‘Why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why do all good things have to come to an end? Are you implying that the only relationship you will ever consider with a woman is one that isn’t good?’
‘Relationships are possible without all the trappings that society forces us to accept.’
‘By trappings you mean ...what? Love? Marriage?’ The last thing she wanted was for this conversation to be reduced to the level of a hypothetical debate, but he just wasn’t going to give an inch. If she mentioned the word marriage, he would oblige her by talking about it as an institution, if she mentioned love, he would analyse the meaning of the word and then dismiss it. She shook her head in frustration and rested her forehead lightly on the palm of her hand.
‘Have you brought me here so that you can hear me tell you again that I have no intention of ever asking you to marry me?’ Gabriel’s mouth twisted cynically and she flinched, but held her ground.
‘I would never expect you to ask me to marry you, Gabriel,’ Laura returned softly.
‘Then what?’ he grated irritably. He was beginning to feel uncomfortably hot, and he ran one long brown finger inside the collar of his shirt.
Laura chose to ignore that pointed question. His voice might be callously dismissive and his eyes were as hard as ice, but he was uncomfortable. She could sense it and that gave her failing courage a bit of a boost. She loved this man and she was going to fight for him, and if it didn’t work out the way she hoped, then so be it. Better to fight and lose than to walk away and then spend the rest of her life regretting her passivity.
‘So if relationships and commitment and marriage isn’t about love, Gabriel, what is it all about?’
He shrugged and stood up. He had to. He had to move. The contained energy inside him was killing him.
He restlessly began to prowl through the kitchen, hands shoved aggressively into his pockets, whilst his dark eyes swept over the blonde figure sitting quietly on the chair.
What was she trying to say to him? That she couldn’t do without his body? That she was prepared to beg and plead just so that she could get her daily fix of sex? But if sex was what she was after, then why hadn’t she greeted him at the door in the clothes of seduction? Small, revealing and provocative?
‘Who knows?’ he answered ambiguously. ‘Maybe the best relationship is one based on business.’
‘I thought that that was precisely what we had.’ Laura replied drily.
‘Not quite the sort of business I had in mind,’ Gabriel said smoothly, I meant business that involves a two way profit.’ He picked up a small flowerpot resting on the counter, in which a clump of basil was struggling to grow, and inspected it in some detail before putting it down.
‘Gabriel, sit down. I can’t concentrate when you’re stalking through this kitchen like a cat burglar on the lookout for the family heirlooms.’
‘What is there to concentrate on?’ He felt a fierce tug of excitement and fought it tooth and nail.
‘I don’t want what we have to end,’ Laura began, drawing in a deep breath and watching as Gabriel pushed back his chair and proceeded to inspect her through half-closed eyes. ‘And before you open your mouth to speak, let me just finish.’
He could have told her that the last thing he was going to do was open his mouth. Behind the scowling facade, he was hanging onto her every word.
‘Seven years ago, you walked away and I let you. I let you because I was young and marriage was something that I had never, ever even contemplated. Maybe my parents had something to do with it, I don’t know. But I was a fool.’#p#分页标题#e#
‘Especially when you look at me now,’ Gabriel intoned grimly.
‘That has nothing to do with it,’ Laura told him impatiently. ‘I don’t care whether you made a million or not. What I care about is that you ...came back. And I know why you came back...’ All of this was hard and it took every ounce of courage she possessed to lay every card on the table, but this part was the hardest. Acknowledging the cold, ugly truth that had brought him to her aid. She could feel a lump of self-pity gather at the back of her throat and she choked it down.
‘You came back,’ she continued in a whispered monotone, ‘because you wanted revenge and what better revenge than to have me in a position of indebtedness to you. The shoe was on the other foot, as far as you were concerned, and you could have the last laugh. But what matters to me is that you came back. I realised that I loved you then and I never stopped loving you.’ She glared at him, daring him to sneer at the admission that had drained her, but he didn’t. He looked lost for words.