‘The way I see it, both you and I have almost died and have the scars to prove it—’ Bella broke off abruptly as Gabriel turned, his expression fierce. ‘I was only trying to make light of the situation, Gabriel,’ she reasoned.
His eyes narrowed to steely slits. ‘You think the risk to your life is a subject for humour?’
She grimaced. ‘I think it’s something that happened four and a half years ago. It’s nothing but history now. We’re all still here, after all.’
Gabriel knew that Bella was right, but having just learnt that she might have died giving birth to Toby made him wonder—fear?—that a second pregnancy might be as dangerous…
‘May I see your scar?’
Bella looked up at Gabriel warily as he loomed over her and blocked out the sun, his face darkly intense.
He wanted to see her scar from the Caesarean section? Her below-the-bikini-line scar?
She swallowed hard. ‘Can’t you just take my word for it that it’s there?’
There was a slight easing of the tension in his expression. ‘No.’
‘Oh.’ Bella chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I would really rather not.’ Her arms tightened protectively about her knees.
‘Why not?’
Because it was far too intimate, that was why! Because she already felt totally exposed, vulnerable, in the brief bikini, without baring any more flesh!
‘Maybe later,’ she said, turning away.
‘Now.’
Bella frowned her irritation as she looked back at him. ‘Gabriel, we don’t have to literally bare all of ourselves to each other in the first few days of marriage!’
He gave a hard smile. ‘You have seen my scars, now I would like to see yours.’
‘I would rather not,’ she came back crossly.
‘Men and women all look alike in the daylight, too, Isabella,’ Gabriel murmured throatily.
No, they didn’t!
There was simply no other man like Gabriel. No other man with his broodingly dark good looks. No other man with the power to make Bella’s knees tremble with just a glance from the warmth of those chocolate-brown eyes. No other man who made her feel so desirable. No other man who could make her totally lose control at the merest touch of his hand…
There just was no other man as far as Bella was concerned.
Oh, God!
Bella felt her cheeks pale even as she stared up at Gabriel with a feeling of helplessness. She loved him. Loved Gabriel.
Had she ever really stopped loving him?
Probably not, Bella acknowledged with a feeling akin to panic. She had fallen in love with Gabriel that night five years ago, and even though she had never seen him again she had continued to love him.
That was the reason she had never been interested in even going out with another man for all these years.
That was the reason she had never felt even remotely attracted to another man in that time.
Because she was already in love with Gabriel Danti, and always would be!
And now she was married to him. Married to the man she loved, would always love, and yet could never tell him of that love because it wasn’t what Gabriel wanted from her. It had never been what Gabriel wanted from her, and even less so now. All Gabriel wanted was his son; Bella just happened to come along with the package.
She stood up abruptly. ‘I think not, thank you, Gabriel,’ she told him stiffly. ‘I’m tired. I’ll go back to the villa and take a nap before dinner.’
Gabriel remained on the beach, his gaze narrowed in thought as he watched Bella walk into the trees and up towards the villa, her hair a black silky cloud down the slenderness of her back, the gentle sway of her hips wholly enticing.
What had happened just now?
One minute Bella had been challenging him as she always did, just as he had been enjoying that challenge as he always did, and the next it seemed she had completely shut down all her emotions.
Perhaps that was as well when Gabriel knew he daren’t risk another pregnancy for Bella until he was sure she would be in no danger…
‘Tell me what happened five years ago, Gabriel.’
‘As in…?’ Gabriel’s expression was guarded as he looked across the dinner table at Bella.
‘As in the accident, of course,’ she said impatiently.
‘Ah.’ Gabriel sat back to take a sip of the white wine that he had opened to accompany the lobster and salad they had prepared together and just eaten.
Bella frowned. ‘What did you think I meant?’
Gabriel looked at Bella beneath lowered lids as he admired her and thought how lovely she looked in her simple black knee-length gown. Its thin shoulder straps and the bareness of her arms revealed the light tan she had attained at the beach earlier, the heavy cloud of her dark hair cascaded loosely over that golden hue, and her face was bare of make-up except a pale peach lip gloss.
Bella had never looked more beautiful. Or more desirable.
‘What did I think that you meant?’ Gabriel repeated slowly. ‘The night we spent together, perhaps?’
‘I think we’re both already well aware of what happened that night!’ Bella pointed out tartly. ‘Impressionable student meets sexy racing-car driver,’ she enlarged as Gabriel raised questioning brows. ‘And the rest is history, as they say!’
‘What do you say, Bella?’
What should Bella say?
She could say that she had behaved like a complete idiot five years ago. She could say that she should have had more sense than to fall for all that rakish charm and spent that one glorious night in his arms. She could say that she should never have committed the complete folly of falling in love with a man like Gabriel Danti!
‘Oh, no, you don’t, Gabriel.’ Her smile was tight. ‘You’re not going to distract me from my original question by annoying me.’
‘I’m not?’
‘No, you’re not!’
He quirked dark brows. ‘I am curious as to why our talking about the night we spent together five years ago should cause annoyance.’
‘Gabriel!’ she protested.
‘Bella…?’
Maybe if he had continued to call her Isabella in that cold and distant way then Bella would have refused to answer him. Maybe. But when he said her name in that sexy, husky way she had no chance!
She sighed. ‘I really don’t want to argue with you again tonight, Gabriel.’
He nodded. ‘Fine, then we will not argue.’
‘We can’t seem to do anything else!’
He shrugged his shoulders beneath the cream silk shirt he wore.
‘We are here together for a week, Bella, with no other distractions. We have to talk about something.’
‘I’ve already told you what happened that night. I’m more interested in what happened afterwards,’ she said firmly.
Gabriel’s mouth tightened. ‘You are once again referring to the car crash in which two men died.’
The sudden coolness in his gaze, the slight withdrawal Bella sensed in his manner, told her how reluctant