The most hard, unflinching, beautiful green eyes stared down at me. Eyes that seemed to burn through my very body, my very soul. He made me nervous. He made me dizzy. Hot. A rush of emotions I didn’t quite understand surged through me all at once. Who was he?
“She’s new, Gabe, do forgive her.”
The comment jerked me back into the present. I swallowed hard, trying to calm my racing heart for fear he’d hear the unsteady beat. This was Gabe. The man who wished his father dead?
A square jaw, firm lips that didn’t look as if they ever smiled. Blond hair tousled slightly by the wind; dark suit perfectly pressed. The sort of spicy, male scent that could tempt even the purest of women. His golden looks did not soften his features. No. Not an angel. Not even a saint. The devil.
“New?” Slowly, his gaze slid down my body, taking in my dress that was too tight, lingering at my chest, before his attention moved back to my face. “I see.”
Cad.
Warning bells chimed in the back of my mind, even as shivers of anticipation shoved their way to the forefront. While the other two gents seemed like misbehaving, spoiled children, he was everything dangerous. Yet, I couldn’t seem to look away. His hands burned my skin, searing my flesh. And even as my rational mind told me to flee, I had the oddest desire to step closer to him.
Aye, he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen, but it wasn’t his looks that called to me. It was the strength of him, the arrogant reassurance that said he belonged in this world, the power that pulsed from his very being, as if he knew without doubt that he would always get what he wanted. I’d never, in all of my twenty years, felt such a scalding attraction toward a man.
Violet’s comment about falling for a titled gent flashed to mind. Hell and damnation. I might have been in danger of losing my fingers at the factory, but here I was in danger of losing something much more valuable…my virginity.
****
Gabriel
“Oh, do let her go, Chambers, you’re terrifying the girl.”
“Hardly a girl.” I quirked a brow as I studied her fine features. Almond-shaped eyes with thick, black lashes. Full, ripe lips. A lush body that could make the saints cry. A bolt of desire shot through me. Hell, I wanted her. “How old are you?”
That blue gaze flashed with wariness. She didn’t want to answer personal questions. She didn’t have a choice. Yes, there was fear in those eyes, there was also annoyance, bemusement, and an intelligence that made her more than interesting.
“What does it matter?” Landcaster said, relaxing onto the settee. “If you’re planning to seduce her, be warned, my mother will have none of that. I learned the hard way. Remember the good ole days, when a man could tup his maid without repercussion?”
She blushed at the comment. So, she had some innocence left within after all. A practiced whore wouldn’t have flushed. And if I’d had a soul, I would have cared. Still, she couldn’t be that innocent. Not with that bold, direct gaze.
“Bloody mothers and their ideas of purity,” Landcaster muttered. “I’m trying to encourage her to turn her attention to the poor and their drinking. Ale leads to poverty, is her motto.”
“Perhaps it’s the other way around,” the maid muttered under her breath.
I wasn’t sure whether to be amused or annoyed that she’d spoken out of turn. I lifted a brow. “Explain.”
Startled, she looked up at me, as if just realizing she’d said the words aloud. “Nothing, my lord.”
Yes, I was amused. Definitely amused. “Oh no, please. You must.”
She looked hesitant, her lips pressed together in irritation. Proud maid. Too proud for her lot in life. It would get her tossed out upon her lovely ear. “In my experience it’s the opposite. Poor people drink, my lord, because they have nothing else. Being poor leads to drinking. Something to numb the poverty. The fear, the hunger.”
Landcaster snorted. “Blimey, what a bluestocking she is. But if anyone gets to seduce her, it will be me. It’s only sporting. After all, I found her first. As long as she doesn’t tell my mother, and keeps her mouth shut.”
“But shut only some of the time,” Marks said with a grin.
Her jaw clenched, her eyes going hard. There was no innuendo that she didn’t understand. “Seducing, by definition, takes two people in agreement, my lord. Of that, you needn’t worry.