“It is so dark in this garden that you would never be recognized.”
“I cannot risk it. Not even with you.”
So be it. He paid all his attention to her mouth to discover just how artless she may in fact be. Not totally without experience, it turned out. She permitted the increased intimacy when he slid his tongue in and even sparred with her own. That was enough to send his arousal to new levels. He began calculating how brazen he could be in this garden tonight.
The dress interfered with caresses, but its neckline offered impressive opportunities. He moved his mouth to her ear, then neck. He kissed down her soft skin to the firm swells of her breasts. The scent of lavender rose while he indulged himself there. Her bated breaths sang a melody of desire into his ear.
She arched against him so her body pressed his and she presented her breasts for more. She clutched his shoulders as if seeking refuge. The little shepherdess had entered the stage of abandon that became needy and fevered.
He turned her in his arm. “Come with me. There is a little folly back here where we can—”
She took three steps, then dug in her heels. “There are others about. I can hear them. I dare not.”
Damnation. Not so abandoned after all. He embraced her again while his desire sought other possibilities. He would go mad if this was all there was. He wanted her and she wanted him, and there could be only one conclusion now.
“Come with me to my house,” he murmured between nips and invasions, dodging the edges of that damned mask. “You leave first, and I will follow and take you there. We will have privacy and drink champagne.” And he would drink his full of her too. Slowly. Fully. Savoring each drop in the least predictable ways that he could devise.
“I must not be seen with you.” She got it out in fits and starts around gasps and muffled cries.
She was married. That was the most likely explanation. A bored wife who had finally had enough sitting at home while her master gambled at his club. Gabriel knew those wives very well.
“Is there somewhere else?” she asked. “Somewhere in town in a neighborhood other than Mayfair?”
Her willingness made his thinking sharp. His mind sliced through to a solution. “We can meet at my brother’s house tomorrow night. It is near the City. No one will be there except you and me.” He did not welcome the delay, but he would live with it.
She kissed him aggressively. Enough that he lost track of what he had been saying and moved his caresses to her hips, where they might be more effective.
“Where is this house?” she asked. “Are you sure it is safe for me?”
“No one notices anything on that street. It is not far from the British Museum.” He fanned his hands across her bottom and pressed her hips close. The warmth and pressure provided some relief but also edged him toward recklessness. “Say you will join me there tomorrow.”
She deliberately put some space between their lower bodies. “You expect too much, I fear.”
Not too much, but too soon. It had been a green boy’s mistake. He was better than that. He forced a modicum of calm. “I expect nothing except sharing champagne and conversation. And one kiss, that is all. Not even an embrace or caress.” Lies. She wouldn’t stand a chance after that first kiss.
She pressed her hands against his shoulders. She looked up at him. “How would I get in?”
Ah, victory. “Through the front door, of course.”
She shook her head. “You have no idea what I risk. If you leave the garden door unlocked, I will come that way.”
“You can climb in a window if you want.”
She did not laugh. She spoke not a word and didn’t even move.
“I promise the garden door will be unlocked.” He ventured another kiss, a sweet one of reassurance. “You will meet me?”
“Not tomorrow. The next night.”
“Any night you want. No costume, though. No mask.”
“Then I cannot—”
“You can trust me that much. I will leave the lamps unlit and the fire very low. Would that make you more contented?”
She held his shoulders. He sensed her thinking hard. “Where is this house?”
“Bainbridge Street.” He gave her the direction. “The night after next. Ten o’clock. Promise you will be there.”
