“Promise me you won’t lose your temper if you hear something—unsavory.”
“Give me a little credit.” He sounded exasperated. “We’ve had to deal with gossip at BU and Harvard and I haven’t lost my temper.”
“Of course.” She kissed his chest. “But academics get bored and like to talk. Nothing is more exciting than a sex scandal.”
“I beg to differ, Mrs. Emerson.” Gabriel’s eyes twinkled.
“Oh, really?”
“Sex with you is more exciting than a scandal.”
He flipped her to her back and proceeded to kiss her neck.
Before the sun peeked over the horizon, Julia crept back into the room. A shaft of light from the window partially illuminated the naked man in her bed. He was lying on his stomach, his dark hair mussed. The sheet was slung dangerously low, exposing his lower back, his dimples, and the top of his backside.
Julia gazed at him appreciatively, her eyes resting a beat longer than necessary on his muscular back and gluteus maximus. He was beautiful, he was sexy, and he was hers.
She removed her yoga pants and T-shirt, placing her clothes and underthings on an obliging chair. Since they’d been married, she almost always slept naked. She preferred it that way—to sleep skin against skin with her beloved.
Gabriel stirred when he felt the mattress move. He accepted her into his arms immediately, but it took a few moments for him to awake.
“Where did you go?” He began to run his fingers up and down her arm.
“I went to see the stone figures in the quadrangle.”
Gabriel’s eyes opened. “Why?”
“I read the Narnia books. They were special to me.”
He cupped her face.
“So you wanted to stay here because of Lewis?”
“And because of you. I know that Paulina lived here when you did, and I . . .” She stopped, regretting the fact that she’d mentioned someone they were both trying to forget.
“That was before we were involved. I spent very little time with her here.” He wrapped Julia in his arms. “I wouldn’t have tried to take you to the Randolph tonight, if I’d known your reasons. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you’d think my attachment to the Narnia books was juvenile.”
“Anything important to you can’t be juvenile.”
He thought for a moment as he considered what she’d said.
“I read those books, too. There was a closet in my mother’s apartment back in New York that I was convinced would open into Narnia if I was a good boy. Clearly, I wasn’t.”
He expected her to laugh, but she didn’t.
“I know what it’s like to be willing to do anything to make the stories real,” she whispered.
Gabriel’s hold on her tightened. “If you want to see where Lewis lived, I’ll take you to The Kilns, his house. Then we’ll go to The Bird and Baby, where the Inklings met.”
“I’d like that.”
He brushed a kiss against her hair. “I said once that you were not my equal, but my better. I’m afraid you didn’t believe me.”
“It’s difficult to believe that you think that, sometimes.”
He winced.
“I need to do a better job of showing you,” he whispered. “But I’m not sure how.”
Chapter Nine
After breakfast in Magdalen’s dining room, Gabriel insisted that they take a taxi to St. Anne’s, the venue for the conference. He was worried that Julia (and her high heels) wouldn’t survive the walk, and there was no way in hell he was asking her to change shoes.
“This is a dream come true,” Julia murmured, as they drove through Oxford. “I never imagined being able to visit here, let alone being able to present my research. I can’t believe it.”
“You’ve worked very hard.” He brought her hand to his lips. “This is your reward.”
Julia was silent, as she felt the weight of expectations on her shoulders.
When they passed the Ashmolean Museum, Gabriel’s eyes suddenly grew alight.
“I wonder what kind of trouble we can get into in there.” He pointed to the museum. “As I recall, there are ample locations for a tryst or two.”
Julia blushed and he pulled her into his side, chuckling.
He still had the ability to make her blush, a feat in which he took no little pride. And he’d done more than make her blush a few days previous when they’d tangoed against a wall in the British Museum.
(The Elgin Marbles had yet to recover from their shock.)
The Emersons arrived at St. Anne’s College just prior to the beginning of the first session. Inside, a group of fifty academics were milling about the refreshment tables, sipping tea and enjoying cookies while chatting about the extraordinary world of Dante studies.
(For indeed, that world was much more interesting than it appeared to outsiders.)
Gabriel poured Julia some tea before helping himself to coffee. He introduced her to two prominent Oxford professors of his acquaintance as they sipped their drinks.