Sins of a Virgin (26 page)
Perhaps he did have a right to know. Rather than the imbecilic Haines, it could have been the man from her past coming to kill her. If Gabriel didn’t know what to expect, the amount of expertise and threat, it could cost him his life.
Madeline stared at the finger tracing circles on her arm. A slight swelling marred the first two knuckles where his fist had connected with Haines’s jaw. It was altogether a nice, masculine hand, but there was no reason it should hold such sway over her.
Oh, but it did.
Heat spread from his finger up her arm and down into her breasts. She’d felt this warmth many times before, but never had it terrified her as it did now. Her anger and hurt from earlier had been left discarded in the pile of injured dandies behind them, leaving her with little to shield herself.
“Who taught you to do what you just did?” he asked. “Forgive my arrogance, but I fight well. Yet I suspect your skill trumps my own.”
“It does.”
A slight smile curved his lips. “And I worried about my arrogance.”
Not arrogance, honesty. She’d been trained by the best and had spent ten years honing her craft. “What betrayed me?”
“Dozens of things.”
Madeline felt her spine stiffen. Surely not dozens. She refused to believe she’d been that careless. “Such as?”
Gabriel smiled slightly as if amused by her challenge. “First of all, these betrayed you.” His thumb slid over her eyelid and then circled back to the ridge of her cheekbone. “You see too clearly. You notice things about people they think hidden. You note things that would have passed by anyone else.”
“That has nothing to do with my fighting.”
“But it has everything to do with the puzzle you present, of which your fighting skills play a large part. Now, don’t interrupt.” His thumb dragged over her mouth with exquisite lethargy, and she clenched her teeth to keep from licking it. “This betrayed you as well. You’re witty. But it’s not just charm, no more than the sails of a ship are just pieces of cloth. Every comment has a purpose.” His hand trailed down her neck to the edge of the toga. After lingering there a moment, he cupped her breast through the fabric, gently kneading. “Next, only a fool would fail to take note of this.” Madeline’s nipple tightened and gooseflesh spread over her arms.
Gabriel continued to caress, and with each squeeze, she pressed herself more firmly into his hand. “Your body is your weapon of choice. You know a man longs to draw these taunting little nipples into his mouth.” His hand traced down her side to her hip, skimming his hand over the swell of it, then explored the sensitive curve of her bottom. “You know this coy asset flaunts itself with every step. But not only do you know it, you rely on it, driving men mad with lust and making a fortune seem a mere pittance for the chance to claim you. You know the precise angle to hold your head. The most seductive curve for your lips.”
“Any whore knows that.”
Gabriel set her back, the hooded seduction in his eyes gone. “Do not call yourself that.”
“But it’s fine if you say it?” Apparently, she hadn’t left all the earlier hurt behind her.
A muscle flicked at the corner of Gabriel’s jaw. “I was wrong. It will never happen again.”
Madeline shrugged, wishing her question unsaid. “I can hardly be angry. It is the truth.”
Gabriel shook his head, as if his determination would be enough to make it so. “No. It’s what you want everyone to think is the truth. But I don’t believe it, and I should never have said it, not even in anger. No matter your past actions, you’re not a whore.”
If only Gabriel’s version of things was correct. However, she’d earned the title fairly.
“Forgive me, Madeline.”
Madeline would have defied any woman to resist the regret that hollowed his green eyes. And even though he had nothing to apologize for, she couldn’t resist it, either.
Refusing to linger in the suffocating warmth created by his words, she nodded. “You’ve yet to convince me you noticed anything unusual about my skills.”
She should have been wary at the slight lowering of his lids, the banked desire that returned to his gaze, but wanton that she was, she gloried in it.
“Seduction is only your body’s most obvious tactic.” He raised the hem of her toga and heated the flesh of her thighs with his palms. “But not its only skill. You walk with the stealth of a cat.” His hands surged upward, pulling her skirt with them. The breeze twined around her naked thighs. “You know how to throw a knife. You roll better than the acrobats in the ballroom. You know how to fell a man with a few simple moves. You don’t think in a fight, you react like a trained soldier.”
Madeline had to grip his shoulders to prevent her knees from buckling, as much from surprise at everything he’d noticed as from the pleasure of his touch.
Gabriel’s hands locked around her lower back and pulled her flush against him. “Then there is one last thing—your pardon only came six months ago. Nothing about you adds up. So there’s no point denying the truth.”
She shifted against the bulge in his trousers, desperate to buy herself a reprieve from responding, even if only for an instant. “Just as there’s no denying that you want me.”
Gabriel’s voice was hoarse. “I’ve never been fool enough to attempt that lie. Now tell me the identity of the woman I’m about to ravish.”
“I will.”
Gabriel’s shock at her agreement matched her own. But it felt right. He’d be an asset in capturing whoever was threatening her.
“Tomorrow,” she added.
Gabriel’s hands dug into her shoulders. “Madeline—”
“It’s not an excuse. I need permission to share my secret. It’s not mine alone.” She couldn’t expose Ian and Clayton without their consent.
“I have your word?”
“You’d trust it?”
His gaze held steady.
“Then you have it, inasmuch as I can give it. If I can, tomorrow morning, I’ll tell you everything.”
Gabriel’s growl sounded remarkably triumphant before his mouth crashed down on hers. His lips were fierce and demanding, but in her excited state, nothing less was acceptable. His tongue battled with hers, stroking, thrusting, and twisting until they broke apart to breathe.
The oxygen restored a small part of her brain. “Nothing we do can affect the auction.”
“I didn’t for a moment dare to believe otherwise.”
Madeline smiled in anticipation, any disappointment at his quick agreement tucked away. If there was one thing she knew, it was how to pleasure a man. She tugged off his cravat and nibbled the flesh of his neck. He tried to drag her back to his mouth but she resisted. She dragged her fingernails over the expanse of his chest, the fine linen of his shirt rasping under her fingernails. His groan of pleasure told her he was no different from the rest of the males of the species.
Her hand slid down his abdomen, then over the waistband of his trousers. With a light finger, she traced the contours of his arousal, pausing at the tip to run her finger in a slow circle. He bucked against her.
She lowered her voice to a throaty purr. “You seem to like that.”
Gabriel caught her hand and pulled it away. “I’m not looking for the seductress.”
She tensed at his words. She’d warned him she’d earned the title of whore. Had he expected her to be timid and innocent?
But he kept talking. “I want no acting between us. You only do what you want to do, not what you think you should. I don’t want the courtesan. I want Madeline.”
Cold invaded every inch of Madeline’s body, save where Gabriel’s hand rested on her wrist. She shivered. “I don’t know if she even exists.” She whispered the confession.
Gabriel outlined the edge of her jaw. “She does. I’ve seen her once or twice. Shall we find her?”
He led her to the edge of the fountain, removed his jacket, and laid it over the damp marble for her to sit on. He stepped back. “Now close your eyes.”
She complied with a nervous breath.
His lips brushed hers with a feather-light caress. “Did you like that?”
“Of course, I—”
But his finger on her lips silenced her. “Don’t give me the answer you think will please me. Give me the truth.”
His lips barely caressed hers again.
This time she stayed silent and let the sensations from the kiss linger as she examined her reaction. “I want more.”
“More?” he asked.
“More pressure. More speed.”
His lips slanted across hers, the wicked, wondrous pleasure bursting into focus.
Her arms anchored her to the edge of the fountain, but then she realized she should probably put them to use. She started to twine them around his neck but he stopped her again.
Her eyes flew open.
“Do you want to put your arms around me? Or do you think you should?” he asked.
Madeline slowly lowered them back to her sides, but lifted her lips. This time solely for the pure, blissful reason that she wanted Gabriel to claim them again.
As he kissed her, he slid the single sleeve of her toga down her arm, lowering it until her breasts were exposed to the night air and moonlight. And his gaze.
Gabriel studied her, as if he were memorizing the sight of her body. She liked him staring, liked the taut control writ over his face. She flicked the few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her shoulder out of the way so he had an unobstructed view.
“You aren’t shy at all, are you?”
A smile tugged the corners of her lips. Apparently, not all her wantonness had been an act. Should she be pleased or dismayed? She settled for bemused. “It would seem neither version of me is.”
Gabriel knelt before her. “Good. It would be a crime to hide perfection like this.” He leaned forward and kissed the valley between her breasts. With a slight turn of his head, his mouth moved on to the sensitive skin on the side of her breast.
Madeline’s head fell back as his fingers encircled the aching flesh. Pleasure, wild, uncontrollable, and raw flowed through her. Other men had touched her breasts, even men she’d found attractive. And she’d enjoyed their touch, but never before had she been driven mad by it, as if a single flick of his fingers had claimed her. As if she’d cease to exist if his lips halted their ministrations.
No one had ever made love to her before.
Even in her fevered state, the thought jarred her.
Men had used her for their own satisfaction. If they bothered to fondle her, it had been to increase their own enjoyment. Any pleasure she’d garnered, she’d snatched in passing.
But Gabriel’s touches were for her. To make the lights swim dizzily behind her eyelids. To make her lungs burn as if she’d just run the length of Hadrian’s Wall.
Gabriel’s lips continued their progress across her breast. He laved a slow circle over her nipple, then drew the aching nub into his mouth, alternating sucking and tracing circles around the dusky ring.
Madeline couldn’t think rationally. Gabriel was making love to her outside on the edge of a fountain. It was freezing cold. He wasn’t offering her money or information. He offered nothing more than this moment of bliss.
Yet every consideration fled as Gabriel licked his way down to her navel.
He rose to his feet and pulled her upright. With a few tugs, her toga created a white puddle on the gravel path.
Gabriel’s lips returned to her mouth as his hands slipped to the edge of the soft curls between her legs.
“Wait.”
Gabriel froze, but his breath came in harsh pants.
“This is about what I want?”
Gabriel’s fingers danced over her face in a butterfly’s caress. “Yes.”
Madeline leaned forward and nipped his lower lip. “Then I want you naked as well.”
G
abriel wasn’t sure if he could stand Madeline’s hands on him. She’d barely touched him, yet he already verged on explosion. But he’d granted the temptress her desires, so he didn’t interfere as she made quick work of his buttons.
Once they’d discarded his waistcoat and shirt, Gabriel pressed his hands along her back, nearly groaning at the sensation of her breasts against his bare chest.
A mischievous grin lit her face. “Trying to steal my body heat?” Her eyes were mysterious in the near darkness, but they were clear and honest with no hint of pretense.
The look was far more erotic than anything he’d ever experienced. “You think I am seeking your heat?” His hand slipped between her legs and she gasped, jerking in his arms, her head thrown back. “I think this is where I should look.” He nuzzled the velvet skin beneath her ear. “Hmm . . .” He teased her with a slow finger. “Definitely hot.” He dipped his finger a fraction inside her. “And wet—” He meant to say more, but he was distracted by her delicate, spicy scent. She smelled warm and feminine and entirely delicious.
Her breath emerged in shuddered whispers. She arched against his hand, begging for more.
He increased the tempo of his hand, and her cries increased to incoherent syllables. Her nails raked his shoulders as she bucked wildly against him.
Her hand found its way to the waistband of his trousers. Then lower.
With a growl, he placed her on the edge of the fountain again. She blinked up at him. “But I wanted to touch you.”
It took every ounce of restraint not to take her up on the offer in her eyes. “But I’m not finished with you yet.” He dropped to his knees in front of her and kissed the inside of her knee.
Her gulp was audible as his mouth worked up the creamy skin of her inner thighs. They were sleek and perfectly formed. As he reached the middle of her thigh, he moved his hands to her knees to widen them. She resisted for an instant, then let her legs fall open, granting him access to her soft feminine core. He pulled back.
Her eyes were wide with arousal but also a hint of wariness.
“I think you’ll like this.”
She responded with a flush that started at the swells of her breasts, then darkened her face. But she didn’t flinch or look away. Not his Madeline.
“I rather think I will.”
Then he lowered his lips and tasted her. After only a few brushes of his tongue, she clutched his hair. “Gabriel!”