It had been the most frightening experience of her life. Toby gave every impression of being laid-back, relaxed and charming, but he had been like a different person that day. If it hadn’t been for James’s intervention she didn’t know what might have happened.
She had kept Toby at arm’s length ever since!
‘The two of you were involved, but you claim on this occasion Toby tried to force you…?’ Rufus repeated sceptically.
‘We were not, nor have we ever been, involved!’ she defended. ‘If you must know, he terrified the life out of me that day.’
‘Why do I have trouble believing you?’ Rufus mocked.
Because he had never believed her, Gabriella knew. Not one single word she said. And he must have even more trouble believing this, when he knew how wildly she responded to him.
But that was Rufus, the man she loved, and Toby—she hated Toby!
‘Your father put a stop to it and threw him out of the house,’ she insisted defensively.
‘And out of his will, it seems,’ Rufus drawled. ‘What were you doing, Gabriella, crying wolf and so eliminating some of the competition? Perhaps I was going to be next?’
‘You can’t seriously believe that?’ she gasped.
‘Why not?’ He shrugged. ‘As it turned out, my father, obviously believing you to be a poor, unprotected female, misguidedly tied me to you, anyway. Perhaps you even suggested it to him, as retribution because I had always refused to fall for your—undoubted charms?’
She straightened defensively, stung by the fact that she had told him the truth and he refused to believe her. ‘Not always!’
‘No,’ Rufus conceded dryly. ‘As you say, not always. And, as it turns out, we do have great sex, don’t we, Gabriella?’ he snarled, daring her to deny her reaction to him.
As he couldn’t deny his own reaction to her…
Damn it, he had never wanted a woman in the way he wanted Gabriella. Still. Even knowing what she was.
Gabriella swallowed hard, knowing it would be ridiculous of her to even try to deny her physical desire for Rufus. She also knew that it would be just as ridiculous for either of them to claim it would never happen again. Their response to each other was explosive, and just as unpredictable.
‘Yes,’ she acknowledged huskily.
He nodded. ‘Maybe by the time I get back from New York I might feel like—exploring, that part of our marriage again!’ he sneered. ‘I would suggest you stay away from Toby while I’m away,’ he said sharply.
As if that was going to be such a hardship!
If she ever spoke to Toby again it would be to tell him exactly what she thought of him and his lies.
‘In the meantime, I really do have to get back to work now,’ Rufus drawled. ‘I have several things to arrange before I have to leave later this evening.’
Gabriella felt totally miserable at the two of them parting like this. It was obvious he didn’t believe a word she had said about Toby. In fact telling him about that day three months ago just seemed to have made the situation worse, and reinforced his suspicions regarding his father’s will and the reasons behind it being worded in the way that it was.
She had no idea when Rufus would be back from New York. A few days he had said he would be away, but what, exactly, did that mean? Two days? Three? Four? A whole week?
God, she hated herself for her own weakness in loving and wanting him in the way she did, when he so obviously didn’t, and never would, feel that way about her!
‘What do you want me to tell Holly?’ she prompted as he would have left.
Rufus turned back. ‘I don’t want you to tell Holly anything,’ he rasped. ‘I have to go back to the house to pick up some of my things, and I’m more than capable of dealing with Holly myself,’ he assured her with cold dismissal.
In other words, this was yet another part of his life that was none of her business!
Chapter 7
Gabriella heard just how capable of dealing with Holly himself Rufus was when she returned to Gresham House late that afternoon!
‘You promised me I could come with you the next time you went to New York!’ Holly was accusing.
‘Because I thought it would be next month when you’re on half-term holiday!’ Rufus came back impatiently, their voices loud enough to be heard as Gabriella walked past the family sitting-room.
‘Then why can’t you go next month?’ Holly demanded angrily.
‘Because I can’t!’ Rufus told her uncompromisingly.
Should she go in and break it up? Gabriella wondered. Or should she just leave them to it?
Considering she was probably the reason for Rufus’s mood being so uncompromising in the first place, and Rufus would probably regret his attitude as soon as he left the house, perhaps it would be better if she didn’t just leave them to it.
But Gabriella knew that if she interrupted them it was more than likely she would become the focus of the resentment of both of them…
So what was new?
She pushed open the sitting-room door, and saw Rufus and Holly glaring at each other like adversaries across the room. They looked so much alike at that moment that Gabriella felt her heart tighten. Holly was very tall for her age, and as well as having that dark blonde hair and glittering green eyes her creamy cheeks were red with the temper that Rufus, as an adult, had learnt to control.
At least, usually…
As Gabriella had expected, they both turned their glaring green gazes on her. ‘Anything I can do to help?’ she enquired lightly.
‘No!’ Holly told her rebelliously.
‘Don’t be rude to Gabriella, Holly,’ Rufus admonished abruptly.
‘Why not? You are!’ Holly came back defiantly.
Gabriella raised dark, mocking brows as Rufus gave a pained wince at the criticism.
Rufus frowned darkly, not aware that he had ever been rude to Gabriella in front of Holly. Although perhaps the fact that he had chosen to stay out of the house all weekend rather than be with his new wife was enough to show Holly the reluctance he had to spend time with Gabriella?
Which wasn’t reluctance at all, just an effort to avoid this deepening physical need he had of her!
His mouth firmed. ‘What Gabriella and I choose to do as adults is none of your concern, Holly.’
‘You’re breaking your promise about taking me to New York!’ Holly tearfully returned to the subject of their argument.
‘I am not,’ Rufus defended frustratedly.
He had been having this same argument with Holly for the last ten minutes—and was getting precisely nowhere. Women, even seven-year-old ones, he had decided, could be extremely unreasonable!
‘I’m sure there’s a very good reason why Daddy can’t take you with him this time, Holly,’ Gabriella put in huskily.
Rufus looked at her warily. After the way the two of them had parted earlier this afternoon, her defence of his actions where his daughter was concerned came as something of a surprise.
‘At least he isn’t taking you, either!’ Holly scorned.
‘Holly—’
‘You’re right, he isn’t,’ Gabriella came back easily. ‘Which means that you and I could spend the next few days getting to know each other better.’
‘I don’t want to know you better,’ Holly told her defiantly.
‘Holly, you will apologize at once!’ Rufus snapped.
‘I won’t,’ his daughter came back rebelliously.
‘You damn well will,’ he assured her firmly.
Holly shot Gabriella a resentful glare, obviously knowing by her father’s anger that she had gone too far. ‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered insincerely. ‘But she can’t tell me what I can or can’t do—’
‘Holly, that is enough!’ Rufus had come to the end of his patience, probably not before time if Gabriella’s disapproving expression was anything to go by.
But Holly had always been his Achilles heel. Rufus was very aware of the fact that her mother had left h
er when she was only a baby, and so he tried to compensate for that. Overcompensate, probably. Because, as she got older, his daughter had come to realize that she was his weakness, too…
‘Gabriella is trying to be kind to you.’ Although God knew why based on this exhibition! ‘Not that you deserve it when you’re behaving like this,’ he added disgustedly. ‘How about I bring you a present when I come back from New York?’ he prompted as Holly still pouted disappointedly.
‘What sort of present?’ Holly prompted suspiciously. ‘The only thing I want is a pony, you know that.’
‘I hardly think Daddy can bring you a pony back from New York,’ Gabriella was the one to answer her reasonably. ‘Isn’t the fact that Daddy brings himself back better than a present?’
Holly looked at Gabriella uncertainly now. ‘Well…yes. But—’
‘There you are, Rufus.’ Gabriella gave him a bright smile. ‘Holly can do without a present this time.’
‘I didn’t say that!’ Holly protested indignantly.
‘I’m sure Daddy is going to be far too busy this trip to go present-hunting. Aren’t you, Rufus?’ Gabriella prompted firmly.
Rufus wasn’t sure he knew what the conversation was about any more. Except that Gabriella obviously didn’t approve of his bringing Holly a present back from New York as a way of settling the argument.
Certainly Holly’s behaviour so far hadn’t been exactly amenable, but he had never been on a business trip and not brought Holly a present back. And while he was reluctantly grateful to Gabriella for diffusing the argument somewhat, her interference was bordering on telling him what to do now.
And he didn’t like it any more than Holly did!
‘I believe you just have time to go upstairs and wash before tea, Holly,’ Gabriella added purposefully.
Holly shot her another uncertain look, obviously not quite sure, after her father’s rebuke, what to do next.
Which was Gabriella’s intention. Holly was a lovely little girl to look at, beautiful in fact, but something that had also become blazingly obvious to Gabriella in the last few minutes was that she was also a very spoilt one!
Not Holly’s fault, of course. And probably not completely Rufus’s, either. After all, he had been doing his best to bring Holly up on his own for the last seven years, which wasn’t an easy task for a man alone. Especially when it must have been easier to shower Holly with presents over the years in order to keep the peace.
But her own mother, Gabriella knew, would never have put up with such behaviour from her, and she didn’t think Rufus should accept it from Holly, either. No matter how much he loved his daughter.
For a man who was so strong-minded and opinionated in other parts of his life—mainly her!—Rufus certainly seemed to have a blind spot where the upbringing of his daughter was concerned.
‘I think you probably owe Daddy an apology before you go, too,’ she added softly.
Holly looked even more perplexed, obviously never having been reprimanded in this way before, glancing at her father now as if for guidance.
Rufus had no idea what to do about this situation, and in fact he could quite well have done without it.
At the moment he was still furious with Gabriella because of her meeting with Toby; he still had no idea whether it had been arranged or was accidental. Or whether to believe what she had told him happened with Toby three months ago. She seemed genuinely upset about the incident, and her disgust towards Toby had seemed genuine, too, but—
He just didn’t have the time before he went to New York to find out whether or not she was telling him the truth!
And now this problem with Holly had blown up completely out of the blue.
He had to go to New York, and that was all there was to it, and it wasn’t a situation he wanted to take Holly into.
But, if he was honest with himself, he knew it was this deepening desire he had for Gabriella, and all the uncertainties between them, that made leaving more difficult for him than it had ever been before. In fact, half of him wanted to say to hell with it and take her with him. He didn’t even have to tell her why; he could easily have used keeping her as far away from Toby as possible as the reason for his demand.
But once in New York he had no doubts that he wouldn’t let Gabriella out of bed for the first twenty-four hours. Which would totally defeat the object of his urgent need to be in New York in the first place.
No, much as he wanted to, he couldn’t take Gabriella with him.
But neither could he understand her deliberate interference in his dilemma with Holly. The woman he thought she was would have enjoyed seeing this inability on his part to control his own daughter…
‘Your father is still waiting, Holly?’ Gabriella prompted again firmly.
Holly swallowed hard, shooting Gabriella another uncertain glance before turning to give him a rueful smile. ‘I’m sorry if I was rude to you just now, Daddy,’ she said huskily before turning to give Gabriella another rebellious glare. ‘But just because Daddy is going to be away is no reason for you to think you can order me about and tell me what to do—’
‘Oh, but she can, Holly,’ Rufus assured her sternly.
Holly frowned at him. ‘But—’
‘If Gabriella tells you to do something while I’m away, I shall expect you to do it,’ he told her firmly.
‘She isn’t really my mother—’
‘No, but she is an adult living in this house,’ he insisted decisively. ‘And as such, you will treat her with the respect she deserves.’
Gabriella watched as Holly obviously fought an inner battle with herself for several seconds, not knowing whether to carry on arguing or—
She turned on her heel and ran out of the room!
And Gabriella very much doubted it was to go and wash her hands before tea!
‘Thank you,’ she told Rufus huskily.
He frowned his confusion, his face slightly pale from this altercation with his young daughter. ‘For what?’
‘For backing up my authority in front of Holly.’ She shrugged. ‘Knowing how you feel about me, I’m sure you didn’t particularly want to, but I would have lost Holly completely if you had sided with her.’
Holly, like her mother before her, had a habit of either crying or throwing temper tantrums when she couldn’t get her own way. His fault, probably, Rufus accepted impatiently. But Holly was only a child, and over the years it had perhaps become too easy to be indulgent to his motherless daughter.
He looked guardedly at Gabriella, still surprised she had taken an interest in Holly in the first place. ‘And how do I feel about you?’ he prompted bitterly.
She grimaced. ‘Perhaps it would be better if we just avoided that subject for now.’
‘Perhaps,’ he conceded, studying her through narrowed lids. ‘But I take it from your earlier comments that you think I spoil Holly?’
She gave a shrug. ‘She’s only seven now, Rufus, but if you carry on like this she will be a monster by the time she’s seventeen!’
His mouth twisted derisively. ‘And you would know all about that, wouldn’t you?’
Gabriella stiffened. No conversation between them, it seemed, even one about his over-indulged daughter, could pass without Rufus taking a pot-shot at her.
She met his gaze unblinkingly. ‘According to your theory the reason I was a mercenary little gold-digger at seventeen was because I hadn’t been spoilt enough as a child!’
‘I don’t believe I ever specified it was only at the age of seventeen!’ he rasped harshly. ‘Where did you disappear to again this afternoon?’
The question came completely out of the blue, throwing Gabriella slightly off guard, the colour heating her cheeks as Rufus looked at her with narrow-eyed appraisal.
‘How do you know I disappeared at all?’ she prompted slowly.
‘You’re working in Gresham’s now, Gabriella—there isn’t much goes on there that I don’t know about!’ he assured her grimly.
‘W
hy do you want to know?’ she evaded, knowing that Rufus probably thought she had met up with Toby again, but at the same time having no intention of telling him where she had really been. That was her business for now. Rufus would get to hear about it all in good time. Her time.
His mouth thinned. ‘Don’t try and play games with me, Gabriella. No matter what Toby may have said this afternoon, you won’t win anything with me,’ he assured dismissively.
She sighed. ‘It isn’t a contest, Rufus—’
‘You’re right—it isn’t!’ he rasped with certainty. ‘Set yourself up with Toby against me and I’ll tie you up in the courts so long you’ll be eighty before either of you inherits anything!’
She breathed in deeply. ‘I’ve already told you how I feel towards Toby, and the reason why I feel that way.’
Yes, she had, Rufus acknowledged impatiently. And if what Gabriella had told him was what really happened, then his father shouldn’t have just thrown Toby out of the house three months ago, and changed his will, he should have had Toby charged with attempted rape!
If what Gabriella said was true…
He breathed deeply. ‘Maybe when I get back from New York I should go and have a little chat with Toby…?’
‘Go ahead,’ she invited, her gaze unwavering from his.
There was something different about Gabriella this afternoon, he realized as he studied her through narrowed lids. She wasn’t quite as defensive as she had been—in fact she wasn’t responding to his taunts in the normal way at all…
‘Why do you have to go to New York so urgently?’ she prompted interestedly now.
Just like any other wife when her husband came home and told her he had to go away urgently on business…!
‘Why the interest, Gabriella?’ he questioned.
She shrugged. ‘I just wondered what was so—urgent, you can’t take Holly with you.’
She hadn’t wondered any such thing, Rufus realized incredulously. Gabriella thought he was going to New York to be with another woman, and that Holly would just be in the way of that relationship!
Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand Page 9
