Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand

by Mortimer, Carole

  ‘We’re all greatly looking forward to seeing the new restaurant you’re opening, Mrs Gresham,’ she told Gabriella warmly.

  ‘Thank you,’ she accepted huskily, deciding she liked Rufus’s secretary, after all.

  Anyone who could remain this friendly as well as efficient when confronted with two people who had obviously recently been in the throes of passion had to be okay!

  Although Gabriella wasn’t so sure about being called Mrs Gresham…

  ‘I’ll make the call and come back, Gabriella,’ Rufus told her huskily once they were alone again.

  To finish what they had started?

  It had been madness in the first place, certainly couldn’t be expected to continue after this interruption!

  She swallowed hard, not quite able to meet Rufus’s gaze. ‘Perhaps it might be better if we—if we, discussed this at home, later this evening?’

  Discussed it?

  There was nothing to discuss. They couldn’t seem to spend more than half an hour in each other’s company without one or both of them wanting the other.

  All the talking in the world wasn’t going to change that!

  Rufus looked at Gabriella for several long seconds, knowing that for her the moment was over, that reality had set in with a vengeance, her face pale now, her eyes huge violet pools of uncertainty.

  He nodded abruptly. ‘Until later, then.’

  ‘Yes,’ she confirmed huskily, still not quite looking at him.

  And he wanted her to look at him, wanted to be completely naked and have her eyes, and then her hands, on him, to caress him, touch him, take him!

  And he wanted her in the same way. Touching wasn’t enough. He wanted to look at her, too, every silken naked inch of her.

  His hand moved to cup her chin as he raised her face to his, looking deeply into her startled eyes. ‘We need to talk, Gabriella,’ he told her huskily.

  She looked even more startled, and then her gaze became wary. ‘What about?’

  His mouth twisted into a humourless smile. ‘This, for one thing.’

  By ‘this’ she knew he meant this totally uncontrollable response they had to each other. And she didn’t want to talk about that, could make no sense of it herself with all the animosity there was between them, too, certainly had no way of explaining how she felt to Rufus.

  She moved away from that cupping hand, her chin raised in challenge. ‘Animal lust, Rufus?’ she dismissed hardly.

  His mouth thinned even as his eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘I have to go, Gabriella,’ he rasped. ‘But we will talk,’ he added warningly before striding off determinedly.

  Gabriella waited until he had gone before giving in to the tears she could no longer control.

  Because, she realized achingly, she still loved him!

  She had been in love with Rufus five years ago, and she was still in love with him now.

  How and why didn’t seem important, only the fact that she was.

  And it was a love that Rufus could no more return now than he had been able to five years ago.

  Chapter 6

  ‘So you really went ahead and married him…’

  Gabriella turned sharply at the sound of that mocking voice, almost overbalancing as she once again stood on the stepladder.

  ‘Toby,’ she greeted scathingly, her gaze narrowing as she looked down at him.

  He was his usual rakishly handsome self in faded denims and black tee shirt beneath a brown suede jacket. Yes, Toby was tall, dark, and very handsome—and as usual he left her completely cold.

  ‘What do you want?’ she demanded coolly as she came down the stepladder.

  ‘Why, to offer my congratulations, of course,’ he drawled derisively. ‘And to ask how you’re enjoying being married to my dear cousin Rufus!’ he added tauntingly.

  Her mouth twisted. ‘And why would you think I would be interested in telling you anything, about Rufus or anyone else?’

  He shrugged unconcernedly. ‘Why not?’

  ‘You can ask that?’ she snapped, frowning. ‘After what you did to me—’

  ‘Tried to do to you, Gabriella,’ he corrected lightly. ‘And was it my fault you decided you weren’t interested, after all?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘I never was interested in you in that way, Toby!’ she assured him forcefully.

  He gave another shrug. ‘My mistake, then,’ he dismissed lightly. ‘And you can’t blame a man for trying.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I can,’ she assured him fiercely.

  ‘Why don’t you just let bygones be bygones, Gabriella?’ he reasoned. ‘I can assure you, I’ve already forgotten it.’

  Her eyes widened incredulously. He had forgotten coming to her bedroom three months ago when she had been staying at Gresham House with James for the weekend? He had forgotten kissing her, pushing her back on the bed, trying to force her as he pulled at her clothes and muttered obscenities in her ear?

  A scene that James—thank goodness—had walked in on and put an end to! Resulting in him banning Toby from ever entering Gresham House again.

  ‘Get out, Toby,’ she ordered shakily. ‘Just get out!’

  ‘Wouldn’t you like to hear how you can put an end to your marriage to Rufus right now and still get your hands on the twenty-five million?’ he prompted as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

  Gabriella shook her head. ‘I’m not interested in anything you have to say.’

  ‘But you haven’t heard—’

  ‘About anything!’ she added disgustedly, knowing that whatever Toby was going to propose was sure to mean bad news for someone. In this case, it sounded as if it was probably Rufus. ‘How did you know Rufus and I were married?’ she prompted shrewdly.

  Toby shrugged. ‘Just a simple telephone call to David Brewster was all it took. He was more than happy to tell me that the two of you were getting married in order to comply with the condition in Uncle James’s will.’ He grimaced. ‘I have the distinct impression that the distinguished lawyer doesn’t like or approve of me!’

  ‘I can’t imagine why!’ Gabriella came back scathingly. ‘And I suppose you’re the one responsible for the reporters turning up at the register office in that way?’ she derided, sure that David Brewster had had no idea how Toby would use his knowledge about the wedding.

  ‘Just a little joke on my part.’ Toby shrugged unconcernedly. ‘Knowing how you and Rufus feel about each other, I thought it might be fun if there was a photograph of the two of you in the newspapers!’

  Gabriella stiffened. ‘And how do we feel about each other…?’

  ‘On Rufus’s part, obviously utter contempt,’ he announced cheerfully. ‘And, at a guess, wary distrust on yours.’

  Well, he was certainly right about Rufus’s feelings towards her.

  But totally wrong about her feelings for Rufus!

  As she had only recently discovered herself…

  ‘That’s really none of your concern, is it, Toby?’ she dismissed. ‘I believe I asked you to leave?’

  ‘And I believe I told you I have a business proposition for you,’ he came back impatiently.

  ‘A business proposition I’m not interested in—’

  ‘Don’t say that until you’ve heard what it is—’

  ‘I don’t need to hear what it is!’ she assured him hardly. ‘Any business proposition that you suggested is sure to be suspect.’

  ‘Very funny!’ He sighed his impatience with her obstinacy. ‘The thing is, Gabriella, all you have to do is walk out on this marriage to Rufus, defaulting on the six-month condition, and then when I inherit I’ll go halves with you.’

  He really had it all worked out, didn’t he?

  ‘After which the two of us could get married if you want,’ he suggested huskily. ‘I’ve always wanted you, Gabriella—’

  ‘I would rather stay married to Rufus—who, as you say, has nothing but contempt for me—than ever marry you!’ she gasped incredulously.

  ‘Now that isn’t nice, Gabrie
lla,’ he murmured as he stood up to take a step towards her.

  ‘Don’t come any nearer,’ she warned, eyes wide.

  ‘Or else what?’ he challenged confidently.

  ‘I’m warning you, Toby!’ She glared, having no idea what she was going to do if he didn’t stop.

  If she shouted for help it would cause a scene, in the middle of Gresham’s, for goodness’ sake, but there was no way, absolutely no way, she could allow this man to come anywhere near her. He disgusted her as no one else ever had, and seemed to think what had happened three months ago was nothing but a joke.

  ‘What are you going to do, Gabriella?’ he taunted. ‘There’s no Uncle James here to protect you this time.’ His face hardened. ‘And considering you’re the reason he completely disinherited me, I think you might try being a little—nicer to me, than you are.’

  Gabriella knew exactly what he meant by ‘nicer’. And just the thought of that with this man made her feel ill.

  ‘This is as “nice” as it’s going to get, Toby,’ she assured him firmly. ‘Now you have to leave,’ she pleaded shakily, totally disturbed by how close he was to her. ‘If Rufus finds you here it’s only going to cause trouble.’

  ‘But I want the two of us to be friends again, Gabriella,’ he told her persuasively.

  They had never been friends, just part of the same family, someone for each of them to talk to on family occasions, and, after the way he had behaved, they didn’t even have that any more.

  ‘Rufus could come down here at any moment and find you here,’ she insisted—and goodness knew what he was going to think if he did! ‘You really do have to go, Toby!’

  Toby smiled confidently. ‘Rufus doesn’t scare me—’

  ‘No?’ Rufus challenged icily as he lifted the sheet to enter the restaurant, his hard gaze raking mercilessly over Gabriella and Toby, his closed expression revealing none of his inner feelings at the brief snatch of conversation between them he had just overheard.

  Because he wasn’t absolutely sure what he had overheard.

  Gabriella had been pleading with Toby to leave, but had that been because she’d really wanted him to go, or because she hadn’t wanted to risk him finding the two of them here together?

  Just because looking at her drove him wild with wanting her—when hadn’t it?—was no reason for him to have ever doubted the opinion he had always had of her being a gold-digger.

  Just because he could drive her just as wild in bed as she drove him, was no reason for him to think that changed her real motives…

  After finding her here with Toby, perhaps it might be as well if he didn’t let his own desire for her blind him to that fact!

  Toby smiled. ‘Give a man a break, Rufus. Gabriella and I were—friends, long before the two of you went through with this bogus marriage. We argued three months ago, that’s all, and she’s more than a little ticked off with me—enough to marry you, it seems,’ he added tauntingly. ‘But that’s all it is.’

  ‘That’s a lie!’ Gabriella glared at him. ‘Rufus, surely you don’t believe what he’s saying, do you?’ She sighed impatiently.

  He didn’t know what to believe any more, his own desire for Gabriella having completely clouded his usually clear judgement. And at the moment he was incensed at the way Toby had been standing so close to Gabriella when he’d come in, at the claims he was making of the two of them being involved, both in the past and now.

  He gave his cousin a glacial look. ‘I think you had better take Gabriella’s advice and leave, Toby. And if you want to see—my wife, again, might I suggest you wait another six months before doing so,’ he added harshly. ‘She’ll be richer by twenty-five million then!’

  ‘Rufus, when I’ve told you how much I dislike him, you can’t seriously believe I’ve ever been involved with Toby?’ Gabriella gasped.

  But she could see that he did, the slightly more approachable Rufus she had come to know the last few hours replaced with the coldly arrogant adversary who had always enjoyed thinking the worst of her.

  How much of her conversation with Toby had he overheard?

  Enough to have heard her pleading with Toby to leave before Rufus found him here, obviously. And to have completely misunderstood the reason for her pleading!

  But she hadn’t been pleading with Toby to leave because she cared about him; she knew only too well that he was quite capable of taking care of himself. But she had feared for the precarious truce she and Rufus seemed to have reached today. Rightly so if the return of his coldly accusing gaze was anything to go by!

  She gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘Rufus, I would never—’

  ‘Save your breath, Gabriella,’ Toby drawled ruefully. ‘Can’t you see that Rufus doesn’t believe a word you’re saying?’

  Toby was right, Rufus didn’t believe her, Gabriella recognized as she looked at him searchingly, his handsome face hard and unyielding as he returned her gaze.

  How could she make him see—? How could she make him believe—?

  She couldn’t!

  Because the Rufus she was looking at now didn’t want to believe her…

  ‘I think you had better go, Toby,’ Rufus told the younger man coldly.

  Toby shrugged, unconcerned, his expression mockingly challenging. ‘Just give me a call, Gabriella, when you’re tired of punishing me for our stupid argument. Just think what the two of us could do with that fifty million pounds once we’re married!’ he added enticingly. ‘Oh, yes, Rufus, I’ve asked Gabriella to marry me,’ he taunted as he saw his cousin’s stony expression.

  ‘That might be a little difficult for her to do when she’s already married to me,’ Rufus grated.

  ‘A marriage easily disposed of,’ Toby dismissed confidently. ‘And when it is, Gabriella will be my wife.’ He smiled. ‘You see, Rufus, Gabriella can’t lose either way, can she?’ he added tauntingly.

  ‘Get out!’ Rufus bit out grimly, so furious he wanted to reach out and strangle his cousin.

  Or Gabriella.

  He didn’t really mind which!

  Toby eyed him mockingly. ‘What are you going to do, keep her tied to the bed for the next six months?’

  ‘If necessary, yes!’ Rufus rasped harshly, not even able to look at Gabriella at that moment.

  Disappointed didn’t really begin to describe how he felt about her.

  After seeing the way she had worked so hard clearing out the restaurant this morning, the charm she had exerted over his work colleagues during lunch, and her uninhibited response to him here only minutes later, he had started to wonder if he might not have misjudged her after all.

  He had momentarily forgotten that all Gabriella was interested in was her twenty-five million pounds! In fact, if she really was involved with Toby, then Toby was absolutely right; whether she stayed with him or eventually went to Toby, Gabriella was in a win-win situation.

  His anger was all the stronger, he knew, because he had started to doubt the opinion he had always had of her.

  But not any more. Never again could he allow his physical need of her to overshadow what he knew to be the true Gabriella.

  ‘Still here, Toby?’ he dismissed hardly.

  His cousin shrugged. ‘I thought if I hung around a while I might get to see a bit of genuine wife-beating!’

  Gabriella’s startled gaze moved sharply to Rufus’s rigidly set features, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

  Rufus’s mouth tightened to a thin line as he saw the uncertain way Gabriella was looking at him. Damn it, he had never struck a woman in his life, and he certainly wasn’t going to start with her. No matter how much she provoked him!

  ‘That may be your way of dealing with things, Toby,’ he told his cousin disgustedly. ‘But, personally, I abhor physical violence to anyone.’

  ‘Pity.’ Toby grinned unconcernedly. ‘As I said, Gabriella, just call me when you can’t stand being with the pompous bastard a moment longer. I promise I’ll be waiting!’

  Rufus
’s hands clenched at his sides as he watched Toby swagger out, taut with tension, knowing that, despite his denial, he was closer to hitting someone at that moment than he had ever been in his life before.

  ‘Rufus—’

  ‘I have no intention of discussing this with you any further just now, Gabriella,’ he bit out coldly as he turned back to her, her beauty still as tantalizing, but Rufus was equally determined he would never be tempted again. ‘I only came down here to tell you that I have to go to New York for a few days on urgent business.’ He gave a disgusted shake of his head. ‘Perhaps it’s as well if I get away from you for a while!’

  Perhaps it was, Gabriella accepted miserably. But she would miss him. And she hated admitting that as much as she hated the fact that Rufus believed she had only confirmed his opinion of her by apparently being involved with Toby.

  But in the meantime Rufus would only go on despising her.

  And now, knowing that she was still in love with him, it was more than a matter of personal pride that she prove him wrong about her.

  ‘Will you be gone long?’ she enquired stiffly.

  He looked at her coldly. ‘Wifely interest, Gabriella?’ he scorned. ‘Or do you just want to know how much time Toby will have to—persuade you around to his way of thinking, before I get back?’

  She shook her head. ‘Toby couldn’t persuade me to cross the road with him.’ She sighed. ‘In fact if Toby were the last man on the planet I still wouldn’t give him the time of day, let alone agree to marry him,’ she added with a shudder of revulsion.

  Rufus’s eyes narrowed, the disgust in her voice too genuine for it to be a false claim.

  ‘What happened three months ago, Gabriella?’ he prompted shrewdly.

  She gave him a startled look, all the colour draining from her face. ‘Happened…?’ she delayed.

  He shrugged. ‘My father changed his will three months ago for a reason. Toby claims the two of you argued three months ago. It seems logical to assume the two are connected.’

  Logical, yes. Painful—very much so!

  She swallowed hard, knowing there was no point in trying to avoid answering him. ‘I was staying at Gresham House with James. Toby came on a visit. He—’ She drew in a deeply controlling breath. ‘He tried to—He came to my bedroom, claimed I had been encouraging him for months, and when I assured him I hadn’t he—he tried to force me!’