Page 34 of Murder in Disguise (Mary and Bright #5)

But the best thing about the new day was the fact that Mary had awoken.

She must have done so a bit earlier, for she’d removed her soiled gown and now laid beside him clad only in her shift and the ruby necklace he’d gifted her with the night before, propped up on an elbow, staring down at him with a faint smile with her blonde hair loose and tumbling about her back and shoulders.

My very own angel.

The last vestiges of sleep fled in the face of worry. “Mary? Are you well?”

“I am.” She nodded. “Oddly, I feel refreshed, as if I’ve managed to sleep for an eternity, but then I remembered what happened and have questions.” The delicate tendons of her throat worked with a hard swallow. “Was it only just last night?”

“It was.” Needing to touch her, to assure himself that she was indeed all right, Gabriel cupped her cheek and then brushed his lips over hers. “By the time the major and I arrived with a couple of Bow Street men, Adelaide had done most of the difficult work.”

“She’s well?” Concern reflected in her blue eyes.

“Yes.” He turned onto his side facing her. “The clock pin didn’t puncture her skin, and the shot to Miss Madison’s shoulder was enough to distract her from her terrible work.” His chest tightened with the remembrance of how close they’d come to losing the young woman. “At least the case is closed.”

And the journalists had damned well better write him up better in the papers today.

“Is she well?”

“As much as she can be. I sent her to bed last night after the physician checked you over, though her trust will remain broken with everyone for a long time to come, I think.” He shrugged. “It’s to be expected, though.”

Mary’s lips turned down in a frown. “She’s no longer an innocent, at least mentally. In some ways, I’m sad for that, but in others, I’m glad that she’ll mature because of this.”

“Such is life, I’m afraid.” Reaching for her, he pulled her to him and held her, and the soft rasp of the lawn shift against his naked skin sent waves of awareness through him.

The feelings of frustration from the night before hadn’t left him yet.

“What is wrong with people these days, Mary? Why are more people insistent on killing each other?”

She pressed her lips to the crook of his shoulder. “I’m afraid human nature can swing to the darkness and has been that way since ancient times. Perhaps we’re seeing more of it because the world is so crowded and loud these days.”

“Perhaps.” For the space of a few heartbeats, he rested his forehead against his. “Is this where our world is headed?”

“I don’t know.” She let the fingers of one hand drift over his chest and shoulder.

That gentle touch sent heated interest through his shaft.

“There will always be evil and people bent on darkness or killing for whatever reason, but there are also plenty of reasons to find the joy and live for the wonderful times.” As she peered into his eyes, a sense of calm came over him.

“You must look harder to see them, but they’re out there. ”

He blew out a breath while caressing a hand down her back. “Do you believe those things will block out the bad?”

“Honestly? At the moment, I don’t know what I believe. Everything is still too fresh, but I must hang onto hope, and faith in our family, and the love we all share.” She offered him a tiny smile. “Eventually, those things will win in this world.”

For the space of a heartbeat, he peered at her. Then he nodded. “I’m so damned grateful for you and that you came out of that horror last night more or less intact.”

“As am I. A few bruises, I think, but they are easily forgotten.” Then, with a stronger grin that had his world tilting, Mary moved.

She pushed at his chest until he rolled onto his back, then she straddled his waist. The hem of her chemise rose up her thighs while the insistent hardness of his erection brushed her arse.

“For now? I want to remind myself that we are alive, our family is well and protected, and that what we’re doing is putting that good out into the world to show others it’s possible.

” With a sigh, she leaned over him and kissed him, claimed his lips over and over, and when she pulled away, she smiled at him.

The gesture was strong this time, but the love and gratitude in the blue pools of her eyes had the power to lay him low.

“You tell me all the time that I’m a good man, but I think that’s only possible because you bring that out in me.” He slid his hands beneath the hem of her chemise to clutch her hips. “We make a good team, I think.”

“Agreed, and I’m glad to provide an example of what a healthy marriage looks like for Adelaide as well as our children.” The longer she held his gaze, the more deeply in love he fell with her.

“Indeed. Be advised, I told the children last night that we will all spend the day abed without lessons or paperwork, and that we might go to Hyde Park… if the rain stops.” He couldn’t stop his grin, and he also couldn’t stop his hands from exploring.

“If you’re of the same mind.” Then, because he couldn’t help it, he tugged her down and kissed her as if he had all the time in the world.

Of course, his wife wasn’t merely content to simply lie there; when did she?

She explored his body as much as he did hers, and all too soon, those kisses grew heated.

“I am of the same mind, so let us make good use of staying in bed and doing very wicked things to each other,” she whispered against his lips before claiming them with hers.

“You’ll have no argument from me.” Needing to touch her, reassure himself that she was indeed well after her ordeal, he skimmed his palms up her legs, over her hips to cup her breasts. “God, I was so worried about you.” Already, his shaft jumped and pulsed against one of her arse cheeks.

“I was too, but I knew you would come.” She rested a palm against the side of his face. “Did Miss Madison live?”

“Yes. She was patched up and then sent directly to Newgate where she’s awaiting trial for her crimes.” When he lightly brushed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples through the fabric of her chemise, her eyelashes fluttered, and a sigh left her throat. “I fear she’ll hang for those murders.”

“I do as well. It’s sad because her mind isn’t quite right, but what she did was horrid.” Her body shivered. “Perhaps if she’d talked about what bothered her, she wouldn’t have taken such extreme steps.”

“There is no way to tell, but knowing people with her same mindset are out there walking the streets of London leaves me quite concerned.” Then he held her head between his hands, claimed her lips in a kiss designed to tease, to stoke that hunger between them, and perhaps even to help them both forget the events of the past week or so.

“God, Mary, I love you,” he said against her lips. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“I love you too.” She furrowed her fingers into his hair while Gabriel dragged his lips along the underside of her jaw, down the column of her throat, licking the satiny skin as he went.

“So beautiful.” A sigh escaped him when she pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat then kissed a path over his chest. The tickle of her touch against the hair covering his chest had awareness shivering over his skin.

How was it possible he was so easily lost when they’d barely begun touching each other?

Perhaps it was merely a sign they were truly well-matched.

The warmth of her, the scent of her, the vibrancy of her in his arms went directly to his head, and as she kissed every part of him she could reach, he did the same to her, and worried her nipples through the thin fabric of her shift, teasing and nipping those buds while soft sounds of encouragement left her throat.

Quickly drunk on her, Gabriel made quick work of tugging the garment off her body.

Naked except for the rubies, the fetching picture she made went straight to his head and his shaft, which pulsed in appreciation.

Once her perfect breasts were bared to his gaze he couldn’t help but brush his knuckles over those pebbled tips.

“I can hardly believe we’ve been married for just over a year,” she said as she peered at him with desire in her eyes. Then her hands explored his chest, her shoulders, his sides, and the heat of her seared him, claimed him, reassured him that all was well with her… with them.

“Would that we enjoy many more years of the same,” he whispered against her lips as he held those quivering mounds in his palms. Never would he tire of her, because she was a continuing adventure for him, and she was the best of all partners—in every aspect of life.

Gabriel teased and tormented those dark pink buds until she writhed over him.

Each sound she made sent him deeper into passion.

When he encouraged her to come down over him, he took a pebbled nipple into his mouth.

“Don’t hold back this morning. I need to concentrate on something good to evict the bad from my mind.

” The request faded beneath a moan when he amused himself with pleasuring her breasts until she quivered at the edge of release.

Already lost, he fondled one breast while licking and nipping the nipple of the other.

The curves she possessed never failed to entice him, and he wanted nothing more than to bury himself deep into her honeyed heat.

“Oh!” She threw back her head, and the blonde waterfall of her hair fell over her shoulders.

The fingers resting on his shoulders dug into his skin.

“I wanted you in my bed after the ball, but since that was thwarted—” A moan interrupted her words when he rolled the other tempting pink tip, gave it a playful pinch while applying firm suction to the bud he’d already latched onto.

“Near fear, sweeting. We’ll make up for that missed opportunity.”