With all her flaws and mistakes.

He placed a finger beneath her chin. The heat in his gaze incinerated the fog surrounding her. Everything became crystal clear when he asked her a question for which he already knew the answer.

“Do we understand one another, Celia?”

Celia mutely nodded, staring at him. Of course, she understood even if she wasn’t quite sure just what he expected from her as a wife.

Anticipation curled in her stomach as she waited to see what he would do next. It sent her heart racing. Made her mouth dry. Chased goosebumps across her skin.

“Excellent. Now, get on your knees for me.” Gabriel’s voice was smooth as poisoned syrup and just as deadly. “I wish to see how well my future wife follows commands. And just how much she trusts me.”

Celia swallowed hard. “Now?”

“Yes. Now. And Celia? No more questions unless absolutely necessary.”

Celia’s lips tightened with the light admonishment, but she sank to the floor with shaky gracefulness. The thick Turkish rug carpeting the Earl of Ravenswood’s private study cushioned her knees. She eased back into a questionable position of comfort and waited for what would come next. The pop and crackle of the fire in the grate accentuated the shallow breaths she desperately inhaled in an attempt at calming herself.

“Mon douce fille,” he murmured. His hand curled under her chin, tilting her head back so he could stare down into her wide eyes. When she trembled, his thumb passed over her bottom lip in a fleeting caress.

Celia gasped softly, surprised by the spark of arousal she experienced. Gabriel’s lips twitched with amusement as he did it again. Heat flared in his gaze as he tracked his thumb’s movement across the plump flesh. His touch was firmer this time, gradually pressing between her upper and bottom lip as if seeking entry into her mouth.

Celia’s hands fluttered. Where should she place them? On his thighs? On her own?

“Behind your back, Celia,” Gabriel said as if reading her mind. Celia did as he instructed, and Gabriel swore softly under his breath when the position arched her back. Her breasts thrust out in an almost obscene manner and his gaze swept over her in a heated rush. “Now, open your mouth.”

Celia did that, too. Her reward was Gabriel’s thumb sliding between her lips and beyond the barrier of her teeth.

“Suck.”

The command was a dark, husky rasp of lust, and Celia hesitated only a second before closing her lips around his thumb. She applied a gentle, hesitant suction, her cheeks hollowing out a small bit. This was so strange but oddly arousing at the same time. Instinctively, her head bobbed until the digit was drawn further into her mouth before withdrawing and allowing it to slide almost free. It was an unconsciously sultry motion that was beginning to excite her and definitely affected Gabriel.

He groaned, thrusting his thumb deeper into the recesses of her mouth. Celia swirled her tongue around him in an experimental gesture, and in the next instant, she was no longer on her knees.