There had never been another but her. Tears popped behind her eyelashes and she blinked them away. But a lone drop slid down her cheek. He drew back and momentary horror stamped out the desire etched in the harshly angular planes of his face. “Have I hurt you?”
“No!” She wrapped her arms about him and drew him down to her. “I am just happy,” she whispered and tilted her head to receive his kiss.
Gabriel groaned and shifted himself above her and then with his knee, parted her legs. He settled himself between her thighs. “You will drive me mad,” he whispered and found her with his fingers. Then, he slowly slid himself into her. Jane brushed her fingertips through his hair. Agony ravaged his face as he moved within her tight, hot sheath. Her body closed around them, so perfectly suited to one another. “I love—” her words ended on a cry as he plunged deep inside her. Bloody hell.
He stiffened above her. “Forgive me,” he said hoarsely, his tone harsh. “Did that hurt?”
Like the devil. “A bit,” she squeezed out but then he moved a hand between their bodies and stroked her center. Again and again until the pain receded and all she felt was the shared connection between them. The hot blaze reignited by his movements spread through her and threatened to set her aflame.
He increased his rhythm moving in and out and she lifted her hips in time, taking him. The pressure built, pounding hard and fast inside her, and she stroked Gabriel’s face with tremulous fingers. He clenched his eyes tightly closed. And the rightness of their joining sent her over the precipice and she shattered into a million shards with white light flashing behind her eyes. Gabriel joined her immediately on an agonized groan that went on forever as he pumped himself deeper and deeper, and then he collapsed atop her—spent and replete.
Jane sank into the satin coverlet with Gabriel’s broad, powerful frame pressing down on her. Her heart pounded hard and fast. Or was that his? He rolled away from her and she mourned the loss, but he only flipped onto his side and drew her into the fold of his arms. She burrowed against the solid wall of her husband’s chest. All these years she’d spent hating noblemen and the prospect of marriage, only to find she’d been saved—by the love of a lord.
Epilogue
1 month later
Jane’s back ached. Then, a four-hour carriage ride along the rutted old Roman roads would do that to a person. She winced as the carriage hit another sizeable bump.
“Almost there, love,” Gabriel confirmed.
She frowned. “You’ve said that eight times.”
He winked. “Well, this time we really are almost there.” The carriage hit another dip in the well-traveled road and pain radiated from her buttocks, up along her spine. She wrinkled her nose. Her husband had mysteriously ordered her valise and trunks packed and loaded that morning. He’d given no indication where they were going. Or when they would arrive. Or—
“Blast and damn,” she mumbled as the carriage listed right and then it rocked to a blessed halt.
“We are here,” he announced cheerfully and reached past her to shove the carriage door open. Leaving her sitting with her mouth open and closing, he stuck his head back inside the carriage. “Well, then. Aren’t you going to step down?” He held his hand out and she accepted his fingers.
“I still do not see what has been so secretive,” she complained. She’d enjoyed a splendid month, the truly wedded wife of the Marquess of Waverly and would have been content to forever stay in London, in the comfort of the only home she’d ever known. With his hands upon her shoulders, he guided her forward and then shifted her to the left.
“Just a bit further,” he encouraged and then stopped.
Jane blinked several times at the stucco manor house with its shattered windows and crooked front door.
Gabriel tugged off his gloves and beat them together. “I…” He frowned. “I was assured by my man of business that it would suit.” Then he returned his attention to the building and scowled. “Alas, it’s a bloody mess. It can be fixed. We will fix it. You will fix it, as you see fit…”