“Really? Why?”
“I wasn’t going to allow Mrs. Roberts to live here and chop down all the trees.”
“So you bought the house because of the orchard?”
“I couldn’t stand the idea of someone else owning it and possibly destroying it. Of never being able to come back here.”
“So what will you do?”
He shrugged. “My real estate agent will rent it out. I’d like to keep it as a summer house. I don’t know. I just couldn’t let Richard sell it to a stranger.”
“It was very generous of you.”
“Money means nothing. I can never repay him.”
Julia pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He smiled at her. “Are you comfortable?”
“Yes.”
“Are you warm enough?”
She giggled. “You’re generating quite a bit of heat, so yes.”
“You’re too far away.”
Even in the moonlight, Julia could see his eyes grow dark. She scooted closer to him and trembled slightly as he placed her sideways on his lap.
“That’s better,” he whispered, pulling her peacoat up slightly so that he could touch the naked skin of her lower back.
“Can I ask you something?” Julia looked at him pensively.
“Of course.”
“Why isn’t your last name Clark?”
He sighed. “Emerson was my mother’s name. I thought if I changed it, I would be disowning her. And I’m not a Clark. Not really.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, each coming to terms with memories and reality. Gabriel continued to caress her back, and she nuzzled up against him. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry to start a conversation, so Julia decided to speak first.
“I had a crush on you from the moment I saw your picture. I was so surprised that you noticed me the night I met you—that you wanted me to come with you.”
He brushed his lips against hers, just for an instant, fanning the flames that flickered below the surface. “You appeared to me in my darkness. You asked me once why I didn’t sleep with you that night. It’s so clear to me now; I drank in your goodness, and it satisfied my longings.”
Julia would have looked away, embarrassed, but Gabriel’s vulnerable gaze kept her there, exploring the depths of two dark shadowy pools.
“I don’t remember everything, but I remember thinking that you were very beautiful. Your hair, your face, your mouth. Sonnets could be written about your mouth, Julianne. I ached to kiss it from the moment I saw you.”
Julia pressed their chests together and grasped his neck with both hands, urging his mouth forward. She kissed him slowly but with feeling, tugging on his lower lip with her teeth, exploring his mouth with her tongue.
He placed his large hands flush against her back, almost lifting her. She responded by shifting her legs and moving to straddle him. He groaned in her mouth at their sudden and intense connection and held her even more tightly. His hands began to rub against her flesh, gliding up to the edge of her lacy bra strap and then back down again to the waistband of her jeans, teasing and tracing the barriers to her skin. It was so smooth, so soft. He wished he could see it in the moonlight. He wished he could see all of her.
Gabriel pulled away from her mouth when he felt her shiver. “Are you all right, love?”
She started at the unfamiliar term but then a slow smile crept across her face. “More than all right. I…” She paused and shook her head.
“What is it?”
“You’re very…intense.”
Without thinking, Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. His chest vibrated with good humor, and Julia almost found herself laughing too. If she hadn’t thought he was laughing at her. He reached his thumb up to pull her lower lip from between her teeth.
“If you think my actions are intense, then it’s a good thing you don’t know what I’m thinking at this moment.”
He shifted underneath her, and if she hadn’t noticed before, she noticed now. Where their two bodies pressed up against one another there was solidity and heat, the promise of something mysterious and satisfying.
She flushed at the way his body responded to her but didn’t break eye contact. “Tell me.”
“I want to make love to you because I care about you. I want to worship your naked body with my own and learn all of your secrets. I want to please you, not for minutes, but for hours and even days. I want to see you arch your back in ecstasy and look into your eyes when I make you come.” He sighed and shook his head, his gaze heated but resolute. “But not here. It’s too cold and it’s your first time and there are some things we need to discuss first.” He tenderly kissed her forehead, worried that she would interpret his declaration as a rejection.