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Gabriel suddenly looked more serious. He twined his fingers with hers. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘Me too.’
Leonora felt as if something intensely precious and delicate had been strung between them. And then she saw it: the heat in his eyes. The intent. It sparked the fire inside her and within seconds Gabriel was striding out of the park and flagging down a taxi.
He bundled Leonora in and she looked at him, taking the baseball cap off her head, half terrified and half exhilarated at the urgency suddenly beating between them.
‘Where are we going?’
But she knew.
He gave directions to the driver to go back to the hotel, which wasn’t far. They were there within minutes.
As they got out Leonora said, ‘What about the paparazzi?’
But Gabriel just growled as he tugged her out. ‘They don’t matter.’
Within a short minute they were back in the hotel suite and Leonora’s back was against the door, her mouth under Gabriel’s and his hands roving over her body, removing her clothes with ruthless efficiency.
By the time they reached the bedroom, with a line of clothes strewn between the bed and the main door, they were naked.
They fell on the bed, limbs entwined. Leonora didn’t know where she began and Gabriel ended. She’d never felt so primal in her life. When Gabriel joined their bodies in one cataclysmic thrust Leonora gasped. It was swallowed by Gabriel’s mouth as he started to move in and out, taking them higher and higher, until they could go no further. After a taut moment, every muscle straining against the oncoming rush of pleasure, they fell into it, down and down...and Leonora wasn’t even aware that she was crying as her emotions overflowed onto her cheeks.
It was early evening when Leonora woke in the bed alone. She realised her face and eyes were a little sticky and touched her cheeks, horror dawning on her as she realised she’d cried tears of pure emotion while making love to Gabriel.
She got up and dived under a steaming shower, as if that might wash away the signs of her weakness. She prayed that he hadn’t seen her emotion. The thought of him realising he’d moved her to tears made her scrub herself even harder.
Eventually she got out, and only emerged into the living area once she’d put on some make-up and pulled back her damp hair. She dressed in casual dark trousers and a thin grey long-sleeved top. Clothes not remotely designed to entice.
Gabriel was standing looking out of the window, and for a moment before he heard her she drank in the tall, broad-shouldered magnificence of him. She wanted him. Again. Already. Always.
A sense of desperation mixed with panic gripped her and she felt like fleeing, as if she could escape the way he made her feel, but then he turned around and saw her.
She couldn’t help the heat rising into her cheeks and was glad of the dusk outside and the low lighting hiding her reaction.
‘I didn’t want to disturb you,’ Gabriel said.
Leonora’s self-consciousness was acute. He hadn’t wanted to disturb her—in case she started crying again?
She forced a bright smile. ‘I’m awake now.’
He looked at his watch. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. We can eat here or go out. It’s up to you.’
Leonora’s relief that he wasn’t making any reference to her tears was short-lived when she imagined sharing an intimate meal in this suite while she still felt so raw. And with the bedroom so near.
She said quickly, ‘Let’s go out.’
* * *
In the back of the chauffeur-driven car on the way to the restaurant, Gabriel found that he was ever so slightly piqued that Leonora seemed so eager to venture out to less intimate surroundings. Previous lovers would have been only too happy to capitalise on his undivided attention. But then, Leonora wasn’t just a lover. She was his wife. And even as a lover...the lovemaking they shared was nothing like any kind he’d experienced before.
When he thought of this afternoon, and how desperate he’d been, his only consolation was that she’d been as hungry as him. He could still feel her nails digging into his buttocks and hear her rough entreaties. ‘Please...don’t stop...’
Gabriel shifted in the seat, irritated. He was regressing. He was no more in control of his body now than he had been when he was a lusty teenager. Por Dios.
The car pulled to a stop and now Gabriel was the one who relished getting out of the intimate space. He went around and helped Leonora out.
She looked around her. ‘Where are we?’
‘Montmartre. There’s a good place I know up here.’
