‘Does that matter? You are more than welcome to fall asleep in my car on the way to the house. Once you have collected your possessions from your office and said a rueful goodbye to your fellow employees.’ Not to mention your employer, Gabriel thought to himself, recollecting the hand on her arm and the expression of fondness in Hugo’s eyes when he had looked at her. The thought that there might be something going on there made his lips tighten and he forced himself to relax. He would get to that later.#p#分页标题#e#
‘I am not going to be leaving my job, Gabriel. That was not part of the deal.’
‘It is now.’ He sat back to allow their waitress to place two champagne flutes on the table and waited until she popped open the bottle and poured them both some of the bubbly golden liquid. ‘After I had a look around the stables, well, I was frankly alarmed at their state of disrepair. You may not have noticed, but there are cracks on the ceilings, what looks suspiciously like rising damp in some of the rooms, not to mention parts of the roof that look as though they have exceeded their sell-by date by several years.’ He played with the stem of his champagne flute, allowing his words to hit home and settle in, then he took a leisurely sip of his drink and proceeded to run his finger lightly and absent-mindedly around the rim of the glass.
‘Naturally, I will have to have the place professionally surveyed, but I estimate the house alone will cost thousands in terms of refurbishment, and that is not taking into account possible structural faults.’ He leaned back into his chair and linked his fingers loosely on his lap. ‘A massive job.’ He shook his head. ‘I very nearly decided against buying, but...’ Actually, he had thought no such thing. The sweet challenge of winning her back only to discard her was too irresistible.
Laura gulped down a generous mouthful of champagne and almost choked in the process.
‘I still don’t see what all of this has to do with my job,’ she persisted in a panicky voice, I am very grateful that you’ve decided to buy the stables and you can sort out all the ins and outs with Phillip, but...’ She trailed off into helpless silence as he sat there, politely listening to her and shaking his head in the thoughtful manner of someone dealing with a person who was missing something glaringly obvious.
‘You’re part of the bargain, Laura.’
‘What do you mean? I’m not part of any bargain. I have my own life...’
‘Oh, but you don’t.’ There was a cutting smoothness to his tone that she didn’t like. What did he mean that she was part of the bargain? Did he think that he was going to sleep with her, have her as his concubine or else no deal?
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Well, then, I had better explain, hadn’t I?’ But he would take his time, watch her stewing over his words, watch her wondering whether he intended to make her into a sex slave as a fair exchange for digging her out of the hole in which she had become submerged. Sex slave. The thought filled him with sudden warmth and he leaned forward, instantly invading her space. ‘The sort of business that your family was involved in does not operate along the same lines as a normal company, as you yourself pointed out. For a start, it can only work if the person in charge knows about horses and, more importantly, knows people within the world of horses and horse-racing. Are you beginning to get my drift here?’
Only too clearly. ‘There are plenty of people around who would jump at the chance of working for you. I could easily put you in touch with them.’
‘But my solution rests a lot closer to home than that...’
He smiled with dangerous intent. ‘Who better to help reconstruct the tatters of the riding stables than yourself, Laura?’ He beckoned the waitress across and, having treated her to a full-wattage smile of pure charm, gave his lunch order and waited in polite silence whilst Laura stammered out hers, frankly the first thing she could spot on the menu.
‘Another glass of champagne?’ He tipped some more bubbly into her empty glass and said soothingly, ‘There’s no need to look so worried. I have absolute confidence in you.’#p#分页标题#e#
‘That’s not what’s worrying me, Gabriel...’
‘Is it not? What, then?’ He inclined his head to one side and frowned in supposed puzzlement. Laura could easily have tipped her glass of champagne over his arrogantly beautiful head. He knew precisely what she was worried about. She was worried about the trap that she felt slowly closing in around her, but she knew that to mention any such thing would have him throwing back his head and roaring with laughter. He would deny any such thing, would accuse her of being melodramatic, and to all intents and purposes he would have good reason because what he was offering her was a generous deal with the opportunity to remain living under her own roof and helping to resurrect the riding stables she had grown up loving.