Her beautiful blue eyes hardened and narrowed. “What’s in it for you, Damien?”
He returned her look with a level one of his own. “I want to help Russell. I owe him a lot.”
Seconds ticked by. “That’s commendable of you,” she said somewhat sourly.
His mouth tightened. “I admire Russell and what he’s achieved.”
“And look at the price he paid for it,” she pointed out. “He lost his wife and then his daughter, and now he’s losing his company. Don’t admire him, Damien. Pity him.”
“So why aren’t you?” he challenged, and saw her startled look. “Come on, Gabrielle. Tell me. Why aren’t you showing your father some pity?”
She bridled. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Under protest.”
She dropped her gaze to the table. “That may be so, but I do love my father nonetheless.” Her eyelashes lifted. “But even if I wanted to help more, there are limits to what I can do.”
“How do you know? You haven’t even tried.”
Her lip curled with sarcasm. “Your understanding amazes me.”
He took his time before saying what needed to be said. “You’re the only one who can save the company from ruin, Gabrielle.”
“What about my mother?” she said as sudden hope swept across her face. “Perhaps I can sign over the shares to her and she could stop Keiran from taking over the company. She only needs to put in an appearance and you could do the rest.”
“You would ask that of your mother? When she’s having a hard enough time as it is?”
“Yet it’s okay to ask it of me?” She grimaced, and a slight flush tinged her cheeks. “That sounded selfish. I didn’t mean it like that.”
He inclined his head. “Caroline’s got enough on her plate looking after your father right now.”
She raised her chin. “And if I don’t choose to be a part of this?”
“I don’t think you’d forgive yourself if your parents lost everything.”
She exhaled a long, ragged breath. “You really know how to tighten the thumb screws, don’t you?”
“Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do but we do them anyway.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll try,” she snapped. “But once my father’s on the mend, I’ll be leaving and going back to Sydney. Don’t forget that.”
“You’ve already made that clear.” But he was more than satisfied.
For the moment.
She placed her napkin on the table and pushed to her feet. “Somehow I’ve lost my appetite. I think I’ll go to my room. Good night.”
It was more than clear she wanted time alone. Time he could afford to give her.
He inclined his head. “Good night, Gabrielle,” he said, watching her walk away with a sway to her h*ps that would draw any man’s attention. Yet he wasn’t just any man. He’d been her lover, if not her confidant.
And she’d walked out on him without a proper goodbye. It had left a loss he only recognized now that he’d seen her again. A loss that went deeper than he’d expected. And because of it, he could feel an odd sort of anger simmering beneath the surface. An anger he wasn’t ready to face. Perhaps once he had enough of her body he’d never have to face it.
Three
G abrielle retired to the spare bedroom and stood looking out the window at the harbor. Being around Damien wasn’t conducive to being clear-minded. He always seemed to be watching her, waiting for her to lower her guard. And keeping up that guard was exhausting when she had other things to think about.
God, it was mind-boggling that her father had given her forty percent of the shares in the business. Of course, she thought cynically, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to give her the remaining sixty percent of the shares—not that she wanted them.
No, he’d been hedging his bets. He’d given her limited control of the business, but had withheld twenty percent of the shares for himself just in case his incapacitation had proven temporary. And that was predictably her father. He could never let go of total control.
As for Keiran holding forty percent of the shares, well, that was a justified worry. Her cousin had always had his eye on the main chance, no matter what had been at stake, whether it be tripping her up as a kid so he could jump in the swimming pool first, or trying to suck up to her father during her parents’ separation. She had no doubt Keiran was capable of anything. She disliked him intensely. He was the one person who should not be in charge of a multimillion-dollar business.
As for Damien, it was typical he hadn’t told her about this before now. If she didn’t know him better, she’d think he was just like Keiran, keeping secrets to himself and using them for his own benefit.
Only, she knew he wasn’t like Keiran.
Not at all.
Damien wasn’t underhanded, just arrogant. She couldn’t see Damien tripping anyone to get in the pool first. He just wasn’t that kind of person. Damien would manipulate to get what he wanted—oh, yes, and he was good at that—but there was a difference. Damien wasn’t the type to lie or cheat if confronted over an issue. If Damien said something, he meant it. If he gave his word, he would stand by it.
Heavens, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she’d ever be spending another night sleeping under Damien’s roof. And in separate bedrooms, too. And that was just as well. He’d been a sensual man when she’d met him and she knew he hadn’t changed. She could still feel the sensuality rolling off him in waves. Even now she remembered the force of his desire from the day she’d walked into that function with her father and she’d felt the pull of a man’s eyes from across the room.
Damien.
It had been that strong.
But that’s all it had ever been with him. She’d only ever known him in the physical sense, never the emotional one. For two glorious months over a tropical summer it had been all about sex and attraction on his part, while she’d fallen headlong in love with him.
And she’d wanted him to love her in return, only it was never going to happen. She’d realized that the day she’d left home for good. It had given her the strength not to look back. If she had, she would have weakened and gone running into his arms.
But not into his heart.
It had taken her years to get over him, but time and distance had put things into perspective. It had been lust, not love. Attraction, not affinity. It was important to remember that, she decided as the adrenaline pumped through her veins, taking her a long time to fall asleep. Once she did, exhaustion gave her some blessed relief from the relentless thoughts going through her head, and when she stepped into the kitchen the next morning, she felt more rested than she’d dared hope.
Until she saw Damien standing at the counter, contemplating the mug of coffee in his hands as if it held the secrets to life itself. He obviously hadn’t heard her enter because he didn’t move. Strange, but he looked sort of…lonely.
She must have made a sound because his head shot up, and a seductive glint slid straight into his eyes. “Ah, the prodigal daughter has awoken,” he drawled, his gaze going over her red sleeveless dress cinched at the waist with a belt of the same material, and matching leather pumps.
“And good morning to you, too,” she said coolly, forcing herself to ignore the pull of his physical appearance. So what if he was dressed in dark trousers and a white shirt that looked like they’d been born on him?
A lazy moment passed by as Damien considered her, then he placed his mug on the counter behind him. “I phoned the hospital earlier. Russell’s doing as well as expected.”
Her heart fluttered with anxiety at the reminder of her father. “Thank you. I was going to call shortly myself.” She moved toward the percolator on the counter, badly needing her morning cup of coffee. “I plan on going to see him soon.”
“They said not to come until this afternoon. Apparently they’ve got a couple of doctors checking him over this morning.” He must have seen her give a start. “Your mother said it was nothing to worry about.”
Her panic subsided as she poured coffee into a cup. “Then I can go see Keiran instead. I planned on it, anyway.”
“Aah, so that’s why you’re dressed like that.”
Something in his voice made her look up, and she found his eyes sliding over her again, making her catch her breath. She put the coffeepot back with a shaky hand and tried to act casual. “I’m not about to go into my father’s office in jeans and a tank top.”
“Might get some favorable comments.”
“More likely they’d direct me to the janitor’s room,” she quipped, looking at him over the top of her coffee cup.
All at once he smiled. A rare smile that knocked her off balance. For a moment she could only stare at him across the width of the room.
Then that smile faded and something in those eyes darkened and he moved forward, making her heart drop to her knees. He stopped right in front of her, took the cup out of her hand then placed it on the counter beside her.
“It’s been a long time, Gabrielle,” he said huskily, in a voice so Australian, so thick and delicious, it swirled around her heart like a long-lost friend. “Miss me?”
She swallowed. “Does a bear miss a toothache?” she managed to say, the breathlessness in her voice disturbing her.
He gave a soft laugh and slid his hands over her shoulders with an ease that only an ex-lover can have. “Hmm. I like your hair this length.” Provocatively, one finger coiled around some blond strands that curled below her neck. “It suits you.”
She shivered as his warm breath wafted over her and wrapped her in its minty scent. It seemed like only yesterday when she would have leaned into the hard wall of his chest and relished his strength. And only yesterday that they had made love with a passion that had stolen her breath away.
“You’re even more beautiful than I remember,” he murmured, his hands sliding down to her hips.
Up close, his green gaze was a caress, his male scent too enticing, the tension between them building, overwhelming her, restricting her breathing, making her forget that never again had she wanted to be close enough to see into the irises of his emerald eyes…or the grain of his skin as it weaved and dipped its way over a strong nose and lean cheekbones…nor had she ever wanted to touch the fullness of his lips, to know she’d once ached to have them on her body.
“Stop it,” she whispered, hating herself for letting him affect her like this.
“Stop what?”
“Damien…”
“Gabi…”
Gabi. He’d only ever called her that once before. He’d been thrusting inside her and she’d been welcoming each plunge of his body. They’d reached their cli**x together. It had been the only time she’d felt his equal, and not some young woman who’d been the daughter of his business partner.
All at once she had to get out of the kitchen.
It was too small.