Marriage at a Distance Read Free Page A

wondered if he was nervous too, then dismissed the idea. Gabriel, after all, was hardly a novice in these matters, she’d told herself, swallowing.
    At last, she’d pushed back her chair. ‘I—I think I’ll go to bed,’ she said.
    ‘Fine.’ His smile was abstracted, as if his thoughts were far away.
    ‘Are you going to stay here?’ Her voice quivered a little.
    He turned his head slowly and looked at her. He was frowning slightly, and there was a faint hardness about the lines of his mouth.
    He said quietly, ‘For a while—yes.’
    Her throat seemed to have closed up, making speech impossible, so she made herself smile and nod, then escaped to her room.
    She showered, and put on the nightgown bought specially for this momentous occasion—crisp and delicate in white broderie anglaise—then slid under the sheet which was the bed’s only covering to wait for Gabriel.
    The minutes ticked by—became half an hour—and then an hour. In spite of herself, Joanna could feel her eyelids becoming heavy, her body sinking down into the mattress.
    No, she thought, sitting up. I’m not going to sleep.
    She allowed another fifteen minutes to pass, then left the bed and padded barefoot to the door. The passage outside was in darkness, but she could see a glimmer of light shining under the door of the next room.
    Swallowing, she turned the handle and walked in.
    Gabriel was in bed, reading, propped up by a mountain of pillows, the sheet pulled to cover his hips, his olive skin in dark contrast to the whiteness of the linen.
    Something clenched inside her at the sight of him. Something alien—dangerous—exciting.
    There was a ring on her hand telling her that she was his wife. But he seemed in no hurry to be her husband.
    His smile was edged, almost wary as he looked at her. ‘What is it, Jo?’
    ‘I—I wondered where you were.’
    ‘Not very far away, as you see.’
    ‘Yes.’ The drum of her heartbeat was almost painful. ‘But why here?’
    He said gently, ‘It’s late. Let’s talk tomorrow.’
    She walked forward and stood beside the bed, her eyes fixed on him as if she was seeing him for the first time, observing the strength of bone and muscle beneath the smooth skin. The way the shadowing of body hair on his chest narrowed to a vee over his abdomen. And, she realised, how he’d positioned the book he was holding to conceal the fact that he was physically aroused.
    ‘Go to bed, Jo.’ There was a snap in his voice.
    She reached out and touched his bare shoulder, feeling the muscles bunch under her fingers.
    She said softly, ‘Won’t you kiss me goodnight first?’
    And she leaned forward and put her mouth on his, softly, almost experimentally.
    For a moment he was completely still, then, with a sound like a groan, his arms went round her, pulling her roughly down to him so that she was cradled across his body.
    His lips were parting hers without any of the usual gentleness he showed her. She felt the graze of his teeth against her bottom lip, the heated thrust of his tongue.
    Excitement warred with apprehension inside her.
    Gabriel tossed the covering sheet away and lowered her to the mattress, kneeling over her. He took the hem of her nightdress, tugging the garment upwards and over her head, then throwing it aside.
    She wasn’t used to being naked in front of anyone, and she was paralysed with shyness. She wanted Gabriel to hold her. To kiss her and reassure her. She wanted him to tell her he loved her.
    But he did none of these things. Instead, he began to touch her, his hands shaking as they cupped her breasts, traced the curve of her stomach and swept downwards to her thighs.
    Joanna felt a faint stir of wondering response deep within her. She looked up at him and suddenly saw the face of a stranger, harsh and strangely remote, with eyes feral as a jungle cat’s. As he entered her, her body resisted momentarily the breach of its innocence, and she gave a sob of mingled pain and fright.
    He checked