‘My horses are just along here,’ she said, leading the way. ‘I know the stables look a bit desolate, but with sufficient money they can easily be brought up to standard.’
‘Is that the selling blurb your accountant asked you to give me?’
‘It’s the truth.’
‘They’re a far cry from how they used to be seven years ago,’ Gabriel remarked, pausing when she did to look at one of the older horses. He watched and saw the suspicious glitter in her eyes give way to tenderness as she pushed open the stable door and began stroking the horse. He could hear her murmuring under her breath.
‘Did you keep Barnabus?’ he asked softly, stepping into the darkened stable beside her and running his hands along the flanks of the horse whilst his eyes remained fixed on her down-turned head. He was assailed by a sudden rush of memories and breathed in sharply, tearing his eyes away from her just as she raised hers to his face.
‘He’s two stalls along.’ She stood up and her expression resumed its wariness as she led him out, shutting the door behind her.
‘It must be a bitter pill to swallow ...all this...’ The words were jerked out of him and her wary expression deepened.
‘What do you think, Gabriel?’ This time she didn’t enter either of the stalls, standing well back when Gabriel walked in to run his long fingers over Barnabus’s black head. It was too painful to watch.
‘What do I think...?’ he mused, leaving the stall with reluctance. Riding was in his blood. He would have liked to have mounted the stallion and ridden him across the fields, but there were more pressing things to do. ‘I think...’ he continued speculatively as he walked slowly towards the offices, making sure that he kept as close to her as he reasonably could—he wanted to make sure that she felt his presence ‘...that you find yourself in an impossible situation. This is your home, you have grown up here the riding stables formed part of your childhood. I think you would do pretty much anything to hang onto them Am I right?’ They had reached the offices but, before entering, he turned to look at her.#p#分页标题#e#
‘Naturally, I would like to see them brought back up to the standard they once were...’ Laura responded hesitantly, not really knowing where this was going.
‘Of course you would.’ He smiled coolly at her. ‘Because the alternative would be disastrous for you personally, wouldn’t you agree? No roof over your head, for a start.’ He pushed open the office door and stepped inside.
Just as he remembered. A little shabbier, but by far the least run-down of all the buildings. He paused in the middle of the room and looked at her over his shoulder. ‘Come inside, Laura, and shut the door behind you. It’s getting a little cold out there.’ He turned his back to her and heard the soft click of the door being shut.
From the outer reception room, he strolled into the office, still there with its desk and files and the sofa, spread against one wall. He could sense her standing by the door, hovering, waiting for him to complete his perusal of the room, and he wondered savagely whether she had ever really missed him. She would have come into this office after he had left, and thought ...what? Anything? Would she have felt some twinge of regret and wistfulness? Or would any such emotions have been quickly and easily replaced by relief that he had walked out of her life before he had become too much of a liability?
The thought of that made him clench his fists in his trouser pockets. He turned very slowly around until he was looking at her with a veiled expression.
‘So tell me, Laura, what would you do to hang onto this place? And keep your lifestyle intact? I mean, three days a week working as a secretary surely cannot pay you very much. What would you be able to afford to buy in town? Or even to rent, for that matter? A one-room studio flat somewhere? Maybe you might be forced to share a house with someone...’
Laura eyed him uneasily as he casually strolled closer towards her. Every muscle in her body had tensed and she could hear herself breathing quickly, drawing in shallow bursts of air, which seemed barely sufficient to keep her standing on her wobbly feet.
Gabriel extended his arms, propping himself against the wall and trapping her so that she was forced to look at him, could barely move without colliding with some part of his aggressively masculine body.
‘I ...I haven’t really ...given it much thought...’ she stammered as his black eyes bored into her.
‘Well, think about it now.’ He allowed her a few seconds of silence whilst he continued to stare at her. ‘Having the bank repossess the place. You would get a pittance, you know. Probably enough to cover some of the debts but certainly nothing left over on which you could reasonably live. You might even be forced to pay off some of the creditors out of your own meagre personal funds. So ...what would you do to hang on here?’ His eyes dropped to her trembling mouth, then down to her breasts, which were heaving as she inhaled deeply to gather her self-composure, which had been blown to the four winds.