Page 32 of Notorious

“Well, not by the hundreds.”

“You know what I mean.” She reached up and brushed back his hair before lowering her cool hand to his jaw. “You were raised with the expectation that one day you would have that many women.Yet you have always been a friend to us, the only lover who has asked about us, where we are from, what dreams we have, what we want. I can only assume this is the work of your famous mother—a woman who has lived more in one lifetime than most have in ten.”

“Ha. Infamous is more like.” He flushed under her warm regard, and she chuckled, skimming his jaw with her knuckles, her smile turning impish.

“You are a wonderful lover and friend and we will miss you dearly.” She slid her arms around him, straddling his lap.

“What? Are you tossing me out already?” Gabriel wrapped his arms around her, flexing his hips beneath her spread thighs.

She chuckled at what she felt. “Mmm, I believe your mind is on other things, Gabriel.”

“Perhaps.” He lowered his mouth over hers, and her lips opened without hesitation. For a moment he lost himself and his problems inside her, stroking into her, reveling in her hot, sweet taste.

But then he recalled he’d not come here for this. He sighed and pulled back, smiling into her sky blue eyes. “I have a gift for you, my dear.”

Her brows arched. “Oh? I thought this was my gift?” She stroked his groin, and Gabriel groaned, laying a hand over hers. She was making this hard for him, in every sense of the word.

“Very well,” she said with a shrug, giving him a wicked smile.

“Witch,” he muttered, shifting and trying to adjust himself into a less painful position.

“If you’ve brought me something, I hope you brought something for Maria and Samir.”

“I am not a fool, Giselle. My coat pockets are stuffed like a sneak thief’s. You can give my gifts to the others.”

“You won’t wait for them?” Her eyes flicked upward—toward the bedchamber she shared with Maria, and which they both shared with Gabriel when he visited.

“I cannot indulge myself, as much as I might need and want to.” He shook his head, his regret unfeigned. “I probably should not have come today but—”

She squeezed his hand. “You wanted to tell us in person.”

“Yes.” He gave her a gentle push. “Now go fetch everything from my coat pockets—yours is the inlaid box.”

She returned with the three packages and then sat on his lap to open her gift.

Her eyes widened when they saw what was inside the box. “Oh, Gabriel, they are splendid.”

“Not as splendid as you. Put them on.”

She removed the earrings already in her ears, looking at him as she did so. “This is a farewell gift, I think?”

Was it? He’d certainly come with that intention in mind. But after seeing his fiancée clutching another man’s hand, he was no longer so sure.

Gabriel frowned at the petty thought. Was that how he would begin his married life? Engaged in an immature and spiteful battle of wills with his wife? He ignored Giselle’s question, instead pulling her toward him and lowering his mouth over the swell of her breast, breathing in her familiar scent. He would miss her companionship and affection even more than her beautiful face and luscious body. “You are a goddess,” he told her in French.

She took his face between her hands and tilted it up to kiss him. “Thank you for the delightful gift, Gabriel. Thank you and—”

“Hush,” he ordered, kissing away whatever it was she was about to say and then gently holding her at arm’s length. “I need to ask you something, Giselle.”

“I know what you will ask—you want me to see that Samir gets back to his family if your ship captain manages to locate any of them . . .” She gave a slight shake of her head, as if rejecting something too painful to consider, and added, “And if you do not come away from the duel.”

“Yes. It is very important to me. I’ve left all the information you will need in a sealed envelope with Byer, to be delivered to you along with instructions if they do not respond.”

“What of your mother?” she asked gravely.

“I’ve written a letter for her, as well.” Because he was too bloody cowardly to speak to her right now. He told himself he did not wish to inflict additional worry upon her when she was so close to her lying in. But that was a lie. He was a coward.

“We shall see to Samir’s well-being, my friend.”