he wore beneath the dark grey frock coat…
‘You have given me so much more than that, Isabella,’ Gabriel assured her huskily.
She looked at him warily, but she was unable to read anything from his expression. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she finally murmured uncertainly.
‘I am talking of Toby, Isabella. You have given me a son,’ he explained evenly.
A man who had everything—except that…
‘Wow, a wedding ring and an island in the Caribbean,’ she mocked. ‘What would you have given me if I had only produced a daughter? A monthly allowance and visiting rights, perhaps?’
‘No, I would have given you a wedding ring and an island in the Caribbean!’ A nerve pulsed in Gabriel’s cheek as he answered her. ‘I would value a daughter no less than a son, Isabella, and I have no idea why you would ever think that I might. Or why it is you take such delight in insulting me!’
Why did Bella take delight in insulting him?
Because she was angry with him. Because she was angry with herself. Because she was just plain angry!
She was angry with Gabriel for forcing her into this marriage.
She was angry with herself for allowing him to do so.
She was angry because a part of her had thrilled at the sight of Gabriel as he’d stood down the aisle waiting for her, looking so devastatingly handsome in the dark frock coat and white shirt and red bow tie. She was angry because her voice had quivered with emotion as she had made her vows to him and because her hand had trembled at his slightest touch as he’d placed his wedding ring upon her finger.
Bella was angry for all of those reasons and more!
‘I’m sorry,’ she sighed wearily. ‘It’s been a long and—and difficult day.’
‘For both of us,’ Gabriel pointed out.
‘Yes.’ Bella turned her head to look at him.
Gabriel looked as strained as she felt, Bella acknowledged ruefully, lines beside his eyes and the grimness of his mouth, his skin slightly pale beneath his naturally olive complexion.
How different this could all have been if Gabriel hadn’t been in love with another woman five years ago. How different today could have been if the two of them had married because they were in love with each other now.
Instead they were two strangers who had married to protect and sustain their young son’s happiness.
Bella swallowed hard. ‘I think, if you don’t mind, that I would like to just sit here quietly for a while.’ She closed her eyes.
Gabriel did mind. If Bella thought the last five weeks had been any less of a strain for him, then she was mistaken.
In company, Bella had managed, as agreed, to maintain an air of tranquil happiness, but once they were alone it had been a totally different matter. She had shown a total lack of interest whenever he had tried to discuss the wedding arrangements with her. Had been uncommunicative on the three Sunday mornings they had attended church together in order to hear the reading of their Banns.
Worst of all, once they were alone, Bella had avoided so much as touching him…
If Bella wished to punish him for forcing this marriage on her then she could not have chosen a better way to do it than with her icy silence and her obvious aversion to his lightest touch!
‘You and your father certainly know how to travel in style,’ Bella commented lightly as she sat across the table from Gabriel in the luxurious cabin of the Danti jet, only now beginning to appreciate the wealth and power behind the Danti name.
Well…apart from earlier when Gabriel had informed her he had given her an island in the Caribbean as a wedding gift!
Bella shied away from even thinking about what she was going to do with an island in the Caribbean and instead turned her attention back to her present surroundings.
The Danti-owned jet was the height of luxury, only six ultra-comfortable seats in the spacious and carpeted main cabin, with a bar at the cockpit end, and a door to another private compartment at the other.
Gabriel had given instructions to the captain to take off as soon as they were on board and their luggage had been stowed in the cabin at the back of the plane. A male steward had then placed two long-stemmed fluted glasses on the glass table in front of them before pouring the bubbly champagne, leaving the bottle cooling in a bucket of ice beside Gabriel and then disappearing back into the galley behind the bar and closing the door discreetly behind him.
Bella had totally avoided even looking at her own glass of champagne as it reminded her all too forcibly of that night with Gabriel five years ago. The last thing she needed to think about at the moment was that!
Gabriel nodded now. ‘As you and Toby will also do now that you are Dantis.’
The sinking feeling in Bella’s stomach owed nothing to air-sickness and everything to the realisation that that was who she really was now.
Isabella Danti. Wife of Gabriel.
‘No doubt Toby will be impressed,’ she answered.
‘But not you?’
Bella was more nervous than impressed. Nervous of being really alone with Gabriel for the first time in five weeks. A quivering wreck just at the thought of spending a week alone with him on her Caribbean island.
She shook her head. ‘I’m not four years old, Gabriel.’
‘No, you are not, are you?’
Bella shot Gabriel a swift glance, not in the least reassured by the intensity of his chocolate-brown eyes as his gaze met hers and held it captive.
She physically had to turn her head away to break that gaze before she could stand up abruptly. ‘I—I think I would like to go into the other room and take off this wedding gown.’
‘An excellent idea, Isabella,’Gabriel murmured huskily.
Bella frowned up at him as he rose slowly to his feet, his height and the width of his shoulders at once dominating the cabin. ‘I think I’m quite capable of changing my clothes on my own, thank you,’ she told him sharply.
Gabriel gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘I thought you might need some help with the zip at the back of your gown.’
Good point, Bella realised. The wedding gown was medieval in style, with long, close-fitting lace sleeves that tapered to a point at her wrist, their snug fit making it impossible for Bella to reach the zip that ran the whole length of her spine without risking ripping the sleeves at the seams. It hadn’t been a problem earlier today, because Claudia had helped her to dress, but Bella couldn’t say she was exactly comfortable now with the thought of Gabriel helping her to undress…
Comfortable? The thought of Gabriel touching her at all was enough to send her already fractured nerves into a complete tailspin!
She
