Page 41 of A Diamond Deal with Her Boss
* * *
Gabriel stood at his office window, looking down but not really seeing the ebb and flow of people filling the pavements below. The expensive dinner he had booked the night before had been a resounding flop. His date had been too much of everything he hadn’t wanted: too tall, too busty, too flamboyant, too downright stupid, too self-obsessed. He’d been bored stiff after fifteen minutes and had only sat through the terminally dull evening through a sense of common courtesy.
She had been visibly gutted when he had sent her on her merry way at a little after eleven.
Maybe, he thought, it was time for him to move on from flamboyant, fun creatures, because it was patently obvious that the fun element of them had vanished.
He scowled and looked at his watch, then was annoyed with himself for doing that, because he knew that at the back of his mind he was checking to see how long it might be before Abby arrived.
He’d thought that a spot of replacement therapy might help put memories of her to rest. They were back in London, he’d reasoned. Even though his grandmother had yet to be told that the engagement was off, he’d felt the need to move on, to take back up the reins of his love life, which would include riffling through his little black book and going on a date.
The very second Abby had told him that she had feelings for him, he’d known that he had to step away. She’d tried to back away from a confession that had been spoken without editing, but it had been too late to take back what had been thoughtlessly blurted out.
There was not going to be a full-fledged relationship leading anywhere. He wasn’t up for that and he never would be. He’d made that clear. She might deny that that was what she wanted, but he’d known.
What choice had he had but to extricate himself?
He was never going to become a hopeless loser who handed over his emotional freedom to someone else. He was never going to allow anyone to have the power to hurt him. He had nurtured his independence and he wasn’t about to jettison it for anyone. He just wasn’t built that way, and he certainly wasn’t going to launch into any touchy-feely explanations as to why not.
She’d got herself into a mess, and that was unfortunate, but there you go. Life was full of unfortunate events.
But he hadn’t banked on bloody missing her just the way he did. He hadn’t banked on how tough it would be seeing her around the office, back to her usual cool, detached, smiling self. He’d perversely wished that she’d display at leastsomemisery that their fling was over. He wondered whether he hadn’t overreacted, misread the signals. She was as cool as a cucumber around the office! Maybe he’d been wrong.
But Gabriel had unshakeable faith in his own powers of detection and knew that he’d done the right thing. He was just frustrated that he couldn’t put her behind him as easily as he had previous women and he surmised that that was because what they had had come to a premature end.
He still wanted her. It was no wonder she was still in his head! He was accustomed to ending relationships and then breathing a sigh of relief. He wasn’t accustomed to ending something that still had legs.
Yes, he knew it was egotistic thinking along those lines, but he couldn’t help it.
Which was why he was here now, gazing sightlessly down at the crowds below and thinking about a woman who had no place in his life.
‘Busy, Gabriel? I can come back later, but I’d like to have a word with you.’
Gabriel spun round. ‘You’re early.’ He glanced at his watch, then looked at her. The shimmering bright colours and skimpy clothes she had worn in Seville had been replaced by the usual drab office gear: grey skirt, neat grey jacket, black pumps and an off-white blouse with little pearly buttons down the front.
He pushed himself away from the window and headed to his desk to sit. ‘Problems with those reports I emailed you?’
‘I’ve done all of that, Gabriel. No problems there.’ Abby shoved an envelope towards him but, instead of sitting down, she remained where she was.
‘What’s that?’
‘You should open it.’
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’ She laughed nervously, her eyes skittering away from his. ‘Why should you open it? Why am I here? Why is the world round?’ Nerves were making her jabber. She knew that, and she knew that it wasn’t just nerves. It was a combination of nerves and abject misery at the next chapter of her life she was facing.
‘Why do you feel the need to resign?’
‘How do you know...?’
Gabriel linked his fingers together and relaxed back into his chair. ‘What else is it going to be, Abby?’ He reached forward, picked up the envelope, slit it open and read the contents aloud. ‘Grateful for the opportunities...desire to look in other directions...have thoroughly enjoyed time here...blah, blah, blah...
‘So?’ he pressed, not moving a muscle, his dark eyes pinning her to the spot. In a gesture that was totally uncool, Gabriel crumpled the letter of resignation and tossed it across his desk. Abby lurched forward and grabbed it before it could hit the floor.
She sat down in her usual chair facing his desk, meticulously uncrumpled the brief letter of resignation and busied herself smoothing it out.
‘I...’
