‘Or else what?’ Laura retorted, swinging open her car door and putting one long leg out of the car.
‘Or else I shall come in and get you.’
And he would, too, she thought sourly as she dashed into the office. In fact, the beast would probably enjoy it. Drawing himself up to his full height, flinging his arrogant dark head back and crooking one imperious finger in her direction. In other words, bringing the entire place to a complete standstill.
She had just enough time to assure Hugo that she would call him later in the evening to explain all and to promise her work colleagues that she would keep in touch. Judging from the avidly curious expressions on their faces, she wryly thought that she would have no choice. If she didn’t call them, they would make sure to call her!
She arrived back to find Gabriel standing outside, indolently leaning against the polished black driver’s door of the car, and she immediately slowed her pace.
‘Seven minutes,’ she informed him, ‘and forty-six seconds.’
‘Good of me to allow you the extra two minutes and forty-six seconds, wouldn’t you agree?’ But he grinned wickedly when he said this and Laura felt her body surge into sudden, maddening response.#p#分页标题#e#
‘You deserve a medal,’ she muttered, hiding her confusion by sliding quickly into the car. ‘What time is the surveyor coming?’ she asked, once he was inside the car and gunning the engine.
‘Probably there already,’ Gabriel said nonchalantly. ‘If not on his way back to London having got there and found no one at home.’
‘Oh, Anna will wait.’
‘Anna? Your chartered surveyor is a woman?’
‘No need to sound so surprised.’ Gabriel briefly slid his eyes across to her. ‘This is the twenty-first century.
Women have invaded the working place and many now hold down substantial jobs.’
‘I know that!’ Laura snapped.
‘And I happen to be an extremely non-sexist employer. Everything rests on credentials, as far as I am concerned.’
Laura bit back the temptation to inform him that he could have fooled her, considering he had all the macho arrogance of someone living in another century!
‘She will probably find it useful to have a look around the outside of the house and establish visually what might need doing,’ he was saying now. ‘She is very thorough and I trust her utterly to provide me with an unadorned statement of what will need looking at and how much I should expect to pay.’
The image of a middle-aged professional woman briskly walking around with a notepad in one hand and a pen tucked into the top pocket of her severe suit was dispersed the minute they pulled into the courtyard to find a gleaming silver Porsche parked at an angle. Before Laura could readjust her mental impression of what to expect, the woman in question rounded the corner and she wasn’t wearing anything remotely resembling a severe suit. An appreciative smile curved Gabriel’s lips and then he was walking towards her, arms outstretched, speaking in quick, unintelligible Spanish. And whatever he was saying, it didn’t have much to do with bricks, mortar and rising damp, Laura considered sourly, lagging in the background.
At least not judging from the warm tinkle of laughter that punctuated the woman’s rapid phrases.
‘Laura, come and meet Anna.’ He still had his arm around the other woman’s waist and his mouth was still relaxed with a smile.
‘This,’ he said with a gesture meant to embrace the house, ‘is Laura’s legacy and my next purchase. What do you think?’
Close up Anna was a little older than Laura had originally surmised, but just as pretty. Small, olive-skinned, with dark eyes and dark hair that was loosely tied at the nape of her neck but with loose tendrils escaping that promised long, rebellious curls when released. And she was voluptuous. Full breasts under the tight-fitting cream jersey and tan jacket. Laura suddenly felt sick and had to force herself to smile and shake the dainty hand extended towards her.
it needs a bit of work,’ Anna was saying, all business now and commanding no less of Gabriel’s attention for it. She turned to point at various bits of the house, efficiently indicating damage that Laura had not even been aware of. ‘May I have a look inside?’ she finished and Laura nodded curtly, leading the way whilst the other two fell back and began chatting in low tones. Low, intimate tones, it seemed to Laura.
She practically flung open the front door and, once in, was chagrined to be told that she could perhaps go and prepare a pot of coffee whilst the two of them made a more detailed examination of the house.