Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand

by Mortimer, Carole

  She raised her dark brows. ‘Do you have one?’

  His gaze narrowed. ‘And exactly what is that supposed to mean?’

  Gabriella turned to face him, scornful now. ‘Spending half an hour with her every evening can hardly be called a relationship!’

  Gabriella remembered her own early school years with affection. Her mother waiting outside the school gates to walk home with her. The two of them then sitting down together at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of hot chocolate as they chatted over the events of the day. Her mother helping her with her homework before they cooked the evening meal together.

  Of course that had changed slightly once the two of them had been left on their own and her mother had had to work full-time to support the two of them. But Gabriella had been older then, almost fourteen, and quite capable of looking after herself until her mother came home, having a meal ready for her mother when she came in from work, as she had usually been too tired to feel much like doing it herself. It was how Gabriella had discovered her own love of cooking.

  Holly Gresham was seven years old, was taken to and brought home from school in a chauffeur-driven car, when she was then given her tea in the kitchen with the cook. Holly wasn’t old enough to have homework yet, but seemed to spend her time after tea in her bedroom anyway. Until her father came home. And then the two of them spent that ‘half an hour together’ before she went to bed.

  Holly had haughtily informed her of this earlier when Gabriella had knocked on her bedroom door to see what she was doing.

  Holly was definitely her father’s daughter. She seemed to have inherited all of his arrogance and self-containment, and didn’t appear to mind the hours she spent alone in her bedroom, or the fact that she bathed herself before preparing for bed. At the age of seven she already gave the impression of needing no one.

  But as far as Gabriella was concerned, Holly was far too mature and serious for a seven-year-old.

  Gabriella accepted that it couldn’t have been easy for Rufus to have been left with a two-month-old daughter. After all, he’d had a job to do, responsibilities, and initially had had to engage nannies to care for his baby girl, only dispensing with them when Holly had begun school two years ago. But from the amount of expensive toys that now filled Holly’s bedroom, Rufus seemed to have showered his motherless daughter with material objects rather than the love and time with him she really needed.

  His relationship with his daughter was none of Gabriella’s damned business, Rufus had informed her, and for the short time she would be in their lives maybe it wasn’t, but that didn’t stop her from having an opinion.

  Or from informing Rufus of that opinion.

  Something, from the dark anger on his face, he didn’t appreciate at all…

  ‘I told you to stay away from Holly,’ he bit out hardly.

  Gabriella shrugged bare shoulders. ‘I thought someone should check earlier whether she was alive or dead—’

  ‘You have no right, damn it—’

  ‘Besides,’ she continued firmly, ‘I was never particularly fond of being told what I can and can’t do.’

  Rufus scowled. ‘Then perhaps it’s time you learnt—’

  ‘Are you threatening me, Rufus?’ she cut in.

  He stared at her for several long moments, filled with frustrated anger that she had dared to criticise the way he was bringing up his own daughter.

  ‘No, I’m not threatening you, Gabriella,’ he finally murmured softly. ‘I’m merely surprised that I’m receiving parental criticism from a woman whose own mother was nothing but a—’

  ‘I advise you to stop right there, Rufus.’ The ice in Gabriella’s voice was definitely genuine this time, her chin raised in warning as she looked at him with sparkling violet eyes. ‘I tell you what, Rufus, how about we make a deal?’

  she continued scathingly. ‘You leave my mother out of this and I won’t comment on your own deficiencies where parental guidance and care for your daughter are concerned, either—how does that sound?’

  Like a backhanded insult, Rufus realized with a frown.

  Six months of sharing a house with this woman were going to seem much longer than that!

  Gabriella picked up her watch where she had taken it off before her shower, glancing down at it pointedly. ‘If you don’t leave now you won’t have time to spend that half an hour with Holly before dinner.’

  ‘Do I take it that you’ll be in for dinner this evening, too?’ He raised dark blond brows, deciding to ignore the intended criticism this time. Gabriella was spoiling for a fight, and he didn’t have time for it right now.

  ‘And why wouldn’t I be?’ she came back tartly.

  Rufus shrugged. ‘I thought you worked in a bistro or something in the evenings?’

  ‘Not any more,’ she dismissed. ‘I finished working at the bistro yesterday, Rufus. As from Monday I shall be starting the refurbishment to Gabriella’s,’ she reminded him sweetly.

  Damn! After everything that had happened today he had forgotten he would be sharing a workplace with her, too!

  ‘The minutes are ticking away, Rufus,’ she said tauntingly. ‘You really shouldn’t keep Holly waiting.’

  Toby had been right, Rufus told himself angrily as he turned and walked away; he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to stand six hours in the same house as Gabriella, let alone six months!

  ‘Where’s your wedding ring?’

  Gabriella looked across the dinner table at Rufus with deliberate coolness as the two of them sat in the small family dining-room where their dinner had been served fifteen minutes earlier. Not that either of them had eaten too much so far, the melon starter having been sent back almost untouched, the salmon not faring much better. Gabriella had no idea why Rufus wasn’t eating, but she was far too aware of him sitting opposite her to be able to eat.

  She had thought this situation through before coming downstairs for dinner, knowing that after this afternoon she had to retrench, and had decided that cool was how she had to be to deal with Rufus in future. If nothing else it stopped him from reading her other emotions, and it had the added bonus of infuriating him at the same time!

  Her anger got her nowhere because Rufus simply turned it back on her. And he could be much more insulting than she ever could!

  Being pleasant just wasn’t an option after Rufus’s suggestion earlier today that they could share a bed—and their bodies—for the next six months.

  And ignoring him was a complete non-starter when she was so aware of him!

  So she was left with cool. Which was actually quite hard work when she was naturally gregarious and chatty.

  But anything she chatted to Rufus about he was likely to turn back on her, so she had simply decided not to talk to him unless he spoke to her directly.

  As now.

  ‘I took the ring off earlier when I had a shower,’ she answered dismissively. ‘I didn’t want my finger to turn green!’

  Besides, it felt like a dead weight of ownership on her finger…

  ‘And what the hell is that supposed to mean?’ he demanded incredulously, putting down his knife and fork to look at her. ‘Do you think I’ve given you some cheap piece of metal and glass as a wedding ring—is that it?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘You aren’t telling me the diamonds and gold are real?’

  They hadn’t actually talked about exchanging rings during the wedding service—they hadn’t really talked about anything much at all in the ten days before the wedding, with Gabriella just receiving telephone instructions from Rufus as to when and where. So she had been a little surprised when Rufus had produced the thin gold-coloured band studded with what she had assumed were pieces of glass, at the appropriate moment in the service, and slipped it on her finger.

  ‘You’re saying they are real?’ she repeated with a frown as Rufus continued to look at her disbelievingly.

  They made a strange newly married couple, she was sure, sitting politely across the dinner table from each
other, both having dressed for dinner, with Gabriella in a fitted black knee-length dress and Rufus in a formal shirt and trousers.

  She had made the effort more for the sake of the household staff than she had for Rufus, and she was sure he had done the same; after all, neither of them was particularly interested in impressing the other!

  ‘Well, of course they’re real,’ Rufus came back impatiently. ‘Do you honestly think I would give my wife an imitation ring?’

  ‘Why not? It’s an imitation marriage!’ she dismissed. ‘Or is it just that Rufus Gresham couldn’t be seen to give his wife an imitation ring?’ she scorned.

  She was still spoiling for a fight, Rufus decided. And he would still like nothing better than to oblige. But at the same time, he didn’t feel much like giving Gabriella anything she wanted tonight…

  ‘That about sums it up.’ He nodded. ‘I only asked, Gabriella. Do what you like with the damned thing.’ He shrugged, resuming eating his salmon.

  Two could play this particular game. But they would play by his rules or not at all.

  ‘How was Holly?’ Gabriella prompted after a couple of minutes’ silence.

  ‘Fine,’ he dismissed tersely. ‘Still a little bemused by the fact that her aunt Gabriella is now her stepmother, but, other than that, just fine,’ he added with a steely edge to his voice.

  ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t have told her—’

  ‘Oh, yes—’ Rufus gave an impatient sigh ‘—you would rather she found out when some unsuspecting member of the household staff turned around and called you Mrs Gresham, is that it?’

  Gabriella put her knife and fork carefully down on her plate, picked up her napkin and delicately pressed it against her lips before answering him. ‘The household staff all call me Miss Gabriella,’ she told him evenly. ‘I trust you told Holly that the stepmother thing is only a temporary arrangement? That it won’t interfere at all with your own—relationship, with her?’

  God, he hoped they weren’t going to have too many dinners alone like this—he wasn’t sure his digestion could take it!

  He put his own knife and fork down noisily on his plate this time, the salmon, like Gabriella’s, only half eaten. ‘I’m not in the habit of explaining myself,’ he bit out tautly.

  She gave a cool inclination of her head. ‘To anyone, it seems.’

  ‘Oh, to hell with this!’ He threw his napkin on the table before standing up. ‘Thank goodness I’m going to New York next month for a few days—it can’t come soon enough for me!’

  Outwardly Gabriella remained unmoved by his outburst, but inwardly she was plagued by totally differing emotions. She was relieved that his totally disturbing presence was to be removed for several days. And she was dismayed at the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of his not being here for the same length of time.

  She was relieved, she told herself firmly. That feeling in the pit of her stomach was merely indigestion from having to try to be polite to him at the same time as she was trying to eat.

  That was all it was.

  ‘Well?’ he challenged, looming large in the small room. ‘Don’t you have a comment to make about that, too?’

  She met his angry gaze straight on. ‘Have a good trip…?’

  He drew in a deeply controlling breath as he continued to glare down at her, knowing she was deliberately baiting him. ‘I meant with regard to Holly!’

  She grimaced. ‘But you’ve told me not to make any more comments about your relationship with your daughter.’

  ‘And I take it this is one of those occasions where you choose to do as you’ve been told?’

  ‘Exactly!’ she confirmed sweetly.

  Rufus gave an impatient shake of his head, badly needing to get out of here. Before he shook her rather than his head! This certainly wasn’t his usual time of relaxation at home after a day at work. Gabriella had him wound up so tight he was in danger of exploding. And, as he knew from past experience, that explosion could take many forms.

  ‘Maybe there will be some sort of emergency that will keep me in New York for a month instead of a few days!’ he bit out forcefully. ‘It would be four weeks less that I would have to try living in the same house as you!’

  Not by so much as the twitch of a facial muscle did Gabriella show that his remark wounded.

  Because why should it?

  She had known from the onset that the last thing Rufus wanted to do was share a house with her, to be married to her, so why should she care when all he was doing was once again verbally confirming those feelings?

  She cared because of what had happened between them this afternoon…

  She really hadn’t expected to end up in bed with Rufus immediately after their wedding. In fact, it had been the very last thing she had expected to happen. But now that it had, she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

  They had been hungry, ravenous for each other, the moment they had stepped into the lift. In fact, they had barely made it to the bedroom at all before ripping each other’s clothes off!

  And it had been totally different from what had happened in Majorca. Then she had been full of girlish expectations, and had been hopelessly in love.

  This afternoon, despite the fact that it had been the first time for her, their lovemaking had been wild, uninhibited, and totally adult.

  What scared her was that it could happen again at any time.

  And what scared her even more was that it wouldn’t!

  How ridiculous was that?

  Rufus continued to look at her for several long seconds through narrowed lids, his gaze piercing, as if trying to see the thoughts behind her violet-blue eyes.

  Gabriella withstood his look for as long as she could, her own gaze cool, her expression still coldly challenging.

  Luckily it was long enough, with Rufus giving a disgusted snort before turning to leave.

  ‘Oh, and Rufus…?’ She stopped him at the door.

  He drew in a deeply controlling breath before slowly turning back to look at her. ‘Yes?’

  ‘I should hang onto the apartment, if I were you,’ she advised derisively. ‘For the future use of you and—whoever!’

  So that he had no doubts whatsoever that she wouldn’t be the one sharing that bed with him again!

  His pale green eyes glittered with angry need to retaliate as he glared down at her. ‘I’ll do that,’ he finally bit out mockingly. ‘For my future use with—whoever…’he added with soft challenge before turning and striding forcefully from the room.

  Gabriella heard a door slam further down the hallway seconds later, and could only presume he had gone to the room that used to be his father’s study, but was now his…

  She collapsed weakly down in her chair now that she was alone, at last giving into the bewilderment she had felt ever since leaving his apartment.

  She hadn’t been able to get out of there fast enough, after it had hit her what she had done. And she certainly had no intention of letting Rufus know he had been her first and only lover.

  She didn’t want him to ever know that.

  Chapter 5

  ‘Exactly what are you supposed to be doing?’

  Gabriella wobbled slightly at the top of the stepladder she was standing on, only just managing to keep her balance before turning to look down at Rufus as he stood at the bottom of the ladder staring up at her with critical eyes.

  She probably looked a mess, Gabriella acknowledged with an inward cringe. Her hair was tied back with a scarf but several tendrils had come loose to fall wispily about a face flushed and hot from her exertions. A face bare of make-up. And her purple tee shirt and black denims were looking a little the worse for wear, too, from where she had been removing paintings and dusty artificial plants from around the coffee-shop all morning. There was probably a smudge of dirt on her nose, too, knowing her luck!

  Whereas Rufus looked wonderful, as usual, in the dark business suit and cream shirt with matching tie he had worn in to work today.
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br />   Not that Gabriella had known that until now—the two of them had travelled separately into town this morning, Gabriella waiting until Rufus had left to drive himself to Gresham’s before catching a train, and this was the first time she had seen him since she’d arrived a couple of hours ago.

  ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ she came back impatiently as she carefully made her way down the stepladder.

  Losing her balance and falling into Rufus’s arms was the last thing she wanted to do after keeping him at arm’s length the whole weekend.

  Not that it had been all that difficult to do!

  Rufus, whether from habit, or because of Gabriella’s criticism Friday evening—or simply a desire to keep Holly safely away from her—had taken Holly into work with him on Saturday and then out for the day on Sunday, the two of them not arriving back at Gresham House until after dinner on both evenings, Rufus then putting Holly to bed before disappearing into the study for the rest of the evening.

  Leaving Gabriella to spend a very lonely weekend rattling around Gresham House on her own, a house definitely meant to hold a very large family rather than one lone, bored female.

  ‘I thought you said you were getting workmen in to deal with the refurbishment to the restaurant?’ Rufus frowned darkly. Gabriella was obviously working here alone, as sheets had been put up to cover in the area, and a closed notice outside with the announcement that Gabriella’s would be opening in two weeks’ time.

  That ‘closed’ notice, as far as Rufus was concerned, did not apply to him.

  ‘So I am.’ She reached the bottom of the ladder, dusting her hands together as she did so. ‘They’re starting tomorrow. But I thought I could do the preparation work myself, taking down all the old artwork and such,’ she dismissed with a shrug. ‘And I hate plastic plants.’ She wrinkled her nose delicately.

  ‘You prefer the real thing, do you?’ he mocked.

  Gabriella met his gaze steadily. ‘In everything, yes.’

  He hadn’t even been aware she was in the building until a member of his senior staff had mentioned the fact that it was good to see the work had started on the new restaurant.