Bride for a Night(19)

With a growl, he scooped her off her feet and headed across the room to the shadowed bedroom beyond.

“My lord,” she breathed, her eyes wide with a combination of fear and an excitement she could not entirely disguise. “Why are you doing this?”

Gabriel felt a flare of triumph in the knowledge he was not alone in this ruthless awareness. Lowering his head, he claimed her mouth in a possessive kiss.

“I have no choice,” he muttered against her lips.

She shivered beneath his touch, her hands grasping the lapels of his robe. “Have you been drinking?”

“Dutch courage.”

She hissed, as if he’d slapped her. “If I am so repulsive that you need to become drunk to approach me, then why are you doing this?”

Repulsive? He was damn well enchanted.

His gut twisted as he lowered her on the bed. He was arrested by the sight of Talia stretched across the satin cover. In the silvery moonlight she appeared a creature of mist and magic. An elusive wood sprite that had strayed into London and might disappear in a puff of smoke.

He growled low in his throat, his savage hunger nearly overwhelming.

Not that he was about to admit as much to the woman. The thought of her holding power over him was enough to make his teeth clench.

“Because I will not be accused of not having consummated this absurd union      ,” he growled. “No doubt Silas Dobson intends to arrive on my doorstep in the morning demanding to be shown proof of your deflowering.”

She frowned in wary confusion. “Proof? I…” A sudden heat flooded her cheeks as she realized he was speaking of the ancient tradition of checking the marriage sheets for the spilled blood of her virginity. “Oh.”

The bewildered innocence was all that was needed to complete her sensual spell, and with a muttered curse, Gabriel shrugged out of his robe and joined Talia on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shivering body before she could escape.

“Maidenly blushes,” he whispered, his fingers stroking over her cheek. “Astonishing.”

Her dark curls spread across the blue and ivory cover like a spill of ebony silk, her eyes shimmering like emeralds in the moonlight.

“I assure you that my father is satisfied we are wed,” she said in a breathless rush, her hands fluttering to land against his chest. “He will not be demanding proof.”

Gabriel buried his face in the curve of her neck, breathing deeply of her sweet scent. She smelled of soap and starch and purity.

A wondrously erotic combination.

“You expect me to take your word?” he demanded. “The word of a Dobson?”

“I am no longer a Dobson.”

He jerked back, his commonsense telling him that he should be infuriated by her words, not… Satisfied.


Crushing the disturbing sensation, Gabriel regarded his wife with a brooding intensity. His fingers outlined the trembling softness of her lips.

“It requires more than a signature on a piece of paper to become an Ashcombe.”

Her breath rasped through the room. “My lord.”

“Gabriel.”

She blinked in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”

“You will call me Gabriel, not my lord,” he commanded, uncertain why he was determined to hear his name on her lips.

“Gabriel,” she murmured, her eyes wide. “I am not certain this is a sound notion.”

With a groan he lowered his head to stroke his lips over her wide brow before trailing down the line of her delicate nose.

“Neither am I, but I will admit it grows more appealing by the moment.”