Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand

‘If necessary, yes!’ Rufus rasped harshly, not even able to look at Gabriella at that moment.

Disappointed didn’t really begin to describe how he felt about her.

After seeing the way she had worked so hard clearing out the restaurant this morning, the charm she had exerted over his work colleagues during lunch, and her uninhibited response to him here only minutes later, he had started to wonder if he might not have misjudged her after all.

He had momentarily forgotten that all Gabriella was interested in was her twenty-five million pounds! In fact, if she really was involved with Toby, then Toby was absolutely right; whether she stayed with him or eventually went to Toby, Gabriella was in a win-win situation.

His anger was all the stronger, he knew, because he had started to doubt the opinion he had always had of her.

But not any more. Never again could he allow his physical need of her to overshadow what he knew to be the true Gabriella.

‘Still here, Toby?’ he dismissed hardly.

His cousin shrugged. ‘I thought if I hung around a while I might get to see a bit of genuine wife-beating!’

Gabriella’s startled gaze moved sharply to Rufus’s rigidly set features, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

Rufus’s mouth tightened to a thin line as he saw the uncertain way Gabriella was looking at him. Damn it, he had never struck a woman in his life, and he certainly wasn’t going to start with her. No matter how much she provoked him!

‘That may be your way of dealing with things, Toby,’ he told his cousin disgustedly. ‘But, personally, I abhor physical violence to anyone.’

‘Pity.’ Toby grinned unconcernedly. ‘As I said, Gabriella, just call me when you can’t stand being with the pompous bastard a moment longer. I promise I’ll be waiting!’

Rufus’s hands clenched at his sides as he watched Toby swagger out, taut with tension, knowing that, despite his denial, he was closer to hitting someone at that moment than he had ever been in his life before.

‘Rufus—’

‘I have no intention of discussing this with you any further just now, Gabriella,’ he bit out coldly as he turned back to her, her beauty still as tantalizing, but Rufus was equally determined he would never be tempted again. ‘I only came down here to tell you that I have to go to New York for a few days on urgent business.’ He gave a disgusted shake of his head. ‘Perhaps it’s as well if I get away from you for a while!’

Perhaps it was, Gabriella accepted miserably. But she would miss him. And she hated admitting that as much as she hated the fact that Rufus believed she had only confirmed his opinion of her by apparently being involved with Toby.

But in the meantime Rufus would only go on despising her.

And now, knowing that she was still in love with him, it was more than a matter of personal pride that she prove him wrong about her.

‘Will you be gone long?’ she enquired stiffly.

He looked at her coldly. ‘Wifely interest, Gabriella?’ he scorned. ‘Or do you just want to know how much time Toby will have to—persuade you around to his way of thinking, before I get back?’

She shook her head. ‘Toby couldn’t persuade me to cross the road with him.’ She sighed. ‘In fact if Toby were the last man on the planet I still wouldn’t give him the time of day, let alone agree to marry him,’ she added with a shudder of revulsion.

Rufus’s eyes narrowed, the disgust in her voice too genuine for it to be a false claim.

‘What happened three months ago, Gabriella?’ he prompted shrewdly.

She gave him a startled look, all the colour draining from her face. ‘Happened…?’ she delayed.

He shrugged. ‘My father changed his will three months ago for a reason. Toby claims the two of you argued three months ago. It seems logical to assume the two are connected.’

Logical, yes. Painful—very much so!

She swallowed hard, knowing there was no point in trying to avoid answering him. ‘I was staying at Gresham House with James. Toby came on a visit. He—’ She drew in a deeply controlling breath. ‘He tried to—He came to my bedroom, claimed I had been encouraging him for months, and when I assured him I hadn’t he—he tried to force me!’

It had been the most frightening experience of her life. Toby gave every impression of being laid-back, relaxed and charming, but he had been like a different person that day. If it hadn’t been for James’s intervention she didn’t know what might have happened.

She had kept Toby at arm’s length ever since!

‘The two of you were involved, but you claim on this occasion Toby tried to force you…?’ Rufus repeated sceptically.

‘We were not, nor have we ever been, involved!’ she defended. ‘If you must know, he terrified the life out of me that day.’

‘Why do I have trouble believing you?’ Rufus mocked.

Because he had never believed her, Gabriella knew. Not one single word she said. And he must have even more trouble believing this, when he knew how wildly she responded to him.

But that was Rufus, the man she loved, and Toby—she hated Toby!

‘Your father put a stop to it and threw him out of the house,’ she insisted defensively.

‘And out of his will, it seems,’ Rufus drawled. ‘What were you doing, Gabriella, crying wolf and so eliminating some of the competition? Perhaps I was going to be next?’

‘You can’t seriously believe that?’ she gasped.

‘Why not?’ He shrugged. ‘As it turned out, my father, obviously believing you to be a poor, unprotected female, misguidedly tied me to you, anyway. Perhaps you even suggested it to him, as retribution because I had always refused to fall for your—undoubted charms?’

She straightened defensively, stung by the fact that she had told him the truth and he refused to believe her. ‘Not always!’

‘No,’ Rufus conceded dryly. ‘As you say, not always. And, as it turns out, we do have great sex, don’t we, Gabriella?’ he snarled, daring her to deny her reaction to him.

As he couldn’t deny his own reaction to her…

Damn it, he had never wanted a woman in the way he wanted Gabriella. Still. Even knowing what she was.

Gabriella swallowed hard, knowing it would be ridiculous of her to even try to deny her physical desire for Rufus. She also knew that it would be just as ridiculous for either of them to claim it would never happen again. Their response to each other was explosive, and just as unpredictable.

‘Yes,’ she acknowledged huskily.

He nodded. ‘Maybe by the time I get back from New York I might feel like—exploring, that part of our marriage again!’ he sneered. ‘I would suggest you stay away from Toby while I’m away,’ he said sharply.

As if that was going to be such a hardship!

If she ever spoke to Toby again it would be to tell him exactly what she thought of him and his lies.

‘In the meantime, I really do have to get back to work now,’ Rufus drawled. ‘I have several things to arrange before I have to leave later this evening.’

Gabriella felt totally miserable at the two of them parting like this. It was obvious he didn’t believe a word she had said about Toby. In fact telling him about that day three months ago just seemed to have made the situation worse, and reinforced his suspicions regarding his father’s will and the reasons behind it being worded in the way that it was.

She had no idea when Rufus would be back from New York. A few days he had said he would be away, but what, exactly, did that mean? Two days? Three? Four? A whole week?

God, she hated herself for her own weakness in loving and wanting him in the way she did, when he so obviously didn’t, and never would, feel that way about her!

‘What do you want me to tell Holly?’ she prompted as he would have left.

Rufus turned back. ‘I don’t want you to tell Holly anything,’ he rasped. ‘I have to go back to the house to pick up some of my things, and I’m more than capable of dealing with Holly myself,’ he assured her with cold dismissal.

In other words, this was yet another part of his life that was none of her business!

Chapter 7

Gabriella heard just how capable of dealing with Holly himself Rufus was when she returned to Gresham House late that afternoon!

‘You promised me I could come with you the next time you went to New York!’ Holly was accusing.

‘Because I thought it would be next month when you’re on half-term holiday!’ Rufus came back impatiently, their voices loud enough to be heard as Gabriella walked past the family sitting-room.

‘Then why can’t you go next month?’ Holly demanded angrily.

‘Because I can’t!’ Rufus told her uncompromisingly.

Should she go in and break it up? Gabriella wondered. Or should she just leave them to it?

Considering she was probably the reason for Rufus’s mood being so uncompromising in the first place, and Rufus would probably regret his attitude as soon as he left the house, perhaps it would be better if she didn’t just leave them to it.

But Gabriella knew that if she interrupted them it was more than likely she would become the focus of the resentment of both of them…

So what was new?

She pushed open the sitting-room door, and saw Rufus and Holly glaring at each other like adversaries across the room. They looked so much alike at that moment that Gabriella felt her heart tighten. Holly was very tall for her age, and as well as having that dark blonde hair and glittering green eyes her creamy cheeks were red with the temper that Rufus, as an adult, had learnt to control.