gaze still unfocused.
The edge of a perfect nipple peeked over the frill, and I ran my tongue over the top. She gripped the back of my head, her fingers pulling through the strands.
I rose on my elbow and lifted my knee to release her dress. Her eyes met mine and desire, devotion, and freedom spun through me. I tucked her against me and she curled into my chest.
“You should stay with your older brother for a few days. It won’t be long now. I can feel it.”
“And if I refuse? Will you lock me up with Ferris?”
I threaded fingers through her hair. “No.”
