His daughter nodded like an angel, lifting her chin in a show of condescension toward him. That put-upon anger and the skinny shoulders pretending to be so unaffected, caused Gabriel to feel a realization slam into him: hateful words or not, his daughter was very much just a kid.
And he wouldn’t have seen it if not for the woman silently glaring at him over Angie’s furiously nodding head. Her judgment of him was clear in her deepening frown.
“You went on your trip again. You not only left me with that...horrible nanny, but you also forgot my birthday. Mom would’ve never...” A choked sound emerged from Angie’s throat. “Mom told me you didn’t live with us because you were a busy man. Not because you didn’t care about me. But now... I know she was lying to protect me. It’s clear that you never wanted a daughter.”
Pushing away the Princess’s hand from her shoulder, Angie ran out of the boardroom, leaving a minefield of silence behind.
No, he’d never wanted a daughter. He hadn’t been in a relationship with her mother, which he thought was why she’d never told him.
And yet when he’d seen Angelina for the first time, Gabriel had known his life had forever changed. To his own surprise, he hadn’t felt an ounce of resentment.
He’d only wanted to welcome her into his life.
But Angelina wouldn’t give him a chance. Frustration and fury twisted inside him.
He took a few steps in her direction when he heard the soft command.
“Leave her alone, Mr. Marquez.” A pregnant pause, as if the Princess couldn’t believe her own audacity. “For now. Please. Don’t force her to take back those words just because your ego is smarting.”
A burning feeling emerged in his throat and Gabriel realized it was shame.
The Princess was right. He was only thinking about how this affected him, how he wanted to fight the tug of failure.
He’d moved mountains and built castles, immersed himself in the world’s real estate games, and yet he didn’t possess a single thing that would bring his daughter closer to him.
With one nod, he dismissed the meeting. He watched the quick shuffling of papers on the dark mahogany desk, heard the whisper of chairs as if it were all a background score, his attention fixed on the woman he had forced himself to ignore for three months.
And utterly failed.
He didn’t want to have anything to do with this woman who’d made it so easy to unburden himself. Who had, for the first time in his adult life, made him question his choices, his very lifestyle. Made him wonder about the depth of love his father had nurtured for his mother, before it had destroyed him.
* * *
She shouldn’t have spoken to him like that. She shouldn’t have confronted him. She definitely shouldn’t have chastised him as if he were a negligent staff member.
Eleni sighed as her hands brushed against her soft leather bag.
Now he’d probably forbid Angelina from even seeing her. And while she’d miss Angelina with an ache, it would be so much worse for the little girl.
Only last week had Angelina started opening up to Eleni, since she’d come to see that Eleni had no hidden agenda that involved her father.
And now, because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, because she couldn’t bear to be ignored by Gabriel again, Angelina would lose the only adult she’d come to trust.
The hair on her nape stood in prickles as the room emptied around her.
Vibrating with a tension she couldn’t dispel, she straightened from the table. Gabriel Marquez stood at the corner of the room, a silent specter studying her with hair-raising intensity. “You’re full of neat little tricks, Princesa.”
Eleni stiffened. “I have nothing to say to you.”
He made his way across the room with soft strides for such a big man. Like a jungle cat. “I would say it was the opposite, judging by the looks you sent my way. I would say you were raring to rip into me.”
Eleni tilted her head back, struggling to keep her gaze away from the hard contours of his mouth. His lips had been so soft and demanding against hers. So full of passion and tender warmth. For days afterward, she’d marveled at the paradox of the man’s kiss, which matched the man himself—one moment warm and inviting, and the next cold and ruthless.
“Even the board members now know that you were dying to set me down about Angelina.”
Heat rushed into her cheeks and she struggled to keep her thoughts and her gaze from straying. “I...was trying to defuse the situation without further breaking her—” she flinched as his gaze became chilly “—heart. Even you must agree that Angelina’s feelings are the most important in that scene.”
“Even I?” His taunt was voiced in such a low tone that Eleni had to tilt closer to understand. Instantly, she was suffused in his male scent. Tendrils of warmth settled low in her belly as he reached her. “Explain.”
Any mortification she felt at her body’s alarming reaction to his nearness died at his curt tone. “Don’t bark commands at me.”
His gray eyes were cold and bleak, like a winter sky. “Maybe you think I’m one of the staff you order around with such brisk efficiency, Princesa. It would be in your best interests to remember who I am.”
She tried for a laugh, awareness flooding through her. His hands had traced her hips as if she were a precious treasure. His body had been a fortress of warmth. She couldn’t stop that rush of sensation so she held herself rigid instead. “Like you let anyone forget. This is ridiculous, Mr. Marquez. If you want to say something, then say it.”
He breathed out in a harsh exhale, tension wreathing his features. “Angelina and you have formed a bond.”
“Is there a question in that?” she taunted, ignoring the rational voice that said she was pulling the tail of a tiger.
He hesitated and Eleni saw something in those cold eyes that made her hesitate, rethink her opinion of him. Or at least not to condemn him so easily. “How? When?”
“When what?”
“When did you become close? How did you...have so much access to her?” His frown deepened as he searched her face. “It’s not like you sit around playing the charming socialite in the palace.”
Was he complimenting her or setting her down? Infuriating man! “I... I... The task of setting up quarters and such for the string of nannies you employed for her fell to me. When you disappeared on your long and frequent business trips, the task of making sure they did their job fell to me. I think it was the second one. Or the third. The poor woman couldn’t find Angelina one day for hours and raised an alarm.
“You were in... Sydney, I think. Since you brought her to Drakon,” she couldn’t resist adding, “I noticed that Angelina always drifts toward the stables. I found her there that afternoon, hiding in my mare’s stall. Angelina loves horses—did you know that? I invited her to spend some time during the day with me at the stables. And we...we got close,” she finished, her face a swath of color.
Somehow, spending time with Angelina had become the high point of her day. Had filled the gaping hole in her life after her father’s death and Andreas’s uncharacteristic departure.
“But what did you do? And why? I want to know what you did to get so close to her, Ms. Drakos.”
He looked so befuddled that Eleni bit back her temper and sighed. “I didn’t do it for some nefarious purpose.”
He ran his hands through his hair, tight grooves etching around his mouth. “I’m not accusing you,” he said, though his tone did just that. “I’m curious as to what you did, what techniques you employed, what...incentives you offered to get close to Angelina.”
“She’s not a business deal you’re trying to close,” she burst out, remembering her own confusion at that age.
“I have never lost a business deal in my life.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She exhaled roughly and willed herself to be patient. For that twelve-year-old, if not for the arrogant Spaniard in front of her.
For three months, she’d tried to pretend that the kiss hadn’t happened. That it hadn’t been the most glorious moment of her life, even when he’d pushed her away with such apparent disgust. That her heart didn’t speed up every time she laid eyes on him.
That she didn’t hope in the farthest corners of her heart that he would look at her with that passion in his eyes again, that he would see her as a woman and not as a part of the palace machinery. That he would kiss her again, just one more time.
But no.
Five layers of makeup, a dress that displayed every curve and a sign around her neck that said she was willing and wanton. And of course, her identity hidden behind a mask.
That was the only way he would want her apparently.
She swallowed away the disappointment as she always did, tired of her own pathetic longing. There were years of his company’s work still to be done in Drakon. Was she going to spend the next decade mooning over one kiss that meant nothing to him, like she had mourned the last decade over Spiros and his vows of undying devotion, even after he’d disappeared like mist?
“Angelina, for all that she’s been forced to grow up in the past few months, is a little girl. With feelings and emotions. She lost the one person who loved her unconditionally. She’s been thrust into an unfamiliar world with a man—”