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Alice’s throat felt very dry when she spoke.
‘Were you caught in the blizzard too?’
‘No, I have a room …’
‘They’re turning the lounge into a dormitory for us.’ Personally she didn’t care if she slept on the snooker table.
‘British resourcefulness at its most impressive.’ The sultry intensity of his dark-eyed regard had not left her face for a second. ‘Would you like to share my room?’
Alice couldn’t tell from his expression if he really expected her to take his offer seriously.
‘Yes.’
If you discounted please she’d continued to say yes at all the vital moments during the rest of that long night.
Alice dismissed the distracting images from her head by sheer will-power alone. ‘I’m in shock,’ she said with icy dignity. ‘I didn’t expect …’
‘Your sordid past to knock on the door?’ His helpful suggestion earned him a bitter glare. ‘Think how I felt! Greg had led me to believe you might be able to fit me in between baking for the church fête and …’ He paused with a frown. ‘Sorry, my knowledge of wholesome rural activities is a bit sketchy.’
His patronising drawl made Alice grit her teeth.
‘And what do I get …?’ The mocking smile faded slowly from his face as he looked at her. ‘A lot more than I bargained for,’ he admitted huskily. ‘You were the most uninhibited lover I’ve ever had.’
His uninhibited lover went scarlet, and a mortified squeak emerged from her throat.
‘Don’t say things like that to me!’ she ordered fiercely.
‘Why? Afraid your husband will arrive home unexpectedly? I’d have thought you thrived on the danger.’ He looked into her miserable panic-stricken eyes and then looked away, as though what he’d seen there he’d not been expecting. ‘Don’t panic. I’m not the kiss and tell type.’
Alice tried to retrieve the shattered threads of her dignity. ‘I think you’ve lost track of why you came here.’
‘I think I’ve lost interest,’ he replied outrageously.
‘My sister’s future is not a subject I feel like joking about,’ she told him repressively.
‘I wasn’t joking,’ he muttered, following her into the big kitchen with its farmhouse table and obligatory Aga. ‘If it’s any comfort,’ he remarked, picking up a fluffy teddy bear Alice had missed from the floor and twitching a chewed brown ear, ‘I’ve told Greg he’s been criminally irresponsible. It’s bad enough the girl’s only a kid, but to not take precautions!’ His lips curled scornfully. ‘Have I said something funny?’ he enquired icily.
‘No,’ she managed, with only the faintest quiver of hysteria in her voice. Hopefully Gabriel MacAllister would never appreciate the irony of his scathing assessment.
‘Is she anything like you?’ he suddenly enquired.
‘Who?’
‘The sister.’
‘No, nothing like me at all. Sophie is very clever and sweet.’
‘Trusting and a bit dim if she fell for Greg,’ he announced with callous objectivity.
Alice inhaled sharply. Even though she suspected he was baiting her she couldn’t help responding defensively.
‘Do they hand out Oxford scholarships to dimwits?’ she enquired acidly. How dare he criticise her sister? ‘If my sister fell for your slimy brother’s dubious charms you can put it down to lack of experience, not her IQ—she is, after all, eighteen. You know what I think of a … Heavens, he’s nearly my age, for God’s sake!’ she exclaimed in disgust.
‘Surely not that old?’ he returned, straight-faced. With no make-up and her simply cut hair emphasising the soft contours of her face and long, lovely neck she could have passed for a teenager herself.
‘I have to tell you once more I don’t find anything humorous in this situation. Also, I’ve not the faintest idea why you came here. It’s nothing to do with us what they decide to do.’
‘On the contrary, it’s got everything to do with me. My … our mother considers me responsible for everything Greg does.’ He was only half joking. Greg had been born with a heart defect, and despite the fact that surgery had corrected the situation years ago protective old habits died hard.
‘And you’re scared of your mother, I suppose?’
‘I’ve a healthy respect,’ he told her drily. ‘And I think you underestimate your influence. According to Greg, your sister listens to what you say, and as the lady herself is nowhere to be seen at the moment … This is a situation that needs sorting out sooner rather than later.’
‘What exactly do you mean by sorting out?’ she asked distrustfully.
Gabriel’s expression made it clear he understood the nature of her suspicions. ‘Not what you think.’ His wry tone made Alice flush.
‘I think you misunderstand my relationship with my sister, Mr MacAllister … Granted, we’re close, but that doesn’t mean …’
‘Under the circumstances I think you’d better make it Gabe, don’t you …?’ A slow, intimate smile curved his beautifully cut lips. ‘Or do you prefer Gabriel? I’m easy.’
So was I … The words sprang unbidden into Alice’s mind.
The heat of humiliation surged once more in her cheeks. If he acted like this in front of other people he might just as well shout from the rooftops that they’d slept together. People weren’t stupid. Someone, some time was bound to put two and two together and come up with Will! She struggled to keep the panic steadily building up inside under control.
‘Just because your brother is happy—or maybe unhappy—to let you tell him what he thinks, don’t think it works that way in other less dysfunctional families. Sophie has a mind of her own!’ she choked.
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Gabriel remarked drily. ‘It’s always useful if one person in a partnership has guts.’
‘Do you always pull your brother to shreds like that?’ Alice enquired critically.
‘Only to his face, as a rule. Generally I lie through my teeth on his behalf, but as we’re the next best thing to family I feel I can speak freely to you.’
Alice found herself wishing passionately he wouldn’t.
‘Family …? How do you make that out?’ she asked, deeply alarmed at this theory.
‘Greg is my half-brother; the mum-to-be is your sister. We’re going to share a nephew-stroke-niece. In my book that makes us family.’
‘They might not decide to marry.’
His impatient shrug suggested she was missing the obvious. ‘There’ll still be a baby. Being a father carries with it responsibilities. Greg will want to support them, both financially and practically. He’s not the one carrying the baby but no man wants to be a stranger to his own child.’
Alice had heard of one or two who wouldn’t have minded at all. She was surprised and disturbed by the vehemence in Gabriel’s voice as he expressed these sentiments—ones he obviously meant. She found herself experiencing an inconvenient pang of guilt and ruthlessly suppressed it … The circumstances were not comparable.
‘Does Greg know this? Or haven’t you told him yet?’
‘Listen, I know you don’t like Greg—’
‘Do you?’ she interrupted sharply.
‘Not always,’ he admitted. His slow, reflective smile held a rueful affection that softened his features. ‘But I do love the kid, and despite being spoilt from the day he drew breath he’s basically a good guy. Sure, he panicked when he found out about the baby. But he wouldn’t be the first. Personally, I think marriage with the right sort of girl is just what he needs …’
‘You mean if he’s got a wife she might keep him out of trouble and save you a lot of hassle?’ she accused scornfully.
‘That thought had occurred to me.’
‘If you were trying to sell me Greg as a brother-in-law you haven’t done much of a job so far!’
‘Why would I want to sell you anything, Alice? I thought you were all for leaving the young people to sort it out for themselves.’
Alice gave an exasperated snort. ‘I’d think I’d have preferred it if you’d thought Sophie was a gold-digger!’ she exclaimed.
‘That was always one possibility,’ Gabriel admitted readily, ‘but, having heard Greg’s version of events, I think there’s only one victim here, and it isn’t my brother.’ His voice carried a grimness that made Alice appreciate just why Greg might be afraid of his brother.
There had been nothing grudging in his candid admission, and she felt confused and simultaneously suspicious of his apparent forthrightness.
‘In Greg’s defence I have to say I’ve never seen him this smitten by a girl, and he doesn’t usually go for teenagers.’ His expression suggested that personally he found this attraction impossible to understand. ‘If your sister loves him I think the responsibility might well be the making of him … Does she?’
One dark brow quirked at a quizzical angle, he gave her a direct look that Alice found impossible to wriggle away from. Actually, she felt as if his eyes were pinning her to the wall. He’d pinned her to the wall that night, only not with his eyes …
The sudden freeze-frame image in her head filled her with intense shame—the silhouette of two bodies as close to being one as it was possible to get … How did I behave like that? She pulled at the neckline of her tee-shirt fretfully.
‘I don’t know.’ Her voice had a hoarse, strained quality as she struggled to put the past where it belonged. ‘Sophie has gone away to think.’
‘And what will she decide?’ he persisted.
‘You don’t get it, do you?’ She gave him an exasperated scowl. ‘You might tell your brother what to think, but Sophie is no puppet. I’ll just try and support her in her decision.’
‘A commendable attitude.’ He seemed noticeably unimpressed. ‘What if that decision is to marry Greg? Will your non-interventionist policy hold true then?’
‘Even then,’ she confirmed reluctantly.
‘Greg thinks you’re trying to spike his guns. He finds you scary.’
‘I think Greg finds anyone scary who doesn’t respond to his charm, and I’m not the sort of person who is won over by a slick tongue and a pretty face.’
Gabriel’s dark eyes narrowed as he digested her lofty claim.
‘I’m left wondering just what it was about me that won you over that memorable night.’ At his soft words all the colour leached from Alice’s face.
Knowing that what was coming next was inevitable, she watched his brow furrow in mock confusion before his eyes abruptly widened with comic comprehension. Alice started as he vigorously slapped his thigh.
‘Don’t tell me …!’ he instructed firmly. ‘It was my inner goodness shining through again, wasn’t it?’
‘You think you’re so clever, don’t you?’ she hissed. She’d known he’d be determined to mortify her. He didn’t know that he couldn’t think anything about her she hadn’t already thought herself.
‘Well, you’d know about stupid men, wouldn’t you? As you’re married to a prize idiot!’
‘Leave Oliver out of this!’ she yelled.
‘Or do you have his tacit approval of your nocturnal activities? Perhaps you share the details with him later … Some men get off on that sort of thing, I understand.’
‘You’re sick!’
The soft noise Alice hadn’t noticed emerging from the intercom became a sudden wail.
‘My son needs me,’ she said shakily. ‘Why don’t you let yourself out? Incidentally, if I have got any influence with Sophie I’ll use it to stop her getting any more involved with someone who’s even remotely connected with you!’
Gabriel appeared to take her open malice in his stride. ‘At least you’ve dropped all that objectivity rubbish. We both know where we stand, I think.’
Pushing past him, Alice wished she could say the same. In the last half-hour her whole life had been turned upside-down!
CHAPTER TWO
‘I WONDER what are they up to. Big brother must want to give me the once-over, probably, and warn me off. Perhaps,’ she theorised a little wildly, ‘he’ll want to pay me off.’
Alice knew better than to interrupt Sophie in the midst of one of her wilder flights of fancy. She maintained a neutral silence; she didn’t feel in the mood to get involved in convoluted conspiracy theories.
‘If he’s having his brother there, I want you. I’m not about to be browbeaten.’
Privately Alice didn’t think she’d ever seen anyone less browbeaten. She was the one feeling helpless. She’d seen that stubborn set of her sister’s chin before.
She could have said, I can’t possibly come with you because Gabriel MacAllister is the father of my child and he doesn’t know. That might prove distracting, she brooded darkly. And oh, incidentally, I don’t want him to know! It brought a wry fleeting smile to her face when she imagined how her sister would respond to that dynamite confession! God, how did my life get this complicated?
Naturally she was glad that Sophie had returned from the long weekend break at their grandmother’s house outside York in a positive frame of mind, but an energised Sophie was hard to resist once she set her mind on something!
And it was Alice who had convinced her she ought to speak to the wretched boy! She repressed a cowardly impulse to look for the nearest bucket of sand to bury her head in!
Drinks with the MacAllister brothers was not exactly her idea of a restful evening. It might have been a less daunting prospect on neutral ground, but it seemed Gabriel had leased Milborne Hall on the outskirts of town.
Alice had been forced to listen to local speculation about this surprising development for the past two days. She found herself praying that the more optimistic amongst the locals were wrong when they said rather smugly it was perfectly natural Gabriel MacAllister would want to live somewhere as perfect as their little rural backwater.
‘Wouldn’t it be better if Mum and Dad …?’
‘Are you kidding! Mum starts crying every time I look at her, and I’m just glad Dad sold his shotgun last year,’ Sophie reflected grimly. ‘You can laugh …’
Not recently!
‘But you’re not living there. I wish I’d stayed at Gran’s.’
‘I’m working …’ Alice made a feeble last-ditch attempt to wriggle out of it.
‘You’re not on duty until nine, are you …?’ Sophie smiled when her sister glumly nodded. ‘Fine, drop Will off a couple off hours early with Mum and we’ll go straight there. We’ll be finished in plenty of time for you to get to work. Anyone would think you were the one scared of meeting the man! It’s not you he’s gunning for.’
No, but he would be if he ever found out, Alice reflected grimly. But he never would. This line didn’t contain the same comforting certainty it once had when she’d lain awake in the night wondering if she’d done the right thing letting everyone assume … They’d all been so pleased and supportive. It had been the idea of Oliver’s baby—her great-grandson—that had kept Olivia, his grandmother, going after the devastating news of her grandson’s death. Of course she’d done the right thing—the only thing, she reassured herself briskly.
‘I’m sure Mr MacAllister is not gunning for you, Sophie.’
‘He’ll either think I’m just a feckless kid who got out of her depth, or I’m using the oldest trick in the book to get a rich meal ticket.’ Her carefully nurtured hard-boiled expression was spoiled by the quiver of her soft lips.
‘I’m sure he won’t think anything of the sort, and even if he does, five seconds after he’s seen you he’ll know different,’ Alice responded crisply. ‘Besides, what does it matter what he thinks of you?’
‘In a perfect world it wouldn’t,’ Sophie admitted, sounding very mature and even a little bit cynical to Alice’s sensitive ears. ‘Didn’t you like him?’ she added shrewdly, regarding her normally placid sister’s belligerent expression curiously. ‘You haven’t told me much about what he said.’
‘There isn’t much to tell.’ She was amazed and relieved that Sophie couldn’t hear the guilt in her voice.
‘And was he as good-looking as they say?’
‘Better, probably,’ Alice admitted after a reluctant pause during which an image of Gabriel’s dark lean features rose up to mock her. ‘And I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you so,’ she reflected with sweet malice.
Sophie laughed. ‘That’s probably where Greg gets it from,’ she concluded ruefully. ‘He takes longer than me to get ready, and I’ve not known him to pass a mirror without checking himself out.’
Alice instinctively knew the comparison was unfair, and had to bite her tongue to prevent herself springing, quite inappropriately, to Gabriel’s defence. You couldn’t compare her sister’s lover’s narcissistic love affair with his own reflection with Gabriel’s impregnable confidence. Gabriel’s innate arrogance was such that he didn’t need the designer accessories to bolster his self-worth.
Alice double-checked the pocket of her light jacket. Fortunately Sophie had been too preoccupied to notice that her big sister was as jumpy as a kitten.
‘I’ve left my mobile in the car.’ She clicked her tongue in exasperation and frowned as her sister rang the doorbell.
‘Don’t panic. I’ll get it.’ Sophie was halfway down the shallow steps that led to the entrance of the sprawling Victorian pile before Alice could respond.
She didn’t like the necessity of leaving Will, not even with her mother. Even though it was only two nights a week, she made sure she could always be contacted. Considering her mother’s age, she wasn’t sure how fair it was to her, or how much longer the arrangement would work, but that was a problem for the future. She had plenty more immediate ones to occupy her mind at the moment!
Money wasn’t a major problem yet, but since a couple of Oliver’s more chancy investments had gone bad the hours she put in at the hospital were a big help, and when Will was eventually in school and the time came for her to resume her career full-time it would be an advantage that she wasn’t totally out of touch.
It was a smartly dressed pleasant-looking woman who came to the door. Alice assumed she was the housekeeper; the MacAllisters were the sort of people who had housekeepers, chauffeurs and probably food-tasters too, she decided grimly. She couldn’t be the only person who wished Gabriel was safely out of the picture—she instinctively knew he would make a formidable business adversary.
Before either she or the older woman had had a chance to speak, Gabriel was there.
‘Thanks, Mrs Croft, I’ll see to this. Come in, Alice …
Said the spider to the fly … she thought, obeying the command thinly disguised as an invitation. She’d only ever seen him in a formal suit—or nothing at all—before. It had been a bad idea to recall the ‘nothing at all’ part! Today he was wearing pale-coloured jeans, that emphasised his ultra-slim hips and endless legs, teamed with an open-necked black polo shirt.
Even when she stepped up from the lower step he still towered over her. Despite the fact she’d stepped out of the sun her body was abruptly bathed in an uncomfortable heat.
Gabriel had to be used to the stock female reaction of open-mouthed appreciation. He probably accepted such admiration as nothing more than his due, she thought sourly. Perhaps it was far too late not to be obvious, but Alice didn’t want to be classed with the adoring masses. She kept her own mouth firmly shut, even when her squirming insides were swallowed up by a deep dark hole.
His features were not nearly as classically perfect as his half brother’s, his nose might even be classed beaky by the envious, but he had a raw sex appeal that went clear off the scale. Alice’s eyes touched his wide sensual mouth and she gave a little shudder that had nothing whatever to do with disgust!
Alice was angered by her obvious display of weakness, but decided the best way to deal with it was to pretend it hadn’t happened. He probably hadn’t noticed; he wasn’t even looking at her.
‘Where is your sister?’
Horror swept over Alice. Reprehensibly, she’d forgotten about Sophie, who arrived at that moment dead on cue. She looked sweet, sexy and wholesome. Alice avoided looking at Gabriel’s face; she didn’t particularly want to see the boringly predictable male response this dynamite combination inevitably inspired in men. It was then that she noticed for the first time Sophie was looking from her to Gabriel and back again with a stunned expression.
‘Are you unwell?’ Gabriel had obviously noticed too.
Sophie tipped her head back to look up at the tall dark man. ‘I’m fine,’ she said hoarsely, licking her dry lips. ‘It’s crazy, but seeing you standing there with Alice, I thought … from a distance you looked so like Oliver.’
Just shut up … please … I should have foreseen this possibility, Alice thought, feeling the panic that had been her constant companion since her dark anonymous lover had acquired a name rise dangerously close to the surface.
‘Oliver?’ He looked distressingly alert.
‘Alice’s husband.’ Sophie stepped into the hallway, her soft hair a bright focus against sombre panelling and attractive dark William Morris wallpaper. ‘It felt like someone just walked over my grave,’ she confessed with a theatrical shudder.
‘And does seeing … Oliver always make you look so distressed?’
‘He’s dead,’ Sophie said, glancing apologetically towards Alice.
Gabriel’s dark eyes moved automatically to Alice. The light dusting of blusher along her high cheekbones stood out starkly against the pallor of her pale, blemishless skin.
‘It was only from a distance, when I was over by the car. Up close you’re nothing alike.’
‘I’m very sorry.’
If Sophie hadn’t been there she’d have told him where he could shove his insincerity. Alice inclined her head coldly in acknowledgement.
‘Is this bereavement recent?’
‘Nearly three years ago,’ Sophie said, when her sister continued to stare at Greg’s brother with a peculiarly intense animosity. She’d never seen Alice behave like this towards anyone before. Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to bring her after all.
The housekeeper appeared and their host turned aside to speak to her. Sophie took the opportunity to hiss warningly at her sister.
‘There’s no point antagonising him. I’m not asking you to sleep with the man … Joke, Ally, don’t be such a prude,’ she said in an impatient undertone when her sister went bright scarlet. ‘But he is pretty delicious,’ she mused in an admiring undertone. Don’t you think? I hope you don’t mind I brought my sister. You’ve met, I believe,’ she added as the housekeeper moved away oozing quiet efficiency.
Gabriel MacAllister briefly took the hand she held out but seemed to lose interest almost immediately.
Considering she’d been expecting to be the subject of a microscopic examination herself, it struck Sophie as ironic that she was being virtually ignored. Perhaps he was lulling her into a false sense of security? A frown pleated her smooth young brow as she looked questioningly towards her sister.
Alice didn’t notice the look. Sophie thought it was entirely possible her sister had forgotten she was there at all. Then it came to her. Of course—she wasn’t the only one to see the similarity. Poor Alice, she thought compassionately, no wonder she can’t take her eyes off him. It didn’t explain why he couldn’t take his eyes off her, of course … Unless …?
A speculative light entered her blue eyes to be closely followed by a worried gleam. Alice needed a man, but not one like this! He was just too … just too much everything she decided, examining this spectacular specimen of manhood with a worried expression. According to Greg he didn’t lack female companionship. She’d have to think of a way to casually drop details of his ladykilling reputation into the conversation with Alice.
‘Greg’s waiting in the drawing room.’ Gabriel nodded his dark head towards a half-open door.
Sophie moved forward before turning back uncertainly when Gabriel made no attempt to follow her.
‘Aren’t you coming? I thought it was to be …’ she began betrayingly.
‘Thumbscrews …?’ Gabriel suggested with an expressive quirk of one dark brow. His wry grin broadened as the young girl blushed. ‘I see my reputation precedes me,’ he murmured drily. ‘We’ll join you later.’