The area around it was relatively empty except for a small girl who leaned on her hands and knees at the edge of the pool, looking intently within while her parents watched over her from a nearby wooden seat. Vines wound through the large pergola behind them. Running parallel to the pool, it offered fleeting glimpses of the marble statues within.
“You want to go into the other greenhouse or the fernery?” he asked Charlotte.
“Fernery.”
Turning left, they walked into the cool enclosed garden covered only by crosshatching beams and filled with native ferns and trees, the pathway spiraling down in a gentle slope. An enthusiastic tui, the bird’s song distinctive, was their sole companion. Charlotte didn’t say anything as they walked around, then down the steps to the wooden bench on the second level.
“Sit with me.”
Going down beside her, his arm along the back of the seat, Gabriel stretched out his legs. “I have to admit, this was a good idea.” He felt no urge to go for his phone, the peace of the cool quiet seeping into his bones.
Charlotte put her hand on his thigh as she turned to face him. “Of course it was a good idea,” she said, face solemn. “You needed to take a breath.”
He frowned. “I like working, Charlotte.”
“I KNOW.” CHARLOTTE FOLDED a leg up on the bench. “But you don’t give yourself any time to just enjoy life. You’re always going ten thousand miles an hour.”
She could see the annoyance on Gabriel’s face, feel the tension gathering in his thigh. He always got like this when she pushed him about how furiously he worked, but this time, she wasn’t about to back down. “I love you,” she said quietly, “and—”
Steely gray eyes locked with her own. “What did you say?”
It was so easy to say because it was him. “I love you.”
Hauling her into his lap, he smiled, his cheeks creasing in that wonderful way she adored. “I love you too.”
Bubbles of sunshine in her blood, she cupped his face. “I love you,” she repeated. “That’s why I can’t bear knowing there’s something inside you that hurts you.” She had a good idea what it was, but he had to confront it himself if they were to make any headway.
The smile faded into masculine exasperation. “I’m fine, Charlotte.”
“Hey.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Don’t do that. Don’t shut me out.” When he stayed stubbornly silent, she decided that since gentleness wasn’t working, she’d take a page from his own book. “You’re acting like the chickens.”
That got her a narrow-eyed look. “Say that again.”
She smiled. “Say what?”
“You’re a riot, Ms. Baird.”
“You know why you work so hard,” Charlotte said. “Don’t tell me you don’t.”
He blew out a breath. “I need to walk.”
Getting up, they headed out of the fernery and the gardens altogether. Charlotte gave him the lead and he took them toward the beautiful old trees in the Domain, leaves rustling in the wind as they walked.
He spoke without warning. “It broke something inside my mother when we ended up in the shelter.”
In him too, Charlotte thought—he’d been made utterly helpless, his foundations stripped away. It made her so angry at Brian. Never had she been more aware of Gabriel’s strength and heart in finding a way to allow his father back into his life. “How rich are you?”
“Thinking of the divorce already?”
Elbowing him, she said, “I know you have lots of zeroes after your name. The apartment was a giant flashing sign, even if I didn’t realize what you must’ve been paid as a sportsman, and what you’re paid as a CEO, forget about your property portfolio and the stock options.”
“Your point?”
“I’m getting there. A lot of your money, is, I’m guessing, either in banks, or in stable investments no one can touch without your consent.”
That got her a curt nod.
Stopping, she came around to face him. “You can afford to take a breath,” she whispered, her hands on his chest. “You don’t need to constantly keep making money. Even if I decide to demand a diamond bracelet every month, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t make a dent in your zillions.”
Lips tugging up slightly at the corners, he gripped her hips. “You can have a diamond bracelet every month, but you have to wear them all at once, naked in bed—no wait, I have a better idea. You have to take dictation while wearing only diamonds.”
“Gabriel.”
He ran his thumbs across her hip bones. “I’m not sure I know how to stop.”
“So,” she said, “we’ll work on it.”
The echo of his own words had him smiling. “Meanwhile, you’ll drag me out to look at flowers and canoodle in a public park?”
“We aren’t canoodling.”
“We will be.” However, instead of a kiss, he reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper. “It’s a prenuptial agreement.”
Mouth dry, she said, “You’re asking me to marry you?”
“No. You are marrying me.” Taking her hand, he thrust a ring onto her finger. The diamond was huge enough that she could’ve used it to bash Richard over the head, the design around it so delicate and the size so perfect that she knew it had been made to suit her bone structure.