Invitation to Ruin by Ann Vremont Read Free Book Online Page A

the Sacred
Heart will be postponed. He claims that Mama is saddened by my
absence and would not lose me so soon. I am almost convinced, as I
found her crying in her room this morning, saying how much she
would miss me. But I can only hope that he is keeping me here so
that Sebastian may propose!
    April 21, 1787
    How the days dragged after I received
Veronique’s invitation, even though my heart was in a constant
state of flutter. I am exhausted and happy that Veronique is
playing the indifferent hostess, leaving me to rest in my room.
    There was a gift on my bed when I arrived. A
small white box with a heavy gold chain inside to bear the weight
of the ring, so his note said, until I bear it on my finger as his
wife. The note also promised that he would be with me tonight,
although his arrival and departure will be secret.
    How much I would have protested the thought
of such a meeting even a week ago. But I did not have his avowal of
love and devotion then. Now, the secrecy of it only heightens my
arousal.
    April 22, 1787
    How can the body know this much joy and
pleasure and not burst into flames?
    Again, our appointment was late, long after
the family had gone to bed. Worn out from a day’s anticipation of
the night, I fell asleep almost immediately after returning to my
room and changing into no more than the robe that should have
covered my modest sleeping gown. It was only upon hearing the creak
of the bedroom door as it slowly opened inward that I awoke.
    Footsteps sounded across the floorboards only
to be muffled as he reached the bed’s carpeted perimeter. The
curtains to the room were drawn and no candles had been lit in the
hall. I had only my sense of smell and the muffled sound of his
voice to know that it was Sebastian.
    “Gabrielle…”
    So quiet, so tentative. Did he doubt that I
would come? “Here, my love.” I reached out to find and clasp his
hand.
    He slid onto the mattress, the muted drop of
his boots and clothing on the carpet assuring me he did not intend
to leave anytime soon. His hands found the edge of the robe and I
heard his surprised intake of breath when he discovered that the
robe was all that covered me.
    “Do you not approve?” I grabbed his hand and
placed it over my ripe breast, moaning my own approval when he gave
it a rough squeeze.
    His lips found my ear and nuzzled my neck as
he whispered to me, “Vixen!”
    “Ah, love, I wish to hear your voice, not
these whispers.” I let my body plead with him, moving beneath his
roaming hand as it played me.
    “Shhh…” The admonishment came with caresses
as he rubbed at the sensitive button until I forgot myself and gave
an urgent moan that he might touch me more deeply.
    “Then open the curtains that I might see
you,” I said even as I pulled one knee up high to ease the entrance
of his fingers into my wet slit.
    He moved down the bed, stopping halfway. “I
want nothing more than to make love to you by moonlight,
Gabrielle.” He kissed my thighs further apart. “And by sunlight…by
any light. But I would not risk compromising your name…having
anyone think that I married you for anything other than love.”
    “You are right,” I relented. “It is just that
I so miss the sight of you, I cannot help but argue a little.”
    “When we are married, we will make love in
the day and by candlelight at night.” His lips brushed across the
hair covering my sex as he made his promise. “Your passion-filled
screams will wake the servants. They will think the devil has
invaded the house!”
    “You forget your father,” I moaned, barely
able to form the words as his tongue punctuated his claim with a
long swipe against my lower lips. “What would he think of such a
daughter-in-law?”
    Sebastian stilled. “Do not worry about that,”
he said, his words low and clipped.
    I sat up, my fingers curling in the blond
locks I could not see. “But I do worry, my love. What if he
objects?”
    I could feel the day’s whiskers on his cheek
and