The Executive's Vengeful Seduction / Rich Man's Revenge

All at once she had to get out of the kitchen.

It was too small.

There wasn’t enough air.

She pushed his hands off her and spun away, heading for the door, not even sure if Damien had hired a car yet for her, but willing to catch a cab if necessary. “I need to see Keiran…at the office…in case he goes out.” She was babbling but couldn’t seem to stop herself.

He came up behind her, putting his hand on her arm, stopping her but not in a forceful way. “I’m coming with you,” he rasped, the huskiness still in his voice, the desire still glittering from the depths of those green eyes.

His touch sent a tingle along her spine. “There’s no need.”

His mouth tightened and he dropped his hand. “I said I’d help and I will. Don’t underestimate Keiran. There’s power in numbers, Gabrielle.”

She sent him a wary glance. “I know my own cousin.”

“Then you know you need me with you.”

As much as she didn’t want it to be, what he said was true. She abruptly nodded her head. “Okay, but I need to get that rental car later for my own use,” she said, giving in but perhaps not as gracefully as she could, and that was more to do with needing to get away from Damien’s presence than not needing him to help her deal with Keiran.

But in the confines of his car, her mind couldn’t stop from going back to Damien. She realized that being a woman desired by him was more dangerous to her now than five years ago. Now he would want more than girlish enthusiasm in his bed. He’d want a woman’s response, slow and deliberate, not a rushed and naive eagerness. And he’d expect her to be a mature partner, able to handle a sexual relationship without too much emotion. It was a world of difference to five years ago.

She pushed all her thoughts to the side as they walked into the building that housed the head office of her father’s company. The first person she saw was one of her father’s managers she remembered from years ago. He greeted her warmly then expressed sympathy over her father’s condition.

“Thank you, James. I’m glad to see you’re still here.”

The older man’s eyes flicked to Damien then back to her. “Not for long I’m afraid. I’ve accepted a position with another company. I finish up at the end of the week.”

Dismay filled her. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Gabrielle, I’ve got nothing to lose by saying this. I’ve always enjoyed working for your father, but it’s going to be a while before he’s back on his feet. I’m sorry but I can’t work with him until that happens.”

“You mean Keiran?” she said to clarify, but knowing all Damien had told her was true.

James nodded. “I don’t mind saying I think that man’s going to ruin the company with his ideas. And I’m not the only one leaving, either. There are two heads of departments who have put their resignation in and another planning on it.” He clicked his tongue. “They’re men who are going to be taking a whole lot of experience and knowledge with them when they go, I’m afraid.”

She tried to look confident. “James, that’s why I’m here. My father wanted me to take over if anything happened to him and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Relief flared then died in his eyes. “Keiran isn’t going to step aside so easily,” he warned.

She squeezed the older man’s hand. “Keiran won’t have a choice.”

But when Damien opened the door to her father’s office and Gabrielle saw her cousin sitting behind her father’s desk like he owned the place, every instinct inside wanted to tell him to get the hell out of there.

Keiran glanced up at the interruption and for a moment looked like an animal caught in the headlights. Then he went rigid. “Well, well. If it isn’t my long-lost cousin.” He pasted on a false smile as he stood and came around the desk. “Gabrielle, how nice to see you again.”

Her mouth tightened as he pecked at both her cheeks like a chicken. “Keiran, you haven’t changed a bit.” He was two years older than her, and he’d wielded his older stance often during their childhood.

“You’re still the sweetest thing,” he joked as he glanced at Damien. But his eyes were wary beneath his blond head and they held a heartless gleam that had been in them since the day he’d been born. Now, here was one person her father should have cut off, she thought, suppressing a moment of pain that it had been his own daughter her father had ignored instead.

She stepped away. “What are you doing in here, Keiran?”

His smile flattened. “What do you think I’m doing in here? Someone had to step in when your father had his stroke.”

“Then thank you. I appreciate it but I’m here now.”

His piercing eyes contrasted sharply with his relaxed stance. “Not so fast. You can’t just walk in here and take over.”

She arched a brow. “Why not?”

He strode back around the desk. “You’ve been gone five years. And before that you never worked here in any capacity anyway.”

She refused to let him see his comment had hit its mark. “I spent a couple of school holidays working here, remember?”

“And that gives you the experience to run a multinational company dealing in property and finance, does it?”

“From what I hear, I could do better than what you’ve been doing,” she said coolly.

As if a storm was brewing, the air seemed to sizzle with electricity. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean that from all accounts you’re running the company into the ground. All our managers are leaving.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “They were old and stale. We need new blood.”

She gave a soft gasp. “That’s a callous statement.”

His lips twisted. “Perhaps I’m a chip off the old block.”

She held herself stiffly. “My father would never have dumped his employees.”

“Sure? I think if Russell kept them on, it was for his own selfish reasons.”

She didn’t want him to see that he was probably right, so she ignored that. “Look, I’m here now and I have Damien to help me.”

“No.”

She blinked. “What do you mean no?”

Keiran’s glare resented their presence. “I have every right to be in this office, Gabrielle. Just ask your friend, here. That’s why he went to get you to bring you back. Don’t fool yourself it was only about your father’s stroke.”

“I ought to hit you for saying that, Keiran,” Damien said, his eyes as cold as dry ice.

“But you can’t deny it.”

“You’re not worth refuting.”

Keiran sat on the chair with a smirk. “May I suggest you go and rethink your position. I own forty percent of this company and I intend to take it places Russell never even dreamed about.”

Gabrielle gasped, and Damien growled, “You’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Keiran.”

Keiran shrugged. “I’m in charge, Trent, whether you like it or not.” He picked up a pen. “Now. If you’ll both excuse me I have work to do. Major changes are on my agenda.”

Gabrielle stood there for a moment, stunned and shaken. “Don’t make too many changes, Keiran. I’ll only have to change them back.”

He waved a hand at the door. “Don’t let me keep you.”

For a moment Gabrielle thought Damien might leap across the desk and throw the other man out, but with a pulse ticking in his jaw, he thrust open the door and let her precede him through it.

They didn’t speak as they rode the elevator down with another couple to the parking lot beneath the building. But once they were in the BMW she sat while he came around to the driver’s side, her mind ticking over. What the devil were they going to do? If indeed they could do anything at all to wrestle the company from Keiran’s grip before he did too much damage.

Damien slid onto the driver’s seat. “Are you okay?”

She blinked. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, but just as quickly realized she wasn’t. Whether it was because Keiran had put such a bad taste in her mouth, she suddenly felt the need to go home to where she’d grown up. All at once she wanted to touch base with something familiar.

“No, I’m not. Damien, take me home please. To my parents’ place.” She took a shuddering breath. “Just for a little while.”

He stared at her, watching her with some indefinable emotion in his eyes, then nodded. “I’ve got papers in my briefcase. I can work from there.”

Sudden resentment grew. Couldn’t he see she needed to be alone for a while? “Or you could just leave me there and I’ll get a rental car sent around.”

His mouth thinned. “I’m not leaving you alone with a group of strangers working around the place.”

She glowered at him. “Why not? Frightened I might run off with one of them?”

He swore. “Don’t be ridiculous, Gabrielle. You’re upset over Keiran. Don’t take it out on me.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry, you’re right. Just take me home, Damien.”

He started the car and ten minutes later drove through theopen gates ofher parents’home that she hadn’t seen in five long years. She gazed up at the two-level mansion of grand proportions dozing in the tropical Australian sunshine. She’d grown up playing dolls on that wide balcony around the house. And later she’d sought refuge looking through the large windows of her bedroom over treetop views to the Timor Sea and distant horizon. It had been a wonderful place to grow up. If only her parents hadn’t fought all the time in those latter years. If only she’d had a brother or sister to share things with.

Thankfully Damien strode off toward the sound of hammering in the kitchen as soon as they stepped inside, saying he would tell the workmen to take a long break, and Gabrielle left him to it.

It was an odd feeling walking up the sweeping staircase to the second floor. Five years had passed, yet it only seemed like yesterday. But as she pushed the door open to her old bedroom, her mind reeled in confusion. The room was like a time warp. Everything was the same. The bed she’d often cried her heart out on, despairing over her parents’ troubled marriage, was still covered in the same quilt. Posters of some obscure pop star whose name she couldn’t even recall still hung on the wall. And even the clothes she’d left behind were still hanging in the wardrobe…almost as if they were waiting for her return.

She swallowed a sob. A new and unexpected warmth surged through her that was a welcome relief after her tussle with her cousin today. If ever she needed proof of her parents’ love for her, here it was. They had kept her memory alive.

Just like she did with her own child.

Damien’s baby.

A baby she’d miscarried at six months because of the car accident. God, how she wanted to tell Damien about their unborn baby that she’d loved and lost. Only, she knew she couldn’t tell him…could never tell him. He may not have cared for her, but she had no doubt he would have cared for their child. And she would never want any person knowing that brand of heartache.

Certainly not the baby’s father.

Damien glanced up from his paperwork and saw Gabrielle stroll out onto the patio, then stand looking out beyond the swimming pool, over the manicured lawn and lushly landscaped gardens.

Adrenaline kicked in as he watched the sun beat down on her face, giving a glow to her smooth skin. The high humidity of the November build-up toward the wet season wisped strands of the blond shoulder-length hair at the base of her neck. God, he couldn’t get over how beautiful she was. In the past five years he’d made love to other women, some more beautiful than Gabrielle, but none of them had…what was the word he was looking for?

Connected.

Yes, that was it. None of them had connected with something deep inside him the way Gabrielle did. Something fundamental. Something that was grabbing at him even now.

He thrust his papers aside and pushed off the sofa to go to her. “I’m impressed,” he said as he stepped through the open patio doors to join her.

She spun around, her face quickly assuming a blank mask that made him want to strip aside all the layers and get to what was truly inside this woman. “You are? With what?”

He went to stand beside her at the balustrade. “You.” He saw her start of surprise. “I like the way you stood up to Keiran.”

Her mouth curved into an unexpected smile, fascinating him. “Well, now you know. You’re not the only one I can stand up to.”

He went still, caught by an invisible pull of attraction. “I can see that,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to those kissable lips.

Awareness flared in her eyes, and she quickly turned and looked down at the garden instead. “Let’s hope my father gets better soon.”

“It’s going to take some time for your father to recover enough to get back to work.” If indeed he came back at all. “Many months at best.”

She sighed. “Then there’s nothing further I can do here. I may as well leave Keiran to it.”

Damien’s gut clenched. It wasn’t just the thought of Keiran ruining everything for Russell that made his spirits sink. It was the thought of Gabrielle leaving. She would be on her way back to Sydney just as soon as Russell pulled out of danger. A week was probably all she’d stay, and that wasn’t good enough. He wanted her in his arms and in his bed. He would settle for nothing less.

Just then an idea clicked inside him and his pulse began to race. It was the answer to the company’s prayers. Surprisingly, he wasn’t averse to the idea either. Lately, he had been watching Brant and Flynn with their wives and he’d felt like he was missing out on something special that came from being a couple. And Gabrielle was the only woman he could imagine being a couple with.

“Of course, we could always combine our shares and get Keiran out that way,” he said quietly.

Her eyes were confused as she turned to face him fully. “I don’t understand. How would we do that?”

He captured her eyes with his. “I’m a silent shareholder. I own the other twenty percent.”

Her head snapped back. “What!”

“And I have the perfect solution.”

She blinked and a wary look crossed her face. “You do?”

“Marry me, Gabrielle,” he said smoothly. “Marry me and let’s make sure Keiran never takes control of Kane’s again.”

Four

Gabrielle stared at Damien, unable to believe she was hearing right. “Marriage! To you?”

The line of his mouth tightened. “That’s the idea.”

Her heart constricted. Did he know what he was asking? “But why? I mean, I know you feel my father gave you a helping hand years ago but this is going too far, Damien.”

“No. I’d say it’s going just far enough.” A look of implacable determination crossed his face. “It’s the only way to stop Keiran.”

She winced inwardly, trying to remember this was about Keiran, not about her and Damien. Yet she and Damien would pay the price. Again. Hadn’t they already paid enough?

She tilted her head. “But even if we marry, my shares belong to me and your shares belong to you. It doesn’t give us controlling interest.”

For a long moment he stared at her. Then, “It does if I sign over eleven percent of my shares to you as a wedding present.”

“What!” she exclaimed, giving him a glance of utter disbelief.

He arched a brow. “Can you think of a better way to get Keiran out?”

She swallowed hard. “There must be another way,” she said, trying not to let the desperation show in her voice.

“If there is I’d be glad to hear it.”

She gathered her wits about her. “Let me talk to Keiran again. I’m sure I can make him see reason.”

“Keiran will only see reason if there’s something in it for him. And I don’t think anything you offer will tempt him away from the top seat, do you?”

He was right. It would take much more than anything she had for Keiran to step aside.

“Of course,” Damien drawled, wry amusement entering his eyes. “We could always kill him to get him out of the way.”

She glared at him. “This is too serious to joke about.”

“Who’s joking?” he mocked, but there was a hardness to his tone that bode ill for the other man. “I’m just trying to make you see that marriage between us is the only alternative. It may not be what you want to hear but it’s the best there is.”

No, she couldn’t believe that.

She wouldn’t.

“Surely you don’t want to get married, Damien? More to the point, surely you don’t want to marry me?”

“I’m glad you know what I don’t want,” he snapped. “Actually, it’s time I settled down. I’m getting older and I want a wife and…” a moment crept by “…you’re the wife I want.”

She swallowed hard. For a minute there she’d thought he was going to say he wanted a family with her. She wasn’t sure if she were up to that.

But being Damien’s wife…

“Would this be a temporary arrangement?” she asked, not considering it but asking all the same.

“No.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean…”

“Once we marry, we stay married.” A muscle ticked in his cheek. “It’s forever, Gabrielle. Remember that.”

“I don’t think I could forget it,” she muttered. Then a hopeful idea came to mind. “Of course, you could always just sign over the eleven percent to me anyway. That would be a good way to repay my father.”

“No, the best way to repay your father is for us to marry. A united front will put confidence back in the company for our clients.” He paused. “Oh, and Gabrielle. I will want your parents to think this is a real marriage between us.”

Her heart thudded inside her chest. “You mean you want them to think we’re in love?”

He nodded. “Yes. I’ll tell your father about me giving you the shares, of course, but only after he’s on the mend. I don’t want him getting even a hint that we married to stop Keiran from ruining the company. It could set back his recovery.”

Damien was right about her father not needing to hear bad news. “But surely my mother should be told the truth?” she questioned, even as she told herself the point was moot.

He shook his head. “No, if we’re going to do it, we may as well do it properly. I don’t want any slip-ups in front of your father, and with your mother being under a lot of stress, it wouldn’t be fair to burden her.”

He made it all sound so rational. Yet how could she pretend to be in love with this man? And why the heck was she considering this, anyway?

She lifted her chin. “I’m sorry but I won’t marry you, Damien. My father wouldn’t want me to go that far.”

He arched a brow. “Really? I’m sure Russell would want you to do everything in your power to save all he’s built over the years. And that includes marriage to me.”

She straightened her shoulders. “Look, you can be a martyr about it, but I will not sacrifice myself like this for the sake of the company. Not for my father. And not for my mother, either,” she added, preempting him.

His eyes narrowed. “Then what about for all those people who work for your father?”

Her hands clenched. “It’s no use, Damien. Just give it up.”

“No, you need to give in. There are people depending on your decision. People like James. People who have worked for your father for years, not just here in Darwin but all around Australasia. If Keiran destroys the company then there’s going to be a hell of a lot of people out of work.”

“I can’t take responsibility for the whole damn world,” she choked. If this was what it was like at the top, then they could have it.

His dark brows jerked together. “Don’t swear, Gabrielle.”

Her eyes widened. “How can you take this so calmly? This is our lives you’re talking about ruining.”

His face closed up more than usual. “I don’t think marriage between us will ruin our lives. We may even enjoy it.”

She gave a strangled laugh. “It may not ruin yours, but it will definitely ruin mine. I don’t know what you’ve got planned for the rest of your life, but being married to you isn’t on my list.”

His green eyes darkened to near black as a hardness rippled through him like a chain reaction. His mouth opened. He went to speak.

And his cell phone rang.

He held her gaze a moment more, watching her. Then he took the phone out of his pocket and answered it. She was just beginning to take a breath when she noticed his gaze shoot to her. She tensed immediately, sensing it must be the hospital.

“We’ll be there soon,” he said into the phone, then hung up and returned it to his pocket.

“It’s my father, isn’t it?” she whispered, expecting a blow.

“He’s fine. But they’ve finished some tests and now he’s awake. Your mother said it’s a good time to come visit for a couple of minutes.”

Intense relief washed over her. “We’d better hurry, then,” she said, wishing she’d thought to give her cell phone number to her mother so that she’d always be available if anything happened. Not that she wanted to think about the worst happening, she decided, spinning on her heels to go back through the patio doors, glad to put an end to this discussion with Damien.

“We’ll finish this later,” he warned.

She had to stand her ground with him. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

Their eyes met and shock ran through her. There was a firm look on his face that said he wasn’t giving up. The thought tore at her insides and made her heart plummet to the depths of her soul. Damien always got what he wanted. It was just a pity he wanted a marriage of convenience with her. Dear God, the last thing she wanted was to be a convenience to this man.

That thought kept her resolute on the way to the hospital. She had to make sure she kept up her guard against Damien. Always, just when she thought she could hold her own with him, he’d change tack and sweep the rug out from under her. He was a ruthless businessman.

A ruthless man.

Just like her father, she reminded herself.

Of course, her father didn’t look too ruthless when she stood beside his hospital bed, his hand engulfing hers and a tear slipping down his cheek. Her eyes misted over and she leaned forward to kiss him, but ended up burying her face against his neck, careful not to cause him pain. For a split second all her hurt melted like candle wax. This was her father. And she was his little girl again.

“Gabrielle,” his shaky voice rumbled in her ears, and she swallowed hard. It had been so long since she’d heard him say her name so lovingly. Too long.

“Oh, Russell, our baby girl’s all grown-up now,” Gabrielle heard her mother say. It startled her to hear her parents actually talking civilly to each other for a change.

“Yes,” he said gruffly, and squeezed her hand again as if he never wanted to let her go.

Gabrielle took a deep breath and straightened, blinking back tears. Then her gaze fell on Damien and all at once her heart flipped over at the touch of tenderness in the back of those green eyes.

For her.

But Damien tender? Common sense told her that if he did feel any softening toward her, it was because he wanted something from her. She flinched inwardly. Oh, he wanted something all right.

Marriage.

“Sorry,” her father mumbled, pulling her thoughts away from her problems with Damien.

“Dad, shh. We’ll talk when you’re better.” Though what she’d say to him, she wasn’t sure. Deep down there was still hurt and anger over all that had happened. She couldn’t dismiss those feelings easily.

“Sleepy,” her father murmured, shutting his eyes.

She kissed his cheek. “Go to sleep then, Dad. I’ll be back tomorrow,” she said softly, sure he was asleep before she’d even finished speaking.

Her mother’s eyes filled with gratitude. “He’ll recover well just knowing you’re here.”

“I’m glad,” Gabrielle said, unable to prevent herself from still sounding wooden, then felt guilty for the tiny wince her mother tried to hide.

“Then we’ll see you tomorrow,” Caroline said, forcing a friendly tone. “The doctors don’t want him overdoing things.”

“Of course.”

After that they said their goodbyes but once in the car, Damien turned toward her, his eyes piercing. “Your father’s still got a long way to go.”