She turned sharply at the sound of Gabriel’s voice, trying to focus through the black spots wavering in front of her eyes. ‘Why?’ she had time to gasp before those black spots all merged into one huge black hole into which Bryn thankfully fell.
She wasn’t aware of being swept up into Gabriel’s arms, of the sympathetic gasps of the other guests as he carried her across the room, or her mother’s concern as she followed the two of them out of the gallery and up to Gabriel’s office, leaving her stepfather and Rafe to deal with providing an explanation for her having fainted.
No, Bryn was aware of none of that as she slowly returned to consciousness and heard her mother and Gabriel talking softly together.
* * *
‘—should have warned her,’ Gabriel muttered disgustedly, holding Bryn’s hand tightly in his as he sat beside her limp form on the sofa in his office.
‘You wanted it to be a surprise,’ Mary soothed.
‘And this is the result!’ he cursed grimly as he looked down at Bryn, her lashes very dark against the pale delicacy of her face.
‘It’s just a faint, Gabriel,’ Bryn’s mother assured ruefully. ‘If I know my little girl, she’s been too excited about tonight to bother eating today.’
Gabriel stood up abruptly, running an agitated hand through the dark thickness of his hair. ‘I just wanted her to have the two of you here tonight to share in her success.’
‘I know that, Gabriel,’ Mary assured gently. ‘And so will Bryn once she’s thought things through.’
‘You think?’ Gabriel knew Bryn well enough by now—knew what she thought of him only too well—to know that she was more than capable of believing he had some Machiavellian reason for inviting her mother and stepfather to the exhibition.
Because he hadn’t thought his actions through properly, should have realised the shock it would be for Bryn when Mary and Rhys arrived at the gallery this evening.
‘I think,’ Mary echoed, having now taken Gabriel’s place on the sofa beside Bryn. ‘I accept my daughter can be fiery on occasion, Gabriel—part of her Welsh heritage, I’m afraid,’ she added ruefully. ‘But she isn’t so headstrong that she will judge you unfairly. And what you’ve done for her, in regard to her inclusion in this exhibition at Archangel, and inviting Rhys and I here this evening to share in her success, was incredibly kind of you.’
‘Bryn doesn’t see me as being in the least kind,’ Gabriel drawled ruefully.
‘Oh, I think you might be pleasantly surprised at what my daughter sees in you,’ Mary murmured dryly.
Bryn knew that last remark was directed towards her rather than Gabriel, that her mother, at least, was aware Bryn had recovered from her faint but was now choosing to appear as if she hadn’t.
Mary squeezed her hand to confirm it. ‘When she wakes up you need to tell Bryn everything, Gabriel,’ she told him—and Bryn—softly. ‘She especially needs to know what you did for us five years ago, what you did to help the two of us make a new life together in Wales after William died.’
Bryn frowned at this revelation, at the same time knowing her mother’s comment ‘when she wakes up’ was pointedly directed at her.
And she did need to do that; lying here listening to this conversation was totally unfair to Gabriel. Besides, she very much wanted to hear all about what Gabriel had done for them five years ago.
Mary released Bryn’s hand before standing up. ‘You’re a good man, Gabriel,’ she told him. ‘And if you give my daughter a chance, I believe you will find she already knows that. Now, I think it’s time I returned back downstairs, and left the two of you alone to talk.’
‘But—’
‘My mother is right, Gabriel,’ Bryn spoke at the same time as she opened her eyes and looked up at them both. ‘You and I do need to talk.’ She swung her legs to the floor and sat up slowly.
‘I’m not sure you should do that just yet.’ Gabriel stepped swiftly forward and sat down on the sofa beside her before once again taking one of her hands in both of his. ‘You’re probably a bit shaky still from—’
‘Mamma?’ Bryn looked up at her mother pointedly.
Mary nodded. ‘I’m going downstairs now to bask in some of my daughter’s glory,’ she murmured indulgently. ‘No doubt I will see the two of you sometime later this evening?’
‘No doubt,’ Bryn nodded distractedly, having eyes only for Gabriel.
‘And, Bryn?’ Her mother paused in the doorway. ‘You’re wrong. Gabriel isn’t in the least “unsuitable”. In any way,’ she assured before she left the office and closed the door softly behind her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘WHAT WAS THAT about?’ Gabriel prompted.
Bryn’s vision was slightly misty with tears as she turned to look at him, knowing that her mother had been referring to the conversation the two of them had had in Wales three weeks ago, when Bryn had insisted the man she loved wasn’t suitable.
She gave a shake of her head. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore. I— Gabriel, I need to thank you for inviting my mother and Rhys here tonight. It’s made my evening so much more special.’
‘So much so you fainted, damn it,’ Gabriel grated self-disgustedly.
Bryn held on to his hand as he would have pulled away and stood up. ‘I want you to stay right here,’ she told him firmly as he looked at her questioningly. ‘I need to say some things to you, and I want you to be next to me when I say them.’
A frown appeared between his eyes. ‘Am I going to need some of my single-malt whisky to get through this?’ he drawled.
‘I don’t believe so, no.’ She smiled ruefully, drawing in a deep breath before speaking again. ‘I’ll admit, when I first realised my mother and Rhys were really here—rather than just a figment of my food-deprived, champagne-induced imagination—that I wondered why you had done it. I only wondered for the briefest of moments, Gabriel,’ she assured as his frown darkened. ‘The very briefest of moments,’ she repeated firmly, ‘before my knowledge of you told me that your reason for doing it would be a good one rather than a bad one.’
‘Actually, it was purely selfish.’ Gabriel grimaced; he wanted this woman so badly he was willing to do anything—anything—to get her.
Bryn gave a firm shake of her head. ‘I don’t believe that.’
‘Oh, but it was. You kept insisting that there could never be anything between the two of us because of how your mother might react if she knew, and so I decided to eliminate that objection, at least.’
Bryn looked at him searchingly for several long seconds before a slow smile curved her lips. ‘I accept that might have been one of the reasons, Gabriel—’
‘Oh, believe me, it was the prime reason,’ he assured her grimly.
Her smile didn’t even waver. ‘You like people to think you’re tough and uncaring, don’t you?’
‘I am tough and—’
‘You are most certainly not uncaring,’ she insisted firmly. ‘And you may manage to convince other people that you are, but I think you should know I haven’t fallen for it for some time now. Not since I realised I was in love with you,’ she added softly.
‘Bryn?’ Gabriel’s hand tightened about hers.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not saying that with any expectation of you returning the sentiment,’ she assured ruefully. ‘I just think you should know, before we start our affair, that I’ve realised since meeting you again that I fell in love with you five years ago—’
‘You— What affair?’ Gabriel demanded sharply as he released her hand before standing up.
‘—and that I’m still in love with you,’ Bryn continued determinedly. ‘And that I have no intention of having any sort of relationship with you now and pretending that I’m not—’
‘Bryn, did you really just say you fell in love with me five years ago?’ he
repeated dazedly.
‘I did, yes,’ she admitted wryly. ‘And the reason I’m telling you this now is because I want you to know how I feel before you tell me in what way you helped my mother and I five years ago. It’s time for us to be honest with each other, Gabriel,’ she encouraged softly. ‘As such, I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings about why and when I fell in love with you.’
His eyes widened. ‘You heard your mother and I talking just now?’
‘Yes.’
Gabriel looked down at her searchingly, Bryn meeting that searching gaze unwaveringly. ‘You really fell in love with me five years ago?’ he finally murmured.
Bryn nodded. ‘On sight, I think. But it was all such a mess after my father was arrested. At the time I wondered how I could possibly still be in love with the man who had helped to put my father in prison,’ she added heavily. ‘I know the truth about that now, Gabriel,’ she assured him firmly. ‘I know that you tried to stop him, to save him from himself, and my father’s answer to that was to inform the press, and so making it impossible for him to walk away as you wanted him to do. I do believe that, Gabriel.’
‘Thank God,’ he groaned with feeling. ‘You really love me, Bryn?’ He looked at her searchingly.
She nodded. ‘In fact, I realised a couple weeks ago that you’re the reason I’m still a virgin at the grand old age of twenty-three,’ she acknowledged self-derisively. ‘No other man quite matched up to my first love.’ She looked up at Gabriel uncertainly as he still looked stunned. ‘Too much honesty for you?’
Too much? It was perfect as far as Gabriel was concerned. Bryn was perfect. For him. She always had been.
‘I have no words to tell you how much it...pleased me, to know there’s been no one else for you.’ Gabriel gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘But you should know now that I don’t want to have an affair with you.’
She blinked. ‘Okay.’ She nodded woodenly. ‘More fool me for having believed you still did.’ She drew in a deep, steadying breath. ‘That makes all of this a little embarrassing, but it doesn’t change any of what I’ve said—’
‘Bryn, would it surprise you to know that I fell in love with you five years ago too?’
She stilled, staring up at him with wide eyes, a gaze that Gabriel now returned with the same directness as she had a few minutes ago. ‘I know you said something like this before but—you couldn’t have done,’ she finally managed to protest dismissively. ‘I was chubby,’ she reminded him. ‘I wore those unbecoming dark-framed glasses. I was so ungainly I fell over my own feet all the time—’ She broke off as Gabriel gave a slow shake of his head.
‘To me you were voluptuously sexy,’ he corrected firmly. ‘And you had—still have—the most beautiful dove-grey eyes I’ve ever seen, glasses or no glasses. I found your occasional lack of balance endearing rather than ungainly. And I wanted you so damned much I could hardly think straight! You were only eighteen years old, and too damned young for me, but I wanted you anyway. Fell in love with you anyway. Plus,’ he continued firmly as she would have spoken, ‘after your father was arrested and you refused all my attempts at trying to speak with you again, I also had every reason to believe you hated my guts.’
Bryn stared up at him dazedly, sure that she couldn’t have heard him correctly. Gabriel couldn’t really have just said— ‘I never hated you, Gabriel.’
‘Of course you did.’
‘I hated the situation, not you,’ she corrected. ‘Would rather none of it had ever happened. But I know, I accept now, that my father was far from perfect, that he was responsible for what happened to him, no one else.’ She looked up at him again. ‘Gabriel, what did you do to help us five years ago?’
He grimaced. ‘Do we really have to talk about that now?’
‘Yes, we really do,’ she insisted stubbornly.
He sighed. ‘I’d rather not.’
‘And I would rather you did.’
‘You are so damned stubborn,’ he sighed.
‘Takes one to know one,’ she came back ruefully. ‘And if you don’t tell me then I’ll just ask my mother to tell me instead.’
Gabriel scowled his defeat as he sighed deeply. ‘I—’ He breathed deeply. ‘I paid all your father’s legal fees.’
Bryn just stared at him. All this time she had thought— Believed— ‘What else...?’ she breathed softly.
‘Isn’t that enough?’ he drawled.
‘What else, Gabriel?’ she persisted.
His mouth thinned. ‘I gave your mother enough money for the two of you to be able to move back to Wales. I wanted to give her more, enough to pay for you to go to university, but Mary wouldn’t hear of it.’
‘I should hope not!’ Bryn was absolutely stunned at learning how Gabriel had helped them all those years ago. ‘You really live up to your name, don’t you?’ she said wonderingly.
‘Don’t give me a false halo, Bryn,’ Gabriel rasped harshly. ‘I helped the two of you because someone had to.’
‘And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you had fallen in love with William Harper’s overweight daughter?’ she chided, an emotional catch in her throat for the man that Gabriel was, and always had been.
‘Voluptuously sexy,’ Gabriel insisted. ‘Which is exactly how you’ll look when you’re pregnant with our child. You do want children, I hope?’
‘Stop changing the subject.’
‘Just thinking of you all round with our child,’ he continued gruffly, ‘with your breasts so big they spill over the top of your bra, is enough to make me hard.’
‘Gabriel!’ Bryn stood up abruptly, her breathing uneven as she realised what he had said, what his words implied. A baby? Gabriel was talking about the two of them having a child together?
He quirked a self-derisive brow. ‘Too much honesty for you?’
Not enough. Not nearly enough!
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, feeling a thrill run through her as she saw the way Gabriel’s eyes instantly darkened at the provocation. ‘I— When exactly do you intend us having this baby?’
‘I think, for your mother and Rhys’s sake, and my own parents’, that we should probably wait until after we’re married.’
‘Married?’ she squeaked.
‘Married,’ Gabriel confirmed decisively.
‘But you wanted an affair.’
‘You assumed I wanted an affair,’ he corrected. ‘When we met again four weeks ago and I obviously couldn’t keep my hands off you, I decided to just take whatever you were willing to give me. But following on from your own honesty just now, you should know from the outset that I am very much in love with you, more so now even than five years ago, and that I won’t settle for anything less than the two of us being married to each other.’
Happiness swelled so big and so wide inside her that Bryn felt as if she might actually explode from trying to contain it. Gabriel loved her. Had always loved her. He wanted to marry her. Have babies with her!
‘I— You haven’t asked me yet,’ she reminded him breathlessly.
He grimaced. ‘I’ve learned that asking sometimes isn’t the right way to go about things where you’re concerned.’
‘Try me,’ she encouraged huskily.
Gabriel looked searchingly into the glowing depths of her deep grey eyes, noting the flush in her cheeks, those slightly parted and oh-so-kissable lips. ‘Will you marry me, Bryn?’ he prompted huskily.
‘Oh, yes, Gabriel. Yes, yes, yes!’ She threw herself into his arms. ‘Whenever and wherever you want.’
‘As soon as it can be arranged.’ His arms closed tightly about her.
‘We’ve already wasted five years. I don’t want to waste any more, want to spend the rest of my life telling you, showing you, how much I love you, will always love you!’
/>
Bryn glowed with happiness as she imagined the future, a lifetime with Gabriel, years and years together, when they would show and tell each other how much they were loved.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from SHAMED IN THE SANDS by Sharon Kendrick.
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CHAPTER ONE
GABE STEEL WAS naked when he heard the sound of knocking.
He picked up a towel and scowled. He wanted peace. No, he needed peace. He’d come to this strange city for all kinds of reasons—but none of them included being disturbed when he had just stepped out of the shower.
He thought about the harsh light of spring he’d left behind in England. The way it could still make his heart clench with pain at this time of year. He thought how guilt never really left you, no matter how deeply you tried to bury it. If you scratched beneath the surface you could always bring up stuff you didn’t want. Which was why he didn’t scratch. Ever.
But sometimes you couldn’t escape it, no matter how hard you tried. Hadn’t one of the staff sent someone up earlier, asking if he would like any special arrangements made for his birthday? He’d wondered how the hell they had known it was his birthday—until he realised that they had seen his passport when he’d checked in yesterday.
He stood still and listened. The knocking had stopped and everything was quiet again. He started to slide the towel over one hair-roughened thigh when the sound resumed, more urgently this time.
A Bargain with the Enemy Page 16