studying him in a way that possessed a heated interest that intrigued him. “Are you often paid when you lose?”
Gabriel laughed. It was criminal to have this much fun with a woman while fully dressed, but he was enjoying himself way too much to pull back now. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t lose cases.”
“There’s a first time for everything.” She straightened in her seat, flipping her hair over her shoulder to reveal the delicate column of her neck.
He gaze lowered, and suddenly he was fantasizing about what it would be like to press a kiss to the dip at the base of her throat. Would she tremble at the initial contact? Or would she tilt her head back, offering more of herself to him?
He felt himself go painfully hard at that image. In the fog of his rising lust, he almost lost his train of thought. “There’s no first time for me,” he finally choked out. “I always win, because I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Jane pursed her lips for a moment, as if she was ready to mount another verbal attack. But she let her face go placid and asked, “So, when did you arrive?”
“Yesterday afternoon,” he replied. Looked like she was trying to change the subject to avoid further argument. She had never done that before, and he was suddenly intrigued. Interested in finding out where the conversation was headed now that there was a chance of them speaking like two civilized adults. “I’ve already taken the grand tour and everything.”
“Bumped into any ghosts yet?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” he said with a chuckle. “The history of the place is pretty interesting, though.”
“It’s been in the family since the fourteenth century. Imagine how many people have lived here,” she said wistfully. “I can already feel the presence of all those lives.”
There was a dreamy look of wonder on her face that made his heart stop. He forced himself to resist the response. If he let himself get taken in by her growing attachment to the place, he’d lose the nerve to cut her down the way he did with all of his enemies. There was nothing personal about defeating Jane, but he couldn’t let sympathy cloud his judgment. Couldn’t let feelings get in the way of this ruthless undertaking. To make partner, Gabriel had to get the castle for his client. Nothing could stand in his way.
“Kind of spooky, don’t you think?”
“It is spooky,” she admitted. “But that’s part of its charm. The outside of the castle looks like something out of a fairytale. Especially with all the snow this time of year.”
“The inside sure doesn’t.” He motioned to the immense hall around them. This part of the castle wasn’t a ballroom or a princess’ tower. There were deer heads and killing machines on the walls, for one thing.
“Sure it does. Fairytales aren’t always pretty. The inside of Wintergarten is closer to a Grimm fairytale than the sanitized version most parents like to read to their kids.” She gave a faint smile and glanced over at the fire. “My mother gave me a book of Grimm fairytales when I was a kid, and I’ve been into German folklore ever since.”
She seemed to be falling in love with the place already. It was a pity he was going to have to tear her dreams away from her. “Pretty heavy stuff for a kid, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but it was good for me,” she said.
“How so?” he asked, genuinely interested.
Jane hesitated. “It helped me deal with some hard stuff. Gave me a place where I could be scared without being in any actual danger.”
“I see,” he said. “I guess that means you have big plans for the castle. If you win.”
“When I win, I plan on turning Wintergarten into a hotel,” she said. “Make it part of a heritage tour for people interested in local history and folklore. I was thinking the bottom floors could be more a museum and the upper floors would be where guests stay overnight.”
“Sounds like a huge undertaking.”
She turned to look at him sharply. “Anything worthwhile is. Which is probably more than I can say for whatever your client has in mind for the place.”
“Not that it matters one way or the other, but my client wants to make this his winter home,” Gabriel said. Though he had attorney-client privilege, his client had given him permission to talk about what he planned on doing with the castle. Any detail that would potentially scare her off