Bound By Marriage(28)

The sound of a car pulling up outside was a welcome distraction despite  the late hour. Part of him was convinced that Jess had apprehended her  mistake and returned. Hauling open the front door with enthusiasm he  wasn't willing to admit even to himself, he walked across the verandah.  But the woman who exited the gleaming sedan wasn't the one he wanted to  see.

"What are you doing here, Sylvie?"

She waited for him to reach the car. "I got back tonight from a trip to Wellington. I heard what happened with you and Jess."

The sound of his wife's name made his entire body react with an  explosive mix of need, denial and anger. She was his. She wasn't  supposed to leave him.

"Gabe." Sylvie put a hand on his arm. "What we had was good."

"We were over a long time ago. I don't recall either of us crying tears over the split."

"We could have it again." Her voice was even but determined. "I'm ready  to settle down and so are you. She just wasn't the right woman."

At that moment, Gabriel knew without a doubt that Sylvie would accept  his decree to remain childless. She'd never ask anything more from him  than he was prepared to give. That was how their relationship had always  worked-two practical adults with little emotional investment in each  other or their relationship. "No, Sylvie. You can't renew what was never  there."

Her face blanched. "She'll never know you like I know you."

He'd had enough. "The single reason you know about the fire is because  you overheard your father talking to the old coroner one night," he  reminded her.

"You never knew me." And nobody, not even her father, knew the real truth of who'd set the blaze.

Gabriel had told only one other person, the sole human being he trusted  to never break her silence or use it against him. Because she was too  gentle, too loyal, too damn loving. And he'd known that from the day  he'd proposed.

"Do you really think Jess can ever be the kind of wife you want?"

The question silenced everything around him. "Maybe not," he said quietly, "but she's the kind of wife I need."

Sylvie's arm dropped away. "She's not here though."

No, she wasn't. He'd let her walk away. It might rank as the most  idiotic thing he'd ever done but some mistakes could be rectified. Jess  was his wife and she was going to stay that way. He refused to let her  have her way on this one crucial point.

Jess had taken Richard at his word and not worried about finding an  apartment for the week that he was in Australia. He had insisted she  housesit for him when she'd phoned to ask about cheap rental  accommodation. Leaving the night she'd arrived, he'd told her to rest  and reconsider going back to her "beautiful shark." She'd thrown herself  into work instead, doing sketch after sketch on a small pad she'd  bought at a nearby bookstore.

And if her mind kept drifting to the last page in the pad, to the sketch  she'd done first, at least she was able to stop herself from turning to  it. Except at night. When her defenses crumbled and she gave in to the  most awful kind of loneliness.

Conceding defeat after yet another long morning spent in a useless  attempt to wipe Gabriel from her mind, she decided to walk the short  distance to the gallery. Maybe Trixie, one of Richard's assistants,  would like to go for a late lunch. It looked like rain so she hoped  Trixie knew someplace nearby.

Pushing through the glass door of the gallery, she stopped dead at the  sight of the man waiting inside. "Gabe?" Her whole body came to vibrant,  turbulent life.

"You weren't at the apartment."

She fiddled with her purse, crushing that initial burst of wild hope. "Did you need to travel up here for a meeting?"                       
       
           



       

He looked very businessmanlike in his dark pants and crisp shirt. Except  that it was that green shirt, the one permanently stamped with memories  of his furious passion and her complete surrender. The emotional impact  was devastating. But, of course, that wouldn't have occurred to him  when he'd put it on.

"Yes, a very important meeting." Moving forward, he reached past her to reopen the door. "Let's take a walk."

She probably should have told him where to put his orders, but she was  still so shaken up at the sight of him that she walked out without  saying a word. It took the crisp winter-turning-to-spring air to slap  her back to sanity.

"What did you want to talk about?" Facing him on the sidewalk, she tried  not to let his presence affect her, a hopeless endeavor. Gabriel had  affected her from the first-anger, passion, hurt … love. "Did you want me  to sign something to speed up the divorce?"

A flash of some dark emotion sparked in the green of his eyes. "Trixie told me there was a park nearby."

She fell into step beside him despite her better judgment.

"Were you ever going to call me?" he asked, as they reached the narrow  path, which cut between two buildings and led to the park.

She told herself she was imagining the edge in his voice. "I wanted to  get settled into an apartment first. I thought it'd be more convenient  for you to know where to send my paintings and things." A flat-out lie.  She'd just been unable to bring herself to talk to him. The wound was  too fresh, the hurt too close to the surface.

He thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants, shirt pulling tight  across broad shoulders. Even now she had to curl her own hands into  fists to keep from giving in to the urge to stroke.

"And you didn't consider that I might've been worried about you?"

The path ended. Needing time to think, Jess looked out over the empty  green space. The usual crowd had probably been put off by the inclement  weather.

Clouds hung thick and heavy in the sky, threatening to break at any  moment. But that thought was a momentary diversion-Gabe was waiting for  an answer.

"No." She turned toward him. "I know I lie low on your list of  priorities, somewhere beneath overseeing the reconstruction of the  stables and above balancing your checkbook. Actually, I'm not so sure  about that last one."

The skin of his face stretched taut. "Then why do you love me?"





Chapter 18





Everything shattered. "I don't know!" she cried. "You're arrogant,  emotionally shut off and far too used to getting your own way. If I had  any sense at all, I'd stop loving you this instant."

Moving so fast she barely saw him, he grabbed her by the upper arms. "No."

"You can't control this, Gabe." She put her hands against his chest and  pushed, her breath coming in jagged bursts. "I wish you could. Then  everything would be exactly as you want, and I'd be happy right now  instead of feeling as if I've been cut into a thousand pieces!"

He wouldn't let her push him away. "If you love me, why are you in  Auckland? You could've stayed on Angel. You can come back today and I  won't say a word."

"You know why I'm here!" She fisted her hands against the power of his  heartbeat. "Even if I could accept living with a man who sees me as  nothing more than a convenience-"

He kissed her. A passionate, hard, almost angry kiss that caught her  unaware and swept her under. Thunder boomed in the sky but it was  nothing to the fury of the storm raging inside of her.

"I need you."

She couldn't believe what she thought she'd heard. "Gabe?"

"You're the most inconvenient wife I could imagine." He cupped her face  with work-rough hands. "You argue with me constantly, don't do anything I  tell you to do, make me chase after you like a teenager with his first  crush and keep sneaking into my thoughts when you're supposed to fade  into the background. What the hell's so damn convenient about that?"

Her heart was pounding so violently, she couldn't hear herself think. "I'm not sorry."

"Of course you're not. That would be too convenient." He touched his  forehead to hers. "Come back to me, Jessie. I don't think I can stand  returning alone to that empty house."

She wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. Jessica Bailey  Dumont was through with settling for less than everything. "Why? Why do  you want me to come home?"

"You're my wife."                       
       
           



       

"Not enough."

He hugged her close, tucking her head under his chin. "Stubborn, stubborn woman.

You know why."

She was weakening under the weight of emotion in his voice, able to hear  the words he couldn't say. But she needed this and if their marriage  was going to work, he had to find the tenderness to give her what she  needed. She wasn't sure he'd ever go that far. And then he did.