Nancy Warren - A Very Fake Fiancée - The Fiancée Charade / My Fake Fiancée / A Very Exclusive Engagement

When she had been nursing her hurt and bearing the pregnancy on her own she had managed to convince herself that it was for the best, but now, in Gabriel’s presence, the full weight of the deception settled in. The very least she could do was to give him her name. “Mom was looking after Sanchia, until she had a heart attack. One of my sisters has her at the moment.”

“And that’s why you’ve left your job.”

Surprise at his knowledge made her stiffen. The wariness that she’d felt back at the Castello returned full force. “That’s right. I was going to bring Sanchia out to Medinos, but now a lot of things have changed and I...need to go home.”

Gabriel smoothly overtook a slower vehicle. “And your mother, is she okay?”

The concern in his voice reminded her that as much as she had tried to ignore Gabriel’s existence, that didn’t alter the fact that back in Dolphin Bay they were practically neighbors. “Mom’s recovering. It wasn’t a serious attack, more a warning. She just has to take things easy for a while.”

“If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

“Thank you for the offer. Luckily Mom has medical insurance, so she’s had no problem with meeting costs.”

The conversation reminded her that Gabriel had lost his father suddenly. The car accident had happened shortly after the night they had spent together. She could still remember anxiously scanning the newspapers for news of him and his family, and checking the internet to see what details she could pick up.

With relief Gemma saw the resort’s neon sign. Gabriel pulled into the lobby parking lot just as a tall, familiar figure strode out of the front entrance.

Gemma’s heart almost stopped in her chest. Zane.

He was too intent on his own agenda to notice them as he climbed into the Ferrari parked at the curb and shot away. Gemma skimmed the lighted hotel entrance looking for press. She couldn’t see any, but she wasn’t taking any chances. If Zane was here, the media were bound to be, also. The last thing she wanted to do now was walk into the lobby and get snapped.

She directed Gabriel around to the parking lot at the rear of the staff accommodation. As he slotted the Maserati into a space, Gemma’s stomach tensed as the reporter who had followed her at the Castello stepped out of a rental car, camera in hand. He was accompanied by a second reporter, who was holding a video camera.

Gabriel frowned. “It’s getting a little crowded around here. What do you want to do?”

She absolutely did not want to run into the media again, tonight. “Leave.”

Zane and reporters was a combination she couldn’t afford, which meant she couldn’t stay at the Atraeus Resort tonight.

She could try requesting security, which she had needed on occasion in her job as Zane’s PA. But after what had happened at the Castello and the fact that she had officially resigned, she had to consider the possibility that Zane had advised his people that as she was no longer on the payroll, her status was as a guest only.

Before she could suggest another hotel, Gabriel reversed and cruised across the parking lot. The cameraman turned at the low throaty growl of the Maserati, but by the time he had lifted the camera and aimed it in their direction, Gabriel had turned out onto the main highway.

Seconds later they were in the middle of town, with its milling tourists, street cafés and tavernas. Idling now, to avoid the occasional jaywalking pedestrian, Gabriel cruised along the waterfront. “Do you have a place you could stay? Any friends on Medinos?”

Still unnerved by the sighting of both Zane and the press crew that seemed to be stalking her, Gemma kept her gaze on the ranks of gleaming cars parked along the street, the brightly dressed tourists mingling with the much more conventional Medinians. “No. When I’ve stayed in Medinos, I’ve always been working. I’ve spent most of my time either at the airport or the resort.”

And any spare time she had spent either studying, talking with Sanchia via the internet or troubleshooting endless problems with nannies.

Gabriel took a turn into a quieter section of town, dotted with villas. “I have a beachside villa with a security gate. If you want to stay the night you’re welcome.”

Gemma risked a glance at Gabriel’s profile. With his longer hair and the faint shadow of stubble on his jaw, he looked far more broodingly dangerous and exotically Medinian than she remembered.

The thought of spending further time with him in a private setting with no one but perhaps an odd servant around tightened the tension humming through her. Although with the Ambrosi Pearls launch it was entirely possible there would be other family members staying. “I was thinking a small pensionato.”

Gabriel pulled over against the curb and stopped. “Unless you’ve prebooked one, you might have trouble getting a room. It’s the height of the tourist season, plus there are a lot of press and extra people on the island for the Ambrosi Pearls launch.”

He lifted a brow. “And unless you’ve got some extra clothing, even if you find a room, you could still have a problem with that scenario.”

Gemma’s stomach sank. She had temporarily forgotten that Medinos was a place that hadn’t quite shaken off its medieval traditions, particularly with regard to women. Caught halfway between the east and west, no bikinis, and no cleavage or overtly sensual clothing were allowed in public areas. Unless in a private setting, which the Castello had been, women were expected to dress modestly.

Until she could either get into her room at the resort, or go shopping, all she had to wear was what she had on. No respectable pensionato—and that was the only kind on Medinos—would rent her a room while she was wearing a black lace dress and high heels, and with no luggage.

Although her bag, despite holding champagne and a negligee, could pass for luggage.

Gabriel extracted his phone from his pocket. “If you want I can ring a couple of places.”

“Okay.”

Fifteen minutes and ten calls later, Gabriel set the phone down. “The offer of a bed at my place is still good.”

Gemma stared out of the Maserati’s window and tried not to feel a forbidden jolt of excitement that she would be extending her time with Gabriel. “All I need is a bed for a few hours.”

It was the lesser of two evils.

Just one night. How dangerous could that be?

Seven

A small thrill shot down Gemma’s spine as Gabriel’s villa, which occupied the bay next to Medinos’s central business district, loomed in the darkness. Set against the pure dark backdrop of sea and sky, it was an arresting mixture of ancient and modern. The crenellated stone tower of an old fortress blended seamlessly with the blunt addition of smoothly rendered walls, the windows stark sheets of glass.

The view slid away as Gabriel drove into a cavernous, empty garage. As the remote-controlled door came down behind them, Gemma unbuckled her belt and climbed out of the car, eager to assert her independence before Gabriel could get around to open her door.

Grabbing her bag, she tried to suppress a renewed surge of awareness. Desperate to at least give the appearance of normality, she examined the garage space, which was big enough to hold at least four cars. It was empty, but that could be because everyone was out for the night. “Does your family stay here?”

Gabriel closed the door of the Maserati with a quiet thunk. “No. This is something in the nature of a retreat for me. My family usually arranges their own accommodations.”

Her heart beat once, hard. So they really would be alone.

Despite her determination to be brisk and superficial, to clamp down on the spellbinding intensity of the attraction, she found herself once again caught in the net of Gabriel’s gaze. Despite the fact that, in theory, Gabriel shouldn’t have the least interest in her, the sense of being herded was suddenly suffocatingly strong. “I guess that explains why your mother was at the Atraeus Resort.”