Absently, Maddie watched the man pour their drinks. Was Gabe right? Had her father worked out the real reason for her marriage? And what about Gabe? How did he know it was all a charade?
When the steward left, she pounced. “You have no bloody right to interfere with my plans, and you have no right to go bothering my father. My life is none of your business. You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know the reason you’re marrying Kingston is to get back controlling shares in Mallory Hotels.” He steepled his fingers and gave her an assessing look. “How was that going to work, princess? How long do you think it would take before word got around that you’d basically sold yourself for a few shares?”
She glared at him, hating the way he spelled it out so graphically, and hating even more the infuriatingly sexy stubble that shadowed across his firm jawline, making her remember how it felt to have him kiss her. “You’ve got a bloody nerve. Insinuating my reasons are tacky while yours are entirely altruistic? Give me a break. There must be some financial advantage for you in all this. Some deal you’ve made.”
His eyes flashed grey steel then, cool as you please, he picked up his glass. “Like what?”
“You tell me. I’ll bet anything that there’s profit in it for you.” She was distracted for a moment by the way his throat contracted as he sipped his drink, until the thoughts that had been slowly forming burst through with vicious intent. She leaned forward, her fingers curling around the arms of the soft leather seat. “If you’ve done anything to hurt my dad, so help me I’ll swing for you hard.”
“If things go to plan, he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.”
The throbbing in Maddie’s temples intensified. Her father wasn’t in any position to make deals, not with Gabe or anyone else. Oscar held the sixty percent controlling share in Mallory Hotels, and she held the rest.
Unless... “Are you planning to grab what’s left of Mallory’s? Got your sights set on the remaining forty percent? Is that what this is all about?”
Again, steel flashed in his eyes then disappeared as fast as it had come. “You’re way off, princess. Right now, you’re the only one making deals.”
“Which you’ve cocked up.”
He shrugged and picked up his glass again. “One day you might just thank me for sweeping in on my white charger and saving you from a fate worse than just about anything you can imagine.”
“Please. Being here with you right now ticks that particular box. And I can’t imagine any circumstance where I’d need your brand of saving. In fact, after what you did, the only person I’d need saving from is you.”
He sipped his drink, making her pulse quicken as he looked at her with those lethal eyes. “You should learn to forgive and forget. It’ll stop those little lines forming between your eyes.”
In reflex, Maddie touched the spot he’d referred to before dropping her hands down to her lap again. She couldn’t afford to forget, or forgive. Two years ago, she had taken her eye off the ball. She’d been too infatuated with Gabe when she should have been looking out for her father. She should have spotted his growing fondness for gambling and stepped in to take control of the situation. Instead, her distraction had allowed Gabe to trick them both.
“I prefer to learn and remember.” She brushed strands of hair back from her forehead. “It’s safer that way.”
With another sip of his drink, he glanced down to her left hand and back to hold her gaze. “Where’s the ring? I would have expected a huge flashy diamond by way of Kingston staking his claim.”
“I didn’t want a ring. And I’m nobody’s claim.”
He shrugged. “Even a marriage of convenience needs some fripperies to make it look authentic.”
Why did he have to make it sound so grubby? She preferred to think there was a certain nobility in what she’d agreed to do, but he brought it all down to a base level.
“Convenience is as good a reason as any to tie yourself up with a man.”
“You’ve gotten cynical.”
She took a swig of her own drink, hoping it would salve her dry throat. “I prefer realistic.”
He drew in a long breath, bringing her attention to the breadth of his chest as it expanded beneath his shirt. Snapping off his seat belt, he stood. “Hungry?”
“No, I’m not fucking hungry.” Irritation warred with anger, which mixed headily with frustration.
“Your language is pretty ripe, princess. It doesn’t become that virginal little outfit you’re wearing.”
The dress felt like a strait-jacket now, tightening around her ribcage with each mile they flew farther away from London. She snapped off her seat belt, reached up and ripped off the stupid tiara along with the recalcitrant veil. “Well, we both know different, don’t we?”
He had the grace to look momentarily peeved, then a rakish smile stretched across his mouth. “And you loved every minute.”
God. She had. Every single hot and hormone-rattling moment. He’d brought out some kind of sex-crazed woman she hadn’t been aware lived inside her, and nobody else had come close to resurrecting that part of her since. She’d reconciled herself to the thought that maybe she’d fallen so hard for Gabe because he’d been so incredibly good at sex. No other man made her feel a fraction of the intensity she’d enjoyed with Gabe.
“I won’t insult us both by trying to insinuate that I didn’t enjoy sex with you. And I’m not bolstering your ego, because it’s already floating amongst the planets. I’m simply stating a fact.”
Now his smile positively flashed, sexy and wicked.
She turned away from his sinfully handsome face, already out of sorts without adding her physical reaction to Gabe to the mix.
Her breathing deepened, a surge of desire smouldering through her veins. If the damn dress got any tighter around her chest, she would likely collapse from lack of air. Which reminded her...
“What happens when we land? Am I expected to parade around Monte Carlo looking like some crazed reject from Bridezilla?”
“Now, there’s a thought.”
“Considering all this must have been planned, I assume you took into account that I’d need a change of clothes.”
“Of course.”
She huffed. “What? Did you break into my apartment and rifle around in my wardrobe?”
“As much fun as rummaging around in your underwear would be, I didn’t choose that particular route.” His raunchy grin made her stomach flutter ridiculously. “Why don’t you go change before we land?”
She stood, gathering up her skirts. He gave her a quick once-over, an appreciative gleam lighting his eyes. “Want me to unzip you?”
The question zoomed her back two years to when he’d first undressed her. Slowly. She’d been incredibly nervous for some reason, but after they’d made love, she’d barely made it out of his bed for the whole week.
Best to cut off that particular line of thought before it led her down the road to emotional ruin. “I think you’ve done enough, thanks. I don’t want you doing anything for me. Except to give me a phone, lend me some money and hand over my passport, which I assume you have, since I’m not sure even you can wangle your way through airport security without one.”
“I needed to get you away. It’s for your own good, Maddie. You’ll soon see that.”
She chose not to respond to that, since she couldn’t do anything thousands