The Complete Regency Surrender Collection. Louise Allen

reduced the logs to ash.’

      She narrowed her eyes at him and hung the poker on the rack. Dusting off her hands, she turned her head towards his desk. ‘Why do you keep your desk locked? Is that where you hide your secret papers?’

      He knew she would never have simply forgotten all that she suspected. Taking off his ring, he adjusted it so it formed the key to his desk. Her surprised expression brought a smile to his lips. ‘Open it and you will see,’ he said, handing her his ring.

      She crossed the room as if she were heading to her own execution and pushed the chair away from his desk. The key stalled momentarily in the lock before giving way with a click. There was a slight hesitation before she cautiously slid her hand inside.

      There were only three things Gabriel kept in that drawer. Apparently she had no interest in the pistol. She took out the stack of papers, but once she saw they were blank she returned them to the drawer. Then she removed the small box and placed it on top of the desk. She stared down at it as if it would devour her where she stood.

      ‘Open it,’ he commanded softly into her ear.

      Holding her breath, she raised the lid and picked up the lover’s eye. It took a moment before she almost dropped it.

      ‘I had Cosway paint it from your wedding portrait. The jeweller who set it brought it to me the day after Nicholas was born. I wore it for a year before I realised there was no hope for reconciliation between us. It sat there unopened for years until yesterday when I found you in my study. Now you have uncovered the secret of my locked drawer.’

      She looked back at the small gold brooch in her hand. ‘You wore this?’

      ‘Every day for a year.’

      ‘How did I not notice?’

      ‘You barely looked at me and even if you did, you would not have seen it. I wore it under my coats. I’ve missed you, Livy. I hadn’t realised how much until recently.’

      She searched his eyes as if gauging his sincerity. Finally her lips curved into a small sad smile and she placed the pin back in the box. ‘I have missed you as well.’

      ‘I want you as my wife, in every sense of the word.’

      ‘I want that, Gabriel, I do, but I will not take you back into my life knowing you will run to Madame LaGrange to satisfy your needs. Most women would look the other way. But I cannot. I would rather we lived here as strangers than to have a marriage like that.’

      For years Madame LaGrange would trust only him with the intelligence she had gathered. She knew the danger she was putting herself in and he could not blame her for wanting to have only one person as her contact. But what if he could convince her she could also trust Andrew? Then he would no longer have to see her and there would be no danger of Olivia believing the worst. They could begin again and put the past behind them. ‘I won’t. You are the only woman I need. There will never be another.’

      All this time he had not been alone in missing what they had. He cradled her neck in his palm and lowered his lips to hers. What had started out as a kiss of mutual affection turned into much more. He poured out everything he couldn’t say to her—didn’t know how to say to her—into that kiss.

      As if she needed to be as close to him as he did her, Olivia worked the buttons of his tailcoat and then his waistcoat. He picked her up and settled her lovely bottom on the surface of his desk, all without breaking the kiss.

      He needed her and needed to be inside of her to reassure himself she was his. The silk of her gown glided over his hands as he skimmed his fingers up her soft, warm legs. Her breath caught within their kiss as his hands moved higher and higher.

      A soft knock stilled them and Gabriel looked at the door. Olivia pushed against his shoulders, but with one hand he grabbed her about the waist and the other hand remained on her thigh.

      ‘Yes?’ he called out, sounding as if he had spent the day in a loud debate within the House of Lords.

      The handle of the door turned halfway before the lock prevented it from making a full rotation. ‘Your guests have arrived, sir, and are waiting in the Green Drawing Room,’ was the muffled reply from Bennett.

      Gabriel and Olivia looked at one another in mutual confusion, until they both recalled they were having dinner with his family. Olivia pushed harder against Gabriel and this time he let her go. Stepping away from the desk, he buttoned his waistcoat and began to tidy his clothes.

      ‘Tell them we will be there shortly,’ he called to the closed door.

      ‘Yes, sir,’ was the muffled reply.

      When he turned back around, Olivia was adjusting the neckline of her gown.

      ‘May I help you with that,’ he asked with a grin.

      ‘I believe you have done enough for now.’

      ‘I’d like to do more.’ Visions of entering her were not going away. ‘It is unseasonably warm this evening,’ he said with an arch of his brow.

      Her hand stilled from shaking out her skirts and she looked up at him. ‘Perhaps we should venture out into the garden when our guests leave.’

      It was uncanny how quickly she could follow his train of thought. ‘Perhaps we should.’ He took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her skin. ‘I haven’t been in the walled garden in ages. Are we still in possession of that sun dial?’

      The tip of her tongue ran over the dip in her upper lip. ‘We are, but it won’t be of much use in the dark.’

      ‘It will be most useful when I bend you over it and take you from behind.’

      Her brown eyes darkened and he knew she was picturing it just as he was. If he made it through dinner without dragging her out of the room and into the garden it would be a miracle.

      Olivia was the first to look away as she flattened out her skirt. ‘Do I look presentable? I don’t resemble a doxy who has just had a tumble?’

      He laughed and shook his head. ‘I assure you my family will have no idea what we’ve been doing.’

      Her eyes widened as she glanced at the door. ‘Your family... Gabriel, we cannot keep them waiting.’

      Grabbing his arm, she propelled him towards the door. When they reached the door, he spun her around and kissed her one last time. Then she pushed him away, turned the key in the lock and before Gabriel was able to say another word, she was practically running with him down the hall to the Green Drawing Room.

      Aside from their heavy breathing from running through their house, Gabriel thought they had disguised their activities rather well. That was until his mother, Andrew and Monty turned towards them from where they had been sitting near the window. His mother’s eyebrows rose into her hairline, Andrew’s right brow arched with a knowing look of amusement and Monty’s mouth had opened so wide he resembled a fish.

      Gabriel glanced at Olivia. Not a hair was out of place. So what was causing such a reaction?

      Olivia dropped his hand.

      It suddenly felt cold and empty. She looked at the buttons of his tailcoat with a pointed stare and he re-buttoned them properly. No one uttered a word. The awkwardness of the moment would not do. Their family should know they had reconciled and, in a short time, so would all of London.

      He tugged Olivia closer and kissed her knuckles slowly. Her eyes softened at the gesture. A discreet cough came from the sofa. When they both turned their heads, his mother smiled.

      ‘We were beginning to worry that something was amiss with Nicholas. Now I see it was nothing dire at all.’

      ‘Nicholas is well, I assure you,’ Olivia said, tugging her hand back and walking towards his family. ‘He will be down after dinner and you will be able to see for yourself.’

      His mother kissed his cheek. ‘It is lovely to see you, Gabriel.’ Her wise eyes scanned his