“Your call, Red. If I sleep in this bed with you, there is no way I am not making love to you. So if you’re not up to it, tell me now and I’ll sleep elsewhere.”
She knew she should, but she also did not want to be alone, so she reached up and pulled him down on top of her, her legs spreading to wrap around his as soon as he settled against her.
He groaned and she hissed at his hard aroused length that pressed intimately against the apex of her thighs. Their mouths met and Gabriel set out to make Sienna’s blood boil and her body sizzle with uncontrolled ecstasy until the early hours of the morning.
“Gramps! I am so glad you’re okay! You gave me such a fright!”
Elaine Thorne frowned at her granddaughter, but took her hand in hers and squeezed it tenderly.
“What are you doing here? I told them to tell you not to worry!”
“Gramps, did you really think I would not come as soon as I heard you had a heart attack?”
“It was only a minor one … more angina than a heart attack.”
“Not that minor if you are still in intensive care.”
“Stop worrying, puppet. I am fine. Now, aren’t you going to introduce me to this young man of yours?”
Sienna blushed. “He is not my young man, Gramps!
Elaine looked into Gabriel’s eyes and back at the blushing Sienna. “If you say so, honey.”
“Gramps, this is Gabriel Costa.”
“The Prince … ehm … King of San Marino?” Elaine’s expression did not change, except that the light in her eyes sharpened when it lit on him again.
“Pleased to meet you, Gramps.” He said with a small smile.
“Oh, I am sorry; it is Elaine … her name is Elaine.”
“I think I’ll stick with Gramps, if it’s fine with you?”
Elaine nodded, her eyes penetrating as they rested on him.
“I must thank you, King for taking time out of your busy schedule to accompany Sienna.”
“Please call me Gabriel. I would not have allowed her to come on her own. She was very upset.”
“Sienna, honey, won’t you please go and fetch me some fresh water?”
Sienna frowned at her Gramps. It was barely nine in the morning and her water was still fresh, but one look from her spurned her on and she took the carafe and left the room.
“So young man, I understand that you are Royalty and I have respect for that, but what are your intentions towards my granddaughter?”
Gabriel looked at the older rendition of Red, except she had blond hair streaked with silver. It was to be expected that she would have noticed there was more than a professional association between Sienna and him. He looked her directly in the eyes and said sincerely.
“Gramps, I am not used to explaining any of my actions to anyone, but in respect of you as her only living relative, I will tell you this. Sienna is a beautiful woman and has touched a part of me that has never been touched before. More than that, I am not prepared to say. Except that I will always be honest with her and never willfully hurt her in any way.”
Elaine searched his eyes and must have seen something in their depths that satisfied her and she nodded.
“Just know young man, I will keep my eye on you!”
He chuckled and thought that she must have been just as beautiful and willful in her youth as her granddaughter is today.
Sienna and the Heart Specialist walked in together and she placed the carafe with water back on the side table next to the bed.
“So, Mrs. Thorne, how are we feeling this morning? Ready for that ski trip we discussed?”
Sienna’s eyes widened when her grandmother blushed at the remark and her gaze sharpened on the silver haired doctor that was taking her Gramps’ blood pressure. Gabriel could not hold back the chuckle which turned into a full laugh when Elaine speared an annoyed glare at him. She did not intimidate him however and he warned her tongue in cheek.
“I think, Gramps, that the dear doctor here is going to get the same brush over I just did!”
Elaine glared at him and the doctor and Sienna looked at him questioningly. He brushed it off with a shrug of his shoulders.
Elaine introduced the Specialist and Gabriel wanted to know what caused the ‘minor’ heart attack. The doctor ignored Elaine trying to interrupt with her own rendition and turned to him.
“Your Gramps over here seemed to have indulged a little too much in rich food lately and her blood cholesterol levels are sky high. If a person's blood cholesterol levels are high, they normally run a higher risk of developing blood clots in the arteries. Which is what happened with Elaine. The blood clots blocked the supply of blood to the heart muscle, which caused her heart attack. Granted, Elaine, it was a minor one, but something that needs to be attended to.”
“So what now?” Sienna wanted to know.
“I have placed your Gramps on a healthy eating plan that she has to follow for at least two months, and there after limit the indulgence to rich food. If she follows my instructions, which she has assured me she will, she will be as healthy as a horse again in no time.”
“Oh, trust me, doctor, she will.” Gabriel chuckled again and Elaine glared at him.
“What is so funny?”
“I am glad I am not the only one she …”
“Gabriel!”
The doctor frowned and looked at Gabriel a little more closely.
“You look very familiar. Gabriel … Costa! Are you not the new King of San Marino?”
“So they say, yes. I am hoping that Sienna can prove otherwise.”
“Tsk … you can’t deny your lineage, Gabriel. Your family has lived it their whole lives. It is time you accept it too.”
He looked at her with more seriousness than the situation called for.
“Would you be able to?”
She frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
Elaine looked at him and he realized she suddenly understood more than he would have cared for. A slow smile formed on her lips and she nodded briefly at him.
Sienna looked at the interaction between the two and frowned at them. The Specialist, William Salt’s beeper went off and he excused himself, glancing at Elaine before he left.
“As long as you behave yourself, Elaine, they can stay a little while longer. I want to keep you another day, just to make sure, but you can go home in the morning.”
“How long would she need to be kept quiet, doctor?”
“She must take it easy for at least a month or so, at least until her cholesterol is back to normal.”
Sienna nodded and looked at Gabriel.
“I am sorry, but I have to stay with Gramps. You can go back home and I can continue with my research here in the meantime, but …”
“Nonsense Sienna. I am not a child and can look after myself. I’ll be fine.”
“I agree, you are not going to stay behind, and neither is your Gramps.”
Both the Thorne’s looked at him and he shrugged with a smile.
“I can see no reason why Gramps can’t come with us to Italy. My aunt Viola has been complaining she is lonely and would love to keep Gramps company while she recovers.”
“We can’t expect your aunt to look after Gramps! For goodness sake, she does not even know us!”
“I have already spoken to her early this morning and she has already started making preparations for her stay. We will go and visit every second day and over weekends too, so you can be assured she is looked after.”
“But …”
“No buts. It is done. Now, I have some business I need to attend to and have some phone calls to make. I have an office across from the Smithsonian Institute. Will you be fine to visit your Gramps until around two this afternoon?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine.”
She was still trying to take in the fact that he had an office across from where she worked. He nodded and pulled her close for a hard kiss on her mouth before he turned towards the door.
“Behave, Red and d
on’t flirt with the doctors.”
Gramps chuckled at the bright flush that colored her cheeks once he disappeared through the door.
“Nice young man you got there, honey.”
“I … he’s not … I don’t …”
“Stop stuttering. I noticed there was something between you from the moment I slapped eyes on him.”
Sienna sighed. “Gramps, don’t see something that is not there. We do not and never will have a relationship. He is the King of San Marino, even if he does not wish to acknowledge it.”
“He might be that, my darling, but first and foremost, he is a man. A man with feelings and desires and that is what you must see first before you see the Prince or the King. Until you do … you are right, there will never be a relationship.”
“Gramps! You can’t divorce him from what he is. That much will never change!”
“Sienna, I thought you had more sense than that! I hope your eyes open before it is too late and you throw away any chance you might have.”
“What do you mean?”
Elaine sighed and looked at her beautiful granddaughter. She realized how important it was to Gabriel from what he said before and hoped Sienna also realized it soon. He struck her as a very proud man, his status in life obviously added to that, but more than that he was the type of man who was too proud to explain the inner struggle he had. A struggle to be his own man against the man he is expected to be to his people. The woman that would eventually win his heart would be one that realized that and would keep him grounded. A woman that would look past the Prince and the King. She realized how hard it must have been for him to ask Sienna the question he did.
“I am sure eventually you will know him well enough to understand. Now, tell me about the Island.”
Elaine was absolutely accurate in her summation of Gabriel and he pondered the question he posed to Sienna. He knew the reason he was so strongly attracted to her was because she treated him like a normal man. She did not whimper and cower before him or try and soft soap him like all the other women that have been in his life.
The only thing they saw and coveted was his title and wealth and the status that it could add to their lives. He was selfish enough as a man to want to be more important to a woman than that. He wanted honest reactions, feelings and emotions. Everything Sienna has been giving him till now; he just did not know if he could trust them yet. Were her reactions to him honest and natural, or was she pretending to draw him out? He did not know her well enough just yet.
He did know that he could not stay away from her. He was honest enough with himself to acknowledge that the attraction was more than just physical. Whether or not he was ready for something more, was what he still battled with.
What if he became the same cold, withdrawn man his father did the moment he became King? It was something he could never allow a loved one to live with.
Chapter Eight
“Thank you for dropping by, Tony. It was quite unexpected to see you. I still don’t understand why they even contacted you.”
“I guess I was still an old contact on your grandmother’s records. On the one hand I am glad about the mix-up. I got to see you again.”
Sienna felt uncomfortable under his intimate stare and the way he stroked her back. He leaned closer and kissed her on her mouth.
“Maybe we should get together once she is better.”
“I don’t …”
He closed her mouth with his fingers on her lips. “Shh … don’t say anything now. We’ll talk soon.”
She shook her head. “No Tony, we …”
“Sienna.”
She stiffened at the rasp of her name behind her. His voice sounded unnaturally tight and she turned to face Gabriel. She winced when she noticed the barely controlled anger in his face. His whole body suddenly appeared bigger, threatening and furious. His eyes dropped to where Tony’s hands rested on her hips and she bit her lip.
“If you are out here smooching, I suppose Gramps is much better?”
His eyes burned into hers and she stiffened as he stepped closer, his voice as cold as the arctic sky.
“I was not smooching!”
“No? I must have imagined it then.”
His eyes rested on Tony who appeared uncomfortable under his hard stare and dropped his hands from her waist when Gabriel’s eyes fell to his hands again.
“And you are?” His tone was rude and cold.
Tony flinched and glanced at her. She took a step away from him and looked at Gabriel, who ignored her and kept staring at Tony.
“Gabriel, this is Tony Salinger.”
He ignored the hand Tony reached out to him and asked rudely. “And what are you to Sienna?”
“I don’t see that it is any of your busi …”
“Tony is an old friend.”
“Slightly more than an old friend, darling.”
She glared at him with annoyance. “A long time ago, but for the past three years no more than friends … and not even that!”
“So … this was your last lover.”
Sienna gasped and her face turned bright red. Tony looked at her and back at Gabriel and realized why there was animosity from the large man standing in front of him. Such a pity. Sienna was even more beautiful than before and he would have loved to connect with her again. From her reaction however, it was clear she was involved with this man and he sighed.
“Guess that answers my question, darling. Say goodbye to your grandmother for me.”
He nodded at Gabriel and gave her another kiss on her lips, purely to annoy the tall, dark haired man, before he turned and sauntered away.
Gabriel glared at her, his gaze unwavering and waiting. She returned his stare, adamant not to back down. She had done nothing wrong!
“I am waiting, Sienna.”
“For what?”
His eyes turned stormy and if they were orbs of fire, she would have been incinerated on the spot. She stood her ground and did not move a step back when he took one closer and gripped her arms in his hard hands.
“Do not test my patience, woman! What the hell was he doing here?”
“They phoned him first. He was a contact person on Gramps file.”
“Why?”
She sighed. “We had to bring her in for a fractured wrist and they wanted two contact numbers.”
“Did you live with him?”
She looked at him in exasperation. “Do we have to discuss this now? Here in the hospital passage?”
“Answer my question!”
“I guess we do then. No, I did not. We were not even together for that long.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
“Who broke it off?”
“Gabriel, what does it matter? It is over and has been for more than three years.”
His glare told her he was not going to relent and she sighed again and folded her arms over her chest in vexation.
“I did and before you ask, because I realized the relationship was not going anywhere and I did not love him.”
“So why kiss him then?”
“I did not kiss him! He kissed me!”
“But you stood still and allowed the kiss!”
“Oh for goodness sake!”
She took the step that separated them, grabbed him around his neck and pulled his head down to hers and closed her lips around his. She smoothed her lips over his, caressed her tongue against the seam of his lips and pressed into his mouth. Her tongue swirled and stroked his, sucking and sipping from his mouth with sensual intensity and his whole body reacted by tightening against hers. She ended the kiss and stepped back.
“That honey, is a kiss! Not the light peck he gave me!”
She swung around and walked away with angry strides, her hips swaying seductively in the tight … damn jeans she wore again. Yet, he could not help but grin at her sassiness and the seductive kiss she gave him in the passage full of people.
“You should not let that one get
away, young man! She is a keeper!”
He smiled and agreed full heartedly with the wise old man that sat on a waiting chair behind him. He followed her slowly and grinned at the annoyed expression still on her face when he walked into Gramps room.
Elaine glanced between the two and realized Gabriel must have met Tony in the passage. A little devil prompted her to test his patience.
“So tell me, Gabriel. What did you think of Sienna’s ex-boyfriend?”
“Gramps!”
“He has a weak chin.”
Elaine burst out laughing. The short answer was clear testimony to his irritation. Sienna just glared at him.
“I agree. It was the first thing I noticed about him too.”
“So why did you allow the relationship then?”
“She was twenty four at the time. I could not tell her what to do.”
“Why not? She obviously did not know what she was doing.”
Sienna snorted and slammed her fists in her sides and glared from the one to the other.
“I will thank the both of you to stop discussing me as if I am not here! And besides, Gabriel Costa, what I did or didn’t do before I met you has nothing to do with you! Nor does what I do now for that matter!”
“Oh but that is where you are wrong, Red. Everything you do now is my concern.”
“No it does not! I will not be controlled like a … like a puppet! I’ll have you know …”
William Salt walked in at that point and Sienna swallowed her words, but glared angrily at Gabriel, who just grinned at her. Elaine smiled just as widely. These two might not know it as yet, but they were made for each other.
“I see you are looking much better, Elaine.”
“Does that mean I can go home then?”
“Tomorrow, but only if your blood pressure is under control and your cholesterol count is down.”
They stayed and had dinner with Gramps in her room. She had her healthy hospital meal and they had Chinese take-out Gabriel went to buy.
Sienna went directly up to her room when they arrived at the house and ran a hot bath. It was a long day and being restricted to the hospital for the whole day was tiring. She did not spend too much time in the bath but felt refreshed and cool when she walked back into her room dressed in shorts and a tee-shirt. She hesitated in the door when she noticed Gabriel leaning back against the headboard of her bed watching her through narrow eyes.
You Owe Me, Baby Page 7