jacket and throwing it across the back of a chair before sitting opposite her.
She wasn’t going to watch as he yanked off his tie and undid the top buttons of the crisp white shirt. She didn’t want to remember the silky strands of chest hair visible from that sexy V, nor did she want to recall the way his forearms rippled when he rolled up the cuffs of his shirtsleeves.
“Like what you see?”
Maddie looked up and found Gabe watching her, a knowing smile on his sumptuous lips. She hated that he’d caught her staring. Hated her own weakness that she couldn’t seem to help it.
“Not particularly,” she lied. “I don’t find pseudo-macho displays appealing.”
“Nothing pseudo about it. You’re here, aren’t you? Sitting in my chair, on my aircraft, at my pleasure.”
“Well, enjoy it while you can, because by now my fiancé will have alerted the authorities to my disappearance. When he discovers what’s happened he’ll have your guts for garters, and I’ll enjoy watching him strap them on.”
“Please. Oscar Kingston couldn’t organize the proverbial piss-up in a brewery unless there’s a few million bucks riding on it.”
“Well, if there were a few million bucks riding on anything, I’d imagine you’d be right there at the starting gate.” She considered him. “Is that what this is all about? Money?”
“Like I said, I’m saving you from making a big mistake. You might want to buckle up.”
Maddie realized they were taxiing out onto the runway, and her already unsteady stomach gave a nauseous roll. Once they were airborne, there was no going back. The wedding would be well and truly off. Cancelled. Oscar would go through with his plans.
Unless...
“Let me borrow your phone. I want to call Oscar.”
“In your dreams.”
She waggled her fingers. “Then let me call my father.”
“If you don’t buckle up, you won’t be calling anyone.”
Maddie fastened her seat belt—physically and metaphorically—and stared Gabe down. “Even criminals get a phone call.”
“Maybe you’ll get one, too. Later.”
“My dad will be worried.”
Gabe’s grey eyes narrowed, his gaze unwavering as he locked it on her. He drew in a breath. “He knows you’re okay.”
Her heart thumped. “How does he know that?”
“Because I called him this morning. Now, why don’t you relax? As soon as we’re—”
“You called him?” Maddie’s pulse kicked hard. “To say what?”
“That you’d decided not to go through with the wedding, and you were coming to stay with me until the fuss died down.”
Her thoughts took on a frenzied path as the aircraft soared into the skies. Her father didn’t know about the deal she’d made with Oscar. As far as her father knew, it was a love match.
She shook her head, feeling the ridiculous veil wobble as it maintained its tenuous grip. It seemed to symbolise this whole situation. “I spoke to my dad this morning. He won’t believe I’ve changed my mind.”
“Your dad’s not a stupid man. Don’t think he won’t have seen through your little charade.”
Before Maddie could challenge that, the aircraft levelled out and the steward came into the cabin carrying wine in a cooler with two crystal glasses.
Absently, Maddie watched the man pour their drinks. Was Gabe right? Had her father worked out the real reason for her marriage? And what about Gabe? How did he know it was all a charade?
When the steward left, she pounced. “You have no bloody right to interfere with my plans, and you have no right to go bothering my father. My life is none of your business. You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know the reason you’re marrying Kingston is to get back controlling shares in Mallory Hotels.” He steepled his fingers and gave her an assessing look. “How was that going to work, princess? How long do you think it would take before word got around that you’d basically sold yourself for a few shares?”
She glared at him, hating the way he spelled it out so graphically, and hating even more the infuriatingly sexy stubble that shadowed across his firm jawline, making her remember how it felt to have him kiss her. “You’ve got a bloody nerve. Insinuating my reasons are tacky while yours are entirely altruistic? Give me a break. There must be some financial advantage for you in all this. Some deal you’ve made.”
His eyes flashed grey steel then, cool as you please, he picked up his glass. “Like what?”
“You tell me. I’ll bet anything that there’s profit in it for you.” She was distracted for a moment by the way his throat contracted as he sipped his drink, until the thoughts that had been slowly forming burst through with vicious intent. She leaned forward, her fingers curling around the arms of the soft leather seat. “If you’ve done anything to hurt my dad, so help me I’ll swing for you hard.”
“If things go to plan, he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.”
The throbbing in Maddie’s temples intensified. Her father wasn’t in any position to make deals, not with Gabe or anyone else. Oscar held the sixty percent controlling share in Mallory Hotels, and she held the rest.
Unless... “Are you planning to grab what’s left of Mallory’s? Got your sights set on the remaining forty percent? Is that what this is all about?”
Again, steel flashed in his eyes then disappeared as fast as it had come. “You’re way off, princess. Right now, you’re the only one making deals.”
“Which you’ve cocked up.”
He shrugged and picked up his glass again. “One day you might just thank me for sweeping in on my white charger and saving you from a fate worse than just about anything you can imagine.”
“Please. Being here with you right now ticks that particular box. And I can’t imagine any circumstance where I’d need your brand of saving. In fact, after what you did, the only person I’d need saving from is you.”
He sipped his drink, making her pulse quicken as he looked at her with those lethal eyes. “You should learn to forgive and forget. It’ll stop those little lines forming between your eyes.”
In reflex, Maddie touched the spot he’d referred to before dropping her hands down to her lap again. She couldn’t afford to forget, or forgive. Two years ago, she had taken her eye off the ball. She’d been too infatuated with Gabe when she should have been looking out for her father. She should have spotted his growing fondness for gambling and stepped in to take control of the situation. Instead, her distraction had allowed Gabe to trick them both.
“I prefer to learn and remember.” She brushed strands of hair back from her forehead. “It’s
