“I hope you don’t mind that I am sitting beside you,” he murmured, watching as she blew a kiss to Sara and Ivy.

“I don’t mind,” she said quietly, turning back to him.

“I realize it is far more crowded this way, but I have difficulty when it comes to riding in reverse.” He was almost sheepish while making this confession.

Celia’s head tilted, waiting for further explanation as the coach lurched forward.

Gabriel grunted, bending his head so he could stare out the window beside him. “I become nauseous when occupying the jumpseat.” The admission seemed pulled from him.

“I shall sit opposite of you, Gabriel. It does not bother me to ride in reverse.”

It seemed impossible that this muscularly fit man possessed such a commonplace weakness. And that he was obviously embarrassed by its existence. The unexpected insight into her husband sent a tiny pang of tenderness straight through her heart.

Gathering her skirts, Celia went to move but Gabriel captured her wrist. He twined his fingers with her gloved ones.

“Stay beside me, Celia.” His lips quirked with a rueful grin. “It’s a long journey, but you and I shall alleviate the monotony together.”

When they were younger, she and Tristan would play games while traveling. Usually, this dissolved into a rather serious competition over who counted the highest number of black sheep in passing fields.

She couldn’t imagine Gabriel playing such games, even in jest.

Gabriel urged her closer until Celia was nestled under his arm. He smelled amazing and her cheeks flushed pink remembering how he’d bathed in the corner of the suite that very morning.

He’d not hid his nakedness. Celia found herself looking anywhere but his direction when he rose from the tub like a dripping wet Adonis. During her own bath the night before, he’d fled the suite and did not return until late in the night. She’d been asleep by then, but when he crawled beneath the coverlet, she naturally gravitated to his warmth.

It was puzzling that he’d not yet insisted on asserting his husbandly rights. She could not reason why he seemed determined not to touch her. She was his now. He was entitled to do whatever he wished and Celia almost wished he would. It would end this strange state of limbo between them.

“How will we do that?” she inquired, referring back to his statement of banishing boredom during their journey.

Gabriel simply grinned, his arms tightening around Celia’s shoulders. “I shall come up with something, I’m sure.”

CHAPTER 26

The first leg of the trip passed rather uneventfully. Celia was content watching the scenery pass by her window while Gabriel sat lost in his thoughts.

He’d never spent so much time alone with a woman before, at least not one who was truly a lady. Of course, there’d been many hours in the company of women whom he’d slept with, and a few of those ladies had been of the gentry. But those incidents were pale, colorless events when compared to the moments he enjoyed with Celia.