She shook her head. ‘I’m sure we can work out some sort of visiting—’ She broke off as Gabriel stood up abruptly.
‘Is that what you want for Toby?’ he asked harshly, the scar on his cheek seeming to stand out more severely. ‘You want him to become nothing more than a human parcel that passes between the two of us?’
‘It doesn’t have to be like that,’ she protested emotionally.
‘If the two of us do not marry that is exactly what it will be like,’ Gabriel insisted impatiently.
Bella swallowed hard, her expression pained. ‘You think Toby will fare any better as the only lynchpin between two people who don’t love each other but are married to each other?’
‘You have said you do not find my more obvious scars—unacceptable.’ Gabriel moved close enough now to see the slight flush that slowly crept into her cheeks, and the rapid rise and fall of her breasts beneath the cream blouse.
‘I don’t.’ She frowned. ‘But that doesn’t mean I like the idea of marrying you!’
Bella couldn’t think straight when Gabriel was standing so close to her. Couldn’t concentrate on anything with the heat of his dark gaze moving slowly over her body to linger on the firm thrust of her breasts, breasts that responded in tingling awareness, the nipples suddenly hard against the soft material of her bra and blouse. A warm, aching surge between her thighs made her shift uncomfortably.
She moistened lips that had gone suddenly dry. ‘Physical attraction is not a basis for marriage, either.’ Even as she said the words Bella was aware that her denial lacked any force.
‘Surely you will agree it is a start?’ Gabriel murmured huskily, a look of deep satisfaction in his eyes.
She could barely breathe as Gabriel easily held her gaze with his, allowing her to see the warmth burning deep within those dark brown eyes. Then he stepped close enough for her to be aware of the hard press of his arousal against her and his head lowered with the obvious intention of claiming her mouth with his own…
It was like a dam bursting as their mouths fused hotly together. Bella’s fingers became entangled in the dark thickness of Gabriel’s hair as their bodies pressed demandingly against each other. Their kiss deepened fiercely, spiralling out of control when Gabriel’s tongue moved to duel with hers as he enticed her to claim him as he was claiming her.
Bella was so hungry for this. The aching emptiness inside her was completely filled when Gabriel pushed the soft material of her blouse aside to cup and hold her breast, the soft pad of his thumb moving urgently, arousingly, over the hardened nub.
Bella almost ripped Gabriel’s shirt undone as she satisfied her own need to touch his naked flesh. The hard ripple of muscle. The dark silkiness of the hair that covered his chest. Fingers tracing the fine lines of the scars he still bore from his accident five years ago, Gabriel responding to those caresses with a low groan in his throat.
She offered no resistance as Gabriel snapped the back fastening to her bra to release her breasts to his questing hands, her throat arching, breath gasping as Gabriel’s lips parted from hers to draw one hardened nipple into the hot, moist cavern of his mouth, and his tongue flickered and rasped over that sensitive nub as his hand cupped and caressed her other breast.
The ache between Bella’s thighs became hot and damp, an aching void needing to be filled as she felt the hardness of Gabriel’s arousal, rubbing herself against him as the hardness of his thighs pulsed with the same need. She offered no resistance when Gabriel’s hands moved to cup her bottom and he lifted her so that she was sitting on the front of the desk, parting her legs so that he could move inside them, his hardness now centred on the throbbing nub that nestled there.
Bella groaned with satisfaction as Gabriel lay her back on the desktop so that he could suckle the nakedness of her breasts with the same heated rhythm as his erection thrust against the hardened nub between her thighs. Bella’s breathing became shallow, a husky rasp, as her release began to burn, to explode, taking her over the edge of reason—
A soft knock on the study door sounded before Cristo Danti informed them, ‘Toby and I will be outside in the garden when you have finished talking.’
Gabriel had moved sharply away from Bella the moment the knock sounded on the door, his mouth tightening now as he saw Bella’s horrified expression before she pushed up from the desk and moved away from him to turn her back and rearrange her clothes. ‘Isabella and I will join you shortly,’ he answered his father distractedly as he pulled his shirt together.
‘There is no rush,’his father assured pleasantly before he could be heard walking back down the hallway.
Gabriel frowned at Bella’s back as she tried, and failed, to refasten her bra with fingers that were obviously shaking too badly to complete the task. ‘Here, let me,’ he rasped before moving to snap the hook back into place.
‘Thank you,’ she said stiffly, making no effort to turn as she quickly buttoned her blouse. ‘I—I don’t know what to say! That was—I’m not sure what happened…’
‘Oh, I think you are well aware of what almost happened, Bella,’ he drawled. ‘It pleases me that you did not lie concerning my scars,’ he added huskily.
Bella hadn’t lied about Gabriel’s physical scars; his inner ones were another matter, however…
She shook her head. ‘I don’t usually behave in that—in that way!’
‘It is perhaps some time since you last had a man,’ Gabriel pointed out dryly.
Bella turned sharply, a frown between her eyes as she glared at him. Exactly what sort of woman did Gabriel think she was?
The sort of woman who allowed herself to almost be made love to on a desktop, apparently!
The sort of woman who had almost ripped Gabriel’s shirt from his back in her need to touch his naked flesh!
Bella closed her eyes in self-disgust as she tried to reassemble her thoughts. She most certainly was not that sort of woman! Gabriel probably wouldn’t believe her even if she were to tell him—which she had no intention of doing; it was bad enough that she knew how out of character her response to Gabriel had been without him knowing it, too!—that there hadn’t been a man in her life on an intimate level since that single night she had spent with Gabriel five years ago.
How could there have been? For nine months of that time she had been pregnant with Toby. And since Toby’s birth Bella had centred all of her attention on him. She certainly hadn’t wanted to add any more confusion to his young life by giving him a succession of ‘uncles’!
She drew in a deep controlling breath before opening her eyes to glare at Gabriel. He had pulled his shirt back onto his shoulders, but hadn’t bothered to refasten it, and Bella could now see the fine pattern of scars that marred the smoothness of the olive-coloured skin. With his dark hair in disarray from her recently entangled fingers, and that unbuttoned shirt revealing his scarred chest, Gabriel looked more piratical than ever. Certainly more rakishly attractive than Bella felt comfortable with!
She raised dark, mocking brows. ‘I’m sure it’s been much longer for me than the last time you “had” a woman!’
Gabriel continued to look at her levelly for several tense seconds, and then a humourless smile curved those sculptured lips. ‘Not all women are as—understanding, about physical imperfection, as you appear to be,’ he said dryly.
Bella couldn’t believe that. If Gabriel were any more perfect she would be a gibbering wreck!
‘I believe that what took place just now proved that we would not lack physical gratification in our marriage,’ he commented wickedly.
Bella’s mouth tightened. ‘We are not getting married,’ she repeated