Ascension (2 page)

“Where were you this evening?” His fist pounded on the mattress.

“I have already told you.”

“Yes, but you lied, Bella. I have known you most of my life and I know when you are lying.”

“I asked you not to call me that.” The view out the window afforded nothing but the dark gardens below.

She had not heard him move, but his skin radiated so much heat, she became aware of his presence directly behind her. It permeated through his clothes, her robe, and chemise.

He exuded masculinity. He had not touched her, but she sensed him just the same. “Bella.”

In spite of her need to keep herself apart from him, her stomach clenched and moisture built between her legs. Her skin hummed with need and she wanted him to touch her.
No, you have to get away from him. You have to protect him.

She turned into him with every intentions of giving him a scolding for calling her Bella again but found herself wrapped in his arms. She kept her fisted hands pressed against her body. Still, the thrashing she intended for him, died on her lips. “Someone will hear you, Gabriel. You must go.”

When he looked down into her eyes, rage had transformed into desire, but also sorrow. “I do not want to go, Bella. I want you. I spent most of the last four years between hellish battlefields and a French prison, dreaming of the moment that you would be back in my arms.”

“Prison?”

“I expected to come home and find you overjoyed to see me, but instead I found you changed. I do not know what has happened, but I intend to have you as my wife. I will not waver on this, Belinda.”

Moving her hands to his chest, she pressed. He did not give way. Unless she was willing to harm him, she was trapped.

“I am no longer certain that it is what I want.” She turned her head away from his mesmerizing stare.

“I must try to change your mind back in my favor then.” He dipped his head and touched his lips to the sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder.

She couldn’t stop the moan from escaping.

He traced his tongue along the side of her neck.

A pleasant shiver ran down her back and her skin warmed. “Gabriel, someone will hear.”

“Your father is in Scotland, and your mother is asleep on the other side of the house. Her ladyship has probably drunk herself into a very sound slumber, and we shall not be disturbed by your lady’s maid for several hours at least.”

She pushed harder against his chest. This time he did give way. “You have thought this through.”

Her stomach twisted and her heart pounded with either fear or anticipation. She didn’t care for either one replacing good sense.

He didn’t respond, just watched her, and his gaze was part caress, part invasion. “Did you come here for the sole purpose of ruining me?”

Finally, he closed those arresting eyes. “In all fairness, I thought you already a woman of less than stellar reputation.”

“And now?”

“You have said that you are a virgin, and I believe you. As I said, after all these years, I know when you are lying to me.” He strode toward her.

She backed away until her knees pressed against the bed. “Yet you still intend to rape me?”

“Rape? No. I will do nothing that you do not allow, Bella. I want you. I intend to have you either tonight or another night, but I will never hurt you.” He advanced until he pressed up against her, and she had nowhere to run.

“I want you to leave.” Hollow words, but it was worth a try.

His mouth curled up. His hand skimmed across the top of her chemise where the robe had fallen open. “Do you?”

His touch was as light as a feather, but it cascaded down to her toes and caused a mewing sound to escape her lips.

“Yes, I want you to go, Gabriel.” In her head, she cursed herself for not sounding more assertive. She sounded as if she was begging him to stay rather than demanding he go.

To her surprise, he took a step back.

She stood up straighter and met his gaze. A hint of disappointment ebbed through her body, but her mind sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

“Do not thank me yet, Bella. I’m not leaving. I will make you a deal. I want you to let me touch you for ten full minutes without any protest from you. I promise at the end, you will still be a virgin. After the ten minutes, if you still wish for me to leave, I will go. I will not promise that I will stop my pursuit, but I will leave you for the night.”

“Do I have a choice?” she asked.

“No.” His lips grazed her ear. “But I promise you will not be sorry, my love. Even if you choose to send me home in ten minutes, I will be the only one leaving this night wanting for release.”

Shivers ran up her spine.
Damn him.
She cursed her body for desiring him. There was no sense in answering since he would take his ten minutes regardless. Briefly, she considered the pistol nestled in her bedside drawer or the knife tucked into a clever holder behind her headboard. She needed neither, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t harm Gabriel.

A slow, sultry smile spread across his handsome face.

Excitement bloomed in her abdomen.

He lifted her and eased her onto the bed. Covering her, his heavy chest pressed against hers as if he were a pleasure blanket.

Though she remained a virgin, the last four years had taught her quite a lot about the mating act. She had seen things in London’s bowels very few young ladies of the
ton
would ever dream of, so it was no surprise when his hard shaft pressed against her middle.

He moved forward, rubbed himself against her and pressed his thigh between her legs.

Her heart raced.

He moaned and closed his eyes. His strained expression, the crease of his brow and shortened breath, warmed her from the inside.

Her body ached at the sight of his arousal. She raised her hips, and he moaned again. So much power flowed through her. With every moan from his lips, her skin vibrated wanting more.

Her breath caught on the jolt of pleasure.
I need to stop him, send him home.
She clung to his shoulders pulling him closer, lifting her hips higher.

More.

His eyes snapped open. He rolled to her side. “Too fast, Bella.”

Immediately, she missed his weight on top of her.
Stay focused. Do not get caught up in his web.

He untied the ribbon on her robe and pushed both sides apart. His hand, tanned to a honey brown, skimmed over her cotton chemise.

Everywhere he touched burned and she wanted more.

He removed her robe and chemise quickly, leaving her completely bared to his watchful eyes.

She had been raised a lady. Every instinct told her to grab a sheet and cover herself. But she really didn’t want to. Her body ached for more and if she allowed him, he would give her what she yearned for. Aroused and womanly, she grasped for control. But like a petal in a windstorm, it was impossible to find balance.

“My god, Bella, you are beautiful.”

His eyes traveled down her body to her legs and widened as he ran his hand along the her thigh muscle and then up again tracing along her fingers to her upper arm and along the cut in her muscle there. His eyes met hers. “Have you taken up some kind of sport that is taxing to your body since I have been away?”

The muscles were aberrant. Though necessary for her survival, she hid them from society under the guise of modesty. For the first year, she wouldn’t even look at herself in the mirror. Avoiding her reflection became a habit. Her insides twisted and her chest ached while embarrassment burned behind her eyes.
How could I have let this get this far?

She turned to the side and tried to pull the covers over herself, but it stuck under his body.

He pushed away the sheet. “No, Bella.”

“Just take your ten minutes and go.” She hated the catch in her voice. And more than that, hated how much power he possessed over her emotions.

“I’m sorry if I led you to believe that I am displeased with what I see.” His lips pressed against her chest just below her collarbone. “You are beautiful.” He kissed the top of her breast and trailed his tongue across to the nipple, took it into his mouth and tugged gently.

She arched up regardless of her attempt not to react.

He suckled her tenderly and his eyes never strayed from her face.

He released her flesh and blew gently on the moistened skin. The act sent tingles to every inch of her body and she gasped. She would have sworn she felt it in her toes. His tongue continued its path down her abdomen dipping in her belly button. She cried his name and immediately a new surge of moisture flooded between her legs.

“If something is unpleasant, Bella, you must tell me.”

“I…”
Lie and tell him it is all unpleasant.
She should send him away as quickly as possible but his mouth and his fingers gliding over her stomach and down her legs made her delirious with desires she had never felt before. “I…It is not unpleasant.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” His voiced rang with laughter.

His amusement should have annoyed her, but his hands distracted her away from any offense.

She tingled with pleasure. She closed her eyes, experiencing the bliss brought by every touch and kiss.

He lightly tickled the inside her thigh coaxing her legs further apart. He touched the delicate folds of her most private part.

The delight shot through her. Guilt pounded her mind and forced her eyes open. “Gabriel, you should not be doing that.”

He stopped the gentle sliding motion, but did not remove his fingers from her dripping center.

“You do not like it?”

“I…I do not know.” His touch made it impossible to devise a suitable response.

“Relax, love. Trust me.”

He touched her again, manipulating her slick folds and swirling around her opening.

Pressure built low in her abdomen, hips and between her legs where he touched her. Pleasure swamped her and she clutched the sheets. She tried to relax as he’d commanded, but still her muscles tightened.

His fingers opened her and then something wet was inside her.

She was about to scold him for breaking his promise, but he had not penetrated her as she had seen the demons doing in their lairs. His dark head rested between her legs. His tongue was inside her lapping her juices. She tried to say no, but the pleasure grew to the point that her complaint died on her lips.

Needing more, she threw back her head and arched closer to the source of pure delight.

He nibbled at her gently with his teeth and ran his tongue up and down her slit.

The tightness in her stomach and hips built higher and higher. She trembled with need.

Gabriel continued, relentlessly nipping, sucking and licking her until she reached the crest and tumbled over into ecstasy. Waves of rapture tumbled her higher than she had ever dreamt of or imagined.

He pushed hard against her bud, and she lifted her hips crushing her center to his face. With one last lick, he sat up beaming down at her. His eyes shone with passion.

“Are you all right, Bella?”

She lifted up onto her elbows. “That was…I do not know what that was.”

He touched her cheek. “That was an orgasm, my love. Something I hope to share with you many, many times.”

She had lost control, and the pleasure still buzzed inside her. If she lost her grasp so completely, would he? Her cheeks warmed. “Does this happen to you also?”

His smile was contagious. “Under the right circumstances it does.”

“I see.” Feeling shy, she pulled the sheet and covered herself.

His smile faded. “You’re going to send me away.”

“I think it would be best.” Even as she said the words, she wished things were different and she could let him take her as a husband takes his wife. She wanted to feel him inside her, but his proximity to her only put him in danger, and if she hoped to protect him, she had to send him away.

“I see,” he said.

“I’m sorry.” The feeble apology was not sufficient.

He smiled. “Oh, Bella.” He touched her cheek and kissed the top of her head as he rose from the bed. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I wanted to give you pleasure, and if your cries were any indication, then I have done that well. I would wait another four years to hear you come that way again. But I hope I shall not have to.”

He moved toward the window where he had entered.

She stood and wrapped herself in the sheet. “Gabriel, go out the front door. It is far less dangerous, and as you noted earlier, no one is about the house to see you.”

When he turned toward her, it took every ounce of her strength to resist asking him to stay.

He unlocked her door and walked into the dark corridor.

Belinda’s face in total rapture had been perfection. If only he could separate that spectacular part of the evening from his memory of her sneaking into the house through the garden, covered in filth and bruised as if she’d been struck across the face. What was she up to?

He’d ignored the mountain of paperwork on the desk in his study for far too long. His secretary had handled the business while he was fighting in France, but some things had been put on hold and now he tackled the arduous task of putting things back in order.

Unfortunately his fiancée’s less than warm welcome home a few weeks earlier had caused him to spend a great deal of his time speculating about what had happened while he was away. He had discreetly asked around town and no one had noticed anything strange or different about her. Lady Belinda still attended balls and occasionally she and her mother attended the theatre. There was no gossip about her taking up with a man, and he did not wish to create a scandal by asking too many questions.

It wouldn’t look good if Lady Belinda’s fiancé, just back from war, appeared nervous about the lady’s virtue. He was sure she would never forgive him if he ruined her reputation with his zealous curiosity. It was the last thing he wanted to do. All he wanted was the sweet girl he’d left behind four years earlier, but thus far, she did not exist.

After the intimacies of the night before, he was convinced she remained a virgin but was no longer innocent of heart. Something had changed in her eyes as well as in her manner. They were no longer the clear, loving eyes that had looked up at him with purity. He’d seen the change happen to boys when the horrors of war turned them into men but he couldn’t explain the change in a lady of Belinda’s rank. She had all the conveniences a woman in her position could hope for. What could have initiated the change, and where had she been before their meeting in the garden?