CHAPTER SIX #3
And nothing felt more natural to her than being in Gabe’s embrace.
Unable to resist, she rose from her chair and leaned over the table toward him. Her voice lowered with husky temptation. “Seal our agreement with a kiss?”
For a long moment, he didn’t move. Then he slowly circled the table to her. He shoved the breakfast things away, then lifted her from her chair. She inhaled sharply as he set her on the edge of the table, their faces now even.
Despite her spiking pulse, Helena watched curiously as he picked up a strawberry from her plate. He lifted it to her mouth, but instead of feeding it to her, he used it to outline her lips, which parted in soft surprise.
“I make a lot of business contracts,” he murmured, his gaze fixed heatedly on her lips. “But this is the first time my signature isn’t sufficient.”
“Perhaps I don’t find you trustworthy enough for only a signature,” she whispered against the strawberry as he continued to rub it against her lips.
He smiled knowingly. “That’s not why you asked.”
“Then perhaps I wanted an unusual agreement for an unusual list of demands.” Oh, how tempted she was to just grab the berry between her teeth and gobble it down! Then there would be nothing between their lips to keep him from kissing her.
“Trust me, Helena.” He slowly trailed the berry away from her lips and down her throat to the valley between her breasts, making her breath come in rapid little pants. “You are certainly unusual.”
She pretended ire, although she couldn’t truly concentrate on anything except the cool brush of the berry against the inner swells of her breasts. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“Very much so.” His fingers tugged gently at her neckline.
In silent permission, she arched her back.
His clever fingers swept inside her bodice and freed her breast from the confines of her stays and chemise. She felt his breath hitch at the sight of her, and his soft reaction reverberated through her like a low roll of thunder.
“Is that what first attracted you to me?” she whispered, afraid of speaking too loudly and breaking the spell weaving itself around them. “Because I was unusual?”
“Yes.” But his attention was on her breast, not on the memories she was trying to thrust back into the light.
So much so that his gaze never moved even as he dropped the berry to the table and reached for the cup of blackberry jam.
He swiped his finger through the jam, then brought it to her nipple and circled slowly with his fingertip, leaving a dark trail across her rosy skin.
“I saw you standing there and couldn’t tear my eyes away. ”
“But there were…so many other ladies…” she somehow forced out between breaths, “who would have—”
She sighed when he lowered his head to lick away the jam.
“Who would have been boring,” he murmured against her breast. “Simpering.” His tongue swirled in a slow glide around her nipple and sent tingles rippling deep into her chest. “Saying things they thought I wanted to hear instead of the truth.” He laved her nipple and drew it into a taut, aching point.
“Not at all argumentative or feisty like you.”
“I wasn’t argumentative or—”
He nipped at her with his teeth for that lie, and a gasp tore from her lips. Then the soft sound changed into a whimper when he closed his lips around her nipple and sucked.
She slipped her hands into his soft hair to keep his head pressed against her and closed her eyes, giving over to the sheer pleasure of his mouth on her flesh.
She didn’t dare let herself wonder how a man who refused to love her could make her feel so wonderful, for fear the answer would simply destroy her.
“You were all those things,” he murmured as he continued to worship at her breast. “And so much more.”
“Gabe,” she whispered, her voice pleading. Tell me you love me, that you’ve always loved me and still do…
A soft knock sounded on the door.
He pulled back and gently pushed her breast beneath her clothes, then stepped away.
Helena’s cheeks heated as she grabbed her neckline and yanked it back into place.
Acute disappointment stabbed her as she sank down onto her chair and hurriedly returned the breakfast things to where they belonged.
But it wasn’t nearly being caught in that wanton embrace that made her tremble—it was the raw desire on Gabe’s face even now as he stared at her, as if she were a feast he wanted to devour.
“Come,” he called out irritably toward the door.
“Your Grace.” Larkin nodded as he opened the door and stepped inside the room to check on breakfast. “Miss Sinfell.”
If the loyal butler noticed anything odd, his preoccupation with the chafing dishes on the buffet didn’t let it show.
Gabe muttered a curse beneath his breath and raked his fingers through his hair, then turned on his heel and marched toward the door. “Two o’clock at the village church, Miss Sinfell,” he called out, his voice tellingly thick. “Don’t be late.”
Helena picked up the strawberry and placed it to her lips as she struggled to catch back the breath he’d stolen. A slow smile spread against the berry.
Be late? She wouldn’t dream of it!