Wife By Contract, Mistress By Demand

‘I thought you said this morning you would be in for dinner this evening,’ he reminded her abruptly.

‘You haven’t been waiting up for me, have you, Rufus?’ she taunted.

‘Hardly,’ he bit out tersely. ‘I had some work to catch up on in the study, and just happened to hear you come in.’

‘A change of plans.’ She shrugged. ‘I decided to meet some friends in town instead.’

In truth, the thought of sitting down to dinner with Rufus, after what she had learnt from her telephone call to David Brewster, had made her feel nauseous.

‘Don’t look so disapproving, Rufus.’ She laughed mockingly at his dark expression. ‘I do have friends, you know! And one of them wasn’t Toby, if that’s what you think,’ she added quickly.

His mouth twisted. ‘I’m sure you have friends other than Toby. I didn’t mean to imply that you hadn’t.’

Gabriella gave him a sceptical glance. ‘Yes, I do. And the friends I met this evening were all female,’ she assured him defiantly. ‘I can give you their telephone numbers if you want to call them and check!’

She was deliberately challenging him again tonight, Rufus recognized with a scowl. He wondered at the reason for it.

They had seemed almost like a normal married couple this morning as they had chatted easily over breakfast. And he could only approve the changes she had already made to Holly, the time and effort she had already expended on his daughter.

So why was she once again trying to create an argument between them?

‘I don’t want to check up on you, Gabriella,’ he dismissed lightly. ‘I was merely expressing my—disappointment, that you weren’t home for dinner, after all.’

Gabriella eyed him scornfully. ‘I’ll bet!’

Why was she so defensive, for goodness’ sake? Okay, so she had changed her plans and gone out this evening instead of having dinner with him, but surely he should be the one that was annoyed about that, not her? After all, this was his first evening at home after being away for over a week.

And he was sounding more and more like a disgruntled lover than the husband that had been foisted on her, he recognized ruefully.

‘Come down and have a nightcap with me, Gabriella,’ he invited huskily.

Gabriella looked at him questioningly for several seconds, wondering at his motives for the invitation. They were hardly friends, so what possible reason could there be for them to have a cosy nightcap together?

Her brow cleared as the answer came to her. ‘I’m not in the mood for sex this evening, Rufus,’ she dismissed scathingly.

‘Not in the mood for—Hell, Gabriella,’ he rasped impatiently. ‘Did I so much as mention anything about the two of us going to bed together?’ He scowled darkly.

No, he hadn’t. But she couldn’t think of another reason why he would want to spend time with her at eleven o’clock at night.

She gave a humourless smile. ‘We don’t usually talk about it—we just do it!’

He winced slightly. ‘You’re still annoyed with me about last night. I thought I explained the reason I was in bed with you—’

‘Why on earth should I be annoyed because you invaded my bed, my dreams, without invitation?’ Her hand tensed on the stair-rail.

This wasn’t going at all well, Rufus thought, frustrated. His offer of sharing a nightcap together had been just that, with no ulterior motive on his part.

Although he could see why Gabriella might think there was one…

So far in their relationship—Majorca excluded!—he had been the one to initiate all their lovemaking, Gabriella always responding—mind-blowingly so!—but never actually making the first move.

‘How about we make a deal that the next time we make love it will be at your invitation?’ he suggested wryly.

Her eyes widened before narrowing suspiciously. ‘You would keep to an agreement like that?’

What the hell sort of man did she think he was?

A man who couldn’t keep his hands off her for longer than a few hours at a time, that was what sort of man he was!

But that was because—

Because what?

He wasn’t sure…

He had lived without love in his life for so long he wasn’t sure he would recognize it any longer!

He did know he wanted Gabriella. All the time. He also knew that, for the most part, he enjoyed her feistiness. He enjoyed looking at her, too; she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

He also had every reason to distrust her.

But did he?

That was what he wasn’t sure about any more…

And until he was, it might be better, for both of them, if they didn’t cloud the situation with this physical attraction that was so immediate every time they were together.

‘Yes, I would keep to an agreement like that,’ he agreed harshly. ‘Now will you come down and have a nightcap with me?’ he added impatiently, already starting to feel the pangs of self-denial. Just looking at Gabriella made him burn with wanting her, the denims she wore moulding to the tightness of her bottom, her breasts bare beneath a clinging black tee shirt.

Obviously if he was going to keep his word he had better get used to taking a lot of cold showers!

Should she go down and have a drink with him? Gabriella wondered. What would it really achieve, apart from increasing this ache she had to launch herself into his arms?

‘Holly spoke to me earlier about your suggestion she take riding lessons,’ Rufus told her softly.

Ah, he wanted to discuss his daughter. That was different.

‘A small brandy might be nice.’ She unclenched her fingers from the stair-rail, turning to walk down the five steps to the hallway.

She wasn’t quite so sure once the two of them were ensconced in the cosy warmth of the small family sitting-room, having become even more aware of Rufus as he sat in the armchair opposite her. Aware of the strength of his arms under the white tee shirt, of his long legs encased in black denims stretched out in front of him as he relaxed back in the chair cradling his glass of brandy with his long, sensitive hands.

Hands that she loved to feel caressing her body as he drove her—

Great!

They had agreed that if there was to be any more physical contact between them, it would have to come from her, and within ten minutes of making that agreement she wanted him so badly she couldn’t think straight!

She swirled the brandy round in her own glass before taking a swallow, filled with a different warmth now as the alcohol hit her empty stomach.

She had met up with a couple of girlfriends for wine and nibbles, but had eaten nothing else since breakfast this morning. Too much of this brandy and Rufus could be throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her up to bed after all—unconscious!

‘You mentioned Holly’s riding lessons…?’ she prompted, carefully putting the glass of brandy down on the table, not intending to drink any more of it.

‘Yes.’ Rufus watched her through narrowed lids, his thoughts, as usual, unreadable. ‘She said that you intend driving her to the riding stable where you used to go.’

‘If you’re agreeable, of course.’ She nodded. ‘I’ve never bothered to get a car, living in France and then London, but I do drive, and I’m sure there are several cars here that I could borrow for the morning.’

‘I wasn’t questioning how you were going to get her there, Gabriella,’ he drawled ruefully.

‘Then what were you questioning?’ She frowned, the warmth of the brandy spreading through her whole body now.

Rufus shrugged. ‘Whether or not you’re sure you want to be bothered with actually taking her?’

She had finally felt as if she was making some progress with Holly earlier today, the little girl’s pleasure in the book she had bought her completely unaffected, as had been her excitement when Gabriella had mentioned the riding lessons. But if Rufus would rather take her to riding lessons himself…

‘Fine,’ she snapped dismissively. ‘I’ll give you the telephone number of where I used to go if you want to take her there, but I’m sure there must be lots of other riding schools around here if you prefer to go somewhere else.’

Rufus gave a pained grimace, feeling slightly as if he were banging his head against a brick wall where she was concerned this evening. ‘Gabriella, I wasn’t suggesting that you didn’t take Holly, only giving you a let-out if you would rather not.’

‘And why wouldn’t I want to take her when I’ve already offered to do so?’ she challenged.

He gave a heavy sigh. ‘Gabriella, what have I done that’s put you so much on the defensive?’

Done?

What had he done?

He knew damn well what he had done!

Or perhaps he had thought that David Brewster wouldn’t tell her about the divorce papers he’d had the lawyer draw up!

She had been able to hear the shock in David Brewster’s voice when she’d telephoned him earlier today and asked him if he intended telling Rufus about the agreement she’d had drawn up, and he had assured her he had absolutely no intention of telling Rufus anything about it until the appropriate time.

But he had also told her why he had been trying to contact Rufus…

Normally, she was sure that the lawyer wouldn’t have done, but as David Brewster had been dealing with both of them on this matter he’d had no reservations about telling her that their divorce papers were all ready for submission on the appropriate date.