Gavriel didn’t give Althea time to think at all. In one swift move, he lifted her from his lap and laid her down on the clean side of the long wooden table. The cool surface against her back made her gasp, but that sound quickly turned into another when he stripped away the last of her clothes.

She was bare before him now, her skin flushed and trembling under his gaze. Gavriel stood for a moment, drinking in the sight of her, his chest rising and falling with restraint that he didn’t ...