A Yuletide Seduction

‘How long for?’ Jane scorned. ‘When do you intend making your next assault on Richard’s company?’ she added disgustedly.

‘I don’t assault, Jane,’ Gabe drawled derisively. ‘I acquire companies—’

‘By going for the jugular of the owner!’ she accused heatedly. ‘Look for the weakness, and then go for it!’

Gabe looked completely unmoved by her accusation. But those aqua-blue eyes had narrowed and a pulse was beating in his clenched jaw. Maybe he wasn’t as completely lacking in compassion as she had believed…

No, she couldn’t believe that. Three years ago he had been completely ruthless, totally without compassion. It had been his behaviour then that had turned an unbearable situation into a living hell. It was the very reason she had reacted so strongly to Felicity and Richard’s situation. For all the good that had done her—Gabriel Vaughan had taken her emotional response and immediately jumped to the conclusion that she must be having an affair with Richard!

‘Every company has its weak spot, Jane,’ Gabe mocked now. ‘But I only acquire the ones that are of interest to me.’ He pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘I don’t wish to alarm you, Jane, but there appears to be smoke coming from—’

Her second batch of meringues!

Ruined. Burned, she discovered as she quickly opened the oven door and black smoke belched out into the kitchen.

‘Don’t be a fool!’ Gabe rasped harshly, pushing her none too gently out of the way as she would have pulled the tray from inside the oven. ‘You open the kitchen door, and I’ll throw the tray out into the garden.’ He took the oven-glove from her unresisting fingers. ‘The door, Jane,’ he prompted again firmly as she still didn’t move.

Damn the man, she muttered to herself as she finally went to open the door. She couldn’t remember the last time she had burnt anything, let alone in the middle of a dinner party. But this man had disturbed her so badly that he had achieved it quite easily. She was losing it, damn it. Damn him!

‘Out of my way, Jane,’ Gabe instructed grimly, going past her to throw the blackened meringues, and the tray, out into the garden.

Jane watched wordlessly as the burnt mess landed outside in the snow. Yes, snow. Somewhere, in the midst of what was turning out to be a terrible evening—the second in a week—it had begun to snow, a layer of white already dusting everything, the overheated tray sizzling and crackling in the coldness.

‘Where do you run?’

She turned back to look at Gabriel Vaughan, dismayed at how close he was to her as they both stood in the open doorway, blinking up at him dazedly, the coldness of their breath intertwining. ‘The park near my apartment. Why?’ She frowned her sudden suspicion at the question.

His gaze remained unblinkingly on her own. ‘Just curious.’

She shook her head, outwardly unmoved by his closeness, but inwardly…! But if she moved away he would merely realise how disturbing she found it to be standing this close to him. And as far as she was concerned he already had enough of an advantage—even if he wasn’t aware of it!

And he could keep his damned curiosity to himself! Not that it really mattered; he had no idea where she lived, and so consequently he wouldn’t know which park it was, either!

‘By the look of this snow—’ she looked up into a sky that seemed full of the heavy whiteness ‘—I won’t be running anywhere tomorrow morning.’ Her morning run in the nearby park cleared her head and set the tone for the rest of her day, and finding Gabriel Vaughan there, accidentally or otherwise, would totally nullify the exercise!

‘A fair-weather runner, hmm?’ Gabe drawled derisively.

Her brows rose indignantly over wide sherry-brown eyes. ‘I don’t—’

‘Ah, Gabriel, this is where you’ve been hiding yourself,’ murmured a husky female voice. ‘What on earth is that dreadful smell?’ Celia Barnaby, the hostess of the evening, a tall, elegant blonde, wrinkled her nose at the smell of the burnt meringues that still lingered in the kitchen.

Gabe looked down at Jane, winking conspiratorially before turning to stroll across the kitchen to join his hostess. ‘I believe it was dessert, Celia,’ he drawled laughingly, taking a light hold of her arm as he guided her back out of the kitchen. ‘I think we should leave Jane alone so that she can do her best to salvage it in peace!’

‘But—’

‘I believe you were going to tell me about the skiing holiday you’re taking in the New Year?’ Gabe prompted lightly, continuing to steer the obviously reluctant Celia away from the disaster area. ‘Aspen, wasn’t it?’ He glanced back at Jane over the top of the other woman’s head, his smile one of intimate collusion.

‘Damn the man,’ Jane muttered to herself as she set about ‘salvaging’ and she didn’t have a lot of time to do it. Her two helpers for the evening were now returning with the empty vegetable dishes, as the main course had just been served.

By the time she had finished arranging the meringues and fruit on the plates, lightly covering the latter with a raspberry sauce, no one would ever have guessed that there should actually have been two meringues on each plate.

Except Gabriel Vaughan, of course. But then, he was the reason for the omission; if she hadn’t been busy fending off his questions then this disaster wouldn’t have happened. She was just too professional, too organised, for to this happen under normal circumstances. But with Gabriel Vaughan once again present it was far from normal!

In fact, she was slightly on edge for the rest of the evening, kept half expecting Gabriel Vaughan to stroll back into the kitchen unannounced; it just didn’t seem to occur to him that the dinner guests weren’t supposed to just stroll about the homes of their host or hostess, let alone go into the kitchen and chat to the hired help! That was his inborn arrogance, Jane decided derisively; Gabriel Vaughan would go where he wanted, when he wanted.

And he would also say exactly what he pleased, even if it was insulting!

She couldn’t even imagine what Richard Warner must be thinking about the other man’s accusations concerning the two of them. It was so ludicrous it would be laughable in other circumstances. As it was, she could imagine that Gabe’s words that Richard ‘wasn’t too happy’ about it were definitely an understatement where Richard was concerned!