She really didn’t know what he was talking about, was sure there had to be some sort of mistake. Her mother would never—‘You’re just bitter and twisted, Rufus, because everyone knows that Angela only married you for—’ She broke off, realizing she had gone too far as she saw Rufus’s face darken ominously. He seemed to loom over her now, his green eyes so pale they looked silver.
‘Yes?’ he prompted softly, dangerously. ‘Angela only married me for…?’
Her mother, aware of all the details of Rufus’s marriage and divorce, had thought it best if they never talked about it, and now Gabriella had thrown it in Rufus’s own face!
But he had insulted her mother, for goodness’ sake, and his accusations were totally untrue. There was no way her mother could have had debts of a hundred thousand pounds!
She shook her head. ‘Not all women are like Angela—’
‘Aren’t they?’ Rufus cut in confrontationally. ‘Do you deny the fact that you’ve done nothing but throw yourself at me for the last year?’
Her cheeks burned at his obvious derision; she was still slightly dazed by the way he had turned on her after the physical intimacy they had just shared.
And, yes, she had been unashamedly besotted with him for the last year, from the very first moment she’d seen him, in fact, but that was because she had fallen in love with him, not for the reason he seemed to be implying.
Implying?
After the things he had accused her mother of he wasn’t implying anything, was clearly stating that her only interest in him was the same as her gold-digging mother’s had been where his father was concerned—his millions!
Rufus eyed her derisively. ‘Do you deny that you also stayed here deliberately today with the idea of seducing me?’
Gabriella knew she couldn’t deny that either, but that was only because—because—
Because he had remained totally immune to all her other attempts to show him how much in love with him she was!
And now she knew the reason he had remained immune—because he believed her mother had only married his father for his money, and believed she only wanted him for the same reason!
She shook her head firmly. ‘I don’t believe a word you’ve said about my mother.’
‘Then ask her, Gabriella,’ he challenged scathingly. ‘Just ask her.’ He gave a mocking shake of his head. ‘I have no idea why my father bothered to marry Heather at all when he was already paying for it—’ Rufus broke off abruptly as Gabriella’s hand landed hard against his cheek.
Rufus reached up and grasped her wrist, his face dangerously close to hers now, his eyes glowing with an icy heat, the mark of Gabriella’s hand starting to show red on one rigid cheek. ‘Do that again, Gabriella, and I promise you’ll regret it,’ he grated between clenched teeth.
Her eyes blazed deeply purple as she glared right back at him, breathing hard in her agitation. ‘I hate you!’
‘Good,’ he said with satisfaction. ‘Perhaps in future this will teach you to leave me out of your quest for a rich husband!’
‘I wouldn’t come near you again if you were the last man on earth!’ she assured him emotionally.
‘How original!’ Rufus scorned.
‘You bastard!’ Gabriella told him with feeling. ‘You’re an absolute bastard and I hate you!’ She turned and ran into the villa.
Rufus stood poised on the edge of the pool for several furious minutes before turning sharply and diving deep into the water, relishing the coolness as he began to swim the length of the pool.
Gabriella hated him.
Good.
So why didn’t it feel as satisfying as he’d imagined?
Chapter 1
Five years later, as she gazed across the lawyer’s office at Rufus Gabriella knew that she still hated him!
‘If I could get straight on to the terms of Mr Gresham’s will…?’ David Brewster prompted politely once they were seated.
‘Go ahead,’ Rufus instructed tersely.
He didn’t want her here, Gabriella knew. Or his cousin Toby, if the way the two men had greeted each other a few minutes ago was anything to go by. On that she could agree with him however, after what Toby had done.
But although she knew Rufus wouldn’t believe her, she really wished she weren’t here.
Given a choice, she would rather James hadn’t died at all. She’d much rather he were still here giving her the fatherly advice and love that she had found so invaluable since her mother’s death a year ago.
James had been devastated after Heather was killed in a car crash last year, and never really seemed to fully recover from the blow. He had suffered a heart attack six months later, and then another, fatal one, a month ago.
No, given a choice Gabriella would rather have had both James and Heather still alive than being summoned to this lawyer’s office—as must Rufus and Toby have been—at this time, on this day, for a meeting about James’s will.
She and Rufus hadn’t spoken at all since they had arrived separately. As they hadn’t spoken for the last five years. As they wouldn’t ever speak again once this last link with James was severed.
David Brewster’s expression was grave as he opened the official-looking document on top of his desk to look at them over the top of the half-moon glasses he had perched on top of his nose. ‘First things first,’ he said slowly. ‘I have already informed by letter the recipients of small bequests in Mr Gresham’s will, members of the household staff and suchlike,’ he dismissed. ‘And there is, of course, a trust fund for his granddaughter Holly, to be administered by her father and myself until she is of an age to receive the bulk capital.’
‘Lucky old Holly,’ Toby said cheerfully, an actor by profession, his dark good looks unfortunately not matched in talent, meaning that he was very often ‘resting’ rather than actually working. ‘Pity she isn’t eighteen rather than seven, then I could have married her!’
‘Over my dead body!’ Rufus growled in response.
‘If necessary,’ Toby came back tauntingly.
Gabriella barely listened to the exchange, her earlier tension rising to an unbearable pitch as David Brewster dismissed so lightly those ‘small bequests’.
What did that mean?
That she was a recipient of a large bequest…?
If so, Rufus was just going to dislike her more than ever.
If that were possible!
Rufus’s gaze narrowed on the elderly lawyer. ‘Can I ask if this is a recent will of my father’s?’
‘Indeed it is, Mr Gresham,’ the lawyer answered him lightly. ‘In fact, it’s dated only two months before your father’s death.’
Rufus’s uneasiness about the contents of his father’s will increased.
Of course, that uneasiness could have something to do with the fact that Toby, his disreputable cousin and a constant sponge on James’s good will until uncle and nephew had fallen out about three months ago, was also here.
And Gabriella…
He had rarely seen her the last five years, Gabriella having lived and trained as a chef in France for three years after that…incident…in Majorca, and their paths had rarely crossed since she came back to England to live two years ago.
But whenever they had chanced to meet, he had been very aware of the burning intensity of her dislike.
Those five years had done nothing to lessen her beauty, he noted clinically as he looked at her between narrowed lids. In fact if anything she was even more beautiful, none of that youthful eagerness in her face now as she sensed his gaze on her and turned to look at him challengingly.
Her hair was still that gloriously wild cascade of ebony curls loose down her back, but her slenderness was now of almost model-like proportions, her face thinner, too, making those violet-coloured eyes look bigger, her cheeks slightly hollow, her chin more pointed, with only the full, sensual pout of her lips remaining the same.
And he remembered every silken inch of that delectable body, now hidden beneath fitte
d black trousers and a red gypsy-style blouse that emphasized the fullness of her breasts.
His mouth curled self-derisively as he turned away abruptly, not wanting to dwell on memories of how it had felt to touch her there.
Gabriella saw that scorn on Rufus’s face before he turned his attention back to the lawyer, easily able to guess the reason for it. Rufus still believed her to be nothing but a money-grasping little witch.
‘Now we come to the reason I asked to speak to you all today,’ the lawyer continued briskly. ‘Mr Gresham was most specific that I speak to the three of you alone concerning this matter. I’m sure that once I have explained the contents of the will to all of you it will become clear as to the reason why he made that request,’ he added ruefully.
Gabriella felt her stomach muscles clench, filled with a terrible premonition.
David Brewster nodded briskly. ‘You may read the will for yourselves, but the main provisions are as follows: To his two children, namely Rufus James Gresham and Gabriella Maria Lucia Benito, Mr Gresham leaves the bulk of his estate—some fifty million pounds at the time the will was made—’
‘Will you marry me, Gabriella?’ Toby put in facetiously.
Gabriella didn’t even qualify the question with an answer, Toby knowing of the complete loathing she felt towards him after he had tried to force himself on her three months ago.
Besides, she was too stunned to do any more than stare disbelievingly at David Brewster!
‘If I might continue…?’The lawyer gave Toby a disapproving look above those half-moon glasses. ‘All properties, overseas and in England, are to be equally divided between the above-named children, with the exception of the family-owned stores of Gresham’s both in England and New York which are to become the property of Rufus James Gresham, at the end of six months, provided that Rufus and Gabriella have lived together in Gresham House for the duration of that time as husband and wife. Those monies and said properties, and all monies owing, will become forfeit to Mr Gresham’s nephew, Tobias John Reed, if this above condition is not met—Did you say something, Miss Benito?’ the lawyer asked kindly.
Had she groaned out loud? If she had, she hadn’t meant to, aware that both Rufus and Toby were now looking at her curiously, too. ‘No, nothing,’ she quietly assured the elderly lawyer.
But she inwardly cringed, knowing exactly what James meant by ‘all monies owing’.
Shortly after her mother’s death a year ago Gabriella had attained a bank loan with which to open up her own restaurant, something she had always wanted to do. She had finally felt that she had enough experience to do it, but from the start everything had gone disastrously wrong.
The builder making the alterations on the property she had leased for a year had run way over budget, and then downed tools until she paid up.
There had been a fire in the kitchen prior to opening night meaning that she’d had to hastily—and expensively—bring in new appliances.
And then two months after opening an employee had swindled a customer out of five thousand pounds on their credit card. The customer had refused to be compensated and had sued instead, with the case being reported in all the newspapers, totally tarnishing the reputation of Benito’s and closing her down within a month because there had been simply no customers for her to cook for.
All of which had left her with a thirty-thousand-pound loan from the bank, and only the wages from the job she had managed to secure as assistant chef in someone else’s bistro with which to pay it.
James had stepped into the breach and rescued her from sure disaster. But only, at Gabriella’s insistence, on the condition that they had a legal contract between them that she would eventually pay the money back to him.
A legal contract stating exactly what ‘monies’ were ‘owing’…
And if she didn’t live with Rufus as his wife for six months she would owe that money to Toby, of all people. A man she despised even more than she did Rufus.
She glanced across at Rufus beneath lowered lashes, knowing by the expression on that arrogantly handsome face that he definitely hadn’t missed her pained groan. And wondered at the reason for it…
Although that emotion was eclipsed by the glittering anger he now directed at her.
‘Did you know about this?’ he demanded coldly, standing up in restless movements.
Gabriella blinked at his attack, her face very pale, and her violet-coloured eyes so dark they were purple smudges in the pallor. ‘I should have guessed you would somehow blame me,’ she gasped.
‘Who else can I blame?’ he came back scathingly. ‘My father is beyond recrimination. Leaving you as the only one left with anything to gain by this!’ His hands were clenched at his sides.
Never, in all his wildest imaginings, had he believed his father could do something so—so incredibly destructive!
Gabriella gave a hard, humourless laugh. ‘You don’t seriously think I would ever choose to marry you, Rufus!’
Rufus continued to breathe deeply for several long seconds, striving for some sort of control, aware of where they were, of their audience, Toby avidly enjoying the altercation, David Brewster obviously disturbed by it.
And, no, he didn’t suppose Gabriella would choose to marry him. Not any more. Not after the way he had deliberately humiliated her in Majorca five years ago.
Deliberately.
Because he never had been as immune to this exotically beautiful woman as he gave the outward impression he was. And her response to him had been mind-blowing, more so than anything he had known before, or since.
But he was always very aware that Gabriella was Heather Benito’s daughter, the child of the woman who had taken money from his father before the two of them were even married, and not a small amount, either.
But his father had been so besotted with his second wife, so blind to anything but the fact that he loved Heather, that he had been totally devastated when she had died, to the point that he had almost seemed to cease to function.
Except, it seemed, to write this incredible clause in his will tying Rufus to Gabriella for six months. As her husband, for God’s sake!
He turned to look at her scathingly. ‘Oh, come on, Gabriella,’ he taunted. ‘We both know to what lengths you’re willing to go if you consider the prize big enough!’
Her violet-coloured eyes seemed to burst into flames at his implication. ‘You absolute bast—’
‘Poor Gabriella,’ he scorned. ‘Couldn’t you have come up with something more original than that in the last five years?’
Her nostrils flared. ‘Why bother, when the description fits you so perfectly?’
‘Oh, dear.’ David Brewster’s mild, slightly flustered voice broke into the stormy scene before Rufus could come back with his own cutting reply. ‘It would seem that Mr Gresham may have made an error in judgement concerning his wishes for the two of you.’
‘Not at all,’ Rufus assured the older man grimly. ‘My father was fully aware of the—enmity, that exists between Gabriella and myself.’
And James, Rufus knew, had always been deeply saddened at the obviously strained relationship between the two of them.
His father had also advised Rufus numerous times that he ought to remarry, if only to give his now seven-year-old over-indulged daughter a stepmother. A suggestion that Rufus had told him he had no intention of complying with after his experience with Angela.
But James, it seemed, had decided to try and rectify both these situations, after his death, by making this ridiculous condition about Rufus and Gabriella marrying each other in order for them to gain their inheritance.
With the forfeit that Toby would inherit everything instead if they didn’t!
Something that James had known that Rufus wouldn’t—couldn’t—allow to happen. James had held no illusions about the irresponsible Toby, either, and had known that he would ruin Gresham’s in a year and have squandered the money away not long after!
The money wasn’t important,
because Rufus had enough money of his own without needing any of his father’s, and the properties in Surrey, Aspen, Majorca and the Bahamas weren’t important to him, either. But the two Gresham’s stores were different. He had put everything he had into those two stores the last six years, made them more successful than ever, and he refused to let a total wastrel like his cousin Toby just walk in and ruin them.
To the point where he would be willing to marry and live with Gabriella, even for six months, in order to keep them? To live in close proximity with her, day after day, for her to become his wife—something he’d sworn he would never have again! Was he willing to do that…?
‘I really had no idea.’ The lawyer looked at them frowningly. ‘I must admit I thought it rather strange. Nothing I said would deter Mr Gresham from making these particular arrangements in his will, I’m afraid.’ He shook his head sadly.
But why wouldn’t it? Gabriella questioned, incredulous. What on earth had James hoped to achieve by making such an unacceptable clause in his will?
Because it was unacceptable to both Rufus and Gabriella. As poor David Brewster had just been made a witness to!
Although Rufus now looked self-disgusted that the outburst had been made at all. He was a man who preferred to keep his emotions under control, Gabriella knew. Only she, it seemed, and the prospect of having to marry her, had the power to make him forget that normally cool reserve!
‘There has to be some way out of this.’ She looked at the lawyer beseechingly.
‘I’m afraid not, Miss Benito.’ He grimaced. ‘I drew Mr Gresham’s will up myself, and I can assure you there is no get-out clause, no room for manoeuvre—’
‘No two hundred pounds when you pass go,’ Toby put in dryly, obviously enjoying this situation immensely.
But then, he would. To by enjoyed nothing more than dissension and disharmony—even more so if he was the cause of it!
As he had been three months ago…
Which was the reason that forfeit to Toby didn’t make any sense to Gabriella. James had been furious with his nephew before he’d died, and wouldn’t even have him in the house after what he had tried to do to Gabriella. He certainly wouldn’t want Toby to inherit the Gresham’s stores, the money, or property.
Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand Page 2
