The Complete Regency Surrender Collection. Louise Allen

rumpled linen on the floor and resisted the urge to pick it up. The graceful fingers of her left hand parted the opening of his shirt and she softly combed her nails around his neck.

      He should not be the only one missing some attire. That hardly seemed fair. Knowing where he would begin, he trailed his hand over the curve of her hip, down her lovely leg to her dainty feet, where he removed one and then the other shoe.

      ‘What are you doing?’

      ‘I am simply returning the favour.’

      ‘Your heart is beating rather quickly. Are you well?’ she asked in an amused voice.

      He skimmed his fingers up her leg to the back of her knee and was rewarded when she shivered. ‘I am well. Although I could be very well.’

      ‘Is there such a thing as being very well?’ Her warm fingers slid along his collarbone and traced the veins of his neck.

      Closing his eyes at the sensation, he knew for certain there was such a thing as being very well. She enjoyed playing the unaffected minx, but when his fingers slid between her thighs he was pleased to discover she was slick.

      Her body stilled and she parted her legs further for him. As he slid one and then a second finger inside her she clenched his collar. He slowly pumped his fingers in and out, spreading her wetness.

      ‘I believe this might constitute being very well,’ he commented with a satisfied grin.

      ‘It might,’ she moaned, moving her hips to his rhythm.

      ‘Now that hardly sounds promising. I think I need to try harder.’

      ‘Harder, yes.’

      He pumped his fingers more forcefully. Her legs began to tremble. She was rubbing her face on his shoulder like a kitten and he was uncertain who wanted her to come more. He loved knowing he could make her feel this way.

      ‘Come for me, Livy.’

      She crushed her lips to his. The kiss was urgent and demanding, and within seconds he swallowed her cry.

      Gabriel kissed her softly. The small kisses she gave in return gave him hope that she still felt this burning attraction whenever they were together.

      He cradled her in his arms. There were nights early in their marriage when he had held her in unguarded moments just like this. ‘I want you, Livy. I want you now.’

      Her eyes met his. ‘Then let us go to bed.’

      ‘I cannot wait.’

      ‘Where would you like me?’

      ‘Here, in this chair.’

      She appeared amused by his statement—amused and intrigued. ‘In this chair?’

      ‘You did say it was comfortable. I believe you remember how it is done.’

      She glared at him until the corner of her lips twitched. ‘I do believe that would be highly improper for people of our station.’

      Gabriel lowered his mouth so his lips were less than an inch from hers. ‘Blame it on the wine.’

      He kissed her again, savouring her sweet taste. As she shifted on his lap, the friction did wonders for what was inside his breeches. Her hands were in his hair and his hands held the sides of her face, not wanting her to pull away.

      She shifted again. Now she was straddling him, with her gown tangled up between them. He always loved this position and slid his hands around her to cup her bottom. She undid the buttons of his waistcoat as he trailed slow kisses along her jaw on the way to her neck. His tongue licked her skin. Every inch of her tasted like heaven.

      Olivia worked frantically on the last few buttons of his waistcoat before she cried out in frustration. A gentleman’s duty was always to assist a lady in need. Pushing her hands aside, he pulled hard at the opening of his waistcoat. Buttons popped and flew to the floor.

      Before long his waistcoat was off and all he could think about was losing himself inside her. She pulled his shirt over his head and it went sailing somewhere to his left.

      They were kissing again and her warm hands slid over his chest. She had too many layers of clothing on. He reached for her breasts. Her stays had pushed them up so a good amount of them were already exposed. His hands were trying to lift them from their confines, but Olivia’s bloody dressmaker had her body secured tightly in her gown.

      Gabriel moved his hands and tried to unfasten all the tiny corded loops on her back. It felt like hours before he was able to slide the sleeves of her gown down her shoulders. She pushed against his chest, stood and shimmied out of her gown till it pooled at her feet.

      If their heated kisses hadn’t made his body burn, the outline of Olivia’s curvaceous form through her chemise with the light from the fireplace behind her was incinerating him.

      Jumping to his feet, he kissed her hard, trying to give his body time to calm down enough so he wasn’t throwing her over the chair and pounding into her.

      She moaned and it almost did him in.

      He tugged on the silk ribbon of her stays and she broke the kiss to remove it. Their eyes locked. He took hold of the linen near her thigh, lifted her chemise over her head and threw it behind her. A faint whoosh sound came from the fireplace and the firelight flared. They looked in unison as the remnants of her chemise were swallowed up by the flames. She shifted her open-mouthed stare to him, then pressed her lips firmly together.

      ‘I’ll buy you twenty more,’ he said and sucked on the tip of her breast until her back bowed.

      She was so warm—and tasted so good. He practically tore off his trousers before he lavished attention on the other breast. He needed to be inside her and he was going to do it now in that chair. Olivia let out a soft gasp when he picked her up and tugged her down onto his lap.

      Within minutes she shifted and straddled him again. The feel of her warmth as she slid down over him brought a groan from his lips. He didn’t even need to move her. She was setting a rhythm on her own. He was in heaven. Nothing existed outside this room and the only thing he was aware of was the woman above him. He dropped his head back as she picked up the pace and rotated her hips. His hands fell away at his sides. She could do anything to him at that moment and he would let her. He would grant her any request.

      It was impossible to steady his breathing when he watched himself enter Olivia—again and again. The delicious friction would soon be his undoing.

      He needed to go deeper inside of her and coaxed her to shift positions so she was kneeling on the seat of the wingback chair facing away from him and he was standing behind her. The first time he entered her, he drove himself so deep he almost came with that first thrust. He tried to hold back his release as long as he could, entering her again and again. Eventually his mind shattered into a million pieces as he came. When she let out a raspy cry and her body collapsed against the chair, he knew she had found her pleasure again.

      Dropping his head down on her back, he wrapped his arms tightly around her limp form. The erratic pounding of her heart matched his own. He had no notion how long they remained that way, just that he had the strongest desire not to let her go—ever. It was a notion that unsettled him.

      Eventually he released her. Her cascading sable hair shone in the firelight, the pins were lost somewhere in and around his chair. She looked sinful. She looked like a woman thoroughly satisfied. She looked like a woman he would have an impossible time putting aside again.

      He sat back in the chair, cradling her on his lap.

      When her lips rose into a mischievous grin, that dimple he always adored appeared on her left cheek. ‘This was entirely your idea.’

      ‘I take full responsibility for the state you are in,’ he replied, placing a kiss on her nose.

      ‘Good. I am glad we agree I was the innocent party in this episode.’

      ‘If I do not contradict that statement,