Free Sins of a Virgin by Anna Randol

her fingers to her mouth and began to lick each finger clean.
    His sharp curse echoed in the narrow space.
    With a swift movement, he placed the biscuit on his knee and caught her hand, pulling it toward him. His palm was warm and callused under hers. “I can help with that.”
    His thumb rubbed small circles on the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist, spiraling throbbing sensations to the sensitive places between her legs.
    What did the man think he was doing? And why was she letting him? “Huntford—”
    “Gabriel is better, don’t you think?”
    She knew Gabriel’s type. There was no place for a woman in his life except as an occasional bedmate. And that she couldn’t be.
    As much as she might be tempted to—
    A handkerchief plopped into her hand.
    “That should take care of the mess.” Gabriel released her hand with a satisfied smirk.
    The beast!
    But as her sexual frustration ebbed, an answering smile formed on her lips. She supposed she had deserved that. “Well done.”
    He picked up his biscuit. “I thought so.”
    That didn’t mean she was going to let him get away with smugness, however. “Have you enjoyed the evening?”
    “Which part? The mobs or the food fight?” He dusted the sugar off his knee. It was her turn to watch the muscles bunch along the hard line of his jaw as he chewed. “I think you coerced me here under false pretenses. Other than seeing you eat stolen biscuits on the servants’ stair, I haven’t seen anything that shocks me.”
    When would the man learn she couldn’t resist a challenge?
    Madeline reached out and flicked a crumb from his lip, letting her finger drag over his smooth, firm skin. “That’s because you’ve hardly left the ballroom.”

Chapter Six
    W hy in the blazes did he allow her to goad him so easily? Gabriel followed Madeline around a half-nude couple fornicating in an open doorway. The man’s trousers hung down around his ankles revealing hairy, spindly legs. The woman under him emitted high-pitched sounds reminiscent of a screeching violin. Gabriel grimaced. They couldn’t make it another two feet into the room and shut the door behind them?
    Gabriel hurried Madeline around the corner to escape the couple’s increasingly loud grunts. “That couple classified as more revolting than shocking.”
    Her nose wrinkled. “You do have a point—” She froze placing her hand on his chest. “Listen.”
    “I’d prefer not to.” But her sharp look silenced the rest of his snide comment. He struggled and failed to hear anything besides the overexuberant couple. Madeline, however, took off in a silent lope down the hall.
    What the devil? No mysterious footmen were in sight this time.
    She stopped abruptly. He collided against her. Only his arm wrapping around her ribs saved her from tumbling face-first into the carpet. The heavy weight of her breast pressed against his arm. If he turned his hand he’d be cupping—
    A woman’s cry of pain aborted his lustful thought.
    Madeline jerked her head in the direction of a door to their right. A man’s laughter spilled from the room.
    She shoved at the arm encircling her, and Gabriel released his hold.
    She strode toward the occupied room, her voice loud and shrewish. “I swear if you don’t find something to remove this gravy from the hem of my gown I’ll scream. I give you two minutes to locate a maid with laundry powder. I’ll wait here.” She flung open the door.
    A woman stumbled out, clutching her ripped bodice to her chest. A line of crimson dribbled from her mouth down her chin. Grotesque swelling around one of her eyes sealed it tightly shut.
    “Get back here, whore!” a gravelly voice bellowed from inside the room.
    With a terrified glance from her one good eye, the woman fled, revealing bloody stripes harrowed across her bony shoulder blades.
    Rage built until each heartbeat thudded in Gabriel’s ears with deafening percussion. “Stay here.” He set Madeline to the side and strode into the