Harlequin Presents January 2015 Box Set 3 of 4(101)

‘That’s not—’

‘It damn well is! Stop running away from the obvious!’

‘I never said you weren’t an attractive man!’ Her lips tingled from where they had been ravished. Her whole body tingled. He was right, he could have her in a heartbeat, and it was a shaming thought. She had spent the past two weeks fighting to maintain a controlled front and in a few seconds he had demolished it like a house of cards. She wanted to sob from frustration.

Gabriel smiled and turned his attention to the road. ‘So...’ He guided the car along the narrow road that led to the village. ‘You’ve never been happier than you are now, working for me. Apparently, I’m an exciting boss.’

‘Is that what my mother told you?’

‘She’s not what I had expected. Somehow I had it in my head that she was more like you.’

‘Meaning what, Gabriel?’

‘Meaning...strong, focused, opinionated. She’s a beautiful woman, Alice, but she seems to live on her nerves.’

‘I don’t like you prying into my personal life.’ But her voice was defeated. He had crossed the last frontier. In the space of a few weeks, she had gone from being the cool, together secretary he had taken on to replace his string of inept temps to a woman who had fallen under his spell, slept with him and now...the woman whose entire life would be laid bare.

‘I’m expressing interest, Alice,’ he said gently. ‘Not prying.’

‘I never asked for your interest.’ She rested her head against the leather head-rest and stared through the window at the blurred, dark countryside racing past her. In a few minutes, they would be in the village. They could actually have walked. On a nice evening, it was a joy to stroll down the country lanes, breathing in the fragrance of the trees and flowers. It was a thirty-minute walk that she had always found therapeutic.

Sure enough, the village twinkled ahead of them, and he found his way easily to the village square, where he parked the car and then killed the engine.

He looked at her for a while. She had the most riveting face he had ever seen, even when that face was turned away from him. He wanted to drag her back into his arms, kiss her all over again, force her out of her coolness, which was unbearable now that he had seen another side to her.

He was baffled by the strength of his reactions to her. He wasn’t just in hot, determined pursuit; he wanted more from her than just her body and her compliance. He had never been remotely interested in any of his past lovers’ backgrounds or in trying to make sense of them.

He had taken what had been on offer and looked no further. Yes, so he had been lazy. He wasn’t lazy now.

‘Why is your mother hesitant about telling you that she has a boyfriend?’

Alice’s head whipped round and she looked at him, shocked by what he had just said. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! You don’t know what you’re talking about. And I resent you poking your nose into my life, Gabriel!’ She yanked open the car door and sprang out of the car, wildly looking round for whatever Italian restaurant they were going to. It wouldn’t be hard to find. It wasn’t as though the village was bursting at the seams with chichi eating places.

It took her two seconds to spot the red-and-white-checked awning where, from memory, a corner shop used to be, tucked away on the corner and easy to miss, if it hadn’t been for the bright lights and the people inside.

‘Don’t run away from me!’

His hand snapped out, holding her firmly in place before she could flee to the safety of the crowded restaurant.

‘I’m not running away!’ No. She wasn’t. She was staring up into those deep, dark eyes and bitterly resenting his presence here in her treasured, private territory. ‘What did you mean when you said that...that mum had a boyfriend?’

Gabriel felt some of the tension leave him. She had kissed him. Hell, she had kissed him as hungrily as he had kissed her. And then, almost immediately, she had pushed him away. At least she wasn’t pushing him away now. It was something.

‘I’ll tell you over dinner. I take it that’s the restaurant over there?’ He began walking, pointedly not tucking her arm into his, although he wanted to.

This, Alice thought, was what lust felt like. In Paris, when they had been playing truant, when she had fallen madly and stupidly in love with him, he had shown affection in all sorts of small ways: holding hands, turning to kiss her, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear when the breeze was whipping it across her face...

But they weren’t playing truant now. They were back in England, and it was pretty clear that he might still want her, but those gestures of affection were no longer appropriate. His hands were very firmly in his jacket pockets and he was barely glancing in her direction as they walked briskly over to the restaurant.