The Unexpected Marriage of Gabriel Stone (Lords of Disgrace 4)

It seemed to take for ever to get ready for bed and even longer to send Jenny, still bubbling with excitement, on her way. Caroline left the little oil lamp by her bed burning while she lay back, knowing she was not going to be able to sleep, not for a long while.

Part of her was braced for the shouts that would mark Gabriel’s discovery, but there was only the distant sound of men’s voices from the drawing room, the occasional burst of laughter and, out in the park, the sharp bark of a vixen.

* * *

The voices had stilled by the time the sound of fingernails on the glass of the balcony door brought her upright in bed, one hand clapped over her mouth to stifle the shriek of alarm. They carried on their light tapping as she scrambled up and pulled on her wrapper. When she warily pushed back the curtains she almost did shriek in earnest at the sight of a dark figure on the narrow space between door and balustrade.

‘Oh, it is you!’

Gabriel in breeches, boots and a dark coat slid into the room and jerked the curtains back again. ‘Who did you expect?’

‘Not you outside dressed like that,’ she said irrationally, then gasped. ‘How long have you been out there?’

‘Long enough to be almost sent over the edge by your maid closing the doors. And what did you expect me to be wearing? I can hardly climb the wisteria in a robe.’ Her agitation finally seemed to register. ‘Yes, I was out there all the time you were preparing for bed, and, yes, the curtains were tightly drawn and even if they had not been, I have no need to lurk outside maidens’ bedchambers like a Peeping Tom, hoping for a glimpse of bare ankle.’

‘Because you find it all too easy to be inside bedchambers, I suppose.’ Gabriel gave a low hum of agreement. ‘I do wish you were not constantly putting me to the blush,’ she snapped, cross with herself. ‘I was surprised, that was all. I thought you would have been inside the house long ago.’

‘When everyone was still up and about and I had no idea which room was Woodruffe’s?’

He spoke softly and she came close. To whisper back, she told herself. ‘It is in the other wing. You’ll need to cross the head of the stairs and go straight ahead, take the first right. His is the first door up the little flight of steps.’

‘Stairs, across, right, steps. First door. Got it. Did you manage to drug him?’

‘I gave him a light dose of laudanum, enough to make him sleepy. I didn’t dare use more,’ she confessed. ‘I suppose murder is a rather extreme solution to the problem,’ she added, then had to bite her lip to keep back the totally inappropriate giggles. I am becoming hysterical with nerves, she thought and then lost all desire to laugh when she saw the expression on Gabriel’s face.

‘It is,’ he said grimly.

Something in his expression... ‘I didn’t mean it.’ Her voice quavered.

Gabriel pulled her into his arms, her face against his coat. ‘I know you did not.’

‘That beard looks ridiculous with those clothes,’ she muttered, saying the first thing that came into her head. ‘It is tickling my ear.’

‘It is driving me insane,’ he confessed, his voice a low rumble. ‘I wish I could shave it off.’

‘Why? Does it itch?’ Caroline leaned back a little to examine it at close quarters.

‘That, and I suspect that you will not like it when I do this.’

The kiss took her totally by surprise. It seemed to take Gabriel by surprise, too, judging from the sound he made as he gathered her in to the curve of his arm. The beard was soft, but wiry, she discovered, though not as soft as the dark springing hair on his head as she slid her fingers into it, curved them around his head.

My second kiss ever. And it was very different from that first, brief meeting of lips. It must be the beard, she thought, trying to stay rational and controlled. Gabriel smelled of cold air and lake water and, she supposed, of man. His mouth on hers was decidedly more active than it had been that first time. More assertive. More... Oh! His tongue found hers, then explored the tender inside of her mouth, then his teeth were nipping lightly at her lower lip and she found she was pressed against him, very conscious of his body.

Gabriel stepped back until he held her by the shoulders at arm’s length. ‘Damn. I had no intention of doing that.’

Her lower lip quivered and she bit it. Gabriel’s gaze shifted to her mouth. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

‘I never said it was.’ He smiled at her ruefully. ‘The damn was for me. I apologise for both my presumption and the scratchy whiskers.’

‘They are quite soft, actually.’ She controlled the urge to pet them and gave herself a little shake. This was merely the release of tension, nothing more. Gabriel certainly did not appear much stirred by the experience and he should know. ‘You’ll need a lamp, you can take the little oil one from beside my bed.’ She watched Gabriel check the wick. ‘I think I will come with you to keep watch outside the door.’

‘And if anyone comes? How are you going to explain what you are doing at this hour, flitting about a house full of men?’

‘Um... Overcome by desire for Woodruffe? My father would approve of that.’

‘Your father would have you married to him by special licence ten minutes after he manages to locate a bishop to provide one if he thought you had committed that sort of indiscretion in front of witnesses.’

‘I suppose you are right. I could say I heard a sound like breaking glass so I went to investigate?’