‘I had unanswered questions.’
Dented masculine pride. The same reason he had offered her that deal all those months ago. He didn’t love her, and he hadn’t charged down to Somerset like a knight in shining armour to try and persuade her to come back. He had come down because, in the end, he just had to win. He had to have the last word.
‘If you break off this phoney engagement after a week there’s a chance your mother will be more affected than if you leave it a bit longer.’
‘I have no idea how you work that one out.’
‘Leave it longer and it gives you more time to ease her into the notion that we’re just not suited.’ He shrugged eloquently. ‘Of course, having never been in this situation before, I’m only throwing out ideas. Far be it from me to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do.’
Lucy looked at him narrowly. Since when had Gabriel ever shied away from telling people what they could or couldn’t do? When it came to voicing his opinions he was anything but the shrinking violet.
‘People don’t suddenly stop being suited to each other in the space of a few days and hard on the heels of cementing their engagement with a ring.’ He eyed her finger with a jaundiced expression. ‘And I’d like to say that if that were a genuine engagement ring from me it wouldn’t look like something straight out of a Christmas cracker.’
‘Believe it or not, I didn’t put a lot of thought into it. It was the cheapest thing on offer. I was going to try and return it for a refund.’
Gabriel flushed, because that slice of cynicism didn’t sit well on her and he knew she had arrived at that place because of him. On the plus side, it never paid to live in cloud cuckoo land. He had done her a favour.
‘Sleep on it.’ He stood up and stretched. ‘It’s been a long drive for me. Where can I find some linen?’
Lucy sprang up. So he wasn’t going to try anything. Well, good! At least her message on that front had been received loud and clear.
She disappeared, to return moments later with an armful of linen. All the stuff she kept for when any of her friends happened to sleep over, if they had had too much to drink and needed a bed for the night.
Once upstairs, she feverishly tried to view the situation from every angle, and from every angle it seemed to be a mess. She was also horribly aware of Gabriel downstairs on the sofa. Grudgingly, she had to admit to herself that he had been pretty sanguine about the whole thing. He had also been generous in his forgiveness of her father’s upsetting theft from his company—a complete U-turn from his stance of not wanting to hear a thing about a situation he had condemned as morally inexcusable.
He had made no waves over dinner. He had also given her no opportunity to jump in and announce that their so-called engagement was over, but now, thinking about it, perhaps he was right. One week didn’t seem like a long time in which to have decided that their relationship was dead and buried. Leave it a bit longer and she could begin to work on her parents. Disappointment was easier to swallow if it was offered up in stages. A rueful sigh here, a mournful turn of phrase there… Maybe she could even send Gabriel overseas! Perhaps turn him into a world-traveller who couldn’t possibly sustain a marriage because he was never in the country!
Her parents would have to agree that she couldn’t possibly marry a man who practically lived in Australia! She could even send him to New Zealand, where he could become neighbours with her fictitious boyfriend and his fictitious wife and baby….
Reluctantly she had to concede that she had concocted too many half-truths. Throwing any more into the cauldron would certainly spell disaster.
It was a restless night, and when she awoke the following morning and, having changed into her work clothes, tentatively ventured downstairs, it was to find the house empty. Both Gabriel and Freddy were missing. But her peace was short-lived. No sooner had she buttered her slice of toast than there was the sound of the front door slamming shut and Freddy’s excited yelps.
‘Hope you don’t mind….’ Gabriel had clearly not brought a change of clothes, and he was now wet from the fine, grey drizzle outside. ‘Thought I’d put in a couple of hours’ work and take your mutt for a walk.’
‘Shouldn’t you be getting back to London?’
‘In due course.’ He made himself at home in the kitchen, fixing them both coffee and seemingly knowing where everything was to be found.
Lucy followed his movements compulsively. Too well could she recall those weekends at his place, having breakfast together, planning what they would do over the days that had always seemed way too short. Often the breakfast would only be half eaten, because they couldn’t keep their hands off one another. On one memorable occasion they had actually made love in the kitchen—fast, hard love that had left her limp and blissfully happy.
Guiltily she averted her eyes, because it no longer seemed appropriate to be staring at him. She had forfeited that right when she had walked away, and she had walked away because she had been stupid enough to fall in love and smart enough to realise that leaving was her only protection.
Except look where she was now!
‘You’re dressed for work. Why are you dressed for work?’ he asked.
‘Because that’s where I’m going.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘Why?’
‘I’d like to meet your friends there.’ He was already slinging on his coat, giving Freddy one last pat.
‘Freddy comes with me. And why do you want to meet my friends?’
‘Just showing a natural curiosity about my fiancée’s life.’
‘I am not your fiancée and they don’t even know that I’m…we’re…’
Gabriel feigned shock. ‘So the storyline is purely for the benefit of your parents?’
‘That was the plan.’
‘You weren’t thinking straight when you concocted it, in that case. If the vicar knows, half the village probably does as well. Won’t your work friends feel hurt that you didn’t share the good tidings with them?’
‘This is crazy…’ Lucy found herself being gently led out of the house with Freddy running round in mad circles behind her.
‘Crazy in a not very well-thought-out way…’ Gabriel murmured.
‘You’re wet,’ Lucy replied inanely.
‘Which is why, as soon as we break the good news to your gardening pals, I’m going to get myself down to the nearest shops and buy some clothes….’
‘No!’ She spun round to face him and felt a little giddy. ‘This is all getting completely out of hand.’
‘You should have thought of that when you embarked on your well-intentioned charade. You should have realised that your parents weren’t to know that they had to keep this engagement a deep, dark secret. Maybe you should have told them that…but I suppose that wouldn’t have tallied with true love and romance…’
Lucy fancied she could hear amusement and sarcasm in his voice and she stiffened. ‘No. It wouldn’t,’ she told him shortly. ‘They would have found it really hard to understand us falling into bed just for the fun of it. They wouldn’t have got it. I’m not your type and you’re definitely not mine. I’m not going in your car, Gabriel. I need to take Freddy, and he won’t fit in a sports car.’
‘In which case, I’ll follow you.’
‘You don’t have to do that!’ Lucy exploded. ‘I suppose I’ll have to mention something, if Mum’s been telling everyone in the village, but if they see you, then they’re going to know that it’s all a sham!’
‘Because…?’
‘Because they know me, and they know that I’d never go for you. At least not as far as getting engaged!’
She stormed over to her car and yanked open the door. She was shaking like a leaf. She hated herself for knowing that, deep down, she would have loved nothing better than to be wearing a real ring on her finger, to be secure in a real engagement and looking forward to a real wedding. She hated him for being able to carry on with a farcical engagement because it really didn
’t trouble him one way or another. He was not emotionally invested. He could afford to look at the bigger picture and have a conscience about the situation. Maybe he felt guilty that he hadn’t listened to her in the first place when she had tried to explain about her father. Maybe he felt compassion because he had not had a mother for most of his life and, as he said, he didn’t want to be responsible for damaging hers. He could afford to be as cool as a cucumber while she was a seething mass of conflicting emotions.
Freddy leapt into the back of the beaten-up Land Rover and leaned over the passenger seat, for all the world as if he was truly interested in the scene being played out by the driver’s door.
‘And something else…’ She pulled up the hood of her cardigan and glared at him. She had a driving need to get under his skin. He was just so stunning and so controlled. He had been a bad choice, but all she could remember when she looked at him was how wonderfully happy he had made her. ‘I bet you haven’t even thought about the practicalities of what happens if this stupid phoney engagement continues!’
‘Explain.’ Her eyes were the colour of stormy seas, enormous in her small heart-shaped face. He just had to look at her and his libido went into overdrive. He had stopped trying to find an explanation for that phenomenon. No longer would he beat himself up with the fact that he could still get turned on by a woman who had managed to go against every rule and regulation he had always made sure to lay down about relationships with the opposite sex.
A phoney engagement? This was the stuff of pure horror movies, as far as Gabriel was concerned, and yet, staring down into those sea-green eyes, he could still feel his manhood rising magnificently and inappropriately to the occasion.
‘What am I supposed to do at the weekends? Where am I supposed to go?’
‘London.’ Gabriel shrugged. ‘Your visits can taper off in due course.’
‘London?’ Lucy practically shrieked. ‘And what am I supposed to do when I’m hiding out in London? Where am I supposed to stay?’
‘I’m your so-called fiancée,’ Gabriel remarked drily. ‘Join the dots.’
‘Stay with you?’
‘Unless,’ he murmured, ‘you think that I might overstep the mark?’
‘I’m not saying that.’ Of course he wouldn’t overstep the mark. His mocking voice was reminder enough that he was over her, that he was simply rolling with the punches.
She resented the fact that she should be grateful to him for not laying his cards on the table when he had visited her parents. He could have told them that it had all been a ridiculous lie—could have left her parents distraught and mistrustful of her for ever.
‘Then what other reason could there be not to accept the most obvious solution?’
‘So I’d stay with you…?’
‘It makes more sense than hiding under your kitchen table and praying that no one comes to the door. I don’t have to do this, Lucy. Consider it a friendly gesture in recognition of the time we spent together.’
‘A friendly gesture…?’ Why didn’t she like that terminology?
Gabriel spread his hands wide and shot her a slow, toe-curling smile. ‘What else? As you’ve been at pains to point out, we’re not each other’s type…so there won’t be any risk of either of us straying outside the boundaries, will there?’
CHAPTER NINE
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS saw a change in their relationship. Lucy had reluctantly agreed to continue her weekend visits to London, but if she had expected those visits to be awkward and argumentative then she found that she had been mistaken.
Gabriel had moved from being the perfect lover to the perfect host. They went sightseeing. London was explored with the methodical precision of a military campaign. Maps and guidebooks were brought out and consulted. Art galleries were visited. In the evenings—Friday and Saturday—they would eat out in expensive formal restaurants.
Every weekend the guest room awaited her, with the bed neatly made and towels freshly laid out in the adjoining bathroom. They would return from their meals and the second they were in his house he would remove himself to his office. She would be left to contemplate the indifference of the empty bed and the fresh towels.
Gone was any hint of flirtation. Just like that. It was as though they had never slept together. At least insofar as he was concerned. For Lucy, being in his presence and not being able to touch him was agonising. Her fingers seemed poised to stroke his face or rest lightly on his arm, her lips were primed to kiss him, her whole body yearned for the feel of his. She longed for the easy laughter and the teasing. The absence of any physical contact was a continuing wake-up call to the role she had really played in his life. He might have made love to her with consummate passion, but in the end he could detach from all of that as though it had never happened.
He always spoke to her during the week, and she had become accustomed to receiving his calls. They were a guilty pleasure even though there was nothing in them that could be construed as intimate or, as he had said weeks ago, overstepping the boundaries.
After that first flush of realising that she was in love with him, and knowing that her only salvation lay in escape before she could be sucked deeper into the hopeless situation in which she had found herself, Lucy knew that she was sinking fast into a routine that was equally destructive. Buying time before she told her parents that the engagement was off was just a handy excuse. Deep down she knew that what she really needed to do was cut all ties with Gabriel and suffer the withdrawal symptoms, however long it took.
They were no longer lovers, and she gave herself long, scornful lectures on how transitory any feelings he had for her had been, but she still found herself in a state of excitement as Friday rolled round and her trip to London was underway.
He usually sent his driver for her, but today, as she walked out of the station, her heart gave a treacherous little lurch at the sight of him leaning against the car, coolly elegant in a charcoal-grey hand-tailored suit. He must have come directly from work. Her mouth was dry as she walked towards him, shading her eyes from the cold winter glare of the sun.
‘What are you doing here?’ Lucy asked, surprised.
‘Now, now—is that any way to greet your fiancé?’ Dark eyes gave her the once-over, taking in the soft full mouth, the slender body underneath the swinging coat, her very blond, very long hair that trailed over her shoulders and down her back underneath the navy blue woollen hat pulled low to her eyes. He could never get enough of looking at her.
She flushed. This was one of those rare times when she could detect that lazy teasing in his voice that still had the power to make her feel self-conscious.
‘Tell me how your trip was,’ he encouraged as they settled into the back seat and his driver slowly pulled away from the kerb. ‘And tell me what’s happening with your friends at the garden centre….’
Lucy sighed. It was way too easy to talk to him. ‘They’re all fine. The same. I’ve… I’ve begun to sow some seeds of doubt, Gabriel…you know… It’s been a few weeks, and people are beginning to ask questions…wanting to know when the big day is going to be….’ She sneaked a sideways glance at him but couldn’t read anything from his expression. ‘I’ve been doing the same with Mum and Dad,’ she continued reluctantly. ‘They’re away this weekend. They left last night and won’t be back until Sunday evening. I’m hoping that they’ll think about the stuff I said.’
‘Which was what, exactly?’
‘Oh, just that we hadn’t been getting along lately. You know—I harped on about how different we were…. I mean, I didn’t lay it on too thick. I just think that it’s time for us to really start…ending this. Mum showed me those magazines and tried to drag me along to see the vicar, which I managed to avoid, but it’s getting a little tricky and I’m fed up having to pretend. I…I just want to move on with the rest of my life, and I know you want that, too…so…’
‘What makes you think that you know what I want?’
‘I feel like I’m standing still
, and I don’t like having to skirt around uncomfortable questions. I don’t want to have to see that little pile of bridal magazines in the basket by the television at my parents’ house. I don’t like the person I’ve become… I’ve always been honest. Sometimes I don’t even recognise myself.’
‘So, we’ve suddenly stopped getting along and things are tricky between us…?’
‘With any luck this might be the last weekend I come to London.’ She stared out of the window without blinking. ‘I think when I get back home I’ll just break it to them that it’s over.’ She turned to him and threw him a faint smile. ‘I shall have to make sure I keep Mum away from the trashy weeklies. I wouldn’t want her to see a picture of you in a week’s time and think how fast you’ve recovered from your so-called engagement.’
Her voice was steady but her breathing was laboured. She’d always known that things would have to be dealt with sooner rather than later, but every word she’d spoken had still come as a surprise. It was as though someone else had decided to take charge, so that the words emerged as shocking as though they had been spoken by a third party.
She didn’t dare look at Gabriel. She didn’t want to see his expression of relief.
‘I take it that you’ll put in a suitable time of mourning before you move on…?’
Lucy hated that polite voice. It was the voice that told her that they were just friends. She felt she might hit him if he suggested that they keep in touch…as friends….
‘Mum and Dad will understand. They know that not everything works out according to plan, and I’ve learnt a lot from this.’
‘Enlighten me.’
‘Well, for a start, it’s made me see that one small white lie can snowball,’ she told him truthfully.
Her mouth was talking and making sense, but all she could see was the void opening up in front of her. Their last weekend. The ring of finality made her feel sick.
‘When I meet the man of my dreams I’m not going to play any games or tell any little white lies.’
The Notorious Gabriel DiazRuthless Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress Page 14