“Yes.” But she wasn’t going to be a martyr about it. When you loved someone you protected them from harm. That’s all she’d been doing. “There’s something else I have to tell you,” she said, wanting it all out in the open.
He stiffened. “What?”
“Keiran tried to blackmail me. He said I had to leave and not come back.” She went on to tell him about it, knowing she had to be completely honest. “And this morning I went to see him at his girlfriend’s house. He slapped me, Damien,” she said, putting her hand to her cheek.
Damien sucked in a sharp breath as he came around the desk toward her. “The bastard,” he growled, tenderly cupping her chin so that he could see her cheek, his eyes so dark she thought they might never return to their true green color. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”
Her heart softened even more at his concern. “I’m okay. But it didn’t get him anywhere in the end. I fired him.”
“You did what!”
“I fired him. I couldn’t let him get away with it.”
A flash of admiration crossed his face. “I’m not sure Russell deserves you.” He dropped his hand but watched her in silence for a moment. “Neither do I.”
Suddenly she felt like she was losing him. “Damien—”
He twisted around and walked back to his desk. “You’re free to go.”
She blinked. “Go?”
“Leave,” he said in a brusque tone, looking up at her. “I won’t stop you from taking your things and going back to Sydney. I won’t contest a divorce.”
Her heart squeezed tight. “Damien, I—”
“Mr. Trent,” a male voice cut across her as a young man walked into the office. “They’re ready to resume the—” He stopped short when he saw Gabrielle.
Damien inclined his head. “Thank you, Liam. I’ll be along shortly.”
The young man nodded, his eyes darting back to Damien. “Um, Mr. Marsden said he doesn’t have much time.”
“Too bad,” Damien snapped.
“Yes, sir,” Liam said, flushing, then left the room in a hurry.
Gabrielle looked at Damien. Time was running out, in more ways than one. “Damien, I—”
“You don’t have to worry about your father,” he cut across her. “I’ll continue to work at Kane’s and help out until Russell gets back on his feet. James can take on more responsibility, too.” He picked up some papers and got to his feet. “As for me personally…no doubt I’ll survive.”
She went to speak, to tell him she loved him. It was on the tip of her tongue, but suddenly she could hear voices out in the corridor and the moment was lost. You didn’t tell a man you loved him when he had people waiting and a major deal to close.
Damien strode past her, leaving behind a whiff of sandalwood aftershave. “Goodbye, Gabrielle.”
His words ripped through her but she let him go, his back ramrod straight, his mind already blanking her out. She understood him now. She knew he was hurting, and that the only way to ease the pain was to stop feeling at all. He must have done that many a time when his parents ignored him.
Only, didn’t he know by now that the pain didn’t go away just because you blocked it out? It was there and would always be there. Unless you came to terms with it.
Well, she wasn’t about to let him block her out. She wasn’t going to do what his parents did and leave him to cope alone. She would make things right between them. How, she wasn’t sure, except that she loved him and she would find a way to show him how much.
The first step was not to let him push her out of his life, she decided, taking the elevator down to the underground car park where she’d left her Porsche. Maybe by the time she got home she’d have figured out how to go about things.
Damien didn’t know how he was stopping himself from going out and finding Keiran and giving the other man a taste of his own medicine. God, how could Keiran have hit a woman, and his own cousin, too? How could he have hit Gabrielle! It was the sign of a coward and a bully, and Keiran had well and truly burned his bridges with the Kane family now. The new Russell wouldn’t stand for his daughter being abused…not that Russell ever would have, despite his drinking problem causing Gabrielle to leave five years ago.
And if Keiran knew what was good for him, he’d better sell back those shares to Russell and get the hell out of town. He’d see that it would happen. Gabrielle wouldn’t have to put up with—Oh God, Gabrielle wouldn’t be around.
She was leaving.
And, dammit, he was sitting here at this interminable meeting when all he wanted to do was go back to the apartment to see if she had truly left. Of course, there’d been no reason why she wouldn’t have left. He certainly hadn’t given her a reason to stay. It wasn’t as if he loved her or anything.
Like an onrushing wind, all at once he realized he did love her. No second-guessing. No thoughts of denial. Just sheer certainty that she filled his heart and made him complete. She’s the one he’d been secretly waiting for deep within his heart.
Love surged inside his chest as he jumped to his feet. He couldn’t wait a moment more. He had to talk to her before she left. This morning he’d almost had a heart attack when he’d come home and found her suitcase gone. He’d gone to her parents’ house, praying she was there, determined to make her stay. This time he would ask her not to go.
Striding around the conference table, he apologized to John Madsen citing an urgent family situation, handed over to his second in command, then left the room.
But as he rode down the elevator to the car park below the building, his gut twisted with panic. Five years ago she’d left without telling anyone. Would she do that again? She could even catch a plane to somewhere else and not Sydney. He might never see her again. God, he hoped he hadn’t left it too late.
His heart in his mouth, he stormed into the apartment ten minutes later. If she’d gone…
“Damien!” she exclaimed, coming out of the kitchen with a surprised look on her face.
He strode forward and drew her close. “Thank God,” he uttered, holding her as tight as he could, terrified of her leaving, never wanting to let her go again.
She pulled back and looked at him, a question in her eyes, asking what this was all about. “You didn’t have to come home yet.”
“Yes, I did.”
Delight flashed across her face then banked. “But I would have still been here tonight.”
“Gabrielle, you can’t leave. I—” He realized what she’d said. His brow rose, as did his hopes. “You would?”
Her eyes softened. “Yes, Damien, I would.”
He held his breath. “For how long?”
“For as long as you want me,” she said gently.
A lump welled in his throat. His hands tightened around her waist. “Darling, I’m never letting you out of my sight again. Never.”
A soft gasp escaped her. “Damien, what are you saying?”
His chest filled with love. “The first time I set eyes on you, you stole my heart. The second time, you stole my soul.”
“Are you saying…” She moistened her mouth, then started again. “Are you saying that you love me?”
“More than life itself,” he said in a grated whisper.
Tears swamped her blue eyes. “I never thought… Oh God, I love you, too. I wanted to tell you, but there was too much between us.”
A tear spilled down her cheek and he wiped it away with his finger. She looked vulnerable, and he wanted to make it better. There was only one way he knew how to do that. His mouth slowly descended to meet her lips.
He kissed her tenderly, fascinated by how soft her mouth felt. Soft and warm and all woman. Yet something was different. Something that made his throat convulse with sheer wonder. Love made the difference. It was right there, in the open. Neither of them could hide behind their fears any longer, not even if they had wanted to.
He broke off the kiss and stroked her hair. “Darling, I’m so sorry about our baby. You went through hell and I’ll understand if you don’t want more children.”
She shook her head ever so slightly. “I want to have your children, Damien. And with you by my side I’ll have the strength to look forward, not backward.” Her eyes filled with regret. “Can you forgive me for not telling you about the miscarriage?”
He put his finger against her lips. “Shh. There’s nothing to forgive. We’ll both always be sad at what we lost, but if we have each other, the pain can be shared.” He kissed her gently. “This is the way our lives are meant to be. We had to be apart so that we could find out we belonged together.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears. “I think you’re right.”
“I know I am.”
Her lips curved even as she blinked to clear her eyes of moisture. “Oh, I forgot who I was talking to for a minute, there.”
She was the sexiest woman he knew. And she deserved to be teased right back. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you forget ever again.” He swooped her up in his arms.
“Where are we going?”
He stopped to look down at the woman who had taken his empty heart and filled it to overflowing with love. “To our bedroom. I need to show you how much I love you.”
Her eyes sparkled so brightly they took his breath away. “What a good idea.”
He smiled at her. “I’m full of good ideas.”
She ran her fingers along his chin. “You know, this all sounds like a takeover, Mr. Trent.”
He kissed her. “No, a merger, Mrs. Trent.” Then with everything he ever wanted right there in his arms, he strode toward their bedroom.
Toward their future.
Epilogue
Six weeks later, Gabrielle and Damien renewed their wedding vows in a moving ceremony in the back garden of her parents’ mansion. As she walked down the makeshift aisle, her father looked so proud, her mother smiling through her tears. Eileen Phillips had come up from Sydney, along with her daughters, Kayla and Lara.
Damien’s “family” was represented by Brant and Kia, and Flynn and Danielle. Gabrielle had grown to love the other two women over the past few weeks, pleased they had welcomed her into their own private circle of friendship. But more than that she was thankful Brant and Flynn had been there for Damien all these years when he had needed someone to love him unconditionally.
As for the man himself…she looked ahead…and there he was in front of her.
Damien.
He was so handsome. So right for her. He made her feel beautiful and special and needed, and she knew he would make her feel like that for the rest of her life. Love did that to a person.
Her heart accelerated as her father let go of her arm and handed her over to her husband, not as a symbol of possession like she once would have thought, but of love. She went toward Damien willingly.
Later, at the reception, after they’d danced around the wooden floor under the marquee, he drew her away from the crowd to a secluded area amongst the ferns. The tropical moon shone down on them through the palm trees as Damien pulled her into his arms. “I need a kiss from my newish bride,” he murmured.