“Gabriel, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to collect Olivia for dinner.”
Ariana’s gold eyes widened. “Didn’t you get the message? Olivia’s not up to having dinner with you tonight.”
He leaned down and pinned his sister with a steely glare, wondering what mischief she had been up to. “What’s wrong with her?”
Ariana set her hand on her hip and regarded him with annoyance. “She’s not feeling well.”
“Then I’d be remiss in not checking on her,” Gabriel intoned, sounding as suave as he could through gritted teeth. “Step aside.”
But his sister didn’t budge. “Leave it tonight, Gabriel,” she coaxed. “Give her a little time.”
“Time for what?”
“Honestly,” his sister fumed. “You can be so insensitive sometimes.”
What was he missing? “Enlighten me.”
Ariana pressed her lips together, but Gabriel kept up his unrelenting stare and she finally sighed. “She’s had your affair with Marissa thrown in her face all day.”
He remembered the expression on Olivia’s face while the footage of him and Marissa had played on the television. But he thought they’d cleared the matter up in his office. Why was she letting the past bother her? Gabriel nudged his sister aside and reached for the door handle.
“Gabriel—”
“This is none of your concern. It’s between me and my future bride.”
“Fine.” Ariana tossed up her hands. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
With her dire words ringing in his ears, Gabriel entered Olivia’s suite. Some impulse prompted him to slip the lock before scanning the space. His fiancée was not in the bedroom. After his encounter with Ariana, he’d expected to find Olivia sulking over some perceived slight. Then he noticed a slight billowing of the sheer curtains over the French doors leading out onto the terrace.
Olivia stood near the terrace railing staring out over the pond and the park, her gaze on the path where they’d walked and kissed this morning. She wore a black dress that bared her back in a plunging V. She’d knotted her hair on top of her head, exposing the nape of her neck. The sight of all that bare skin did unruly things to his body. He’d always been a sucker for a woman’s back, finding the combination of delicacy and strength an intoxicating combination.
Gabriel shoved aside desire and refocused on the reason he’d come here in the first place.
“We’re supposed to be having dinner in my suite.”
“I don’t feel up to it,” she replied in a cool tone, not bothering to turn around.
“Then you’re not upset.”
“Of course not.”
He didn’t believe her. For the briefest of moments he wondered if she was trying to manipulate him with some feminine trickery. He almost laughed at the notion. Marissa was the only other woman who’d tried to best him with her wiles. He’d quickly set her straight.
Time to set Olivia straight, as well. “I thought this morning you understood that whatever was between Marissa and me has been over for three years.”
“What sort of evening did you have in mind for us tonight?” She turned around and faced him and he got his first glimpse of her expression. Genuine anger shimmered in her gaze. “Were we to sip champagne and become lovers or did you plan to educate me on Sherdana’s upcoming social and economic challenges?”
What had gotten into her? This morning she’d been like warm honey in his arms. Tonight she’d become an ice sculpture. All this because a few reporters dredged up old news from three years ago?
“I’d hoped we’d spend some time getting to know each other tonight, but I had no intention of rushing you into bed.” Tired of sparring with her, he stepped within touching distance. “I thought that we’d reached an understanding this morning.”
“So did I,” she murmured, the fire fading from her tone.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Our marriage is an arrangement.”
“Yes.” He grazed his fingertips up her sides from her hips, letting them coast along the side of her breasts. The hitch in her breath told him the fight was over. “But it doesn’t have to be all business between us.”
“And it isn’t,” she agreed. “It’s just that I’m not really sure what’s happening.”
So, he wasn’t the only one struggling to find his way. Ever since last night, he’d found himself drawn to her as never before, but he wasn’t sure she felt it, too. And now that he knew she did, he wasn’t about to let her run away from it.
“We have strong sexual chemistry,” he told her, and then in a softer voice confessed, “I wasn’t expecting that.”
Her scent flowed around him, feminine and enticing. As desire began to assert itself, he noticed the details his anger had blinded him to. For a woman intent on denying him her company, she’d dressed with care. He dipped his head and drank in the feminine scent of her. She’d dabbed a light floral perfume behind her ears. His lips found the spot and made her shiver.
“Gabriel, please.” Her hand on his chest wasn’t going to deter him now that he’d gotten wind of her imminent surrender.
“Please, what?” he inquired. “Stop?”
Knowing it was what she had in mind, he tugged the pins from her hair and tossed them aside. The golden waves spilled around her face and shoulders.
“Yes.” But the word lacked conviction.
“You’re lying,” he pressed. “And badly. This is what you wanted when you dressed tonight.” He took her stiff body in his arms and immediately the fight began to drain from her muscles. “My hands on you.” He dipped his head and drew his lips across her cheek, finishing his thought with his breath puffing against her ear. “My mouth tasting your skin.”
Her body was limp against him now, all resistance abandoned.
“We’re meant to be together.” He was more convinced of that than ever. “You know it as well as I do.”
She’d closed her eyes to hide from him, not realizing how futile her actions were. “Yes.”
Without sight, all her other senses came to life. The unsteady rasp of Gabriel’s breath told her he too was disturbed by the attraction between them. But was it enough? Hadn’t she discovered less than an hour ago that she wanted more from him? So much more.
His fingertips grazed along the sensitive skin inside her arm, from the hollow behind her elbow to the pulse jerking frantically in her wrist. Gently he laced their fingers and began to pull her along the terrace. Her eyes flew open.
“Where?” Her gaze found his and she saw feverish hunger blazing in the bronze depths.
“To bed, of course,” he teased, but there was nothing lighthearted about the determined set of his mouth or the tension that rode his muscles. Tension that communicated across the short distance between them.
“What about dinner?”
Inside the suite once more, he drew her close, sliding a hand over her hip