Tall, Dark... Collection

‘You will not be sick if you look out at the sea and not down at the ground,’ he instructed.

Easy enough for him to say, Bella groaned inwardly as her stomach continued to heave in protest for several long minutes, only settling down to a slight queasiness as the helicopter levelled out and she could finally appreciate the beauty of the scenery.

The sun was bright and very hot, the sea so blue and clear that Bella could see the sandy bottom in several places, even more so as they began to approach a small island edged by unspoilt beautiful beaches and covered in lush green foliage and trees.

Gabriel flew the helicopter over the beach, almost but not quite touching the tops of the trees, Bella’s eyes widening as she saw he was heading towards a white-painted villa on top of a hill, only slightly inland and surrounded by more trees and huge brightly coloured flowers.

‘Home.’ Gabriel nodded in answer to Bella’s questioning look as he began to lower the helicopter onto the patch of flat green grass next to the villa. ‘What did you expect, Bella?’ He turned to her once they were down on the ground. ‘That I was bringing you to a shack in the middle of nowhere?’

Bella hadn’t really given a lot of thought as to where they would stay once they reached the island. The fact that Gabriel had given her an island as a wedding gift had seemed fantastic enough!

‘It is slightly primitive in that there are no servants here to wait on us,’ Gabriel warned.

Bella smiled wryly. ‘I won’t miss what I’ve never had, Gabriel.’

‘A Frenchman owned the island previously, and he had the villa built several years ago,’ Gabriel told her as he climbed out of the helicopter. ‘Obviously, if you want to change the décor then you must do so.’

‘It’s beautiful as it is,’ Bella murmured as she took her sunglasses off to follow him inside the villa.

The floors were cool cream-and-terracotta-coloured marble, the cream furniture in the sitting-room kept to a minimum, with several glass-topped tables placed conveniently beside the armchairs and sofa. The kitchen was even more surprising, everything white, including the cooker and huge refrigerator and freezer.

‘We have our own generator and fresh water supply,’ Gabriel told her as she moved slowly about the room. ‘Or rather, you have your own generator and fresh water supply,’ he corrected ruefully.

Bella blinked, totally overwhelmed now that she was actually here. ‘This really is all mine?’

Gabriel nodded. ‘Do you like it?’ His expression was guarded.

Almost as if he expected her to throw his gift back in his face. Not literally, of course, but verbally at least. Not surprising considering her remarks when Gabriel had first told her about the island!

‘I love it!’ Bella assured him emotionally. ‘I—thank you, Gabriel,’ she added slightly breathlessly.

Gabriel stood across the kitchen, his own sunglasses pushed up into the darkness of his hair. Hair that he hadn’t bothered to have cut the last five weeks, its longer length making him look more like the man Bella had met and briefly fallen for five years ago.

She turned away abruptly. ‘How on earth did everything get here? The materials to build the villa? The furniture?’ she quickly asked to cover her sudden and complete awareness of Gabriel as he stood there so still and yet so lethally attractive.

Gabriel shrugged. ‘The same way that the food in the freezer and refrigerator got here.’ He opened the fridge door to show her all the food stored on the shelves. ‘By boat,’ he supplied ruefully as Bella still looked puzzled.

Bella eyes narrowed. ‘Are you telling me that I didn’t have to suffer that helicopter flight at all? That we could have come here by boat, instead?’

Gabriel held back a smile at her slightly indignant expression. ‘I thought it would be more…dramatic…to arrive by helicopter,’ he admitted.

‘Oh, you did, did you…?’ Bella said quietly as she placed her bag down on one of the work-surfaces.

‘I did, yes,’ Gabriel muttered warily, not able to read Bella’s mood at all as she strolled over and opened the freezer door, taking out a tray of ice cubes before moving over to the sink. ‘Of course, you must be thirsty,’ he acknowledged. ‘There is a selection of drinks in the—What are you doing?’ He frowned as Bella approached him brandishing a handful of ice cubes before reaching out to grasp the collar of his polo shirt and dropping them inside. ‘Bella!’ Gabriel gasped in protest at the first uncomfortable touch of the icy-cold cubes against the heat of his flesh.

‘I thought you were looking a little hot, Gabriel,’ she drawled as he stepped back to shake the frozen cubes out of his clothing, several of them shattering on the marble floor.

‘Damn it, Bella—’ Gabriel broke off as Bella began to laugh at his discomfort.

It was the first time, Gabriel realised, that he had heard her laugh without cynicism or sarcasm since they’d met again five weeks ago.

His breath caught in his throat as he stared at her, those gorgeous violet eyes shining with good humour, her teeth tiny and white against her pale pink lip gloss, a healthy colour in her cheeks.

Bella was the most beautiful woman Gabriel had ever seen!

‘Perhaps I deserved that,’ he allowed gruffly.

‘Perhaps you did,’ she confirmed unrepentantly. ‘Next time we come by boat, yes?’ she said as she moved to pick up the shattered ice cubes.

Gabriel remained silent as he hunkered down on his haunches to help her, unwilling to break the sudden truce by making any comment that Bella might take exception to, satisfied for the moment that there would be a next time…

‘What are you doing, Gabriel?’

He threw his cheroot to the ground, grinding it beneath the sole of his shoe before turning slowly to look at Bella as she stood behind him in the moonlight.

Their uneasy truce had continued while they walked along the beach earlier, and through the dinner they had prepared together and then eaten outside on the terrace that overlooked the moon-dappled ocean. The two of them had returned outside after they had cleared the dishes away, the silence between them companionable rather than awkward as they finished drinking the bottle of red wine Gabriel had opened to accompany their meal.

Bella had excused herself half an hour or so ago in order to go to the master bedroom to prepare for bed, Gabriel opting to stay outside a little longer, still reluctant to say or do anything that might shatter even the illusion of the companionship they had found together since the ice-cube incident.

They were due to stay here for a week, and Gabriel would prefer that they not spend all of that time at loggerheads!

Looking at Bella now, in a pale-lilac-coloured nightgown, the silk material clinging to her breasts and moulding to the gentle curve of her hips, Gabriel knew that he wanted to strip even that flimsy garment from her before making love with her.

Something, after her comments earlier on the plane, that was sure to shatter even the illusion of companionship that they’d shared so far!

He thrust his hands into the pockets of the black trousers he had changed into before dinner. ‘I thought you would prefer your privacy after such a long and tiring day.’

Bella looked at him searchingly, but was totally unable to read Gabriel’s mood beneath the remoteness of his expression. ‘Aren’t you coming to bed?’ she finally prompted hesitantly.

‘Later, perhaps,’ he rasped dismissively. ‘I am not tired yet.’

Bella hadn’t exactly had sleep in mind when she’d asked that question!

The island was beautiful, and totally unspoilt, she had discovered as she and Gabriel had strolled barefooted, if slightly apart, along the shoreline before dinner. The water had lapped gently against their feet, the smell of the exotic blossoms wafting in the warm softness of the breeze, and all adding to the seduction of the evening.

To the air of awareness that lay hidden just below the surface of even the slightest glance that Bella and Gabriel exchanged.

At least, she had thought it had.

Gabriel’s reluctance to come to bed now seemed to imply that only she had felt that aching awareness.

Because Gabriel’s lovemaking earlier had only been a way of showing her that he really could make love to her wherever and whenever he felt like it, as he had put it so bluntly?

That, having already proved his point once today, Gabriel now felt no urgency to repeat the experience?

How utterly ridiculous of her to have imagined that, because the two of them hadn’t argued for the last few hours, they could have actually reached some sort of understanding in their relationship. Gabriel had never made any secret of his reason for marrying her—his only reason for marrying her!—and that reason was Toby.

Bella felt the humiliated colour burn her cheeks. ‘You’re right, Gabriel, I would prefer my privacy,’ she said. ‘As such, it would be better if you used one of the other bedrooms, and kept out of mine, for the duration of our stay here.’