shocked,’ Abby murmured, thinking about how shocked her own parents had been when she’d told them the news about her broken engagement. ‘Parents get their hopes up and then, when they’re disappointed, it’s almost worse for them than for...the child on the receiving end of the broken engagement.’ Her eyes misted over and she blinked the memory away.
Addled, she stared down at her tablet and frantically tapped so that she could access the reports she had worked on, anything to focus Gabriel’s attention on work, because she could feel those dark eyes of his boring into her.
‘You’re probably right,’ Gabriel murmured. ‘Parents do get their hopes up. And grandparents as well, of course.’
His shrewd eyes noted the way she was fiddling with the tablet. In a second she was going to shove something in front of him, a timely reminder to keep his distance. But something had changed between them and maybe, because he was a little unsettled by the business with Lucy, he couldn’t help liking the frisson he felt in Abby’s company. Maybe it was the element of distraction but she was occupying his mind in ways she hadn’t done previously.
He was curious about her. He had to admit that it wasn’t for the first time. When she’d first started working for him, he’d been curious about her, curious about that wall of permanent reserve she had around her, as though she’d erected a fortress complete with invisible ‘no trespass’ signs. Innocuous questions were met with bland replies and non-answers but, of course, she’d settled in and he’d quickly realised that he’d found himself the most efficient PA he could ever have hoped for. Given his chequered history when it came to PAs, he’d shelved all curiosity, because a good PA was worth her weight in gold and he wasn’t about to jeopardise his good fortune by being nosy.
But now...
He looked at the sensible dark-grey trouser suit which screamed ‘no nonsense’.
‘Was that what you found?’ he asked and Abby looked at him sharply.
‘Sorry, but I’m not following you.’
Gabriel murmured piously, ‘It’s just that you seemed to be speaking from experience just then. When,’ he elaborated to forestall any puzzled frowns, ‘You said that parents and grandparents were often more upset by this sort of thing than the person actually going through it. So...were you speaking from experience?’
‘Of course not,’ Abby blustered, for once not her usual unflappable self. ‘I just meant,’ she added with a sudden urge to give him a taste of his own medicine, ‘That your grandmother is going be so upset, when you say that she was looking forward to you settling down, and she’ll be even more upset because you really don’t seem that bothered at all.’
Gabriel grinned with open enjoyment which, Abby thought with some frustration, completely defeated the object of the exercise.
‘Yet I’m sure she’ll agree that it’s better to have been ditched at the aisle than ditched post-vows.’
‘I’m sure Lucy would have been a devoted wife if she’d married you.’
The smile faded from Gabriel’s lips at the sincerity in her voice. ‘Doubtless,’ he drawled, half-closing his eyes and affording Abby a bird’s eye view of his lush, dark lashes which would have been the envy of any woman. ‘But, bearing in mind the disappointment she would have found at the end of the rainbow, I very much doubt her devotion would have been long lasting.’
‘Why?’ Abby heard herself ask. She was inviting just the sort of out-of-bounds conversation she had sworn to avoid but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at her lazily, his head tilted to one side as though he was debating the pros and cons of providing her with an answer to her question.
‘Forget I asked,’ Abby said stiffly. ‘I’m not paid to ask personal questions.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Abby...’
‘Well, I’m not!’ Her mild grey eyes glinted.
‘Do you avoid asking me questions because you don’t want me to ask you any?’
‘I avoid asking you questions, Gabriel, because, like I said, it’s not part of my job remit.’
‘Yet you probably know more about me than any other woman,’ he mused. ‘Maybe you know so much that you haven’t got any questions to ask. After all, you have to admit that I’m an open book.’
‘You’re impossible.’ She paused. ‘And you’re not an open book.’
‘You’ve known every single woman I’ve ever dated since you started working for me,’ Gabriel pointed out, enjoying the titillating undercurrent to their conversation, which he suspected she wished she’d never prolonged.
‘I’ve hardly known them,’ Abby said drily. ‘Yes, I’ve made arrangements for the theatre, and restaurants and the opera, and, yes, a couple of them have come into the office at some point or other.’
‘Not at my request.’ Gabriel enjoyed a varied and plentiful love life but he’d always, with the exception of Lucy, disapproved of women dropping in to see him at the office. It was a level of familiarity on a par with doing a food shop together, cooking or watching television. Not to be encouraged.
‘But you’re far from being an open book,’ she finished briskly. ‘You’re happy to be very transparent when it comes to some things but extremely opaque when it comes to others.’
Gabriel thought that she couldn’t have summed him up more accurately if she’d tried, and for a few seconds he frowned, uncomfortable at that.
‘Like I said,’ he drawled, ‘You know me better than anyone else.’
‘That’s because, through necessity, I spend an awful lot of time in your company.’
‘Angling for a pay rise, Abby?’
Abby blushed. He was playing with her and she had to accept that she’d encouraged that by stepping into private territory which was normally out of bounds.
She also had to concede that when he spoke to her like that, his sexy voice deep, rich and velvety, a pleasurable tingle unfurled inside her. Yes, it was inappropriate, but it couldn’t be helped.
No wonder women fell for the guy like ninepins. He oozed easy charm, and when he turned it on thinking straight suddenly became very difficult.
‘Far from it.’ She located the reports waiting to be read and made a show of staring at them. If they hadn’t been flickering on her tablet, she would busied herself rustling paper to get her point across. ‘I’m not at all unhappy with my pay. Everyone in this business sector knows how generous you are when it comes to salaries.’
‘No price too steep for loyalty,’ Gabriel agreed. ‘And in the world of technology, where secrets are begging to be shared with hungry competitors, loyalty is a valuable commodity. You’re tapping your finger on your tablet. Is that your way of telling me that it’s time we started talking about work?’ He laughed softly and the hairs on the back of Abby’s neck curled. ‘Okay, off you go. I can tell you’re dying to tell me what’s in those reports of yours you’re staring so hard at.’
Abby
