Chapter NINE
WHAT THINGS DID HE need to tell her? Lara wondered. She was sure that whatever it was it couldn’t possibly bring more distress than she felt already.
Her heart bled because Gabriel hadn’t exhibited the slightest pleasure or even concern that she’d been a virgin when they’d first made love. In fact he had sounded quite angry about it. Neither had he looked remotely pleased when she’d confessed that she loved him.
Was he really as cold-hearted and uncaring as all that? What if she had made the most horrendous mistake in confessing her feelings to him? She surely hadn’t forgotten that he’d rejected her advances once before, albeit a long time ago. But it chilled Lara’s blood as she contemplated that perhaps Gabriel really couldn’t commit to her, or allow himself to love her.
She knew there was a genuinely good man behind those ice-blue eyes, even if the evidence was far too rare, but he was like a wounded bear that snapped at anyone who exhibited concern or ventured too near and she knew the reason why. His fractured—and some might say, dysfunctional—past haunted him. That was why he found kindness and concern so difficult to deal with. Maybe that was also the reason he couldn’t immediately accept that she loved him or that she’d given her virginity to him rather than another man?
With that unhappy conclusion dominating her thoughts she hastily showered and dressed in the luxurious Art Deco bathroom, reapplied the lipstick that she kept in the pocket of her dress and went in search of the living room to find him.
Promising herself that she would play it cool and not let him see that he had hurt her, nonetheless she felt her heart skip an anxious beat when she saw him again. Gabriel was relaxing on one of the sleek black couches in the light and airy living room with its arresting clear-glassed views of the New York skyline. He had changed into another stylish Italian suit.
The far from welcoming expression on his hard-jawed visage made her insides plunge.
Standing in the doorway, she anxiously smoothed her hand down over the blue tunic dress she’d admired and bought especially for her trip to see him and made a silent vow never to wear it again. In her mind it was jinxed. Moistening her lips, she gave him a greeting that was understandably cautious. From now on she wasn’t going to presume anything.
‘You said you had some things that you needed to tell me?’
‘Why don’t you come over here and sit down?’ he invited.
Lara thought she spied the merest glimmer of a smile on his lips, but because she wasn’t sure she didn’t allow herself to believe it. As yet she had no idea what he was going to tell her and couldn’t help but fear the worst.
‘Did you find everything you needed?’ he asked.
‘In the bathroom, you mean?’
Gabriel nodded.
‘Yes, I did.’
She walked towards him, twisting her hands nervously together in front of her, then stopped, feeling her body helplessly warming when she remembered what they’d been doing just a short while ago. Who could have believed that such heated passion could turn cold so quickly? Gabriel had poured ice water on her feelings when he’d so hastily left her alone in his bed. What if he’d come to the conclusion that she should leave? That he’d made a mistake in inviting her to New York?
Sick with apprehension, she asked, ‘Is my suitcase still out in the hall?’
‘I’ve put it in the guest bedroom for now. Later on, when I return from work, I’ll take it into my room.’
Even as relief washed through her Lara couldn’t help feeling it wasn’t right he should have everything his way. ‘There’s no need.’ Lifting her chin, she defied him to disagree with her.
Making her knees knock together, Gabriel rose to his impressive height and covered the space between them. Just bare inches away from her, the scent of his arresting, sexy cologne sent Lara’s pulse nervously skittering. Her tender nipples still stung from his attentions in bed, and as she came face to face with him again they burned and tingled fiercely.
‘I know I might not be able to give you what you want, Lara,’ he said, gravel-voiced. ‘But I haven’t brought you to New York for us to sleep in separate rooms. I should have been more thoughtful, more caring when we were together just now, but what you told me robbed me of all ability to think straight. I’ve been reflecting on things and I want to make amends.’
‘And how do you plan on doing that? By buying me things? By showing me a good time as is probably your style with the women in your life before you kiss them goodbye and move on to the next one?’ Despite her vow not to let him see that he’d upset her, Lara couldn’t suppress the scalding angry tears that burned at the backs of her lids. She impatiently wiped them away. ‘To be honest, I’d rather go home.’
‘No. I don’t want that.’ A perturbed muscle flinched in the side of his hollowed cheek. ‘I want you to stay. Whatever you think of me.’
‘Why should it always be about what you want, Gabriel? Don’t you think that I have needs, too?’
About to turn away, Lara choked back a gasp when she suddenly found herself slammed against his chest and her lips taken prisoner by a hard, hot, almost punishing kiss. Her resolve to leave melted like ice cream beneath the burning rays of a Sahara sun.
As the kiss eased in intensity to become surprisingly tender, Gabriel lifted his head to study her.
‘I want you to have what you want, Lara, I really do. But while you’re with me I’m afraid I’m driven to be greedy. Perhaps I can’t quite believe that you’d surrender your virginity to a man who’s notoriously selfish, who puts himself above everyone else when it comes to getting the thing he wants and consequently doesn’t consider feelings. But I’m too enamoured of you not to see it as the most unbelievable blessing that you’re here, and I can’t help but want to make the most of it.’
Reaching out, he cupped the side of her face and looked to be aiming for a smile, but he didn’t quite manage it.
‘Don’t go. Please don’t go.’
Lara caught her breath. It wasn’t just the simmering desire she saw reflected in his eyes that took her aback, but the almost childlike need that told her he would be nothing less than devastated should she insist on leaving. It was then that she was poignantly reminded that he’d grown up bereft of his mother’s love and care, and likely believed he didn’t deserve similar consideration from any woman who came into his life.
Moistening lips that still throbbed from his ravenous kisses she carefully examined his carved features. ‘I’m not going to leave, Gabriel.’ She breathed out a gentle sigh. ‘I wouldn’t walk out on you when I’ve given you my word that I’ll stay—at least until my holiday comes to an end.’
Seeing the relief that spread across his handsome features, Lara was pleased that he seemed to be reassured.
Recovering her good humour, she teased, ‘Besides, do you really think I’ve come all the way out to New York not to see some of the sights while I’m here?’
‘I’ll make sure you get to see everything you want to, I swear. Just say the word and I’ll arrange it.’ His hands dropped to her shoulders. ‘And, by the way, one of the things I needed to tell you was that we’re going out tonight to a function. It’s a corporate dinner at a restaurant not far from the Stock Exchange. I can’t duck out of it, I’m afraid. I have to go and I want to take you as my escort.’
It was on the tip of Lara’s tongue to say no. She would be so far out of her comfort zone in such elite company and in surroundings that were about as alien to her as the grand Regency house where Gabriel had grown up that it would be no joke. But then she saw the hint of steel in his eyes that told her it would be a waste of time even attempting to refuse, because one way or another he would persuade her differently.
* * *
He had never felt more possessive of a woman than when he walked into that stylish New York bar and restaurant with Lara. From the moment they’d arrived heads had turned—not just to greet him, because Gabriel knew everybody who was anybody, but to cast curious, admiring glances at his companion. And how could he blame them when Lara added a whole other level to the term ‘drop-dead gorgeous’?
The little black dress that she’d insisted was the only suitable garment she’d brought with her to wear to a ‘posh’ dinner made Gabriel feel like the mythical Ares worshipping at the feet of Aphrodite. It didn’t cling to her sublime curves but it couldn’t help but pay homage to them whenever she moved. And the way that she wore her hair, in a very feminine loose topknot, with curling tendrils brushing the sides of her cheeks, and with her shoulders bare courtesy of the halterneck style of the dress, she looked utterly exquisite.
Gabriel’s hand gripped Lara’s a little tighter as they moved through the crowd milling around the bar. There were more greetings and back-slapping as people recognised him, and frankly for once he could have done without it.
When he sensed that his companion was drawing back, and guessed she was feeling overwhelmed, he deliberately pulled her near and his smile was reassuring. She wasn’t used to this. The stylishly attired Wall Street patrons and the competitive atmosphere they created whenever they were together was a million light years away from the world Lara inhabited.
Although the air was drenched with the smell of alluring perfume and expensive cologne, the predominant scent was that of money. It was strange how the realisation didn’t give Gabriel his usual sense of pleasure or the satisfaction that he’d grown to depend on.
Looking for an out, he caught the eye of the ma?tre d’ and asked him to show them into the private dining room where they were scheduled to eat.
The gathering had been set up in one of the most intimately sophisticated rooms of the restaurant which was frequently the chosen venue for the private meetings he had with his executive clientele. But tonight Gabriel’s fellow guests would be some of the key players who had worked with him to help avert yet another serious financial crisis. After the tough few weeks they had endured, and the intense few days when it had been touch and go and Gabriel had been called in to join them, they would be in the mood to celebrate. Although by no means could anyone rest on their laurels yet.
The effusive greetings of his fellow diners over, Gabriel was relieved to be able to sit down next to Lara and look at the menu. It didn’t escape his notice that her slender fingers shook slightly as she perused what was on offer, and neither did he miss her soft-voiced sigh. His broad-suited shoulder brushed against hers as he leant towards her and he caught the faint but arousing scent of her honeyed perfume. His stomach clenched hard with desire.
Lowering his voice he asked, ‘How are you bearing up? I promise this won’t go on for too long.’
His reward was a too brief glimpse of a smile.
‘I’m all right. I think.’
Gabriel’s own smile was more generous. ‘I can’t say that I am. I’d much rather we were alone together than here at this dinner,’ he confessed. ‘And, trust me, I wouldn’t be here at all if I had the choice.’
It was impossible to suppress the need and desire that crept into his tone. In truth, it was hard even to think straight when Lara was around.
‘I’m bowled over by the fact that you’re actually here,’ he went on, ‘and that you came all this way just to see me. By the way, this is a very good menu. “Bankers’ fare”, they call it. If you want a recommendation, can I suggest the filet mignon?’
Unable to resist, he let his avid gaze into her sultry brown eyes deliberately linger, quite aware that there was running speculation round the table about their relationship. After all, Lara was an unknown entity to them. A very beautiful and desirable unknown entity.
Before she could comment on his suggestion of cuisine, one of the top city bankers across the table—a man called Lars Jensen—leaned towards them and asked confidently, ‘So, Lara—can I call you that?—I’m intrigued, as all my colleagues are. How did you meet Gabriel? He has a reputation of being a bit of a wizard here on Wall Street—a regular Croesus. Whatever he touches turns to gold. Did you perhaps have some business dealings with him in London? If you did, lucky you.’
The suited young man seated opposite her, with his fashionable, close-cut fair hair and too-inquisitive green eyes, had honed in on Lara like a missile poised to attack. Having no idea how much or how little Gabriel wanted her to reveal, she made her quietly voiced response carefully measured.
‘I know nothing about the financial world and, no, we didn’t meet in London. Gabriel went to university with my brother. That’s how we met.’
‘I’m even more intrigued. You mean that you’ve known him all these years and he hasn’t mentioned you? At least not in my hearing.’
‘Why should he mention me? We’re just friends.’
Catching an expression that was almost a glower on Gabriel’s handsome face, Lara sensed herself flush. Had she said the wrong thing? What else could she have said? That she was an ex-girlfriend of his? That patently wasn’t true.
‘So you’re “just friends”, are you?’ Lars’s tone was mockingly doubtful as his laserlike glance pinioned them both. ‘Is that a new euphemism for lovers in the UK?’
‘No, it isn’t,’ Gabriel interjected firmly, his hard jaw clenching. Out of sight, his hand folded possessively over Lara’s. ‘And if I tell you that Lara was only sixteen when we first met, I doubt you’d think we would have been lovers, would you?’
This time the other man’s searching gaze lingered over-long on Lara, making a mental inventory of her assets almost as if she was some kind of lucrative deal he was convinced would add to his fortune.
Lowering his voice, he briefly turned his attention back to Gabriel, commenting, ‘Don’t tell me you weren’t tempted?’
Beside her, Lara intimately sensed the silent fury and tension in her companion’s body as if it were her own.
‘I think we should drop the subject. don’t you? Lara is my guest here and your inappropriate insinuations are making her uncomfortable. That’s not acceptable.’ His ice-blue gaze swept the table. ‘And that goes for all of you.’
There was a sudden marked silence and Lara wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. If anything Gabriel’s warning had only increased the curiosity in the other guests’ eyes. Squeezing his hand to get his attention, she felt her heart thump hard when she immediately got it. His eyes shot little sparks of tangible electricity at her.
‘What is it?’ he demanded.
‘You don’t have to defend me. I’m sure your friend didn’t mean anything by what he said.’
‘You know that for sure, do you?’ Tugging her towards him, so that what he said would be for her ears and her ears only, he whispered, ‘Number one, he’s not a friend—he’s a colleague, and a very ambitious and ruthless colleague. You should be aware that we’re sitting at a table full of hungry sharks, my angel, and right now you’re the bait.’
Lara shivered. As her eyes strayed across the table to the rest of the glittering company, clad in their perfect Italian suits and breathtaking haute couture, she was stunned to realise that everyone was examining her and trying to figure out exactly who she was, as if it wasn’t a usual occurrence for Gabriel to bring an unknown woman to these functions with him.
Feeling her face flame self-consciously at being the centre of so much attention, she turned back to her companion. ‘I need to go to the ladies’ room,’ she murmured.
Gabriel immediately signalled to a nearby waitress and asked her to direct her. But as he stood back and helped her to her feet Lara sensed his reluctance and frustration at having to release her even for a second.
* * *
Lara felt as if she deserved a prize for enduring one of the most discomfiting and tense evenings of her life. But at the end of it one thing was absolutely clear. What she’d witnessed of the superficial and pressured life of the New York financial ‘elite’ wasn’t for her.
Even though it was a dream come true to be with Gabriel, she was already longing to return home to the simple yet satisfying day-to-day routine she was familiar with—a way of life where she didn’t have to be overly concerned about what people thought of her or whether she was wearing the right outfit to go to dinner or to work. Even at the college library she could get away with wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
That said, Gabriel looked nothing less than edible in his flawless Italian tailoring. One of the female guests at their table had obviously deliberately followed her out to the loo, and had blatantly quizzed her about her relationship with him. When Lara had frostily declined to tell her, the other woman had immediately shared a ‘no-holds barred’ graphic illustration of what she’d personally like to do with him in bed.
Lara’s jaw had dropped at the woman’s sheer temerity. It was obvious that Gabriel’s warning to his assembled peers not to make her feel unduly uncomfortable was only to be adhered to as they sat round the dinner table. Out of his sight it was open season for the sharks to feed. Lara had quickly discovered that going to the dinner as Gabriel’s guest didn’t automatically grant her immunity from the other women who desired him and wouldn’t hesitate to tell her so.
It was a relief to return to the apartment, even though Gabriel had been broodingly quiet on the journey home. Inevitably her anxiety had been building because of his lack of communication, and as soon as they were alone again Lara immediately turned to him for some answers as to the reason why.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked as he shrugged off his suit jacket and hung it on the steel coat stand inside the door. ‘I get the feeling that you’re unhappy. Didn’t you enjoy the dinner? Your colleagues were certainly glad to see you.’
He curled his lip. ‘It may come as a surprise to you, Lara, but on Wall Street it pays to stay on good terms with the boss. With the money, as they say here. If you think that people were glad to see me simply because they love my company then you’re more na?ve than I thought.’
Toeing off her shoes, as was her habit when she was at home, Lara heaved an annoyed sigh.
‘Do you get off on cutting me down to size, Gabriel? Does it stroke your ego to do that? Obviously it must. And anyway why shouldn’t people be glad of your company? You can be quite pleasant when you try, though I confess that’s not very—’
The final word of her little speech was unceremoniously cut off as Gabriel hauled her against his chest and devoured her lips with a hard, open-mouthed kiss. As soon as his silken tongue drove into her mouth and his hands moved down her body to lift up her skirt and touch her intimately Lara felt immediately and frighteningly powerless to deny him anything. It appalled her that she couldn’t even put up a fight. But then why would she want to, she reasoned, when she loved him so much that it hurt?
‘Right now I can’t take it slowly,’ he breathed hotly against her mouth. ‘I confess you’ve become irresistible to me, and I can’t take it slowly because I want you too much, but afterwards...’
Lara momentarily held her breath as she sensed his hand slide into her panties. When his searching fingers invaded her and pushed up she gasped, her head falling against his hard-muscled shoulder. Her senses were instantly drowned by the heat from his body and the seductive, sultry scent of his masculine cologne. If he hadn’t been holding her she might easily have sunk down to the floor, because her limbs were rendered weak as a kitten’s.
‘Afterwards,’ he continued, his free hand caressing the back of her neck, ‘we’ll take it nice and slow and really get to know each other, find out what gives us the most pleasure.’
Unable to reply because she was suddenly swept away on a sea of delectation so profoundly erotic that she couldn’t speak, Lara pressed her cheek against Gabriel’s pristine white shirt, registering the wild beating of his heart against her ear and wondering what she could do to make him feel similarly swept away.
She hardly seemed to know herself when she was with this man. All she could think about in his company was fulfilling her most carnal desires and hopefully fulfilling his, too. Had her self-enforced celibacy all these years turned her into some kind of insatiable siren?
When she lifted her head it was to find Gabriel staring down at her with an intensity that almost stopped her heart. ‘What you do to me...’ she murmured softly, tenderly touching her hand to his cheek.
His piercing blue eyes crinkling in acknowledgement, he lifted her up into his arms as though her weight didn’t even signify. Then, still holding her gaze he affirmed huskily, ‘We need to go to bed. Now.’