'That isn't any reason for marrying,' she muttered and he agreed.
'No, and if you can't trust me there would be no point in getting married, either. We could still live together, couldn't we?'
Caro's whole body jerked in shock. 'Live together?'
'Come to America with me, we'll build this new store together. You understand how to run a store, I've never met anyone who had a mind like y
ours. If I weren't in love with you I'd want to employ you, you're worth your weight in gold.'
She had been angry when he'd told her he loved her because she'd been sure he was lying, but she was flattered now because she knew she was good at her job— she could believe Gil when he said she understood how to run a store. It was true. She did. She had spent most of her life listening to her father, working in stores, thinking about ways to run them, arguing with her father about her ideas and often being frustrated because if their ideas clashed it was Fred Ramsgate's plans which went ahead while hers were pushed aside.
'My father would go crazy,' she said slowly, imagining her father's face.
'Let him. I'm not scared of your father,' Gil said, shrugging.
'Neither am I!' she protested. 'But I love him and I don't want to hurt him or make him angry. If I leave him and go to work for you, he won't understand, he'll be knocked for six.'
Gil's dark eyes were hard, glittering. 'It's a difficult choice for you, then. I guessed it would be—I've realised how much your father has always dominated you, and I'm not prepared to let him go on dictating your life, Caro, not if we're going to be together from now on. It's either him or me. You can't belong to us both.'
Her heart hurt her at the thought of belonging to Gil. Could she bear to lose him? Even if she didn't quite believe he meant what he said about loving her, could she bear to see him go away to the other side of the earth, when he was offering to take her with him? But the thought of explaining all this to her father! She flinched from the prospect. Fred would be so furious. His daughter, living with a man she hadn't married, working for him rather than for her own father! She could imagine his face. Fred had solid, old-fashioned, immovable ideas. He believed in marriage and family. He thought she owed him all her loyalty, as his daughter. He had trained her, she should repay him. Fred was firmly rooted in an earlier time, and she had always loved him for that, for the stability and security, the unfailing affection he had always given her.
She was tired after a very long, arduous day—it wasn't easy to think clearly. Her thoughts kept dissolving into chaos. But how would she ever know Gil really wanted her? What about Miranda? What about his resentment over her father's buying Westbrooks? She remembered that tense meeting in the boardroom; Gil's face whenever she looked at him. A new thought suddenly occurred to her, a question she had been meaning to ask him—and she asked it then.
'Gil, why wasn't Damian Shaw at the meeting this morning?'
Gill stiffened visibly. 'Why? Were you looking forward to seeing him again?' he asked with roughness in his voice.
'No,' she said mildly, watching him. 'But I had expected to—where was he?'
'I told him I didn't need him any more.' Gil's face was dark red, he looked irritable. Caro's heart missed a beat.
'Why did you do that?'
'I can't stand the man,' Gil said through his teeth, and she felt a strange breathlessness.
'Don't pretend you were jealous!'
Gil laughed shortly. 'Jealous? Nothing of the kind. My decision had nothing to do with you at all. I just decided I didn't want him working for me any more.'
He was lying now. She was sure of it. Gil was jealous. He wasn't faking that look; she saw the black glitter of his eyes and knew it was genuine.
'After the way he cheated you, you'd have to be insane to want to see him again, anyway,' Gil bit out, and she was absolutely certain then. Gil had got rid of Damian because he was afraid she might still be interested in him.
That didn't mean Gil loved her, of course, but it did mean that Gil wasn't sure of her. He didn't know, for sure, that she loved him, as Caro had been afraid he did. Of course, it might merely mean that Gil wanted no rivals around because he planned to marry her for her father's money, as Damian had wanted to do. Her brows met. The comparison was crazy—Gil Martell was no Damian. She knew Gil so well now. He wasn't the same type at all. Damian had been smooth and charming. Gil was neither. He was direct, outspoken to the point of being rude, and infuriating. How could she ever have even considered the idea of Gil's being another Damian?
Gil had watched her, his face dark. 'You don't still think about him, do you, Caro?' he asked uncertainly, and she smiled at him, shaking her head.
'Only with distaste.'
Gil's face cleared and he laughed. 'Well, that's a relief.' He held out his hand. 'Come with me, Caro,' he said huskily, and she wished she had the courage to say yes without even hesitating. She wanted him so much, she would die if she couldn't have him. She took a long, painful breath and then she slowly put her hand in his, sighing.
'I must be mad.'
Gil bent his dark head and kissed her hand. 'No, darling, you're the sanest person I've ever met, and I love you.' He pulled her into his arms and sought her mouth, breathing her name softly. 'I love you,' he said again, kissing her, and Caro said it back passionately.
'I love you, Gil...'
She felt his body tremble, felt the wild beating of his heart against her, and happiness made her want to sing, because she believed him suddenly. His body couldn't lie to her; the hunger surging in it was as true as the earth beneath her feet. Gil loved her. He loved her.