‘Who is it?’
‘No one! You...er...go inside and I’ll be in, literally in a minute or two...’ For a moment, Alice thought that her mother was about to ignore that suggestion but, after a brief staring match, Pamela Morgan tutted and headed towards the kitchen, not before casting another curious glance in the direction of the front door.
‘What do you want? What are you doing here?’
Gabriel stared down at Alice. This was an Alice he had not seen before. Not the brisk, efficient secretary in the neat, uninspiring suit, or the glamorous, leggy woman in the designer clothes she had bought when she had been in Paris with him. A beautiful, fresh-faced girl who looked her age, with a ponytail and wearing stay-at-home, faded clothes and peculiar bedroom slippers with a cartoon motif.
Warmer weather had brought out a band of light freckles across the bridge of her nose. He had completely forgotten why he had come but he was damn glad that he had. Just seeing her did something to him and he fidgeted and looked away before resting his gaze once again on her upturned face.
‘I couldn’t get you out of my head.’ Hell, had he just said that?
‘What?’ Alice was so shocked by that statement that her mouth fell open. Her eyes were glued to his face, which the early evening threw into shadow. He looked tired and dishevelled and drop-dead gorgeous. He had pushed up the arms of his long-sleeved cotton jumper and the sprinkling of dark hair brought back vivid memories of those strong arms around her. His low-slung jeans clung to him, delineating his long, muscular legs.
She felt her nipples pushing in anticipation against her bra, wanting to be touched and teased and licked.
‘Shouldn’t you be with...that woman who came to the office yesterday?’ Alice asked huskily and Gabriel delivered a slow, amused smile that rocked her to the core.
Alice stared down at her feet. The pulse in her neck was beating fast and here, in these clothes, she had that weird, out-of-body feeling that she had had in Paris when she had thrown caution to the winds and jumped into bed with him.
He was making her aware of something better out there, something wild and free, and she hated him for that because she knew that it was all an illusion.
‘It turns out that she didn’t do it for me.’ Gabriel had made a decision; it was one that had come to him when she had pulled open the front door and he had looked at her.
He was done telling himself that he was not built for pursuit. He was done pretending that he wasn’t jealous whenever he thought of her with another man. If these reactions stemmed from the fact that what they had hadn’t run its course, then it was up to him to ensure that it did run its course. How else was he going to get her out of his system?
‘Are you going to invite me into the house?’
‘No. You shouldn’t be here, Gabriel.’ But she was light with relief that the pocket-sized brunette hadn’t become her replacement. It was stupid and it was cowardly but she couldn’t help it.
‘I know I shouldn’t.’ He raked his fingers through his hair, not too sure where he went from here.
Alice looked at him, perplexed.
‘Is there a man in there?’ he questioned suddenly, roughly, and Alice’s mouth tightened with outrage.
‘I’m not you, Gabriel. I don’t hop from one bed to another without pausing for breath.’
‘I didn’t hop anywhere with Bethany. I put her in my car and my driver took her back to her house. End of story.’
‘Just go, Gabriel.’ She sighed and stared to the side of him, but his image was imprinted so forcibly in her head that every bit of him had been committed to memory. He was in her system like a virus which she couldn’t budge.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Why? Why? I’ve told you...’
‘Let me in.’
‘You always think that you can get whatever you want.’
Gabriel stared at her and she squirmed under his unrelenting dark gaze. What would she do if he kissed her right now? Melt. She was melting now, liquid heat gathering between her legs, dampening her underwear. He couldn’t get her out of his head. She told herself that those were just meaningless words, but they bounced around in her head until she was giddy.
‘Let me in.’
He was as immovable as the rock of Gibraltar, standing there in all his brooding, intense glory, and with a little sigh of resignation Alice stood aside.
Her mother was hovering in the kitchen and introductions were made. Pamela Morgan launched into a series of questions, her curiosity on red alert, and Alice groaned silently to herself. If she had never said a word about Gabriel, she might have been able to channel him out of the house without too much difficulty—as just her boss who happened to be down to see a client and had popped in for...reasons best known to himself.