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“If you know that about me, then why did you leave me to go to the garden party alone?” she asked.
That only riled Gabriel up more, mostly because she was right and he didn’t want to concede the argument.
“Then we are settled on what must be done,” Gabriel said. “I will watch you all the time, and I will choose who you converse with, who you dance with, and who is allowed to visit you.”
Eleanor held her ground. “And I suppose that you will not allow me near Lord Fairfax anymore.”
Gabriel wanted to tell her that he wouldn’t approve of that, but only because…
Yes, that is it! Eleanor had told him that she didn’t want to marry for love, and he knew that Sebastian did. That was why it would not be a good match.
“I will do as I see best,” Gabriel told her.
They were only a couple of feet apart, and Gabriel noticed that Eleanor wore the same perfume as she had when he had kissed her at the ball. Once more, his eyes flickered to her lips, and the ugly thought of Fairfax claiming them entered his mind.
I can’t have anyone else kiss her as I did.
Gabriel realized he was looking at her lips again, and when he looked up and met her gaze, Eleanor’s eyes had widened into something expectant. Gabriel felt that his lips were dry, and he wanted to lick them to wet them, but he held back. It excited him to know that she wanted him to kiss her. She was the Diamond of the Season, and she wanted his kiss once more.
And why should he deny himself something so pleasurable?
Why don’t you look away and save me from myself?
The fact that she only gazed back at him, unmoving and submissive, only made him angrier and want the kiss even more. It was as if she had come into the room with one goal in mind, and she was dangerously close to achieving that goal.
Gabriel lifted his hand to her chin, placing the backs of two fingers beneath to push up and tilt her head back slightly, her lips more aligned with his. He moved his thumb across her cheek before taking his hand away.
He wouldn’t be the one to back down. He could feel the air being pushed and pulled through his nose as his breathing got heavier, and the taste of her lips came back to his mind. And the fact that she had stopped arguing with him was music to his ears. It was only now that—
Gabriel’s head snapped around when the crash came from outside the room.
A loud metallic clang followed by the swirling sound of a dish or plate spinning faster and faster before coming to rest flat on the floor.
Gabriel quickly took a step back from Eleanor, the spell broken.
Then came the sound of Margaret exclaiming something in a faraway room.
“Oh, for goodness sake!” Eleanor exclaimed, relieved. “What have you done now, Mother?” She rushed from the room.
Gabriel let out a long breath.
Never before had he been so captured by someone like that. The first kiss had been to quieten her; even he had wanted it. This time, Eleanor fell completely silent, the fight gone from her, and he was ready to lean forward and lift her into his arms.
He wanted to kiss her.
He needed to kiss her.
Gabriel brought a hand to his face and stroked his chin. Now that she was gone from the room, the spell was broken. He didn’t like how easily he had been hypnotized by her.
It was the argument. That was part of it. And the fact that she was speaking about kissing someone else. There was no more to it than that!
When Gabriel walked back to his desk, he felt as if he had been drinking. The room seemed to sway around him, and he was glad to be back in his chair when he sat down.
His hand instinctively went to his trouser pocket, and he pulled out the slip of paper that Nathaniel had given him before leaving. He ran through the list, hearing each point in Nathaniel’s voice.
Do not argue with her when she has that look in her eyes. You’ll lose.
Gabriel read the line again. That was the mistake he had made. He’d argued with her when it was obviously futile. Nathaniel must have known it—his sister did not use logic or reason; she was tied up in emotion. By arguing with her, he’d got himself tied up in the same emotions.
