Page 98

Gabriel cut her off by pressing his lips to hers. She immediately closed her eyes and melted into the kiss. She almost laughed again, knowing exactly what he was doing to her and still being unable to stop it.

Gabriel pulled back slowly, their lips sticking together and pulled tight for a split second before peeling apart.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Eleanor claimed.

“All’s fair,” Gabriel claimed.

“I shall need to up my game if I’m to win any arguments,” Eleanor told him. For now, I will concede this one.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You will concede it?”

Eleanor looked past him with a dreamy smile and said, “Yes, I will concede to you for now, which is not really a win on your part, but you can take it as one if you like.”

“Very magnanimous of you, Duchess,” Gabriel commented.

“Hey,” Eleanor complained. “That’s a cheap trick. I’m still not used to being called that.”

“Well, you’d better get used to it.”

Again, they fell into silence. Still, the duke held her pinned to the wall, showing his strength and stamina. Eleanor absentmindedly ran her hands over his back, feeling the taut muscles beneath.

“I want to be with you,” she admitted.

“You are with me.”

“No.” Eleanor laughed nervously. “I mean that I’m ready to be with you properly. I’m not nervous about it anymore. All right, perhaps I am still a little nervous about it, but not as much as I was last night. I only ask that you…”

“I will be there with you every step of the way,” Gabriel told her. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Then take me,” Eleanor asked.

Gabriel leaned in and gave a short kiss. Then he finally let her down from the wall and held out his hand. Eleanor took it.

“Come with me,” Gabriel commanded.

CHAPTER 32

The fire burned low in the duke’s bedchamber. There was no need for candles with the amount of light spilling through from behind and between the curtains.

They had walked together to the duke’s bedchamber, and Eleanor knew exactly what was expected of her, but she couldn’t move now that she stood in his room, the fire’s warmth at her back.

Gabriel closed the door quietly, sealing them in. Eleanor thought that all of her nervousness had disappeared, but now that they were alone together, it came flooding back. Still, she had no intention of running or delaying. She was exactly where she needed to be with the man she loved.

Gabriel turned to look at her, and Eleanor remembered the first time she’d met the duke. He had been standing in a room with a roaring fire; the fire flickered in his eyes. He was in a room again with a fire, and his eyes mirrored the warm glow of the fire behind Eleanor. He was the same man, but he had also changed.

Whether that was real change or only in her eyes, she didn’t know.

“It is fine to be nervous,” the duke said softly.

Eleanor nodded in reply. She didn’t know whether it was fine to be nervous, but she was. Her hands were clasped in front of her, but she couldn’t keep them still.

Gabriel walked slowly across the room to her, seeming to grow in stature with each step. When he reached Eleanor, he placed both hands around hers to still them, then brought them to his lips to kiss them gently.

“We don’t need to do anything you don’t want to,” he instructed. “We have all the time in the world.”

Eleanor nodded silently.

When Gabriel brought her hands down and released them, they didn’t fidget as they had previously. Eleanor unclasped her hands and let them hang at her sides. Her mouth had become dry, and her arms felt foreign to her now. She didn’t know what to do with them.