Tall, Dark... Collection

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 Gabriel was to talk about the accident.

At least as reluctant as Bella was to talk about that night they had spent together!

She gave him a direct look. ‘I assure you I’m not going to be hurt by anything you have to say concerning your feelings for Janine Childe.’

‘No?’ Gabriel’s eyes glittered in the moonlight that shone in the ever-encroaching darkness.

‘No,’ Bella said. ‘You aren’t the first man to go to bed with one woman when you’re actually in love with another one. I very much doubt that you’ll be the last, either!’ she added with a rueful smile.

Gabriel’s jaw tensed. ‘You believe me so utterly dishonourable?’

‘I believe you were a man surrounded by Formula One groupies who were only too happy to go to bed with defending champion Gabriel Danti, whether he was in love with someone else or not,’ Bella explained practically.

‘Formula One groupies?’ Gabriel exclaimed.

‘Oh, stop being obtuse, Gabriel,’ Bella teased gently. ‘Women of all ages find that macho image as sexy as hell, you know that.’

‘Did you?’ He sounded amused now.

‘We weren’t talking about me—’

‘Why did you go to bed with me that night, Bella?’

He had called her Bella again! Her defences were already in tatters after the momentous recognition earlier of her love for this man, without that!

‘Because you were sexy as hell, of course,’ she said brightly. ‘Now could you just—’

‘Past tense, Bella?’ Gabriel cut in softly, an edge to those husky tones. ‘You no longer find me sexy?’

If Bella found Gabriel any sexier she would literally be drooling down her chin at how gorgeous he looked this evening with the dark thickness of his hair flowing onto his shoulders and the way that cream silk shirt emphasised every muscled inch of his chest.

If Bella found him any sexier she would be ripping that shirt from his back just so that she could touch bare flesh.

If she found Gabriel any sexier she would be on her knees begging him to make love to her again!

And again.

And again…

Just thinking about it made Bella’s breasts firm and swell, the nipples hardening against the soft material of her dress, and an aching warmth begin to start between her thighs.

She shot him an irritated glance. ‘You should have a public health warning stamped on your forehead!’ She scowled as he began to smile. ‘I’m glad you think it’s funny,’ she muttered.

Gabriel continued to smile as he regarded Bella across the width of the table. Without Bella realising it—or particularly wanting it?—they were becoming easier together in each other’s company.

He sat forward slightly. ‘Your public health warning should be on your breasts.’

Colour suffused Bella’s cheeks. ‘My breasts…?’ she choked.

Gabriel nodded. ‘They are beautiful, Bella. Firm. Round. A perfect fit in my hands. And your nipples are—’

‘I’m not sure this is altogether polite after-dinner conversation, Gabriel!’ she gasped when she could once more catch her breath.

Gabriel allowed his gaze to lower to the part of her anatomy under discussion as they pressed firm and pouting against the material of her gown. A clear indication that their conversation had roused Bella as much as it had him.