Maggie Cox - The Man She Can't Forget

The thought that he was leaving and that she might never see him again hit Lara like a thunderbolt.

Before she was sufficiently recovered from the shock to think it through properly, she blurted out, ‘Must you go? If you stay for a while we can have lunch together. You can even come for a walk with me and Barney first, if you like? A walk is the perfect remedy to blow the cobwebs away and clear your head. We’ve got woods at the back of the house, remember? I wish you’d seen them when the primroses were out in the spring—they were a picture.’

It was at that very moment that Gabriel knew he couldn’t walk away from this woman as easily as he wanted to—as easily as he should walk away. Because he knew if he stayed he would only hurt her. The savage hunger and need that he had buried inside for so long—and from time to time had sought to assuage with pretty bodies who only saw him as a ‘golden ticket’ to the lavish and expensive lifestyle they craved—would only end up consuming the innocent Lara and filling her with the most bitter regret for issuing that invitation to stay a while.

But Gabriel knew already that he couldn’t resist accepting it. And who could blame him for seeking sanctuary in her fresh and innocent company for a little while longer?

‘All right, then. I’ll stay...at least for lunch and a walk with Barney.’

‘That’s great. But you do realise I have an ulterior motive for asking?’

She smiled, and for the first time Gabriel noticed the two engaging and rather sexy dimples in her cheeks. But her words suddenly made him stiffen. He wasn’t ready for his illusions about her—if illusions were what they were—to be shattered so soon.

‘What motive would that be?’ he asked warily.

She lifted her slender shoulders, then dropped them again. ‘It’s just that I’ve been a bit lonely here on my own, surrounded by memories of my brother. It would be nice to have some company for a change to help take my mind off things.... That’s all I meant.’

Feeling ridiculously pleased at the admission, Gabriel relaxed. ‘Then far be it from me to deny you the one thing I can give you today. Shall we go for that walk now? The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day. It would be a shame to waste it staying indoors.’

‘I agree.’ Lifting her long dark hair off her shoulders and dropping it down again behind her back, Lara moved gracefully across to the door. ‘I’ll just go and get my walking boots on—the terrain in the woods is quite rough and uneven in places. Will you be okay walking in those?’ Her glance was doubtful as she surveyed the ebony Italian loafers that he wore. ‘They look pretty chic and expensive.’

‘I would have brought something more suitable to change into if I’d known you were going to entice me into the woods with you,’ he remarked drolly, and his lips split into a grin when she blushed vividly.

‘Don’t kid yourself I’d even dream of such a thing. For one thing, I wouldn’t know how.’

Beneath his immaculate white shirt Gabriel’s heart started to pound disturbingly. More than that, a profoundly arousing heat invaded his blood.

‘Now, there’s a challenge if ever I heard one...’ he commented huskily.

‘I didn’t mean it as a challenge. I was only— Oh, never mind. I’ll go and get my boots on.’

Clearly flustered, Lara hurriedly left the room, and straight away Gabriel missed her presence and longed for her to return.

* * *

He was being introduced to a completely different world from the one he was used to inhabiting—a world that he realised he’d been missing for far too long.

Walking through the woods with the beauty he had once known as ‘Sean’s little sister’ by his side was delightful. She laughed often and unselfconsciously—a huskily engaging sound that made all the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. And every now and then a waft of the delightful perfume she wore, which smelled like a bouquet of wild flowers, deluged Gabriel’s senses and hit him in the gut. Coupled with the earthy, resinous scents that abounded in the woods, it made for a sensual experience bar none—a million miles away from the tense, charged atmosphere of Wall Street that was his usual daily experience.

‘I’m going to take Barney’s lead off now. This is his favourite neck of the woods. We know it well and I like to let him have a run.’

Gifting Gabriel with another sunny smile, Lara stooped to free the excited terrier from his leash and he bounded away through the thicket of dense undergrowth and trees like a whippet, joyously barking.

‘He’s not the brightest chicken in the coop,’ she commented affectionately. ‘He’s a natural hunter, but the trouble is he announces his arrival so that his prey can get away before he reaches it!’

Shaking her head in amusement, she laughed again, and Gabriel couldn’t help but smile with pleasure. Driven by sheer instinct—for once letting his heart rule his head—he found himself drawing closer and reaching for her hand. The hotly fierce tingle that shot through his body when he touched her was like being glanced by lightning and almost made him stumble. The startled look Lara gave him in return indicated that she’d felt the electrifying sensation, too.

‘I’d forgotten how funny you are,’ he confessed. ‘And that you have the most beautiful eyes. They glisten like jewels when you laugh.’ It didn’t come naturally to him to compliment a woman and mean it, but he meant this particular one with every fibre of his being.

‘Thank you.’

Carefully she disengaged her hand from his, and the becoming flush on Lara’s cheeks told Gabriel that he’d been right about her being disturbed by the shock of electricity that had arced between them.

‘You’re blushing,’ he teased.

‘If I am it’s because I’m not used to receiving such effusive compliments.’

‘Not even from the man in your life?’

He experienced no remorse whatsoever for shamelessly fishing. But Lara’s expression looked troubled now, and the light in her eyes dimmed a little.

‘There isn’t a man in my life—at least not at the moment.’

Gabriel couldn’t deny he was relieved to hear it, although he wasn’t ready to explore why right then.

‘You mean to say that there potentially might be someone? Someone you perhaps have your eye on?’

‘No. I don’t mean that at all.’ She didn’t bother to try and disguise her annoyance that he should quiz her on the subject.

‘What about you?’ she asked, turning the tables. ‘Is there anyone significant in your life? For all I know you might even be married by now.’

‘I’m not—married, I mean. And neither am I in a serious relationship. I’m married to my work, Lara. I know that sounds extremely dull and boring but it’s true. However, that’s not to say I lack the company of a pretty woman when I want it.’

‘You mean you like to play the field? I suppose that’s why there’s no one serious in your life, then.’

She sighed. But whether that sigh signified disapproval or disappointment Gabriel couldn’t guess.

Staring at the dense shroud of trees and bushes that her lively pet terrier had disappeared into, she suddenly called out, ‘Barney! Here, boy! Come on back, now.’

When the dog didn’t immediately appear, Lara turned her gaze back to Gabriel.

‘I worry when he suddenly goes quiet,’ she admitted, ‘I’d better go and see where he’s got to. He might have got stuck down a rabbit hole or something. It’s happened before. Why don’t you wait here for me? You’ve already got your posh shoes all muddy, and the ground on the other side of those trees and bushes is invariably quite boggy. Hopefully I won’t be too long.’