The Secret Spanish Love-Child - By Cathy Williams Page 0,54

winning his son over. Whatever he did, he did with the full weight of his conviction. She guessed that would include everything that got thrown at him in terms of his duties as far as Luke was concerned.

Like the irrepressible force of a powerful undertow, this brought her thoughts right back to square one: how far would Gabriel go to complete the perfect husband role? He would move mountains for his son…but for her?

She would have to lay down one or two ground rules. Capitulation wouldn’t be solely on his terms.

Arriving back in London was like suddenly finding herself flung head first into a prison cell from which she had temporarily been released. Even Luke appeared to have gone into a slump as he tightly clutched her hand through airport security. His interminable chatter had petered out to the occasional doleful and nostalgic remark about the beach or his precious kite, which he had been persuaded to leave behind due to lack of suitcase space, or the glorious big house belonging to his grandparents. Bracing talk about school the following Monday and his favourite, fish and chips, for dinner was greeted with lukewarm enthusiasm. Only the promise of phoning Gabriel met with a positive response, and since that was precisely what Alex was itching to do, she dialled Gabriel’s number pretty much as soon as she had settled Luke in the sitting room with his favourite cartoon and a snack.

About to leave for a meeting, Gabriel recognised Alex’s telephone number. Without skipping a beat, he told his secretary to cancel his meeting and, with experience born from long service, his secretary reached for her phone, also without skipping a beat.

Gabriel had been surprised to discover how much he enjoyed hearing her voice at the end of a line. He relaxed back into his leather chair and swivelled it round so that he was staring at the fairly boring panorama of grey sky, scudding clouds and tips of buildings.

‘Am I interrupting you?’

‘Wall to wall meetings,’ Gabriel said, loosening his tie. ‘But no big deal.’ He wasn’t going to be drawn into letting her think that she could do as she pleased. Work had always been the foundation of his life and, even if he had taken a break, a much needed break, for a short while, it was still the foundation of his life. It was what made him the success story he was today.

Women had never been allowed to overstep those boundaries and the fact that he had just cancelled his high level meeting for a phone call was testament to the fact that she occupied a special place. She was the mother of his son. He was quite pleased that, in a roundabout way, this seemed to elevate him to a flattering level.

‘How is Luke? Is he missing me?’ Then, before she could answer that, he continued in a roughened voice, ‘Are you missing me? Would you be insulted if I told you that I had to take a very cold shower last night because I couldn’t get you out of my head?’

How was it that the sound of his voice could do foolish things to her body? Her cheeks reddened and the telltale signs of that craving of hers spread through her body, leaving her damp and hot and flustered.

But she didn’t intend to let that reduce her to a weak, stammering mess. She thought back to Cristobel and that hideous attack on her. Had she been telling the truth? Did Gabriel’s heart really belong to the blonde? He had been drawn enough to her to propose marriage so that said something. And now here she was, on the brink of accepting his marriage proposal and, when she stripped away all the lust and sex, she was left with a business arrangement. Her return to London had been salutary in helping her remember that. As had Cristobel.

‘I’m back in London, actually.’

Gabriel smiled slowly. Her return could only mean that she was lonely without him around and, despite the fact that he had never cared for the dependent, clingy type, he realised and accepted with stunning alacrity that Alex somehow didn’t fall into this category.

‘Where in London?’

‘Where do you think, Gabriel? My house, of course.’

‘We’ll have to do something about that,’ he murmured, half to himself.

‘I’d like to talk to you, but not on the phone. Face to face. Would you be able to get away some time later this evening?’

‘I can get away right now.’

‘What about those wall