‘Where are you going?’
‘To take a shower.’
‘But I’m talking to you!’
‘You’re not talking to me!’ Gabriel headed towards the connecting door to her en suite bathroom, the single most important luxury Alex had looked for when she had bought the house. ‘You’re laying down rules and regulations.’
‘That’s what people do with business arrangements!’
‘Since when does sex enter a business arrangement?’ Gabriel threw over his shoulder and she glared at him because, even when she was mad at him, she still found him so sinfully sexy that she could barely take her eyes off him.
‘It’s called fringe benefits.’
Gabriel would have slammed the bathroom door behind him but Luke would probably come flying into the bedroom from the sound of it reverberating through the tiny house and there was no way that he wanted his son to see him in this mood. Business arrangement! Fringe benefits! He found both descriptions outrageously offensive, even though he was pretty sure he had used those terms himself in the past.
‘That’s not the language I expect any woman of mine to use,’ he informed her coldly, before shutting the bathroom door behind him.
It took a few seconds before Alex was galvanised into action and she scrambled off the bed, hastily flinging on underwear, her T-shirt and a pair of stretchy drawstring shorts from a drawer before pushing open the bathroom door and being greeted by a wall of condensation.
‘I’m sorry you don’t like the language I use—’ her voice was trembling and her knuckles were white as she gripped the sides of the toilet seat, which was the only place to sit in the small bathroom ‘—but I’m trying really hard to get a perspective on this.’ Did he think that, because she fell into his arms, her principles would also obey the same laws and collapse without putting up a fight? ‘I don’t want something as big as a house purchase to be without our involvement. Luke should have a say in the kind of home we’re going to provide for him and so should I. Money might be a convenience but time is priceless and that’s what I want you to put into this marriage. I know it’s going to be difficult for you because you’re accustomed to doing exactly what you want but…’ Her voice was suddenly very loud as the shower was switched off and Gabriel stepped out of the cubicle, which he dwarfed.
He took his time drying and then slung the towel around his waist. ‘I have taken more time off in the past few weeks than I ever have in my whole life.’ Except when he had first met her. He had behaved out of character then as well. ‘And, if it means so much to you, then we can look for a house together.’
Alex smiled with relief and followed him out of the room. ‘That’s great. So…’
‘So…?’ Having brought no clothes with him, he contented himself with a baggy old bathrobe of hers which was hanging on a hook behind the door, then he took a seat at her dressing table and folded his arms. If getting her on board meant listening to everything she had to say, then so be it, but he didn’t intend to be a pushover.
‘There’s just one more thing.’
‘Just the one more? I’m shocked. I thought we were here for the rest of the night with your list of provisos and conditions.’
Alex flushed. ‘It concerns other women.’
‘Other women?’ Gabriel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He realised that the thought of another woman hadn’t actually crossed his mind since he had met Alex again after all this time.
‘Yes. Other women. You have to promise me that there won’t be any.’
‘What kind of a promise is that?’ Gabriel threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of frustration. He had had a lifetime of doing exactly what he wanted when it came to the opposite sex. He had power, money, good looks and status and that had all been enough to ensure compliance in the female sex. Even Cristobel had recognised his boundaries and had steered clear of them. He felt his hackles rise at the thought of someone dictating what he could or couldn’t do. The question of whether he wanted to or not didn’t come into it.
What sort of loser tolerated a woman dictating his every movement? Certainly not him!
‘I think if we’re to take this whole thing seriously, then…’
‘This is getting more ridiculous by the minute. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future? Do you think I have a crystal ball stashed away somewhere?’
Alex shook her head mutely. It had been a stupid request but his refusal to give it house room was telling. This wasn’t a guy who loved her and would be overjoyed to forswear all other women. Duty to his son might run bone-deep but he had no responsibilities to her.
Could she marry someone who would be a hero, but only when on show?
She thought back to Cristobel, to her smug, sly, knowing smile when she had explained to Alex that Gabriel was a Spaniard, that sooner or later he would find his eyes straying, that that was to be expected.
She thought back to what he had told her, that if she didn’t marry him then he would inevitably take his attentions elsewhere. She remembered all too well the sick, cloying feeling that had generated in her. Right now, Gabriel wanted her physically. It was a bonus to a marriage which, in his eyes, was the inevitable consequence of their situation.
But Gabriel was a man accustomed to variety. He lived life in the fast lane and the past few weeks spent with her and his son were probably the most normal he had ever had. He had made a huge effort to spend time with them, had set aside his compulsion to work and had condensed his essential business conversations to those times when she was either asleep or else involved with Luke. It would have constituted a big sacrifice and yet, here she was, like an unwelcome drill sergeant, dishing out orders and expecting obedience.
In her desperation to build up her defences and set some rules that might erect walls around her vulnerable core, she had overlooked one very important thing. Gabriel didn’t take orders and certainly not from a woman to whom he had no bone-deep emotional connection. They were bound together by Luke but a child could only provide so much glue to a relationship.
And didn’t she want this marriage to work? Wasn’t that why she had raced back to London so that she could accept his proposal?
From her muddled train of thought there slowly emerged the clarity of her options. She could either love Gabriel in silence and wait hopelessly for the day when he got bored of her or she could do her damnedest to make him love her. She could be a passive victim or she could fight for her man.
Yes, it was galling to think that all those sweet dreams of a guy who would fly to the moon and back for her were no longer on the cards, but whoever said that love was a walk in the park? She had loved Gabriel years ago and it had got her nowhere and here she was again, loving him even more, and, unless she did her own groundwork, it would get her nowhere in the end again.
She drew in a deep shaky breath and eventually gave him a rueful, conciliatory smile.
‘You’re right. It was crazy of me to ask the impossible of you.’
‘Are you saying that you don’t think me capable of fidelity?’ Gabriel growled aggressively and Alex bit back the temptation to tell him what a difficult man he could be. His personality was one of extremes. It was why she loved him. He made her feel alive.
‘I wish you wouldn’t put words in my mouth, Gabriel. I never said that.’
Gabriel ignored that interruption. ‘No. But you imply that I am the sort of man who would marry a woman and then proceed to bring a harem of mistresses into the marital home. In front of my son!’
‘You look really silly in that bathrobe,’ Alex said, to defuse the tension.
‘You’re trying to change the subject.’
‘I’m trying to tell you that it was a stupid condition and I shouldn’t have said anything.’
Never one to dwell on imaginary scenarios, Gabriel’s mind did a swift detour and began to rocket down an altogether different road. ‘Is this whole fidelity issue your way of looking for some kind of excuse to have outside rel
ationships?’
‘What?’
‘You heard me. I’m not going to repeat myself.’
‘Of course that wasn’t what I was implying! I’m not that devious!’ Alex tried and failed to get her head round the concept of having another guy share her bed. ‘But if I did,’ she couldn’t resist adding, ‘would you be jealous?’
It was one of those rare instances when Gabriel felt put on the spot and he instinctively shied away from committing himself to any kind of answer.
‘I am not a jealous man. I never have been.’
But you would be if you loved me, Alex thought sadly, pinning a brave smile to her face.
‘Okay.’
‘Which isn’t to say that I’m not possessive.’ He thought it better to clear up that little issue, once and for all. ‘If I thought that you had even looked at another guy when you were wearing my ring on your finger, I would beat him to a pulp.’ A red mist descended on him when he thought of her with someone else and he expertly fielded that uncomfortable thought by shoving it to the back of his mind.
That was something, she thought, with a definite lift of her spirits.
‘I’m glad we cleared the air,’ she confessed, walking towards him. She reached out and clasped her hands behind his neck. ‘It’s good to talk.’
Gabriel grunted and she perched on his lap and slipped her hand under the fold of the bathrobe.
‘You should keep some clothes here.’
‘Why? You won’t be here much longer.’ The feel of her fingers splayed on his chest was doing decidedly pleasant things to other parts of his body.
On this front, at least, Alex was assured of her power over him, temporary though it might be. Just so long as he desired her, he would not have eyes for anyone else. Gabriel, if nothing else, was a one woman man.
‘True,’ she conceded. ‘I’ll break the news to my folks tomorrow.’
‘And we can make this legal by the end of next week.’
‘Why so soon?’
Good question, Gabriel thought. She wasn’t the blushing bride with his baby inside her, rushing down the aisle to seal the deal before the baby was born.
‘Why not?’ he answered smoothly. ‘I’m not someone who enjoys delay once I’m committed in a certain direction. Besides, the faster you leave this dump, the better for all concerned.’
‘We could just move in with you and take it slowly until we find our feet.’
‘No can do.’ Gabriel was a little disconcerted at just how much he really didn’t want that outcome.
‘Oh. Forgot. Demands of tradition.’
‘That’s right. Demands of tradition. Not that you won’t be moving in with me as soon as possible. In fact, I can arrange for everything to be completed by tomorrow evening.’
‘There you go. Not consulting me again.’
‘Do you ever agree to anything without putting up a fight?’ He shifted her, settling her comfortably on his hard body, letting her know how much he wanted her.
‘Would you prefer me to be grateful and submissive?’
‘Is that a serious question?’
Alex realised that it was and she was strangely relieved when he said, with an amused smile, ‘If you were grateful and submissive, I wouldn’t know what had hit me. I would have to take you to a doctor to get you checked over.’
‘I find gratitude and submission hard to do,’ she conceded truthfully. ‘I bet Cristobel was grateful and submissive.’ She could have kicked herself for bringing that contentious subject to the table.
‘She was…obedient. I’ve since discovered that obedience is not all that it’s made out to be when it comes to women. Not enough of a challenge.’
Alex was busily wondering whether being described as challenging was a good thing or a bad thing when Gabriel interrupted her furious musings.
‘And, while we’re on the subject of rules and conditions, I have a few of my own…’
‘Am I going to like them?’ she asked cautiously. She gasped as his hand found her breast and he played with it, rolling his finger over her erect nipple and sending shivers of excitement through her.
‘First of all, you’re going to have to dress the part of my wife.’
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Deadly serious.’
Alex envisaged smart designer wear and diamonds the size of eggs on her fingers and shuddered. She had seen Cristobel in action. An advert for everything money could possibly buy. The woman had dripped jewellery and screamed designer. Every inch of her had been polished, buffed and preened to expensive perfection.
‘I can’t.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean? Can I remind you of the compromise conversation you insisted on having earlier?’
‘I can’t turn into a decorative Christmas bauble for your benefit, Gabriel.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘Bejewelled up to the eyeballs…long red talons for nails…big coiffured hair, lacquered to within an inch of its miserable life…’
Gabriel threw back his head and laughed and he laughed even harder when he saw her frowning, disdainful expression. Of one thing he was in no doubt—Alex was not impressed by his vast wealth. In fact, he would have wagered his soul that if she had met him all those years ago and had known the vast legacy that was his birthright, she would have turned on her rubber-soled trainers and stomped off.
‘I haven’t got sufficient imagination to picture you… What was it…? Bejewelled up to the eyeballs…? With long red nails and big hair…?’
‘I’ve seen your ex-fiancée in action,’ Alex retorted tartly. ‘And I’m not going blonde either. I never held with the myth that they have more fun.’
‘I’d never ask you to go blonde. And, before you launch into another wild interpretation of what I want, all I’m saying is that when you’re my wife…no, let’s just say from the second you set foot out of the house tomorrow…no revealing clothes. No tight dresses, no handkerchiefs for skirts…’ He wasn’t sure when it had hit him that he didn’t want other men ogling her, but hit him it had and, since she felt free and easy to lay down her laws, then two could play at that game.
‘I don’t own any tight dresses.’
‘Good! Then no change there would work for me.’
‘I can’t remember Cristobel dressing like a frump.’ Alex frowned, bewildered by this proviso. ‘In fact, when I went shopping with her that time, I seem to recall that she was dressed in a very, very revealing outfit. Right down to the killer heels.’
‘Not sure where you’re going with this…’
‘How come there’s one rule for her and another rule for me?’
‘Like I said…I’m possessive when it comes to you. Learn to live with it.’
Never having had a devious bone in her body, Alex blushed as she entered a large tick in the column in her head that was dedicated to winning Gabriel over. He might not love her in the same way that she loved him, but possessiveness was a far cry from indifference. Plus, he hadn’t been possessive when it came to Cristobel. That had to say something.
‘Okay,’ she said airily. ‘I’m not into all that girlie dressing for men stuff, anyway…’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t take it too far,’ Gabriel murmured. ‘You can dress in anything you want, but for my eyes only. Or,’ he continued, shoving up her top and losing himself in the sight of her fabulous breasts, ‘you can dress in nothing at all.’ He could no longer resist and an arrow of pure burning white heat shot through her as he took one nipple into his mouth and proceeded to suckle it with lazy, concentrated intensity. As if suckling that nipple was the only thing in the world he wanted to do at that precise moment in time.
Except it wasn’t, as he laid down his number two condition. Which was her duty as his wife to make sure that he was satisfied at all times.
With any other man, this would have been a breathtakingly chauvinistic statement and one which would have had Alex’s hackles rising but she was ashamed of the f
lood of warmth that invaded her body at his boldly assertive declaration.
It might seem crude to wage war on a man’s defences through sex but Gabriel was a highly sexual man and the longer she kept him entertained in that department, the more time she had to win him over in the department that really mattered. And entertaining him in that department, she sheepishly acknowledged to herself, was never going to be a sacrifice, was it? One touch from him and she melted like tinder in an inferno.
She would learn how to cook as well. Wasn’t that other route to a man’s heart through his stomach? They did an awful lot of eating out and she couldn’t picture Gabriel as the sort of man who had ever spent time encouraging his women to read recipe books so that they could whip him up some paella like his mother used to make. The opposite, in fact. But, as his wife, surely that wouldn’t be a bad idea? Surely domesticity could creep up on him and stage an invasion before he knew what was happening to him?
If nothing worked, if lust turned out to be a passing pleasure and Luke was really and truly the only reason he would stay with her, then he would eventually stray but she didn’t want to think about that. She made love with the passion of sheer optimism and, afterwards, enjoyed the contentment of just lying in his arms and hearing the soft beating of his heart.
‘What are your thoughts on home-cooked food?’ she asked dreamily.
‘I can’t say I have any,’ Gabriel replied with lazy amusement.
‘Why do you think that is?’ She shifted on to one elbow and tried very hard not to look at him with puppy dog eyes. The irony of knowing just how thorough her U-turn had been didn’t escape her. Not only had she descended from her unassailable position of wanting to stand firm and maintain a healthy distance from the guy who had lied to her and subsequently dumped her, she had positively burnt the map so that she could never, ever find her way back to that safe place again.
‘Why cook meals when someone else can cook them better in a restaurant? I know where this is going,’ he added dryly, and Alex feigned bewilderment. ‘Don’t worry. You don’t want Luke to have a precious upbringing. I get it. I agree with you. I’ll hire a cook. No problem.’
A Spanish Birthright aka The Secret Spanish Love-Child Page 15
