To the way he had stopped, again and again, waiting for her. Letting her choose. Letting her set the pace even when his restraint had been worn thin enough for her to feel it trembling between them.
“Never,” she said.
His throat moved, as though he had to swallow hard.
“Perhaps,” she added quietly, “I should ask if I frightened you.”
His eyes changed.
Then he touched her face, his thumb brushing the curve of her cheek with a tenderness that made her chest ache.
“Truly? Beatrice.” His voice caught. “You scare the hell out of me.”
Before she could answer, he’d gathered her into his arms and was kissing her.
His hand curved along her jaw, the other warm at her waist as he guided her from the path and into the deeper shade beneath the trees, where the low branches all but hid them completely.
Beatrice went willingly.
More than willingly.
The air there was even cooler, heavy with damp earth and the faint scent of leaves.
Beatrice scarcely noticed any of it.
Not when Gideon kissed her like this.
Not rushed. Not apologetically. But… very deliberately.
And with an attention that made every place his mouth touched feel suddenly, unbearably alive.
When her back met the rough bark of a tree, Gideon lifted his head enough to look at her properly, his breath still uneven.
“No fear?” he asked quietly.
“None,” she whispered.
The word had scarcely left her mouth before his lips found her again.
This time when he grasped her hand, he pinned it gently beside her shoulder against the tree. His other hand moved slowly along her waist, tracing the curve of her hip through layers of muslin and stays.
And somehow, Beatrice felt every inch of it.
The pressure of his palm against her ribs. The heat of his body crowding close to hers.
The roughness of his jaw brushing her skin as his mouth moved to the sensitive place beneath her ear.
She tilted her head back to the side, giving his mouth access to travel down the line of her throat.
Molten lava seemed to spread through her in waves, low and insistent. The same as the day before, but also… different.
His hand slid higher, just below her breast, giving her every opportunity to stop him.
She did not.
Instead, she leaned into the warmth of his hand where he cupped her, making a soft sigh of contentment before she could catch herself.
Gideon lifted his head immediately, his gaze fixed on her face.
