Page 20 of A Diamond Deal with Her Boss
Abby quailed and then clasped her hands together. ‘Ithastaken a while,’ she murmured snidely. ‘Probably because hedoeslack a romantic soul. In fact, I would say that he’s just the sort who would let his long-suffering PA arrange his love life for him because he can’t be bothered to make an effort. Ifthatisn’t lacking in romance, then I don’t knowwhatis.’
Subtly she moved away from that disturbing hand on her neck and went to sit next to Ava on the sofa. Unless Gabriel decided to sit on her lap, at least she would be free from any further suffocating expressions of phoney tenderness. She added with saccharin sweetness, payback for being plunged into unknown territory by her charismatic, unpredictable and altogether way too charming boss, ‘Some might even say that he can be a bit of a bore with his emphasis on work, work, work...’
She couldn’t resist a sidelong glance at Gabriel who raised his eyebrows and grinned.
‘Which is why,’ he purred, ‘I’m a lucky man to have found just the right woman to take me away from all that.’ Instead of doing what he should have done, which was to sit on the single chair on the opposite side of the coffee table, he strolled towards the back of the sofa so that he was standing directly behind Abby.
Still smiling at Ava, she stiffened and was hardly surprised when he rested both hands on her shoulders and kneaded her tender skin. Held captive with nowhere to go but to remain seated and endure the pressure of his fingers, Abby zoned out as Ava chatted about Gabriel, about how pleased his parents would have been, that they were looking down now and would be thrilled, and about wedding ideas.
Her entire brain, her entirebeing,was focused on what those long, clever, bronzed fingers were doing to her.
Electrical currents she hadn’t known existed were zinging responses through her body. She was burning up and between her legs a treacherous pool of liquid heat was forcefully reminding her that she was a woman.
She knew that she croaked something when the conversation turned to wedding dresses but too much of her energy was being spent warding off her body’s response to Gabriel’s uninvited attentions.
Her breasts felt heavy. She was appalled to think that what she really wanted to do was relax into Gabriel’s devastating touch. Thank goodness the man couldn’t get into her head and read her thoughts.
Her head was spinning but it cleared with surprising speed when she heard Ava say brightly, reaching out to place a small, warm hand on her arm, ‘I’ve got my girl to get the room ready for you. It’s the blue room, Gabriel. I’ll walk up with you both.’
CHAPTER FIVE
GIRL?WHATGIRL?
Alvira, apparently, the daily help who appeared to be as efficient as she was inconspicuous and who had been hard at it getting their room ready.
For a few seconds after Ava’s announcement, Abby had somehow misunderstood what had been said. Or maybe she’d siphoned off chunks of the conversation because her nerves were all over the place.
Ava was an elderly woman with old-fashioned values and, as Gabriel had confidently pointed out, would be horrified at having her grandson share a bedroom with a woman under her roof.
That misconception skidded to an abrupt stop the minute the bedroom door was pushed open and Abby’s eyes were inexorably drawn to two cases on the king-sized four-poster bed.
Gabriel’s was just the right shade of battered tan to indicate a super-wealthy guy who didn’t care how much of a beating his expensive leather holdall took.
And hers, functional, lightweight and easily identifiable because of the orange strap she had tied around it. Although anyone who mistakenly might have carried it away with them would have returned it fast enough once opened because all she had packed was an assortment of sober work clothes, with two tops that could elevate the black skirts for evening wear, and two pairs of jeans just in case she managed to get some time off from their busy schedule.
Her mouth fell open.
She tried to catch Gabriel’s eye but he had inconveniently positioned himself by the huge window and was staring out with his back to her, so Abby turned to Ava, who winked at her.
‘I may be old,’ she whispered, in a voice that easily carried to Gabriel—who still didn’t turn around, Abby was infuriated to note, , ‘But I’m not so ancient that I don’t understand the ways of the world.’
‘Ways of the world?’ Abby parroted faintly.
‘You young people naturally want to share a room and I’m perfectly happy with that. You’re going to be Gabriel’s wife. That’s enough for me.’
Excruciating guilt swamped Abby. ‘Really, Ava, I have the utmost respect for you and I wouldn’t dream of...of sharing a room with...er...your grandson.’ Just saying those words felt surreal and made her want to pass out. ‘And I’m sure Gabriel would agree with me.’ She edged towards her suitcase, preparatory to grabbing it and running for any other room that happened to have a bed in it. The house was enormous. There would be no shortage of spare bedrooms.
Eventually, Gabriel turned round and strolled towards Abby, proceeding to put his arm round her shoulders. ‘Abby’s right,’ he said gravely. ‘We are more than happy to sleep in separate bedrooms but of course, if you’ve gone to the trouble of getting Alvira to prepare this one for us...’
‘You would make an old lady very happy to use this room. You know it’s always been reserved for you, Gabriel.’ She pointed to two shelves by the door. ‘And I’ve popped some framed pictures of you there because I thought the woman you were going to marry might want to see you as a young boy. He was just so beautiful, Abby.’
Her eyes glistened and another shard of guilt pierced through Abby, who smiled and looked obediently at an adolescent Gabriel looking moody and beautiful in various different settings. As a baby, he’d been beautiful, as a toddler he’d been beautiful and growing up he’d clearly just carried on being beautiful. Every photo she’d laid eyes on thus far was testament to someone ridiculously blessed in the looks department.
He would have been breaking hearts from the age of thirteen, she thought acidly, and he hadn’t stopped since then.
‘Lovely,’ Abby said. ‘Super.’
‘Now, don’t you two go rushing to get up early in the morning! I know Gabriel mentioned something about having to work. Didn’t you, Gabriel?’
