In the meantime, here's a little teaser from it...
Her first kiss left
Gabrielle breathless.
In part, because she
thought she'd never have one. It was clear that the Marquess wanted her
to marry, but at the same time, he'd made it nearly impossible for her to truly
be courted. Gabrielle's every movement was tracked, by him, his cousins,
and - of course - Mr. Hood. Whom she still determinedly thought of as Mr.
Hood, now that she’d realized his attempt at closeness by giving her leave to
use his Christian name had meant nothing.
She'd almost been taken
in by his apology and his charm until she'd discovered that he was one of her
'guards.' Of course the Marquess had asked his best friend to keep an eye
on her for the Season.
It had hurt a great
deal, because for a very short time, she'd actually thought that Mr. Hood had
been interested in her for her. When she'd realized he wasn't, it had
also made clear to her what a little fool she'd been. So she'd thrown
herself into the attentions of her suitors, and she'd been quite taken with Mr.
Pressen.
He was blonde and tall,
slim instead of muscular, and wrote her the most romantic letters. They’d been corresponding for two weeks now
and he sent her bouquets daily. He
wasn’t the only one whom she received daily bouquets from, but off all her
suitors he was also the boldest. When they danced, he whispered how he
longed to kiss her, to touch her. He excited her with little caresses
that no one noticed. It was wrong of them, she knew, but also terribly
exciting.
Mostly, his obvious
interest helped to balm the wound her childish hopes had suffered in regards to
Mr. Hood.
So, with the help of Arabella,
who was thrilled by the romantic adventure, Gabrielle had snuck away to meet
Mr. Pressen alone, away from the ballroom. They’d been writing back and
forth for a while, although he only occasionally approached her in the
ballrooms since her guards were ever alert, and she was both flattered and
excited by his attentions. Going into a
dark room with him seemed like an utterly romantic adventure. While she could still hear the sounds of
merriment, the library was utterly deserted but for her and Mr. Pressen.
His lips were firm and
gentle, his hands cupping her face, one of them sliding to the back of her neck
and making her gasp as his fingers trailed over her collarbone. As she
did so, his tongue slid into her mouth, shocking her. He tasted of brandy
and chocolate, and she felt her curiosity grow as his tongue stroked
hers. This was an entirely new world for her. It wasn’t unpleasant, although she didn’t
quite feel the same excitement that she’d expected to. Since it was her first, of course it wasn’t
exciting, but it seemed to be missing a certain… spark. Perhaps her imagination had gotten away with
her. It was a very nice kiss after all.
The kiss deepened and
she moved closer to him, her lips clinging to his as they explored each other's
mouths.
When the door slammed
open, she nearly bit his tongue.
"Gabrielle!"
"Fe- Mr.
Hood!" She gasped out, her heart pounding with the knowledge that
she'd just been caught... and also fury at who had interrupted her first,
magical kiss. The bounder was standing
in the doorway, brow furrowed in fury, eyes ablaze, and with an expression
she’d never seen before on his face.
"Ah, Hood,"
Mr. Pressen rumbled, releasing Gabrielle from his hold and giving him a kind of
companionable grin. "Room's taken, as you can see, if you're-"
With a dull roar, Mr.
Hood bounded forward, slamming the door shut behind him, looking like the very
devil with his black eyes afire. He slammed his fist into Mr. Pressen's
jaw, knocking him down with one blow, and Gabrielle clapped her hands over her
mouth to smother her scream. She was completely shell shocked as Mr. Hood
grabbed her arm and dragged her out to the hallway.
“Mr. Hood-
“Not. One. Word.” It sounded like he was forcing the words out
through his teeth.
“Please… Felix-”
“Don’t you dare call me
that right now!”
Gabrielle’s lips clamped
shut. Damn him, damn him to hell and
back for ruining her night. Her kiss. Even worse, she couldn’t help but examine him
for signs that perhaps he was jealous… that maybe his anger stemmed from
something more than duty… but then he just handed her off to the Marquess with
a succinct account of “what he’d found,” which made her roll her eyes, and then
he’d followed them to the carriage, but hadn’t gotten in with them. He didn’t even said goodbye to her, just to
the Marquess and Cordelia.
And on top of all that,
she already knew she was going to be ending her evening with a spanking.
Bloody hell.
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