“All ready,” the engineer said when Gabe opened the driver’s door. “We’ve got a slot in fifty-five minutes.”
The engineer slid a look toward Maddie sitting in the back seat, her arms still folded and a look of stoic determination on her face. “Everything all right, boss?”
“All good,” Gabe said. “We’ll go straight on board. Weather okay?”
“Yeah. Smooth sailing all the way.”
Not bloody likely, Gabe thought as his engineer went off whistling a happy tune. Maddie looked fit to spit nails.
He opened the car door and leaned in. Resting one hand on the soft leather at her back and the other on the edge of her seat, he brought his face close to hers. His gaze dropped to her mouth, those plump, kissable lips he loved to torture. The same lips that could so easily return the favour, wrapping around his cock and propelling him straight to the promised land.
She shifted away, looking him up and down as if he were the devil incarnate.
“Behave yourself, princess. You’ll hurt my feelings.”
Defiance shining bright in her beautiful eyes, she held his gaze. “I don’t give a flying fig about your feelings, you bastard. And there’s no way I’m getting out of this car.”
She turned her head away, the movement wafting her fragrance until it settled in his nostrils. He’d read somewhere that smell could transport a person back through the past and toss him slap-bang into a memory. That happened now, launching him back two years to when Maddie had pressed up tight against him, her naked body warm and languid following a bout of especially athletic lovemaking. The musky scent of her arousal remained thick in the air, and her damp heat pressed against him as she gyrated softly against his hip making those little purring sounds of contentment.
Fuck. He wanted that again. Wanted Maddie wrapped around him, over him, under him. He wanted to be inside her, pushing her to the limits, until neither of them could think straight.
“I could make you get out of the car,” he said, battening down his inappropriate arousal. “Maybe even put you over my shoulder if I need to.”
She whipped her gaze back to his. “Huh. You can try, but I’ll bring the whole airport running with the noise I’ll be making.”
“Not if I gag you first.” Her eyes went wide, but he didn’t see fear—he saw excitement. “You’re not completely averse to that, as I recall.”
Her cheeks flushed, her breasts rising and falling as her breathing picked up. He was having trouble with his own damn breathing, and his cock went rock-hard now, pressing painfully against his fly.
“Hard to forget, isn’t it?” He didn’t know why he was baiting her, tormenting himself. The answer throbbed in his trousers. “You weren’t able to scream. And boy, did you love to scream. Especially when I went down on you. Couldn’t get enough of that, could you, princess?”
Pink slashed high across her cheekbones. “I don’t recall you being especially silent on occasions,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Especially when I had your cock in my mouth. Couldn’t get enough of that, could you, lover?”
His breathing lodged in his throat, his trousers growing unbearably tight. He curled his fingers deep into the soft leather upholstery, when really he wanted them curling around her. He wanted his hands, his tongue and his cock on her. In her. Every damn thing. Every damn where.
“Maddie...”
“I hope you’ve got a good lawyer, because you’re going to need one when I’m done pressing charges for kidnapping and molestation.”
“I haven’t touched you.” He let that hang in the air. “And I’m not going to touch you...unless that’s what you want.”
She turned her head away, but he held her chin between his fingers, bringing her back to face him. “You’re getting on that plane.”
She stared back at him. “Looks like you’ll have to make me, then, doesn’t it? But let me warn you, I can scream loud enough to alert most of London. Being abducted on the way to your wedding can do that to a girl.”
“Give it a rest. You weren’t going through with it out of choice.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it.
No argument? He took it as a sign of progress. For now. “Okay, so this is what we’re going to do. We’re getting out of this car and walking over to the plane. Got that?”
She brushed her tongue along her lower lip, making his cock throb. “I have to wonder why you’re doing this. What’s in it for you?”
The six-million-dollar question.
“Get on that plane and maybe you’ll find out.”
GABE LED MADDIE to the centre of the cabin and indicated one of the cream-coloured leather chairs.
“Make yourself comfortable. We’ll be leaving shortly.”
She stood where she was. It was hard to ignore, let alone deny, the heady thrill of freedom that came with getting on the jet, the joy of being whisked away and not having to go through with the marriage to Oscar.
Except her escape brought with it a whole new set of problems. Not just the consequences of her failure to marry, but more troubling was being with Gabe again. Could she handle it? Would she be able to protect herself from getting hurt this time?
Gabe moved closer until his hand brushed the back of hers. “Maddie?”
“You haven’t told me where we’re going. I ought to know where I’m being taken.”
“You know where.”
She swallowed and took a steadying breath, not entirely sure what unsettled her most. The thought of heading back to Monaco? Or because Gabe was standing right up close and personal. “Why are we going there?”
He hesitated, then took a step back. “It makes things easier.”
“What things?”
“I’ll tell you when the time is right.”
“You said you’d tell me if I got on the plane. Well, I’m here. So tell me.”
“You’re not ready to know just yet.” He strode down the cabin toward the cockpit. “Buckle up.”
God. The man was insufferable. The epitome of arrogance.
Irritated, Maddie considered making a dash for it, but she’d delayed too long, and the steward closed and secured the cabin door. Briefly, she wondered what story Gabe had spun the crew about a strange woman in full wedding regalia joining him on the flight to the Côte d’Azur. But she knew only too well how easily he could lure people into believing
