by Abby Green
She knew she should be grateful for this time to get to know him better, but as they set off for the airport later that day she couldn’t control the butterflies in her belly at the thought of time alone with her new husband.
CHAPTER SEVEN
PARADISE. THAT WAS the only word Leonora could think of as she took in the sight before her. Gabriel had brought her to a paradise that had only ever existed in her imagination. It had a name of course. Costa Rica. They’d flown into the lush tropical country, bordered on two sides by sparkling oceans, late last night, and had then taken a smaller plane to the west coast, where Gabriel owned a villa.
They’d arrived so late and Leonora had been so exhausted that she’d barely noticed Gabriel taking off her outer clothes and laying her down on the softest surface imaginable. But now she was awake. Or was she still dreaming? She wasn’t sure.
She’d woken in a massive four-poster bed, with muslin drapes gently moving in the warm breeze. When she’d pushed them back she’d seen the bedroom—wooden floors, rustic furniture. Then wide open doors leading out to a terrace and a glimpse of what could only be described as heaven.
A robe had been laid across the end of the bed, and Leonora had realised she was in her underwear. The strapless white bra she’d worn under her wedding dress and matching lace panties. Refusing to linger on thinking about Gabriel undressing her, she’d pulled the short robe on, and now she stood on a wooden deck, with an infinity pool in front of her, overlooking a forest and beyond that the sparkling Pacific Ocean.
‘Not a bad view to wake up to, hmm?’
Leonora started and turned around with a hand to her chest. Gabriel was standing a few feet away, holding a cup in his hand. His hair was damp and he wore casual board shorts and nothing else. All she could see was that impressive expanse of hard-muscled chest.
She fought for composure. She was still disconcertingly in that space between waking and sleeping, and the view in general was not helping to bring her back to reality. Either view.
‘It’s absolutely stunning.’ She turned back to the other view.
He came and stood beside her. ‘Did you sleep well?’
Leonora smiled a little sheepishly. ‘Like a baby.’
‘Good. You deserve a break...’
Leonora didn’t like the little warm glow near her heart when Gabriel said things like that. It was too...seductive.
She forced a breezy smile. ‘I’m fine—why would I need a break?’
‘Because you’ve been carrying the weight of your family’s responsibilities for years.’
She rushed to defend them, but Gabriel put a finger to her mouth before she could.
‘I’m your husband now, Leo. You’re not on your own any more. It’s not down to you. It’s down to us.’
Leonora looked up at him. It would be so easy to lean on this man. So easy to let him just take her burdens and anxieties. And it was already happening. Her parents had told her that he’d already set up a meeting for them to talk with his assistant with regard to carrying out renovation work on the castillo and hiring staff again. And she knew their association with the Cruz y Torres family would soon have them accepted back into Spanish society.
Familiar anxiety knotted her belly, though. ‘What if my father—?’
Gabriel shook his head. ‘He won’t. I spoke to him and he’s agreed to get counselling to try and figure out why he became addicted to gambling. He’s learnt a harsh lesson. I’m sure he won’t go down that route again.’
Leonora was shocked that he’d discussed it with her father, who had always turned to obdurate stone when she’d tried to broach the subject of counselling or therapy. Perversely, she felt slightly jealous that he’d made more headway than she or her mother ever had.
As if reading her mind, he said, ‘Sometimes it takes a person on the outside to communicate a little more effectively. Your father is ashamed of what he’s done.’
Leonora swallowed her defensiveness. She realised that after living her life solely in service to her parents and her brother and their huge unwieldy home it would be a challenge to let someone else into that space.
‘Thank you for talking to him. I think he does want to get better.’
‘They’re all thousands of miles away and being perfectly well looked-after. Forget about them now. Breakfast? Or would you like to work up an appetite first?’
Leonora’s heart sped up. ‘An appetite?’
He nodded. ‘You owe me something.’
‘I do?’
He nodded as he put down the cup and reached for the tie on her robe and undid it. ‘You owe me a wedding night. But first...let’s take a little dip.’
He pushed back the robe and it fell off her shoulders and down to the ground. Leonora blamed her semi-awake state for the fact that she felt so languorous as Gabriel looked her up and down while she stood there in nothing but two flimsy scraps of lace.
As she watched he opened the top button and his shorts dropped to the ground. He was naked, and she took in the magnificence of his naked form as if she’d never seen it before. Now she was wide awake. Her body humming with electricity.
‘Turn around,’ he instructed.
She did, revelling in the warmth of the morning sun and the humid air. He undid the clasp of her bra and it fell away, floating gently on the breeze. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his mouth searching for and finding the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. She shivered in reaction. All that was separating them was that flimsy scrap of lace, and Gabriel’s hands were there now, pulling it down over her hips.
Her panties fell to the ground at her feet and she turned around, heart beating so fast she felt light-headed. He stood back and held out a hand. She took it and followed where he led her to the pool.
As they descended the stone steps leading down into the clear cool water, with the backdrop of nothing but lush nature around them, she felt as if they were embarking on something very elemental.
The fact that this was so far removed from what Leonora might have imagined of a marriage was too huge to absorb at that moment. So when Gabriel reached for her she went willingly, wrapping her legs around his narrow waist, her arms around his neck, mouths fusing and passion drowning out all and any disjointed thoughts except for this bliss.
Breakfast turned into a very late lunch that day...
* * *
A few days later Leonora was dozing on a lounger under an umbrella by the pool. Since that first cataclysmic morning she’d discovered that Gabriel had a discreet, friendly staff, who melted in and out of the villa every day, leaving food and tidying away the evidence of the previous night’s passion.
At first she’d been mortified, but now she was ashamed to say she was already used to the sensation of invisible hands keeping her world pristine. It was a novelty after years of hiring only the most minimal help at the castillo, because she literally had not been able to do all the work alone.
Their days had fallen into a lazy, sensual pattern. Leonora would wake late, as she was generally only falling into an exhausted sated slumber as dawn was lightening the morning sky, and Gabriel would already be up, taking calls or doing some work in his airy study on the other side of the villa. He would join her for a late lunch, which would invariably end up with them back in bed.
Leonora blushed now under the umbrella. They were insatiable. She’d never known sex could be like this—so all-encompassing.
The previous night he’d been about to automatically don protection when she’d acted on impulse and put a hand on his, stopping him.
He’d looked at her for a long moment and then he’d put the protection aside and lain down beside her. ‘Are you sure about this? Are you ready?’
Leonora had looked back at him, and even through the haze of desire she’d known they were crossing a line. She’d nodded and s
aid, ‘Yes. I want children with you. I know it’s hard work, because I looked after Matías when he was younger, but these are different circumstances.’
Gabriel had put a hand on her belly. ‘These are very different circumstances, querida. You’re not alone any more. Our children will have two parents who want the best for them, who will support them no matter what. You’ll be a great mother. You’re amazing with your brother and you love your parents...’
Leonora’s heart had felt suspiciously full. She’d reached for Gabriel, pulling him over her, opening her legs around him, guiding him into her body. Skin on skin. No barriers. Telling him without words that she wanted all those things too. And more.
That was why she’d stayed silent—for fear of what she might say.
She hated to admit it now, and she told herself it had only been because of the unique sensation of not using protection, but making love to him last night had felt almost...spiritual.
She put a hand on her flat belly, imagining a baby already taking root inside her. And then she told herself she was being ridiculous. It wasn’t the right time. But it could happen within the next cycle. Soon.
She realised how badly she wanted it now. She wanted to show Gabriel that their family could be different. That there could be love. Her heart clenched. Her fantasy of a fuller, richer life wasn’t just a fantasy any more. No matter what he’d said or how much he’d warned her not to build castles in the air. If Gabriel wanted a different life for his children then who was to say he couldn’t fall in—?
‘Afternoon, sleepyhead.’
Leonora’s eyes snapped open behind her shades. Gabriel was standing beside her sun bed, tall and broad. Bare-chested. She was glad that the oversized glasses hid what had to be the soppy expression on her face.
She snatched her hand off her belly and sat up. ‘Afternoon. Did you have much work to catch up on?’
Gabriel sat down on the lounger next to hers and reached for some of the fruit that his housekeeper had left out for Leonora in a bowl. He shook his head and his mouth tightened almost imperceptibly. ‘A phone call about a project with someone from the other side. Intensely irritating but unavoidable.’
‘That sounds...unpleasant.’
He dismissed it with a hand. ‘It’s not important.’ He stood up, holding out that same hand. ‘Come on, I want to take you somewhere.’
Leonora stood up, conscious of his eyes running down her body in the cutaway swimsuit. She let him take her hand, hating the way her treacherous heart tripped. He instructed her to put on a caftan and shoes, and then he took her around to the front of the villa, where there was a sturdy open-top four-wheel drive with a wicker basket in the back. She threw a sunhat in the back with the basket.
‘Come on—jump in.’
Gabriel swung into the driver’s seat, his naked torso gleaming. He looked like a buccaneer.
Leonora got in and Gabriel took off down the winding path. She put her head back and looked at the canopy rushing overhead, the sun breaking through every now and then in a bright flash. She felt...free. Unencumbered.
She didn’t want to ruin the moment by saying anything so she let Gabriel drive, noticing his powerful hands on the wheel, the way he drove with speed, yet precision. There was a shadow of stubble on his jaw. His hair was messy in the breeze. He looked younger. Less...stern. When she’d seen him across that ballroom on that fateful first night she never would have imagined him in this kind of environment...carefree.
She had a sudden thought and hated herself for it. But she couldn’t help asking, as massive trees rushed past the Jeep on either side, ‘Have you ever brought anyone else here?’
She almost hoped he hadn’t heard, that the breeze whipping past their faces might have snatched her words away, but she saw his hands clench on the wheel, momentarily.
* * *
‘Have you ever brought anyone else here?’
The words landed straight in Gabriel’s gut. No. He hadn’t ever brought anyone else here. Because this was his secret private sanctuary, where he could get away from everything and everyone. And yet he hadn’t hesitated at the thought of bringing Leo here.
That question from any other woman would have made him feel as if there was a hand around his neck, squeezing slowly. But this was different. She was different. Which was why he’d married her, he told himself now. Because she didn’t induce that feeling of claustrophobia. The opposite, in fact.
Seeing the shock and awe on her face that first morning had been worth it alone. He was jaded, and the people around him were jaded. Yet Leo, even coming from the same world, was remarkably un-jaded.
He took her hand in his, slowing the vehicle as they veered off the road and onto a dirt track that ran deeper into the jungle. He looked at her. ‘No, I’ve never brought anyone else here.’
She couldn’t hide the relief on her face, even though she quickly masked it. And then she surprised him.
‘Good,’ she said. ‘Because if I thought this was just some routine you’ve done a thousand times I think I’d have to kill you. And those other women.’
Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. Leo was grinning and his chest tightened. She was so beautiful. The sun had added a golden glow to her skin. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, its normally sleek glossiness untamed in loose waves. And he wanted her with a hunger that only seemed to grow the more he had of her.
On that unsettling thought he let her hand go, ostensibly to put both his hands on the wheel in order to control the car on the rougher terrain. But it was also because he’d just realised how far under his skin she’d reached. All the way so that for the first time in his life work wasn’t the first thought of his day. Or his last. It was her. And then, when he was sated, he thought about work again. As if he needed to take that edge off before he could think clearly.
He’d had to take a phone call with Lazaro Sanchez just now, and Sanchez had goaded him about using Leonora to score points in their rivalry. Just hearing her name on that man’s lips had made Gabriel see red, even as his conscience had pricked when he’d recalled being very aware of how it would look to be photographed with her leaving the hotel the night of the failed engagement.
That felt like a long time ago now. He’d never envisaged then, that Leonora would become his wife.
He’d told Sanchez that Leonora was where she belonged. And he’d really meant it. He felt a possessiveness that he’d never felt before—for a woman or anything.
Gabriel shoved aside the niggling prickling sensation that felt like exposure. He was on his honeymoon. It was natural and expected to be captivated by one’s wife. Possessive.
* * *
Leonora gasped out loud as they burst through the thick trees and onto the edge of the most pristine beach she’d ever seen in her life. Gabriel stopped driving and she stood up in the vehicle, scanning left and right. She could see nothing but sea, white sand and the line of trees bordering the beach. It was completely empty. The waves rolled in with a rhythmic whoosh.
Gabriel got out, picking up the wicker basket. Leonora got out too and stuck her sunhat on her head as she walked to the start of the beach. She slipped off her shoes and dug her toes into the soft warm sand.
It was beyond idyllic and there wasn’t another human in sight. Just her and this charismatic man who had come into her life only a couple of short weeks ago and comprehensively turned it upside down and transformed her, inside and out.
Impulsively, she pulled off her caftan and threw her hat down on the sand. She started running backwards towards the sea. ‘Last one in is a loser!’
Gabriel stood stock-still for a moment and then he put down the basket, kicked off his own shoes and started running after Leonora. She squealed and turned around, but it was no use. Gabriel caught her all too easily and lifted her up, over his shoulder, and carried her into the crashing surf of the glittering Pacific
Ocean, dunking her mercilessly under the foaming waves until she begged for mercy.
He pulled her out, laughing and spluttering, and then she saw the intensity on his face, the way his eyes burned. She reached for him, seeking and finding his hot mouth, revelling in his whipcord body as he lifted her against him, wrapping her legs around him.
The waves crashed around them unnoticed as Gabriel pulled her swimsuit below her breasts, feasting on her wet flesh. The stark contrast of his hot mouth against her sea-cold skin made her head fall back...she was in paradise with the most exciting man she’d ever met and she never wanted it to end...
The knowledge that she’d never felt happier than in that moment was bittersweet. Because she knew it wasn’t the same for Gabriel. What he was feeling was purely physical, evidenced by the way he couldn’t take his hands off her, or she off him. But, weakly, she avoided thinking about that and gave herself up to the moment, like a miser with her gold.
* * *
A couple of hours later, after they’d made love under the shade of the trees on the edge of the beach, Leonora sat with her knees tucked up under her chin, her arms around them. She wore her caftan over her naked body while her swimsuit dried on a nearby rock, with Gabriel’s shorts beside it. He wore a towel, tied precariously around his narrow waist.
The detritus of a delicious picnic lay around them. Fruit, bread, cheese, cold meats. Ice-cold water and sparkling wine. Of which Leonora had had a little.
The feeling of happiness lingered in her chest. It was unsettling, because she realised now how little she’d ever felt truly happy in her life. She’d always been so worried about her parents and Matías. And before they’d lost everything she’d always been far too reticent to let her emotions free rein.