The Millionaire's Revenge(28)
‘I can’t, Gabriel.’ The brunette smiled apologetically. ‘It’s late and I face a long drive back to London.’ She gave him a look of intimate and indulgent affection that had Laura’s teeth snapping together.
‘What is the state of the house?’ she asked with freezing politeness. ‘Mr Greppi seems to think that it’s on the verge of collapsing.’ Gabriel? Did he really expect her to believe that all his employees addressed him by his first name in tones of warm intimacy? He might see himself as Mr Ultra Modern Man with his staff, but did that stance include running his hands all over their bodies in full view of whoever might be watching? If so, then she was surprised he didn’t spend half his time in a court somewhere fighting off harassment suits. Not that this particular woman looked in the least upset by his intentions!
‘Far from it,’ Anna said warmly, collecting her bag and briefcase from the counter. ‘There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with your house.’
‘My house,’ Gabriel corrected, shooting Laura a rueful smile that the correction had to be made, one that she countered with icy blankness.
Anna shook her head and said something in Spanish, then she turned to Laura. ‘My report should be ready within a week, but there really will be no need for any extensive repair work. The window sills need looking after. Some of them have rotted through, and I noticed that some small parts of the roof will need replacing, but aside from that any damage is superficial. Years of neglect take their toll.’
‘Yes, I realise that.’
‘Now, now, there is no need to sound so offended,’ Gabriel mocked. ‘Anna is just doing her job. Now, perhaps you could get that coffee ready whilst I see Anna out?’
‘If I’m going to be working for you, then we need to get a few things straight,’ was the first thing Laura told him when he reappeared in the kitchen a few minutes later.
She had taken up residence by the kitchen table, but even with the distance between them she was still agonisingly aware of his suffocating masculinity. Especially now that there was no third party around to dilute it.
‘Ah, coffee. Just what I need.’ He picked up the mug, took a sip and then moved in her direction, making sure that he passed fractionally too close to her before pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down.
He wasn’t wearing a tie, but he undid the top two buttons of his shirt, tugging open the neck and running his long brown fingers along the underside of the fabric whilst Laura watched in helpless fascination, before dragging her mind back to the grievances she had rehearsed.
‘Point one,’ she informed him, ‘is that I’m not your servant. Don’t think that when you happen to be around you can snap your fingers and I’ll run and make you, and whoever else happens to be with you, a cup of coffee.’#p#分页标题#e#
Gabriel looked at her lazily whilst he continued to lowly sip his coffee. He wondered whether he should just form her that really she did not have much option when it came to her list of duties, and then decided that constant confrontation was not going to achieve what was becoming increasingly important. Namely, her. In bed with him. Wet, willing and naked.
He was the cat, yes, and admittedly she was the mouse, but she would be oh, such a very eager mouse when she came to him.
He smiled at the thought of that, which was disconcerting enough to make Laura stop in her tracks. She had expected him to jump in with another little reminder of her indebtedness to him, which included making however many cups of coffee he wanted. In fact, she had prepared quite a good argument to counteract any objections. What she hadn’t expected was for him to smile, a slow, gleaming smile that sent a shiver of treacherous awareness rippling through her.
‘You are absolutely right,’ he said, maintaining his killer mile.
‘I am?’
He nodded.
‘Yes, of course I’m right. I don’t intend to be used, Gabriel, or to do any running and fetching for you.’ She could hear herself blustering but then, dammit, did he have to sit there and look so damned agreeable?
‘I would not expect you to. Indeed, if I gave you the impression that I was ...throwing my weight around, then I apologise. Profusely.’ He could fully understand why she was staring at him with such suspicious incomprehension. He had done nothing but throw his weight around since he had set eyes on her again, and it wasn’t going to do. He didn’t want her cowed and spitting hate at him. He wanted her sweet and compliant and deliciously abandoned.
Besides, what was the good of rejecting someone who viewed him with intense dislike? It would amount to no rejection. For the second time, she would simply be relieved to see the back of him. She might be aware of him, in fact was aware of him ...he could feel it in those hot little surreptitious glances she occasionally slid across to him when she wasn’t aware that he was looking ...but as long as he continued to wield the rod of power, she would resolutely fight the attraction with every ounce of strength.