LITMIR.BIZ

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her cheek in his hand. “Hearing those words was a first.”

      “I know,” she whispered. “But it won’t be a last.”

      And because she knew he wouldn’t take the lead tonight, she leaned forward to kiss him.

      Her kiss was sweet and searching. Gabe wasn’t certain how to respond. He didn’t want to refuse her, but he’d be damned if he’d press her one touch further than she wished to proceed. So he let her take the lead, making himself open to everything she wanted to give—even when she kissed and caressed his body with a tenderness so foreign to him, he wasn’t certain he could have borne it for anything less than love of her.

      She hiked the hem of his shirt and shrugged out of the dressing gown he’d given her. They peeled away all the layers until they were both fully naked, and from there it was the simple, beautiful inevitability of joining. Clasping, holding, moving together in an unhurried rhythm that nonetheless quickly brought them to the brink. Her fingernails bit into his shoulders as she shivered and cried out with release. As he raced toward his own climax, she held him close, forbidding him to leave her embrace. He surrendered to the temptation, spending inside her with a primal, possessive joy.

      Afterward, she snuggled in his arms. “You don’t need to save my reputation, but I hope you know you’re going to undermine your own. Long engagements and weddings in St. George Hanover Square? Not terribly ruthless or intimidating, Mr. The Duke of Ruin.”

      “I’m not going to undermine my reputation,” he said. “I’m going to destroy it, thoroughly. For you.”

      “I know,” she whispered. “I love you so dearly for it.”

      He was going to give her everything. Even if it meant living in her world, among the aristocrats he despised, choking back his pride and resentment.

      The Duke of Ruin died here today, in her arms. And Gabe wasn’t entirely certain who he’d be going forward, but he knew one thing. He would be her husband and protector. And he would never allow anyone to hurt her again.

      Along that line of thought, he had best return her to her house before morning broke.

      “I need to see you home,” he said. “The last thing we need now is for a neighbor across the square to see you tiptoeing from my house to yours at dawn. Courting scandal at this stage would only give your family reason to object.”

      “I’m tempted to argue, but I won’t.”

      “I’ll check the corridor,” Gabe said. “We don’t want Mrs. Burns surprising us again.”

      “She wouldn’t tell a soul.”

      “Perhaps not, but she might scare the soul out of me.”

      As Gabe ventured into the corridor, he paused and held his breath. From down the way, he heard the creak of floorboards. As he moved toward the sound, a ghostly figure appeared in the distance.

      Gabe shook himself and rubbed his eyes. “Hammond?”

      The architect’s silvery hair stood at wild angles, and he was clad in only a white nightshirt. On one forearm, he balanced a tray of food. He had a bottle of wine tucked under his other arm, and a pair of wineglasses clutched in his free hand—the source of the clanking, Gabe presumed. The man was sweaty and breathless.

      “What the devil is going on?” Gabe asked.

      “Devil, indeed.” Hammond leaned over his tray to whisper. “I finally learned the truth about Burns.”

      “Brilliant,” Gabe muttered. “I thought you’d ruled out ghost, witch, and vampiress. What’s left?”

      “The woman’s a succubus.”

      “What’s a succubus?”

      “A female demon.” Hammond’s eyebrows lifted. “One who feeds on sexual pleasure.”

      “Well, then. I am exceedingly sorry I asked.”

      “Gerard, is that you?” The sultry, smoky female voice came from within a nearby chamber. “I’m waiting.”

      “Good God. The enchantress calls.” Hammond backed his way into the bedchamber, tray and wine in his hands. “If I’m dead in the morning, bury my corpse with a stake through the heart.”

      Numb with shock, Gabe returned to his own bedchamber.

      Penny lifted her shoulders in question. “Well?”

      “I have good news and bad news.”

      “Let’s have the bad first, please.”

      “The bad news is, I’ll never, so long as I live, wipe the past two minutes from my memory.” He scratched the back of his head. “The good news is, tonight we’re in the clear.”

       Chapter Twenty-Six

      The morning of the ball was so frantic with preparations that when Gabe met Penny at the door, he didn’t even trouble with greetings.

      “Come.” He took her by the hand. “I have something for you in the study.”

      When he closed the door behind them, she blushed and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Er, Gabriel … I really would love to, but my hair’s just been washed and pinned, and I’m down to my last few wearable frocks.”

      “I’m not after that,” he assured her. “Not that I’d mind it, of course. But it’s not my intent to bend you over the desk for a passionate tryst … today.” After taking a moment to chase that tempting image from his brain, he patted the chair behind the desk. “Sit.”

      Gabe opened a strongbox hidden in a cabinet and withdrew a large, flat velvet box. He placed the box on the desk blotter, inordinately anxious. “Go on, then. Open it.”

      She lifted the top and peered inside. “Oh, Gabriel.”

      He moved behind the chair, looking over her shoulder at the sparkling array of rings. Diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald … every precious gem he could think to request at the jeweler’s, and a few he hadn’t known existed.

      “I thought you’d prefer to be surprised, but I didn’t trust myself to choose one you liked. So I simply bought them all.”

      “They’re exquisite.”

      He waved off her praise. “None of them are fine enough for you.”

      “I don’t need even one ring so grand, let alone a tray of them.”

      “Too late. They’re all yours. Wear them all at once, if you like. Or designate one for each day of the week.”

      She pried a ring from the velvet padding—a pale pink diamond set in gold and ringed with smaller sparkling stones. “I always did love pink.”

      “Try it on.”

      Penny slipped the ring on her third finger. She held her hand at a distance to admire the way the stone flashed in the light.

      “It’s beautiful.” She rose from the chair and kissed him. “Thank you. I love it.”

      He exhaled, relieved. “Good. Now let’s have it back. I’ll lock it up for safekeeping.”

      She held her hand close to her chest. “Must I take it off?”

      “Yes, you must. We’re not engaged.”

      She arched one golden eyebrow and smiled. “Yet.”

      Good God. He didn’t know where her faith in him originated—dropped off by pixies floating on the breeze with toadstool parasols, most likely—but at this point, he didn’t bloody well care. If he pulled this off, he would be either the most cunning bastard in England, or the luckiest. Probably both.

      Pouting

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