Beneath heavily lidded eyes, Gabriel watched Calleigh as he led her to the black limousine purring on the street in front of the hospital. She wasn’t faking her amnesia. In spite of his initial incredulity, he now had no doubt. She had no idea of who he was or what she’d done. And now she was pregnant with his child. This detail changed everything.
He gently helped her to the car. She had no luggage. One of his men had taken her smashed Aston-Martin to the garage, while the other had gone to make quiet amends for the smashed postbox.
Calleigh wore the black silk dress and carried the black clutch purse from her stepfather’s funeral yesterday. The black dress clung to her breasts and hips when she walked, the silk shimmering and sliding against her hips and breasts.
Her dark, long, glossy hair had been brushed into a fresh ponytail. She wore no makeup. It made her look so strange, so different. Gabriel had never known her to go out without lipstick before.
Although God knew, with her lustrous skin, full pink lips, and sparkling blue eyes, she didn’t need it to cause every man she met, from the elderly hospital porter to the teenaged boy walking past them on the sidewalk, to stop and catch his breath.
And as she turned back to face him on the sidewalk with a sweetly innocent smile, Gabriel was grimly aware that he was a galaxy away from being immune to her charm.
“Where are we going, Gabriel?” she asked, crinkling her forehead. “You never said.”
“We’re going home,” he replied, guiding her into the backseat of the limousine.
He closed the door behind her. His body’s reaction to her was irritating and troubling. Gabriel didn’t like it because he hated her. When he’d first seen Calleigh in the hospital, she’d been curled up on the single bed beneath a thick blanket. She’d looked pale and nothing like the vivacious, tempestuous little vixen he remembered.
Sleeping, she’d looked innocent, far younger than her twenty-five years. She’d looked small. Fragile. Gabriel had come to London specifically to destroy her. For the last three months, he’d been dreaming of it, it was his only thought. But how could he take his revenge if Calleigh not only had no memory of her crimes but on top of everything, she was pregnant with his baby?
Tightening his hands into fists, he stalked to the other side of the car. Though it was only September, summer had abruptly fled London. A steady drizzle was falling from low gray clouds. He climbed in beside her and she turned to him without missing a beat.
“Where… Uh… Where is… our home?”
“My home…” he closed his door with a bang “My home is Marbella, in Spain.”
She gaped at him.
“Spain?”
“It’s where I live, and I must take care of you,” he said and gave her a brief, tight smile. “Doctor’s orders.”
“So… I live there with you?”
“No.”
“We don’t live together?”
“You like to travel,” he said ironically.
“So where are my clothes?” Calleigh asked in a small voice. “And my passport?”
“I am pretty sure they’re at your stepfather’s estate. My staff will collect your things and meet us at the airport.”
“But…”
Calleigh looked out the window, then turned back to face him and said in a rush, lifting her chin.
“I want to see my home, Gabriel. My childhood home. Where is it?”
He gave her an assessing glance.
“Your stepfather’s estate is in Buckinghamshire if I remember well. But visiting this place, won’t help you at all. You spent one night there before the funeral. It hasn’t been your home for a long time.”
“Please, Gabriel.”
Her sapphire eyes gleamed.
“I want to see my home. Take me there, please.”
Gabriel's eyebrow furrowed as he looked down at her pleading face. ‘Calleigh really had changed,’ he thought. His mistress had never begged him for anything. She’d never even said please. Except…
Except for the first night he’d taken her to his bed, when all her defenses had been briefly stripped away and he’d discovered the most desired woman in the world was, against all expectations, a virgin. As he’d pushed himself inside her, she’d looked up at him in a breathless hush with those violet-blue eyes, and he’d thought… he’d almost thought…
He cut off the memory savagely. He wouldn’t think about how it had once been with her. He wouldn’t think how she had nearly made him lose everything, including his mind. Calleigh Swanson was a fatal habit that he’d finally broken. And he intended to keep it that way.
“Very well,” he ground out, turning back to face her. “I will take you home. But just to collect your things. We can’t stay.”
Her lovely face brightened. Calleigh looked so young without makeup, with her hair in the casual ponytail. She looked barely old enough to be in college, far younger than his own thirty-eight years.
“Thank you, Gabriel,” she said warmly.
‘Thank you’. Other two words he’d never heard from her before. Gabriel turned away, leaning back in the beige leather seat as his chauffeur drove smoothly through the city. As the car merged onto the M1 heading north, Gabriel stared out at the passing rain, then closed his eyes, tense and weary from jet lag and the whiplash of the past two days.
‘Calleigh, pregnant…’
He was still reeling.
‘No wonder she’d crashed her car,’ Gabriel thought dully. ‘Just the thought of losing her figure and not fitting into all her designer clothes must have made her crazy. All those months of not being able to drink champagne and dance until dawn with all of her rich, beautiful, shallow friends? Calleigh must’ve been more than shocked… She must have been furious.’
Pregnant… He won’t trust her to take care of a house plant, much less a child… his child. She had not one single maternal bone in her body. She wouldn’t love a baby. She was the least loving person Gabriel had ever met.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. He hadn’t even known about the baby an hour ago, but now he was absolutely sure of one thing. He had to protect his child.
“So, I don’t live in England…” he heard her say.
Steeling his expression, Gabriel turned to face Calleigh. Her face looked bewildered, almost sad.
“Do I even have a home?” she added hesitantly.
Against his will, he had the sudden image of Calleigh in his bedroom on Illa de Tagomago, spread across his large bed, with the curtains twisting from the sea breeze coming off the sparkling Balearic Sea. That had never happened, and it never would!
“You live in hotels,” he answered coldly. “Like I told you, you travel constantly.”
“So how do I hold down a job?” she said in disbelief.
“You don’t have a job. You spend your days shopping and attending parties around the world. You’re an heiress. A famous beauty.”
She gaped at him.
“You’re joking… Right?”
“No, I’m not.”
Gabriel left it at that. He could hardly explain how she and her depraved friends traveled in packs like parasites, sucking a luxury hotel dry before moving on to the next. If he told her that, she might hear the scorn in his voice and question the true nature of his feelings.
Damn it! How was it possible that he’d been so caught by her? What madness had possessed him to be so enslaved? How could he make sure that his child would never be neglected, hurt, or abandoned by her after she regained her memory?
A new thought suddenly occurred to him. If she couldn’t remember him, if she couldn’t remember who she was or what she’d done, it meant she would have no idea of what was about to hit her. She would have no defenses.
A slow smile curved his lips as Gabriel built his new plan. He could take everything from her, including their baby. And she would never see it coming.
“So, I was here for my stepfather’s funeral,” she said softly. “But I’m not British.”
“Your mother was, I believe. You both returned to England some years ago.”
She brightened.
“My mother!”
“She’s dead,” Gabriel informed her brutally.
Calleigh froze, her face crumpling. Watching the swift movement of scenery on the outskirts of London through the window behind her, Gabriel remembered that her mother’s death was fresh news to her. And that he was supposed to be in love with her. He had to make her believe that if he wanted his plan to succeed.
“I’m sorry, cariño,” he said abruptly. “But as far as I know, you have no family.”
“Oh…” she said in a small voice.
Pulling Calleigh into his arms, Gabriel held her close against his chest, kissing the top of her head. Her hair, messy and unwashed, still managed to smell like vanilla and sugar, the scents he associated with her. The scent immediately made his body go hard and taut with longing, with the immediate temptation of a long-desired vice.
Why couldn’t he stop wanting her? After everything she’d done, the way she’d nearly ruined him, how was it possible that his body still longed for her like a dying man thirsting for water?
Was he really a spineless masochist? Did he have no honor, no pride? ‘I have pride,’ he thought, clenching his jaw. 'But she's so damn near…' Even now, acting so sweetly demure, her innocence attracted him like a flame. He remembered the fire of passion inside her. And how he was the only man who’d ever tasted it.
Gabriel felt himself tighten. He knew he had to stop thinking about her in bed. He wouldn’t want her. He did have some control over his own body, damn it! She clenched her fingers against his sleeve, her face pressed into his crisply tailored shirt.
“So… I’m all alone… I have no one.”
Her voice was small, almost a whisper.
“No parents. No brothers or sisters. No one…”
He looked down at her, tipping her chin upwards so he could see the tears sparkling in her beautiful violet-blue eyes.
“Cariño, you have me.”
She swallowed, searching his face as if trying to read the emotion behind his expression. He schooled his features into concern and admiration and the closest attempt at love he could manage, never having actually felt it. A sigh came from her lips as she exhaled. A soft smile traced her lips.
“And our baby.”
Gabriel gave a single grim nod. Their baby was the reason he had to make sure his control over Calleigh was absolute. The reason he had to make her believe he cared about her. It was no different, he thought sardonically than she’d once done to him.
He would make Calleigh believe she could trust him. Make her willingly marry him. And then… then she’ll have a taste of her own medicine… The instant their marriage would be a fact, his life’s goal would be to make her remember the truth. He would be with her when she finally remembered. He would see her face as it fell.
And he would crush her. The thought of revenge made his heart glad. Not revenge, he told himself. Justice. Leaning forward, he held her closer in the backseat of the limo.
“Calleigh…”
Gabriel cupped her face in his large hands.
“I want you to marry me.”
Marry him? ‘Yes!’ Calleigh thought in a daze, looking up into his handsome face. Feeling his strong, rough hands against the softness of her skin, the warmth of his touch seared her, tracing down her neck to her breasts and lower still. How could any man be so masculine, so beautiful, so powerful all at once? So perfect? Gabriel was everything her tore, empty, frightened soul had desired. He would protect her. Love her. He would complete her life. ‘Yes, I will!’ But even as the words rose to her lips, something stopped her. Something she couldn’t understand made her pull her face away from his touch.“Marry you?” she whispered.&nbs
Sunlight reflected off the water as Calleigh and Gabriel took the motoscafo, a Venetian private water taxi, from the Marco Polo Airport. The September weather was bright and warm as they crossed the lagoon, passing by the Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge on the way to their hotel. Italy… Venice… Memories started to pierce his heart. Gabriel had never expected to return here again. But he said to himself that sometimes a man had to change the cards in the middle of the game. He swore to himself that he would do whatever it took, be as romantic a fool as any man could be, in order to lure Calleigh into marriage before her memory returned. It was the only way to make her pay for the wrong she had done to him. Gabriel loo
They stood on the dock as his bodyguard-assistant, Miguel, paid the young Italian taxi driver and organized the luggage. But all Calleigh could see was Gabriel. He was so breathtakingly handsome, tall, and strong... He seemed a demigod… like he left Heaven and came to Earth only for her… At this thought, she smiled slightly, almost imperceptibly. He really was there for her, to help her remember their wonderful love story, to recall how it has been between them before she lost her memory. Seeing her wardrobe in her stepfather’s house, Calleigh knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that she had been extremely hard to handle before the accident. The way she dressed, all the useless parties, her continuous running around from one city to another… It was time to put that aside and embrace this strange, ne
The sun was starting to set, giving the twilight a pink-and-orange glow with a rapidly chilling autumn bite in the air. As a light fog blew in from the lagoon, Gabriel reached for Calleigh’s hand. His hand wrapped around her smaller one, their naked palms pressing together, and she gave an involuntary shiver that had nothing to do with the cooling night. He paused on the walkway between the piazzetta and the canal.“Cold?” She nodded, because… how could she tell him the truth? How could she tell him that his every touch exhilarated and frightened her in equal measure?“Then we should do something about it.” Behind his head, Calleigh could see the Byzantine white domes, arches, and sharp
She swallowed, staring at his profile, very aware of what he just said and the bed behind her.“Well, um… Not anymore…” Calleigh whispered.“You won’t be hearing me complaining…” Gabriel said and a little mischievous smile appeared on his lips.“Nope… Thank you very much. New me… new habits.” Anxious, she looked at the bed and the couch.“You take the bed,” he said and the smile was now long gone. Standing up, he closed his laptop. His dark gaze, which had been so hot when he’d nearly kissed her near St. Marco’s Piazza, had suddenly cooled.“I’ll work in the office so I don’t disturb you. I’ll sleep on the couch when I’m tired.”&n
Calleigh had been smiling at him, but now she felt suddenly shy and kinda frightened. She put her hand to her hair, which yesterday had hung past her breasts and was now touching slightly her collarbone.“What?! What it looks like? I just had cut my hair. I felt it was time to make some changes about myself, about my image. So, I decided to start with my hair… These romantic waves caught my eye in a magazine and… here’s the result! A new wonderful haircut.”“I can see that…”“So, since it’s so obvious, why are you so mad about it? Was I supposed to ask for your permission?” she retorted pertly, squaring her shoulders. “Come on, Gabriel! Get used to it! It’s not like I cut an arm or something. It will grow back.” H
Gabriel looked just like the dark pirate she’d imagined, the one who’d come to plunder the medieval city, to take what he wanted and burn the rest. Calleigh blinked. How had she come up with such a brutal, cruel image? Where had that come from?“I saw you coming down those stairs in a long red dress… Such a powerful, wonderful vision. Pure perfection,” he said softly. “You were on the arm of my greatest business rival, but I knew at once that I would take you away from him. He had no chance against my determination to have you as part of my life.” Slowly, he walked up the stairs toward her.“I had to have all to myself. I would have taken you from the devil himself.” As Gabriel came up the stairs toward her, Calleigh was unable to move. Un
Kissing Calleigh was like falling into the darkest, deepest hole. It was like going straight to hell. It was fire. Sheer fire running through him. His blood was boiling in his veins, hot like a volcano’s lava. Gabriel placed his hand on the back of her head, his fingers twining in her beautiful hair, as he deepened the kiss. For months, he’d constantly hated and wanted Calleigh in equal measures. All he wanted was to have her once again before destroying her. He hungered for her, for her gorgeous body, for her sweet, plump lips. Was that why finally kissing her now overwhelmed his senses more than ever before? It wasn’t just desire that had changed the kiss, Gabriel realized. It was Calleigh herself. The kiss was different because the woman he was kissing was different. &nb