“So you think I’m perfect, do you?” he said as he opened a stall door.
She looked bewildered. “How could you possibly think that?”
“You just told me I was.”
“I did not!”
“You said I was a perfect strang—”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I meant acompletestranger,” she corrected him. “A wholly unknown person, and certainly not a person to be trusted with my son. And do not be flippant when I am reprimanding you!”
“No, ma’am.” Gabe murmured. “You’re very pretty when you’re cross, you know.”
Her nostrils flared enchantingly as she gave a scornful snort.
“I’ll wager you’ve been fretting yourself to flinders with all sorts of horrid imaginings and now that you’ve seen Nicky is perfectly all right and apparently as happy as Larry, you’re feeling all cross and out of sorts. So you blame me.”
“I do blame you, yes! Because itwasyour fault. If you hadn’t taken him—”
“Yes, yes, mea culpa. Do you know, I have the perfect solution for the way you’re feeling,” Gabe told her.
“Oh, do you? And what might that be?”
“This.” And before she could even guess what he intended, he took a step forward. Which brought her hard against him, breast to chest.
She gasped. The most kissable mouth in the world formed a perfectOof surprise and Gabriel did what he’d been planning to do since he’d first clapped eyes on her.
He kissed her.
Five
His lips were warm and firm and his action so unexpected that at first Callie was too surprised to move. Or resist.
She was being kissed in the stable like a maidservant.
She ought to scream. She ought to resist.
But the way he kissed…resistance was futile.
He tasted of salt and apples and of man. It was just a kiss, she told herself, and yet it felt so…intimate. He kissed her with his whole mouth, not just his lips, possessive and sure, and she felt herself melting against him.
After a moment he released her. She stood staring at his mouth, dazed.
“That was wrong,” she murmured. “I’m a respectable wi––woman. Let me go, please.” He didn’t move, but his gaze dropped to her hands and his mouth curved into a slow grin. She followed his gaze and saw her own hands clutching his coat lapels in a convulsive grip. She hastily released them.
“If it was wrong, we’ll get it right this time,” he murmured. “This will be averyrespectable kiss.”
She pressed her hands against his chest, meaning to hold him off, but somehow, it changed. His mouth closed over hers again, and again she felt those swirling, heady sensations. She could feel his heartbeat under her fingers. He cupped her face in his hands as if he were holding something precious and the kiss went on forever.
Her hands slipped up over his chest, along his strong, rough jawline, and her fingers tangled in his hair. His tongue caressed hers and flames licked along her nerve endings, pooling in her core.
By the time he stopped Callie could barely stand, let alone speak.
Her legs felt strange and rubbery and for a moment she thought she was going to sink into the hay on the floor. She locked her knees as stiffly as she could until they were back in working order and tried to look serene. And dignified. A princess, not a maidservant.
“I don’t kiss strange men,” she managed feebly after a moment. Had she really run her hands through his hair? It wasn’t like her. And yet, his hair was undeniably messy.
He smiled down at her in a way that made her blush and feel strangely unsettled. “I’m glad to hear it. Though I’m not so very strange, am I? I always thought I was a fairly ordinary fellow.”
