He sat back in the chair and swallowed a mouthful of his drink, mentally following her progress as she was ushered towards his table.
Their eyes met. Brown eyes widening in disbelief clashing with coal-black, thickly fringed ones. Gabriel smiled coldly as she stood in front of him, casting one desperate glance back over her shoulder and then back to him.
‘Gabriel? My God, how are you?’ The residue of shock was still rippling through her body as Laura looked at the spectacularly handsome man lounging in the chair in front of her. She clutched the back of the chair and managed a small, tentative smile.
‘So, Laura, we meet again.’ His hard black eyes raked over her body with casual insolence before returning to her face, and continued to watch her over the rim of his glass as he took another sip of his drink. ‘You seem a little…disconcerted.’
In fact, she looked as if she might faint at any moment.
‘I wasn’t expecting…I thought…’ Laura stared back at him, transfixed by his face and those mesmerising black eyes that had always made her feel hot and unsteady. Had it been seven years ago? It seemed like just yesterday. She cleared her throat. ‘When this meeting was arranged, I had no idea…’
‘That you would be coming face to face with me? No, you wouldn’t have.’ Gabriel gave an indolent shrug of his broad shoulders. ‘But I am being very rude. Sit down.’ He watched as she hesitated fractionally, knowing what was going through her head. She didn’t want to be here. If she could have, she would have fled the restaurant as fast as she could. But she couldn’t. She was trapped by her own financial circumstances in a cruel twist of fate that not even he, in his most vengeful moments, could have conceived.
‘Sit,’ he ordered silkily, when she continued to hover by her chair like a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights of a fast-moving car. ‘After all, as old friends we have much to talk about.’ She still had that peculiarly enticing air of innocence and sensuality. Her extreme blondeness in combination with those large, almond-shaped chocolate-brown eyes had always been eye-catching because they contrasted so sharply with the contained intelligence on her face. For the first time, Gabriel lowered his eyes as his body treacherously began to respond to her.
‘What do you want, Gabriel?’ A pink tongue flicked out to moisten her dry lips, but she obeyed his order and cautiously slid into the chair.
‘Why, I thought my accountant made it perfectly clear what I wanted…’ Gabriel beckoned a waiter across and ordered a glass of white wine for her, Sancerre, then he smiled lazily. ‘After seven years I am finally able to offer you a drink. A drink in a smart, fashionable and excruciatingly expensive restaurant. As many drinks as you would like, as a matter of fact. Is that not extraordinary…?’
‘I would have preferred mineral water.’
Gabriel ignored her small protest.
Did he know what he was doing to her? Yes, of course he did, Laura thought shakily. It was pay-back time. She felt a shiver of apprehension feather down her spine as she was swamped by memories. God, he had been beautiful. She slid her eyes surreptitiously to him. He still was. Suffocatingly and excitingly masculine. All male. Every pore of him breathed virile sexuality and he hadn’t changed. No, he had changed. Power and wealth had hardened the ferociously handsome features of his face and the eyes staring at her were cold and assessing. A wave of nausea rushed over her.
‘You look a little pale. Take a sip of your wine.’ His voice snapped her out of her memories and brought her crashing back to reality. ‘Please accept my sympathies on the death of your father,’ he said, observing her coolly, whilst his fingers stroked the side of his glass.
‘Thank you.’ Laura paused to take a sip of wine. ‘I see you…you’ve done very well. I had no idea…’
‘That a poor boy like me working to make ends meet so that he could afford to complete his university course would turn out good in the end?’
‘That’s not what I was going to say. How is your father?’
‘Back in Argentina and doing very well.’
‘And you? How are you? Are you married? Children?’ In her head, he had never married. Laura realised, with shock, that he had been in her head ever since he had stormed out of her life. She had allowed herself to be persuaded by her parents that his disappearance had been for the best, that she had her future, that they had never been suited, that she would forget him in time, but she hadn’t forgotten him. And her memories of him were still of the raw youth who had swept her off her feet. Not of this man sitting in front of her with the world at his fingertips.
Gabriel’s jaw hardened. Married? Children? Those were dreams he had nurtured a long time ago, dreams he had uselessly expended on the woman floundering in the chair opposite him. He had been naïve enough at the time to imagine that she had shared those dreams. Until reality had kicked him in the face and he had been forced to swallow the bitter truth that he had been nothing but an amusing plaything for a rich young girl. Her dreams of happy families had not included wedding a poor Argentinian. Not enough class. His hand tightened around his glass and he quickly swallowed the remainder of his drink.
‘No,’ he said abruptly. He signalled to the waiter for menus and, after they had placed their orders, he sat back in his chair and loosely linked his fingers on his lap. ‘So…our fortunes have changed, have they not? Seven years ago, eating out at a restaurant like this would have been out of my reach.’ His dark eyes gave a quick glance around their expensive surroundings before returning to her face. ‘Who would have ever imagined that here I would one day sit, with you opposite me, in the role of…what shall we call it, Laura? Penitent?’
‘Why are you so bitter?’ Laura’s eyes met his and skittered away in a rush of helpless confusion. ‘It’s been years…’ She sighed. ‘Look, I don’t want to rake over old ground. Phillip tells me that you’re interested in buying the riding stables. I might as well warn you that they’re not what they used to be.’ She wished desperately that he would stop staring at her.
‘Why am I so bitter…?’ he mused. His voice was lazy and thoughtful, but his dark eyes were coldly hostile and a shiver of dread slithered down Laura’s spine. ‘Why do you think I’m bitter?’
‘Because your pride was dented when…’ Her voice faltered and she nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
‘Say it, Laura,’ he commanded silkily. ‘After all, it has been a long time since we last set eyes on one another. What could be more natural than to go over old ground?’
‘What’s the point of all of this?’ She whipped her napkin from her lap and flattened it with the palm of her hand on the table. ‘Do you have any intention of buying the stables, Gabriel, or did you decide to get me here so that you could watch me squirm? Humiliate me because I once turned down your proposal of marriage?’ There. It was out and they stared at one another in lengthening silence.
She would not allow him the satisfaction of playing cat and mouse with her. He had no intention of buying any stables. He had simply used that as a pretext to get her here so that he could spend a few hours watching her squirm because she had wounded his volatile, Argentinian pride.
‘I’m going.’ She stood up and scooped up her handbag from the table. ‘I don’t have to stay and suffer this.’
‘You’re not going anywhere!’ His voice cracked against her like a whip and she glared down at the impossibly handsome, ruthless face staring back at her with narrowed eyes.
‘You can’t tell me what I can and cannot do, Gabriel!’ She leaned over, squaring her hands on the table, her body thrust towards him. It was a mistake. It brought her too close to him, too close to that sexy mouth of his and, as if sensing it, he smiled slowly.
‘Times really have changed, in that case,’ he murmured, his black eyes flicking to her parted lips, then dipping to view the heavy breasts gently bouncing beneath the cardigan. ‘I remember