by Maggie Cox
‘You probably didn’t mean to hurt me, Gabriel, but the truth is you did. Perhaps you need to leave and reflect on that for a while?’
His glance was more than a little bemused. ‘Do I take it that you’d be willing to see me again despite what just happened?’
‘I would. But you won’t behave like you have every right to kiss me like that again, Gabriel. Because I won’t let you.’
Folding her arms across the fresh pink linen shirt that she’d donned after their walk as if she meant business, Lara sighed.
‘I sense that you only did what you did out of sheer frustration at not knowing what to do with your feelings. Feelings that must have been building up inside you since you heard about your uncle and then about Sean. I can totally understand that. Grief can make even the most stable of people go a little crazy sometimes. It can make them act in ways they normally wouldn’t.’
‘So you think I kissed you purely because I didn’t know what to do with my grief and went a little crazy?’
Sensing her face flooding with heat, she twined a long strand of rich brown hair round her fingers and unwaveringly met his gaze. ‘Yes...yes, I do.’
‘Then clearly you’ve learned nothing about men and their base desires, have you?’ He raised a sardonic dark eyebrow.
Shocked more by his remark than by his rapacious kiss, Lara wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. Clearly Gabriel still thought of her as Sean’s innocent little sister after all—a woman who had probably been sheltered from the world by kind but undoubtedly misguided parents and was consequently too naïve for words.
Gathering every ounce of determination and resolve she could muster, she refused to let his mockery get to her. Naïve or not, she still didn’t believe Gabriel was displaying his true nature. Her intuition told her that presenting himself as cruel and uncaring was just a ruse. It wasn’t the truth. She’d put money on it.
‘I may not have a lot of experience with men, Gabriel, and I know it’s been a long time since we last met, but I’m not as naïve as you seem to think I am. I’m quite aware of what goes on in the world, and of the—of the desires that people have. And, in spite of what you said, I don’t believe that it’s in your nature to take what you want just because you can. You’ve probably built a wall around your feelings for a long time, and it’s only natural that those feelings should spill over since coming back home and being forced to face the losses in your life.’
She paused to take in a deep, steadying breath.
‘I may not be as worldly-wise as you, but neither am I insensitive to the fact that you must be hurting.’
Even as she said the words Lara wondered how she’d dared express them when she saw Gabriel’s lip curl disparagingly. He was rubbing his hand over the borrowed cobalt-coloured shirt that belonged to her father—a colour that brought out the intense glittering blue of his stunning eyes—and for a few heart-pounding moments she honestly thought he was about to walk away. To walk out of her life for ever.
‘I hate to shatter another illusion, sweetheart, but I didn’t kiss you because I was hurting.’ Again Gabriel raised a rueful dark eyebrow. ‘At least not in the way that you believe. I kissed you out of pure lust. If you find that shocking, then look in the mirror. The little girl that I once knew has grown up into a very beautiful and desirable woman. A very sexy woman. There’s not a man in the world who would blame me for wanting you in my bed.’
‘If you expect me to be flattered by that comment then I—’
He strode towards her again but Lara didn’t flinch. Gabriel could taunt her all he liked, but she would stand her ground and refuse to believe him to be doing anything other than play-acting—seeking to divert her from the truth of what he was really feeling by making her think that he was a cold, heartless playboy with no remaining vestige of the friendly, teasing youth she’d known as a young girl.
‘I don’t expect you to be flattered, angel.’
Lifting his hand, he stroked his palm down over her cheek. The gesture both warmed and froze her at the same time. One thing she couldn’t deny was the realisation that there had always been something unpredictable about his nature. Something dangerous, even.
Sean had once commented that women swarmed round Gabriel like bees round a honeypot because as well as having good looks he exuded a ‘bad-boy’ image they all seemed to find irresistible. Lara didn’t doubt that was true, but she had never been frightened of him. She might be naïve, but she didn’t think he would ever deliberately hurt her or cause her pain. Strangely, even his savage kiss hadn’t changed her mind about that.
He sucked in a deep breath and the warmth of his ensuing sigh feathered over her cheek. It had the same startling effect as if she’d imbibed a shot of the most intoxicating brandy. The dizziness and weakness that flooded her made her wonder if her legs would ever hold her safely upright again.
‘Rather than be flattered...for both our sakes...I’d prefer you to just tell me to go to hell and warn me never to darken your doorstep again.’
The exquisite carved male lips in front of her twisted, almost as if he wished she would put an end to his inner agony by readily acceding to his wish to tell him to go to hell. But Lara couldn’t and wouldn’t do it.
‘No, Gabriel. I won’t ever tell you that—not unless you deliberately cause me harm. Call me weak, or even stupid, but my brother would turn in his grave if I turned you away. My parents wouldn’t be too pleased with me, either. I think our emotions have been heightened today because of what we’ve both been through....losing people that we love. So let’s put this upset aside for a while and finish our lunch, shall we? I’ve got some fresh fruit salad and cream for dessert.’
Feigning that she was unperturbed by what had just transpired between them, she lightly lifted Gabriel’s hand off of her cheek and walked back to the table. But her heart was thudding like crazy as she pulled out her chair and turned back towards him. He was standing stock-still, staring at her as if he couldn’t begin to fathom where she was coming from.
‘No, Lara. I won’t stay. Thanks for the lunch, but I think I’ll pass on dessert.’ He shrugged. ‘In spite of what just happened I want you to know that I wish you a happy future—I really do. The best. I’ve no doubt you’ll break a few male hearts along the way...that is, if you haven’t done so already.’
Just as Gabriel finished speaking, Barney shot out through the patio doors like a bullet from a pistol. Fresh from the nap he’d been having after their woodland walk, he made a direct beeline for Gabriel, jumping up at him and yapping wildly with excitement as if he was his new best friend.
Lara could have kissed the terrier because, taken by surprise and with his defences down, Gabriel immediately dropped down to his haunches and appeared to gladly make a fuss of the animal. The action was just what was needed to defuse the tension between them.
‘I think he likes you.’ She smiled. ‘I don’t think he’s going to easily let you go, Gabriel.’
‘And how about you, Lara? Are you going to easily let me go?’
Even across the expanse of lawn that was between them the diamond glitter of his eyes seemed to burn a hole right through the centre of her soul, and it shook Lara. Licking lips that were suddenly achingly dry, she smoothed a tremulous hand down the front of her jeans and made herself hold his gaze unwaveringly.
‘Probably not. I’m a bit like a terrier, too, when it comes to my friends. It takes a lot to shake me loose. By the time you go back to New York you’ll probably be heartily sick of the sight of me.’
‘You think?’
Lifting a joyful Barney into his arms, Gabriel rose to his full height again. The maddeningly enigmatic smile on his face made her limbs feel as insubstantial as cotton wool.
‘Let’s have that dessert now, shall we?’ she suggested, aiming for a matter-of-fact tone and fearing she’d comp
letely missed the mark. ‘It seems a shame to let it go to waste.’
‘Temptation personified—that’s what you are, Lara Bradley,’ Gabriel drawled huskily.
‘I’d probably make a good saleswoman, then, wouldn’t I?’
Hugging a now much calmer Barney to his impressively broad chest, he smiled. ‘Sweetheart, you could sell me any damn thing you wanted and I wouldn’t be able to resist. See how much power you have over me?’
If only he knew it wasn’t power over him that she craved, Lara mused achingly, but something much deeper and more lasting.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHEN THE TIME HAD COME for him to bid Lara goodbye that day, his policy to keep them keen by not always being readily available—as was his habit with women—had made Gabriel strive to keep his tone and manner as non-committal and cool as possible. But all it had taken was one more lingering glance into Lara’s big brown eyes to make him realise this was the one woman he wouldn’t be able to employ his usual ‘laissez-faire’ technique with.
That incendiary kiss he had stolen from her might have left her thinking what a merciless bastard he was, but it hadn’t been planned. He’d never known a hunger and a need for a woman like it, and in the midst of his surprising need to confess how driven he’d become in his bid for success his desire for her had reached fever pitch.
Add to that the fact that he had been mad at himself, mad at the world, and mad at the cards that fate had dealt him and it had been a recipe for fireworks. Now Gabriel couldn’t get the taste of her or the memory of her soft and shapely contours out of his mind.
Realising he didn’t want to leave before spending some proper time with Lara, he’d decided he would just let things unfold naturally between them instead of sabotaging his chances by being overly demanding and dictatorial. With that in mind, he had suggested that after his meeting with his uncle’s solicitor the next day he pick her up and take her with him to see the house he’d been bequeathed, show her around. Somehow the thought of visiting his old home with her by his side was altogether more appealing than if he confronted the bittersweet memories it would undoubtedly evoke on his own. After the visit he would take her back to her parents’ house so that she could walk Barney, and then in the evening he would take her out to dinner.
After hearing her gladly acquiesce to both those suggestions, Gabriel had left Lara to drive back to his hotel in Park Lane with his spirits raised even when by rights they shouldn’t be—because not only had he lost Sean but he still had to face the ghosts of his past back at the manor house he’d grown up in.
That aside, he’d begun to sense that he and Lara had some ‘unfinished business’ between them. Why else would they have this chemistry after not even setting eyes on each other for years? Gabriel knew that he wouldn’t be returning to New York any time soon without discovering the reasons for it.
* * *
‘Do you mind if I ask you how your meeting with the solicitor went?’
In the sleek black luxury saloon car that Gabriel had hired for the duration of his stay Lara’s tone was cautiously measured, as if she was unsure of what kind of response she would get from him. Gabriel couldn’t blame her for being wary after what had happened yesterday. But right then, despite being secretly thrilled that she was sitting beside him, smelling as fragrant as a rose and looking breathtakingly lovely in her strapless pink summer dress, a more disturbing topic was dominating his thoughts.
That morning he had discovered that there was a surprising codicil to his uncle’s will. How it would impact on his life should he go along with it had presented him with a dilemma he’d never anticipated. It seemed there was yet another complication for him to confront and deal with. Dear God! Was he never to be free of the demoralising legacy of his past?
Swallowing hard, he deftly steered the car off the main road and onto a thoroughfare that he knew led out into the countryside. It was an all too familiar route—one that he had travelled many times as a boy and rarely with any pleasure.
After travelling for a while in silence, Gabriel finally turned briefly towards Lara and answered her question.
‘The meeting went as well as expected, I suppose, if not entirely to my satisfaction. Anyway, you’ll see the house in a few minutes and we can go in and have a look round. I’d like to check a few things over and you can come with me. Then we’ll have a cup of coffee. I’m expecting my uncle’s housekeeper to meet us. She still maintains the place for me and sees to its upkeep.’
‘It must be very reassuring for you to have somebody you know taking care of it.’
Seeing they were approaching the long fir-tree-lined drive that led up to the house, Gabriel grimaced.
‘I don’t exactly know her. Her name is Janet Mullan and I only met her when I came over for my uncle’s funeral. She’s nice enough, I suppose. A cheerful sort. God knows she would have to be to have put up with my taciturn uncle for so long. He wasn’t the greatest conversationalist, that’s for sure.’
Beside him, Lara emitted a soft-voiced sigh. ‘You’ve never told me what his name was...your uncle, I mean.’
The question made his stomach clench. He’d always made a point of not calling his uncle by his name, because dignifying the man with a personal address might have suggested that he’d mattered to him—which he expressly hadn’t.
‘He was called Richard Devenish—or, to give him his full title, Sir Richard Devenish.’ He wasn’t able to prevent the acerbic inflection that crept into his tone. Being the man’s only kin—apart from his errant mother, of course—Gabriel might have inherited the title but it meant little or nothing to him. He would probably never even use it. If he did, it would always be a bittersweet reminder of where he had come from.
His pretty companion shifted in her seat, and he sensed her big brown eyes staring at him in what was likely disbelief.
‘You mean to say that you come from landed gentry, Gabriel? I didn’t know that.’
‘Why should you? I’ve never advertised it.’
‘Did Sean know?’
‘I must have mentioned it to him once, because every now and again when we got drunk he’d give me a mock bow just to rile me. Neither of us took it seriously, though.’
‘You sound as though it embarrasses you. To have a title, I mean. I don’t understand.’
‘No.’ Staring out through the windscreen at the gracious and mellow redbrick manor that had materialised at the end of the drive, Gabriel felt his insides lurch painfully. ‘And I don’t suppose you ever will...not unless I tell you. Anyway, we’re here.’
Parking the car on the gravel and turning off the ignition, he turned towards Lara to survey her. Once again a rush of pleasure and a need so acute pulsed through him. It was hard to think about doing anything else but making love to her. The sleek bared shoulders in the fetching summer dress she wore didn’t exactly help divert the idea. The way the bodice hugged her curvaceous breasts made it hard to look anywhere else.
‘By the way...’ He smiled, consciously changing his previously gruff tone to a gentler one. ‘Have I told you how pretty you look today? That dress is sensational on you.’
Lara’s small pink tongue slipped out to moisten her lips and the colour in her cheeks went from a beguiling tinted rose to a deep cerise. The desire that was already gripping Gabriel with a vengeance veered towards the painful.
‘No, you haven’t,’ she answered. Clearly perturbed by the compliment, she quickly moved her gaze to make an interested examination of the imposing building in front of them. ‘What an amazing house. It makes my parents’ place look doll-size in comparison.’
‘Yes, but I know which one I prefer.’
Before she could comment Gabriel put his hand on the door handle and stepped out onto the gravel, then he stooped down to glance in at her. ‘We should go in.’
* * *<
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Last night Lara had found it nigh on impossible to sleep. She’d lain awake long into the night, thinking about Gabriel and the fact that he was returning the next day. The shirt that he’d worn during their walk through the woods was draped over a hanger that she’d hooked on the back of the slipper chair by her bed. She’d washed and ironed it, but it still smelled indelibly of its owner, and every now and then Lara had reached out her hand to pull the material to her and sniff it, to remind herself of how compelling and sexy Gabriel’s scent was.
She had also touched her fingertips to her lips as she’d recalled the devastatingly passionate kiss that he’d stolen. And every time she had done so it had been as though she lay close to a furnace. There wasn’t a single inch of flesh on her body that didn’t feel scorched by the man. Just the memory of his heated passion had the ability to arouse her more than she’d ever been aroused before.
Although the beautifully tailored white shirt that belonged to Gabriel was no guarantee that he would keep his promise and return, Lara had chosen to believe it was. Even a man as rich as Gabriel surely wouldn’t want to lose an expensive shirt...would he?
She needn’t have worried. Gabriel had indeed returned, as he had said he would. And if yesterday when he’d shown up unannounced at her parents’ door had felt like a dream, then the surreal sense had definitely intensified today. Lara knew her brother’s friend came from wealthy stock, but she’d had no idea that the house he’d grown up in was as grand and palatial as this. Certainly Sean had never mentioned it. Had her brother sought to protect the other man’s privacy by keeping the information a secret? Lara wouldn’t be surprised if he had. Sean had always been fiercely loyal to his friends. Especially Gabriel.
