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Something shifted in the atmosphere as Gabriel pulled up smoothly to a red traffic light. She risked a look at him and saw he was staring straight ahead, hands on the wheel.
‘I thought as much,’ he said after a moment, the car moving forward again.
Now she felt even more exposed. Clearly her inexperience had been woefully obvious. But hopefully not the full extent of it.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’
Leonora felt the blood drain from her face. From hot to cold in seconds. ‘How did you know?’ she asked through bloodless lips.
Thankfully Gabriel needed to focus on the traffic, so he was looking ahead and not at her.
‘Because I’ve never slept with a virgin before.’
Leonora wanted to slip down in the seat and disappear altogether, drowning in a pool of humiliation. But she forced herself to sit straight.
‘Why did you ask me out this evening if you know I’m such a novice? I’m sure there are many women who can provide more experienced entertainment.’
She felt him glance at her but she stared straight ahead.
‘You misunderstand me, Leonora. I did not say this was a negative thing.’ He waited a moment and then he said, in a low voice that rubbed along every nerve-ending, ‘In fact it was the most erotic experience of my life.’
That made Leonora even more rigid. ‘If you’ve asked me out because I’m some kind of novelty to you—’ Her flow of words halted when Gabriel swung abruptly into a layby and he came to a stop.
She looked at him and he turned to face her, the car idling. He looked stern and she swallowed.
‘I did not ask you out because you’re a novelty. I asked you out because I desire you very much.’
His gaze dropped to her mouth and he muttered something unintelligible to himself. Then, before she knew what was happening, he closed the distance between them, snaked a hand under her hair to the back of her neck and his mouth was on hers, possessing her so thoroughly that by the time he broke the kiss she was pressed against him, hands clutching at his jacket.
She was gasping, dizzy. After mere seconds. Her mouth throbbed. His kiss had been swift and explicitly sexual.
He raised a brow. ‘That is no novelty. That is the kind of chemistry and desire that comes along very rarely. Trust me. And I want much more than one night with you, Leonora—much more.’
Leonora couldn’t speak as Gabriel pulled back out into the traffic as if nothing had happened, his enigmatic comment reverberating in her head.
I want much more than one night...
What was he proposing? An affair? For her to become his mistress?
Everything in her balked at that because she knew she was not mistress material. She was a world away from the sophisticated women of the world he would know, in spite of her privileged upbringing. Until they’d lost all that privilege.
But then maybe he was only talking in terms of days...weeks. Gabriel Torres didn’t flaunt his affairs. He was discretion personified—which was largely how he’d built up such a mythical reputation. And a man like him wouldn’t be satisfied with one woman for long.
It was only when she saw that they were veering away from the city centre that she asked, ‘Where are we going?’
He glanced at her and she felt it like a searing brand. Dios.
‘We’re going to my home. My family home.’
‘Castillo Torres?’
Leonora was immediately intimidated. She’d visited the estate a few times in her lifetime, for social events with her parents. That long-ago polo match. Fundraisers. Galas. She hadn’t been in a long time, but she remembered it as being a huge and intimidatingly grand place.
In comparison, it made her own family castillo look like a cosy country cottage.
‘Yes. I trust that is okay?’
Leonora nodded. ‘Of course.’
