Page 64 of Gabriela and His Grace

And without a second thought, without a moment for Gabby to draw in breath, the duke’s lips came down upon hers.

It was not Gabby’s first kiss. She’d flirted and teased any number of young men, and granted a kiss a time or two. They’d been rather messy, awkward affairs, but she’d liked them well enough.

That was before she kissed the Duke of Whitfield. Or rather, that was before the Duke of Whitfield showed her how divinely toe-curling a kiss could be.

He wasn’t rough or impatient. He didn’t paw at her. In fact, he was almost gentlemanly…if one overlooked how closely he held her. As if Whitfield was afraid someone would steal her away. As if she would allow such a thing. As if she wanted to be anywhere else, with anyone else, but him. Certainly not with his lips moving over hers, his tongue teasing along the seam of her mouth until she opened to him and he dipped inside for a taste. Without even knowing what she was about, Gabby dragged her hands over his shoulders and sifted her fingers through his hair, absurdly pleased she was not wearing gloves so she could enjoy the silky texture.

The Duke of Whitfield knew how to kiss…but more importantly, he knew how to kiss her.

Eventually Whitfield broke away, but not before bussing a kiss to her cheek and temple.

“Dinner will end soon, and I don’t want us to be caught.”

Right. Of course. Gabby stepped back, brushing loose curls from her cheeks with trembling hands.

“Shall we retire to the cabin?”

Whitfield uttered the words casually, but Gabby saw only caution in his gaze. She suspected he was concerned he had overstepped, but truly, there were only so many places she could go on the ship.

With that in mind, Gabby reached to grasp his hand. “That would be the prudent thing to do.”

The duke chuckled, pausing to smooth his thumb over her smile. “Thank you for trusting me with…this,” he ended, gesturing to the air around them.

“Thank you for giving me reasons to trust you,” she replied, relieved to know it was true.

18

He’d kissed Gabriela Luna, and he could not wait to do so again.

Kiss her and so much more.

No, Sebastian growled to himself as he splashed his face with water and stared at his reflection in the bathing room mirror. Gabriela trusted him; not just to deliver her safely to London, but with her fragility and her fears. She certainly trusted him not to molest her.

Sebastian glanced down at the bulge in his trousers. The one he had been sporting since Gabriela had eagerly returned his kisses on the deck. He needed to get himself under control. Sebastian Brooks, the eleventh Duke of Whitfield, would be damned if he ever gave Gabriela a reason to look upon him with disappointment again.

Gripping the sides of the basin, Sebastian willed his cock to relax. It had been entirely too long since he’d been with a woman, and Sebastian had always had a healthy sexual appetite. Yet the stresses of finding James and David, as well as the construction process of the Camino Rojo mine and what its success meant for the dukedom’s coffers, had curbed his inclinations. He’d fielded plenty of come-hither stares and overt flirtations while in Mexico, but Sebastian had not been tempted. After tasting her lips and holding her in his arms, Sebastian knew it was because no other woman captivated him quite like Gabriela did.

Once he was certain she had fallen asleep, he would take himself in hand and relieve the pressure that had damn near unmanned him when she’d asked for his kiss.

Just thinking about how enthusiastically she’d responded to him made Sebastian hard again. He bit back a snarl.

Sighing, he turned to consider the nightshirt Brodie had laid out for him. Sebastian never slept in a nightshirt, for he hated how the material tangled about his legs, instead preferring to sleep in his underpants and nothing else. But the nightshirt was Brodie’s warning against impropriety, and Sebastian heeded it.

After slipping into the underclothes and a banyan, he knocked on the door leading into the bedchamber.

A faint “Come in” drifted through the wood.

Inhaling, Sebastian pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

Gabriela sat in the center of the bed, her lustrous locks loose about her shoulders. In a modest night rail and robe, she looked girlish…and so beautiful Sebastian’s chest hurt.

They stared at each other for several heartbeats, and Sebastian suspected she was trying to think of what to say. He certainly was. So much about their relationship was new, and he wanted to proceed with care. Gabriela deserved all the care and gentleness he was capable of.

“Are you sure this sleeping arrangement works for you?” she asked into the silence, biting her lip.

Sebastian was nodding before she had finished speaking. “Of course. Brodie prepared a sleeping cot for me on the sofa.”

He was not looking forward to ten nights spent on the velvet sofa, but seeing Gabriela comfortable would relax his mind even if it did little to relax his muscles.