BY THE time the Mercedes drew to a stop outside, Rachel had phoned her mother to tell her she’d be late—though not why—made sure the power had been turned off, the alarm was activated and the door locked. She was hovering under the overhang that shaded the café’s window when the big car cruised up to the kerb, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Gabriel himself at the wheel.
‘Get in,’ he said, leaning across the passenger seat to thrust the door open, and, squashing any lingering doubts she might have had, Rachel scooted across the pavement and into the car.
Because it was a no-parking area—and the start of the rush hour—Gabriel was forced to drive on at once, and he spared her only a passing glance before moving into the press of traffic. His attention had to be concentrated on avoiding the many obstacles that blocked the one-way street, and Rachel gripped her handbag tightly in her lap as he wove around jaywalking pedestrians and illegally parked vehicles.
But, although she determinedly watched the road ahead, Rachel was intensely conscious of him beside her. The fleeting glance he had cast her way had been enough for her to see that wherever he’d been it hadn’t done much for his health. He looked pale—gaunt, even—the deep grooves she had first noticed bracketing his mouth back in evidence. He looked older, too, and her heart ached at the thought that she might be responsible for even a part of his appearance.
‘Sorry about this,’ he said abruptly, as if he thought she was blaming him for the traffic snarl-up. It was true, she was sitting rather stiffly in her seat, and she had made no attempt to say anything since she got into the car.
‘It’s not your fault,’ she murmured now, glancing his way for the first time. ‘How—how are you? Really?’
Gabriel’s lips twisted. ‘How do I look?’ And, when Rachel didn’t immediately answer him, ‘That bad, huh?’ He gave a short laugh. ‘At least I can rely on you to tell me the truth.’
Rachel sighed. ‘You look—tired, that’s all,’ she protested quickly. ‘Have you started work again?’
‘Not yet.’ His voice was flat. ‘As Andrew told you, I did go to Italy for a few days. I accompanied my mother home, as a matter of fact. She hates flying alone.’
Rachel swallowed. ‘What—what did Andrew tell you about me?’
Gabriel didn’t immediately answer her. He appeared to be involved with steering the big car out of the narrow street where the café was situated and into the broader thoroughfare that led to the outskirts of the small town, but Rachel sensed his mind wasn’t wholly on his driving. She knew him so well, she thought; or at least she believed she did. There was more to this than he had admitted thus far, and her stomach clenched at the prospect of confronting more of Andrew’s lies; or maybe confronting Andrew himself.
‘Do you mind if we wait until we get where we’re going before we talk about Andrew?’ he asked at last. ‘There’s something I’ve got to tell you about him and I’d prefer not to be gripping a steering wheel at the time.’
‘Well, where are we going?’ she asked. But she knew. This was the way to Copleys. She might only have been there a couple of times, but she knew the route by heart.
‘If you don’t mind, I thought we’d go to my house,’ he responded, as she’d known he would, and her nerves tightened again at the realisation that her instincts were as sharp as ever.
‘Did—did he tell you he’d seen me?’ she demanded abruptly, unable to wait so coolly for him to tell her the worst. ‘Did you believe him?’
Gabriel sighed. ‘Rachel—’
‘Did you or didn’t you—?’ She broke off, and then added chokingly, ‘Was that really why you rang?’
‘I wanted to speak to you about Hannah,’ he replied doggedly. ‘I told you that.’
Rachel’s nails dug into her palms as she turned to look at him. ‘And that was why you sat in the Golden Lion all afternoon? Because you wanted to ask me about Hannah?’
Gabriel groaned. ‘All right, no,’ he admitted harshly. ‘Hannah was only an excuse. Of course I’m delighted to hear that her prognosis is so much more optimistic, but—God, Rachel, it’s you I wanted to see. You know that.’
Rachel trembled. ‘So why didn’t you come into the café?’
‘You know why,’ he muttered, swinging the wheel, and she suddenly realised they were about to turn into the gates of Copleys.
‘Do I?’ she countered, aware that this was her last chance to talk to him on her own ground, so to speak. ‘Stop the car, Gabriel. I want to know exactly what Andrew said.’
She thought he wasn’t going to obey her. The gates had already swung open, and for a second his foot seemed to press even harder on the accelerator. But then, with a muffled oath, he stood on the brake, and the powerful car came to a shuddering halt.
The silence in the car after the engine had been turned off was deafening, and Rachel wondered at her own audacity in ordering him to do anything. But then her courage asserted itself, and, licking her dry lips, she said, ‘He did say something, didn’t he? And you believed him!’
Gabriel’s shoulders sagged. ‘Okay,’ he said flatly. ‘I did believe him. At first, anyway.’ His eyes darkened. ‘You believed him, too, didn’t you? That night—that night we were together? You’re not going to pretend it was our lovemaking that sent you fleeing out into the night without even letting me ask Mario to drive you home?’
Rachel felt a trace of colour enter her cheeks. ‘That was different,’ she said defensively, and Gabriel’s mouth twisted.
‘How different?’ he asked huskily. ‘You wouldn’t even allow me to explain why he was there. On three separate occasions.’
‘Three?’
‘Sure.’ His eyes gleamed in his pale face, dark and irresistibly appealing. ‘And if you hadn’t believed that garbage he spouted about me feeling sorry for you we wouldn’t be in this position now.’
‘That may be true—’
‘It is true.’ Gabriel expelled a weary breath. ‘Look, there’s something you need to know about Andrew. The reason why I had to go to London a few weeks ago was because he had been arrested for drug dealing. He needed my help to get a lawyer, to invent an adequate defence for what he’d done.’
Rachel’s lips parted. ‘Oh.’
‘Yes, oh!’ said Gabriel drily. ‘In his defence, I have to say his arrest was somewhat premature. He wasn’t dealing in drugs, but he had got hooked up with someone who was and it was all a bit messy.’
‘And that’s why he came back to Copleys?’
‘No.’ Gabriel chose his words with care. ‘You may remember I had a phone call that evening we went out to dinner? It was from Andrew. He needed money, more money, and I refused to give it to him. I’d told him I wasn’t going to support his habit and I guess he’d decided that he might have more luck if he spoke to me face-to-face. Finding us together must have been a hell of a shock, but that doesn’t excuse his behaviour—even if it does provide a reason for it.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘I had no idea.’
‘No.’ Gabriel conceded the point. ‘But perhaps you can understand why I was so reluctant to tell you. Whatever his faults, he is my son.’ He paused. ‘Can you understand?’
‘I can understand your feelings,’ said Rachel slowly. ‘But I’d like to know what he told you about my call. He did tell you I’d phoned, didn’t he? I mean, the receptionist at the plant can confirm it.’
‘Yes. He told me you’d phoned.’ Gabriel’s hands tightened on the wheel. ‘He said you’d wanted to talk to him.’
‘To him?’ Rachel was horrified. ‘But why?’
‘Why do you think? For old times’ sake? Because it was good to see him again? Because you wished you and he had never broken up?’
‘No!’
‘No, well, I have to say I found it bloody hard to believe.’
‘But you did believe it?’ Rachel stared at him.
‘Initially, I suppose. If I’m honest, I’ll say that it was what I’d expected, what I’d anticipated might happen. I mean—’ this as Rachel stared at him with incredulous eyes ‘—I’ve always thought I was too old for you, and Andrew was only saying what I’d secretly believed myself. He is my son, as I say. There must have been aspects of him that attracted you to me—’
‘No!’ Rachel couldn’t listen to any more of this. Turning in her seat, she grasped Gabriel’s face between her two palms and turned him towards her. ‘Andrew’s—not—half—the—man—you—are,’ she cried fiercely, interspersing her words with eager kisses that ranged from his temple to his cheeks and finally reached his mouth. ‘You’re nothing like Andrew,’ she added unsteadily, and this time when she kissed him Gabriel didn’t resist.
‘Are you sure?’ he demanded against her lips, and her answer was to wind her arms around his neck and meet his searching tongue with her own.
‘Try me,’ she breathed invitingly, and Gabriel released her mouth to bury his face in the hollow of her neck.
‘I intend to,’ he whispered softly, ‘but not with my security guard watching us on his monitor.’ He released her and slid his fingers through her hair, looping it back behind her ears. ‘Hold that thought,’ he added, and she coloured in sudden understanding. ‘Don’t go cold on me now.’
‘I don’t think I could,’ said Rachel with devastating honesty, her hand sliding intimately over his thigh, and earned herself a look that was full of frustration and promise.
‘Say anything more like that and I may decide not to take the risk,’ he replied hoarsely. Starting the car, he imprisoned her hand against his leg. ‘Thank God my mother’s gone home. I don’t think I’d have the patience to deal with explanations right now. There’ll be plenty of time for that.’
Rachel withdrew her hand, suddenly apprehensive again. ‘And Andrew?’
‘Andrew’s in London,’ said Gabriel wryly. ‘Or that’s where he’s supposed to be. He left here when I did.’
‘Oh, but he couldn’t have.’ Rachel didn’t hesitate before rummaging in her bag and bringing out the scrap of paper with the phone number Stephanie had retrieved on it. ‘When he phoned me he said he was at Copleys. He said you weren’t there, as I told you, but after he’d rung off I—we—dialled the automatic recall number so that if—if I wanted to ring you again I’d have your number. Isn’t this it?’
Gabriel brought the car to an abrupt halt before the house and took the slip of paper from her. He read it, and then said grimly, ‘This is Andrew’s mobile number.’ He shook his head. ‘He rang you from London, not Copleys.’
Rachel caught her breath. ‘So if I’d used the number—’
‘You’d have got Andrew,’ agreed Gabriel harshly. ‘Which would have gone a long way to confirming his story.’
‘But he couldn’t have known I’d take the number!’
‘Do you want to bet?’ Gabriel sighed. ‘God, Rachel, that selfish young fool has a lot to answer for.’
Rachel stared at him, tempted to tell him about the lies Andrew had told her, but she didn’t. ‘He’s jealous,’ she said instead, realising that what Stephanie had said was true. She glanced towards the house. ‘Are you going to invite me in?’
Some time later Rachel stood in Gabriel’s shower cubicle, allowing tepid water to cool her burning flesh. Although the walls of the cubicle weren’t mirrored, she could plainly see her image in the cream tiles, and there was no mistaking the rosy glow that tinged her skin.
And why not? she thought incredulously. For the past hour she had been in Gabriel’s arms, in Gabriel’s bed, making mad passionate love on Gabriel’s soft cotton sheets. They had been hungry for one another and, although they’d eventually got around to taking off all their clothes, to begin with there had only been time to peel the necessary garments aside and give in to the urgent needs that had refused to be denied.
Rachel felt a smile lift her lips. For a man who had looked so old and drawn when she’d first seen him Gabriel had proved remarkably resilient. When she’d left him a few moments ago there’d been little sign of the weary fatigue that had dogged his features earlier. Being with her again, making love with her again, had performed a minor miracle, and Rachel knew a spreading warmth inside her at the knowledge that she, and she alone, could do that for him.
Closing her eyes, she luxuriated in the cooling spray, and then almost jumped out of her skin when firm hands descended on her hips, drawing her back against a warm familiar body.
‘You were taking too long,’ said Gabriel huskily, nuzzling her shoulder. ‘I thought I’d come and help you.’
Rachel’s legs felt weak. ‘You want to help me?’
‘Do I ever?’ he conceded, reaching for the shower gel and pouring some into his palm. Then, after rubbing both hands together, he slid his palms down her thighs in a sleek sensuous motion. ‘What do you think?’
Rachel sagged against him and was immediately aware that she wasn’t the only one of them that was more than half aroused. The pulsating heat of his erection throbbed against her bottom, and she groped behind her to take his fullness into her hand.
‘God, Rachel,’ he groaned, giving up his sensual massage of her legs to remove her hand from his body. ‘I want you again. I can’t seem to get enough of you.’ He uttered a choked sound. ‘Now isn’t that an admission to make?’
‘I don’t mind,’ she whispered achingly, as his hands sought the swollen fullness of her breasts. She twisted in his arms. ‘If you let me go, I’ll get dried.’
‘Why bother?’ asked Gabriel, looking down at her with dark disturbing eyes. ‘I’m only going to make you wet again.’
Rachel caught her breath. ‘We can’t,’ she protested, when she realised what he really meant, and Gabriel’s lips formed a small smile.
‘Of course we can,’ he assured her, lifting one of her legs and trapping it at his waist. ‘It’s as easy as you want it to be.’
And it was. With the wall of the shower against her back, Gabriel slid slickly into her, and she wound her arms around his neck and her legs about his hips.
The sensation was incredible. With the shower still spilling its warmth around them, Gabriel moved slowly and insistently towards his goal. He seemed intent on wringing every last shred of erotic emotion from the experience, and Rachel pressed her head back against the wall, sobbing her need without inhibition.
It was over far too soon. Despite Gabriel’s efforts to prolong their excitement Rachel’s climax couldn’t be denied, and she felt his shuddering release overtake hers.
‘God, I love you,’ he muttered, allowing her legs to slide to the floor, and she allowed him to leave her with real reluctance.
‘I—love you, too,’ she said helplessly, and knew that whatever the future held this man was going to be a part of it.
‘And now I suppose I’m going to have to go and face your mother again,’ he remarked drily, after he had satisfactorily shown his pleasure at that announcement, and Rachel belatedly remembered that that was why she’d gone to take a shower in the first place.
‘Do you mind?’ she asked, looking up at him with anxious eyes, and Gabriel gave a disarming smile.
‘My darling, when you look at me like that, anything you ask is worthwhile,’ he assured her softly. ‘And, after all, she is going to be my mother-in-law, isn’t she?’
Rachel caught her breath. ‘Is she?’
His eyes darkened. ‘Well, isn’t she?’
‘I—suppose so,’ she said breathlessly. ‘If you’ll have me.’