Eight
A fter that, life went into a holding pattern for a few days. Kia and Danielle took turns phoning, breezily chatting about Gabrielle’s new Porsche that they’d heard Damien had bought for her, but really to see how she was coping with married life. Gabrielle tried to sound upbeat and positive. She thought she did a pretty good job of convincing them she was okay, but there was still a hint of worry in their voices that made her realize she wasn’t really fooling them at all.
Somehow they knew she loved Damien.
Really loved him.
But they never mentioned it to her. She was pretty sure they didn’t mention it to their husbands, either, for which she was eternally grateful.
As for Damien, he gave nothing away, but every night he made love to her with a passion that made her love for him deepen. Beyond that she was afraid to think. She couldn’t let herself. There was just too much of a heartache standing between them. A heartache he had no idea existed. One she prayed he never knew existed, not just for her sake but for his own. The more she loved him, the more she didn’t want to see him hurt.
And then one evening after dinner, Damien had gone downstairs to get some paperwork he’d left in his BMW when his cell phone rang. Gabrielle wasn’t sure whether to answer it at first, but thoughts of her father taking a turn for the worse had her hurrying over to the coffee table to snatch it up.
A woman gave a little gasp, then hesitated. “Er…is Damien there?” the husky voice said on the other end of the phone.
Gabrielle’s heart sank as she wondered if this was one of the women Ken had said was “disappointed” about Damien’s marriage. “He’s stepped out for a moment.”
“Oh.”
She did sound disappointed, but Gabrielle wasn’t sure it was because she knew he had a wife now. “He’ll be back soon.”
There was a tiny pause. “To whom am I speaking?” the woman asked, but not in a nasty way. She actually sounded rather well-bred and polite.
“Gabrielle.” She almost said “his wife,” but just didn’t have the heart. “Can I tell him who called?”
“Um, yes. Please tell him Cynthia called. Perhaps he could call me back? It’s important.”
“I’ll pass the message on,” Gabrielle said as an unexpected feeling of jealousy hit her. Cynthia sounded like a nice person, and that was more dangerous than a hundred women who only wanted Damien for what they could get from him.
Just as she hung up, Damien walked into the apartment, looking so handsome he made her heart skip a beat.
“Who was that?” he said, lightly tossing his car keys on the table.
“Someone called Cynthia.”
He looked at her sharply. “Did she say what she wanted?”
“You.”
His eyes narrowed, telling her he got her point. “Does she want me to call her back?”
“Yes.” She paused. “An old girlfriend?”
A shadow of annoyance crossed his face. “She’s a…woman friend.”
“Your mistress?” His words stabbed at her heart. She’d suspected, but hearing him say it out loud made her feel sick. “I expect you to be faithful, Damien.”
His gaze held hers. “Who said I wouldn’t be?”
“Then you’d better let all your…women friends know you’re married now.”
He held himself stiffly. “I’ll be faithful, Gabrielle. You have no need to worry on that score.”
Yes, but would he feel the same way in a few years’ time? Men often played around, and rich successful men were no different. Most of them thought it was their right. Her father certainly had.
He walked over to her, captured her chin with his fingertips and tilted her face up to him. “Listen to me, Gabrielle. And I mean this.” His eyes turned even more intense than usual. “You’re all the woman I want.”
“Am I?” she croaked, unable to stop the sinking feeling in her stomach at his words.
Want, he’d said.
Not need.
“Yes.”
“Lucky me,” she managed to say.
He stared at her, baffled. Then, “Perhaps I should show you just how lucky you are,” he said, arrogance taking over as he scooped her up in his arms and strode toward the bedroom.
By the time she came up for air, he’d made love to her as if he’d wanted to imprint himself on her forever. And yes, she felt very lucky indeed. For a moment she reveled in that feeling. But then she realized he was only stamping what he considered to be his.
Yet despite fighting her feelings for a man who would try to control her if he knew she loved him, Gabrielle was happy to work alongside Damien at the office, helping him make changes that would benefit the company. She was impressed, not only by his business acumen, but by his consideration in teaching her things about the business that would take her a lifetime to learn elsewhere. Yet they both knew who was really in charge.
Him.
Not that she minded. She needed him to put the company back on the right track. Perhaps if Keiran hadn’t messed things up so badly she might have stood half a chance of straightening things out herself. As it was, she was grateful for Damien’s help.
And everyone was grateful that Keiran had taken a break from work the past few days. The office was a much nicer place without him around, putting her on edge, constantly sending her daggers with his eyes. She could easily see why all the department heads had been leaving for greener pastures. Thankfully the ones who hadn’t left were now happy to stay, and Damien had even managed to get two of their top staff to return to their old positions.
Unfortunately, Keiran came back to work the morning Damien was absent at an important meeting. It didn’t take her cousin long to walk into her office with a smug look on his face that somehow sent shivers down her spine and gave her a sense of déjà vu. She hoped she was wrong but she had the feeling he was up to something.
She gave him a cool look. “Do you think you could make an appointment with Cheryl? I’m a busy lady these days.”
He came toward her. “Cheryl isn’t at her desk.”
“Then perhaps you could wait until she is.”
He flopped down on the chair opposite her. “But I wanted to tell you something really important. I’m sure you’ll find it fascinating.”
She looked into his gloating eyes and knew he had trouble in mind.
“Guess where I’ve been?” he taunted, as was his way.
She picked up her pen, ready to ignore him. “Keiran, I don’t have time for—”
“Sydney,” he cut across her.
A wave of apprehension replaced that shiver down her spine. “What’s so important about that?”
His mouth spread in a thin-lipped smile. “Ahh, but it’s not what I did in Sydney. It’s what I found out.”
The breath seemed to have solidified in her throat. “Found out?”
“About you.”
She blinked, hoping she sounded suitably surprised, but inside she was shaking. “Me?”
“Yes. And it was something very, very interesting.”
Dear Lord, could Keiran know?
“Really?” she said, leaning back in her chair. She wouldn’t…couldn’t…let him see how fast her heart was thumping in her chest.
“I took one of your friends out to dinner.”
Oh God.
She arched a brow. “One of my friends?”
“Simone.”
As casually as she could, she managed to shrug. “Simone isn’t really a friend of mine. I worked with her, that’s all.”
“Well, give the woman a bit of attention and she was happy to tell me all about you.”
All?
Ignoring him, Gabrielle sat straighter in her chair and looked down at her paperwork, poised to write. Anything but let him see how afraid she was. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Come on, Gabrielle,” he scoffed. “You sit there looking all innocent, but underneath you have a dirty little secret.”
Her head snapped up. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You were in a car accident.”
He knew.
Dear God, he knew.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she scoffed back.
“You were pregnant.” He paused for effect. “You lost the baby.”
She swallowed hard. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about, Keiran,” she said, but her voice wobbled and gave her away.
Keiran’s eyes lit with a sick sort of triumph. “I wonder if that new husband of yours would be interested in all this? He thinks he’s got a saint for a wife.”
She squared her shoulders. “I never claimed to be a saint, Keiran.”
“So you don’t think he’d be interested in knowing you had an affair and carried another man’s child?”
Her head reeled back. So he didn’t know it was Damien’s child. She wasn’t sure right now if that was a good or a bad thing. And what did it matter, anyway? He was determined to destroy her.
“I see that got your attention,” he drawled.
Needing to do something, she got to her feet and walked over to the window. “What do you want?” she said, keeping her back to him, looking out through the glass but seeing nothing.
“So you’re admitting you were pregnant?”
She stiffened but didn’t turn around. “I can’t very well deny it, can I?”
“No, you can’t.”
All at once she’d had enough. This was her cousin doing this to her, for heaven’s sake. How dare he threaten her in this way!
She spun around and glared at him. “Blackmail really is an ugly word, Keiran. It suits you.”
“Sticks and stones,” he mocked. Then his face turned deadly serious. “I tell you what I want. I’ll give you one week. One week until your father gets home and is on the mend properly, then I want you to pack up and leave. For good this time.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “Wh-what?”
“You’ll tell Damien you made a mistake, and you’ll tell your folks you really couldn’t put their past behind you. And you’ll sign over twenty percent of your shares to me and tell everyone you think I’m the best man for the job. Then you get the hell out of our lives for good. I intend to take over again and I will. By the time Russell is better, this company will be well and truly under my control.”
Despair cut the air from her lungs. “You’re crazy.”
“Yes, but I’ll be rich and crazy.”
“You have money now.”
“Not like dear ol’ Uncle Russell,” he derided. “See, I want it all. Every single cent. Every bit of power.” He puffed up his chest. “People will respect me from now on.”
She realized that was the one thing no one had ever given him. Respect. But then, respect had to be earned. And this man didn’t ever have a chance of that happening.
She tried to remain calm. Call his bluff. “I wonder what your parents will say if I tell them what you’re doing?”
His eyes flared with anger. “Don’t even try it, Gabrielle,” he warned through gritted teeth.