“I didn’t do anything,” he muttered. “Nicky rescued himself. I merely bumped into him on the road.”
“On the contrary, you taught him how to ride, and thus gave him the means to effect his own escape, which is a thousand times better than being rescued—or have you not noticed that my son is currently standing ten feet tall?” She hugged him again.
“It’s my fault he was kidnapped in the first place.”
“How interesting you should say so. I thought it was all my fault, but Harry put me right. And I am very sure Tibby and Ethan have been blaming themselves, and Lady Gosforth, too, no doubt, so we could all have a competition for the blame. Or we can all simply rejoice that we have my son back.”
“It was my responsibility.”
“It was our responsibility. But we thought we were defending Nicky by legal means—who would have guessed that the count would send his men over the rooftops in the middle of a party?”
“I should have.”
“I see, well, if you prefer kicking yourself and being gloomy to kissing me, I will just have to find someone else to kiss.”
“What?” Gabe’s head jerked around.
“I have been needing to be kissed and hugged for several hours now, and if you’re not interested—”
“You mean—?”
The most adorable mouth in the world pouted. “Gabriel Renfrew, what do you think I mean?”
He wasn’t going to question his luck. He snatched her up and kissed her, hard and possessively. With some difficulty, for her skirt was quite narrow, she wrapped her legs around him and kissed him back, holding on tight to him with every part of her, pressing her softness against him and covering his face with moist, enthusiastic, passionate kisses.
“Take me to bed, Gabriel. I need you to take me to bed.”
Gabe could hardly believe it. He’d been given a second chance. He wasn’t going to waste it.
He carried her upstairs to the bedchamber he’d been allotted when they first arrived. His aunt Maude had arranged for their things to be brought back from his brother’s house and placed there. She knew that Callie would not be willing to be parted from her son again.
Gabe had not expected to sleep there, or if he did, he knew he would sleep there alone. He hadn’t dreamed he would get another night with her.
Nineteen
He drew the curtains so that the morning light came through them in a faint golden glow and removed her clothes slowly, one by one, kissing each inch of skin as he bared it.
She removed his clothes much less slowly, pushing his coat impatiently down his arms, unbuttoning his waistcoat with quick, nimble fingers and dragging his shirt off over his head.
“Slow down,” he murmured. “We have all day.”
“And more,” she said.
“Yes, and all night,” he agreed, planting kisses across the upper slopes of her breasts. He caressed her breasts, cupping them with his hands, feeling the firm thrust of two hard little nubs even through the layers of fabric. He kissed them, nipping them gently through the fabric with his teeth.
“Now turn, my love, and let me deal with these laces and free these poor, imprisoned beauties.”
She turned, presenting him with the lovely line of her nape. He kissed it and loosened her hair, tossing pins aside impatiently and nuzzling her neck, enjoying the taste of her skin and the perfume of her silky hair as it fell, surrounding him.
He unlaced her corset with practiced skill, and she gave a big sigh of pleasure as it opened. He tossed it aside and slipped his hands around her and caressed her breasts through her fine cambric chemise.
“Oh, that feels lovely,” she said with a shiver. “Somehow whenever it’s you who takes off my corset, I seem to get a little dizzy.”
“Ah, that’s my special technique,” he growled against the skin of her neck.
“So much nicer than when a maid does it.” She gave an appreciative sigh, turned in the circle of his arms, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth.
He would gladly unlace her corsets for the rest of his life. But he didn’t dare suggest such a thing. One night, one day at a time. He had to win her trust back. He’d let her down badly, he couldn’t press her for anything more than what she was offering right now.
