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‘Dammit, woman!’ Gabriel exploded. ‘Would you stop behaving as though you’re ...you’re...?’ For the first time since he could remember, his cool power of articulate speech deserted him completely.
‘Your employee?’ Laura said helpfully. ‘But that’s exactly what I am.’
‘There is no need for you to put on this ridiculous act of bowing and scraping!’ he growled, realising that she had somehow managed to get him into a corner. How, he had no idea.
‘I’m not bowing and scraping. I’m asking you to define my duties in order of importance. Besides, I would have thought that it might have made your day to have me bowing and scraping.’
It damned well should have done, Gabriel thought ruefully. When he had picked up that newspaper and read about the riding stables, it had certainly been top of his aims to see the wretch in a position where the tables had been reversed.
Somewhere along the way, things had changed. He most certainly did not want to see her bowing and scraping.
‘Well, you are wrong,’ he told her brusquely, if you want me to tell you what I expect from you, then I will, but I would prefer that we discuss it together.’
‘You mean pretend that this is a normal situation and that you haven’t just bought me out lock, stock and barrel for the sole purpose of getting your own back?’
‘Dammit, Laura...’
I’m sorry. I’m just a little edgy because this deal has now been done and I’ve become a lodger in my own house, on my own land.’
‘You would have been in that situation anyway,’ Gabriel pointed out darkly. ‘The place had to be sold and chances are you would have got a lot less on the open market. And you would not have been living there. You would now be out searching for somewhere you could afford.’ He couldn’t bear the trace of sadness in her eyes even though he was honest enough to realise that he had been instrumental in putting it there. She didn’t see him as her rescuer, she saw him as her gaoler and it was like a knife twisting slowly in his gut.
‘I know.’
‘Then stop punishing me for offering you a good deal. And you are not a lodger in your own home, dammit, Laura. You belong there and you are to look on it as yours.’
‘But it’s not, is it?’
Gabriel counted very slowly in Spanish to ten. ‘Okay. ‘I think we ought to concentrate on getting the house into a good condition first of all. It’s going to be the least time-consuming of the tasks and the most immediately rewarding. So what about we leave this place, head back to the house and then we can have a look around and decide what is to be done? And if you tell me that it’s up to me because I am now the owner, then I will personally throttle you.’
‘Oh, I’m quivering with fear, Gabriel.’ But the fight had gone out of her voice. She could feel him tiptoeing his way towards her, trying to make her see his point of view, and his sudden vulnerability was more moving than any of his aggressive thrusts at her had been. She raised her eyebrows in amusement and he offered her a crooked smile in return.
‘Good. That’s more like it.’
‘Oh, you approve of women quivering in fear, do you?’
He looked at her for so long and in such concentrated silence that she became aware of the subtle change in the atmosphere. From combatants to ex-lovers. The intangible electricity made her flesh crawl and Laura lowered her eyes quickly.
‘Let’s get out of here.’ He beckoned for the bill, paid it and then stood up.
All through the drive back to the house he made polite, surface conversation, asking her what improvements she would like for the house, but the undercurrent between them still rose and fell, until by the time he screeched to a halt outside the house he thought he would pass out from wanting to touch her.#p#分页标题#e#
So much for the master seducer, he thought ruefully. He couldn’t wait to leap out of the car so that he could try and clear his head. Whilst she ...she seemed utterly in control, barely speaking, occasionally glancing out of the window with a thoughtful expression on her face, which made him want to stop the car immediately and demand to know what she was thinking.
‘Shall we have a look straight away?’ Laura asked as soon as they were in the hall, if I know what you want, then I can get going first thing in the morning.’
Gabriel gritted his teeth together in frustration and watched as she kicked off her formal shoes so that she was now barefoot.
‘Let’s start with downstairs.’
‘I’ll just go and fetch some paper.’