‘Certainly nowhere that involves pulling up down a narrow side lane,’ Laura admonished as soon as he was in the car and pulling out of the drive, but just thinking about it was enough to bring a smile to her lips. ‘I’m way too old for that kind of thing and, besides, we’re both far too tall for making love in the cramped back seat of your car. Even if it is a very big car.’
‘You might be tall but you’re as supple as a piece of elastic,’ Gabriel replied, his eyes fixed on the road. He gave a wicked grin that set her pulses racing. ‘But maybe you’re right,’ he conceded ruefully.
‘So tell me where we’re going, Gabriel.’
‘We are going to my place in Berkshire. I want you to have a look at my house and tell me what you think, about the style of the decor.’
‘You mean get an idea of what you like?’
He shrugged. ‘Actually, I hired a team of people to do the house for me. Lack of time.’ Or inclination, for that matter.
‘And do you like what they’ve done?’ Laura felt a burning curiosity to see this man whom she adored in his surroundings.
‘It is very grand.’
‘You don’t sound awfully certain, Gabriel.’
‘I thought I liked it, but now I’m not too sure.’ Quite an admission and one that took him by surprise. He had never had any complaints about his mansion before but now, having seen her at work with her colour charts and wallpaper books, he had been overtaken by the feeling that his mansion, kitted out in the most lavishly expensive style by the most sought-after professional interior designers, was not suited to his tastes after all.
‘If you don’t like the way it’s been decorated, then what’s the point of taking me there?’ Laura asked, and he began irritably drumming the steering wheel with his thumb.
‘I thought you might enjoy getting away from the riding stables for a day,’ Gabriel said and he immediately wondered whether she was as conscious of the petulance in his voice as he was. I mean, when was the last time you got away, Laura?’
‘Got away from the house?’
‘House, county, country, whatever!’
‘There’s no need to start shouting.’
‘I am not shouting!’ A simple plan, he thought, to close the books and put the past behind him, and look at where he was now! The woman had managed to get under his skin in ways he could never have imagined! From being a man permanently in control, he had become someone who swung from mood to mood with alarming irregularity, not that she even noticed, never mind cared!
‘Oh, good.’ She glanced wryly at him and their eyes met in a split second of perfect accord which, ludicrously, made him want to stop the car and give her a hug. A hug, he thought with exasperation! Since when did hugs feature in his grand plans of seduction and revenge.
‘Well...’ Laura chewed her lip and thought, I have been to London within the last year...’
‘Have you? Who with?’ He was in there before his brain could tell his mouth to keep silent, but when he glanced sideways at her she hardly seemed to have registered his querulous demand.
‘As for leaving the country ...no, I can’t remember the last time I actually left the country to go on holiday anywhere.’ Laura sighed. When she had been growing up and living in the lap of luxury, trips abroad had been regular annual events. Both her parents had been disinclined to leave the riding stables for too long in the care of someone else, but even so they had always had two weeks in the sun somewhere over winter and a week during the Easter holidays. ‘Why? Are you offering?’ she teased, and when he remained silent she realised that she had crossed an invisible boundary. And one she should have seen from a mile off, she thought miserably. Holidays would have constituted something more than just sex and there was no way that he would have considered that option.#p#分页标题#e#
‘What if I did?’ Gabriel asked with mild curiosity. The thought of going on a holiday with the woman sitting next to him was like a promise of paradise and he had to grimly remind himself that he had felt just like this seven years ago when the prospect of marriage had beckoned.
Laura, looking at the stern profile, could almost read what was going on in his head. The thought of going anywhere with her that might indicate a normal relationship was abhorrent to him. It was written in block letters on his unsmiling face. Did he imagine that she would jump at the chance for an all-expenses-paid vacation now that she was indebted to him?
‘I would refuse, of course,’ she said lightly, turning away and staring with unseeing eyes at the fast-moving countryside around them. ‘A dutiful employee never abandons her job when it’s only just started.’