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She pushed that notion down, remembering seeing him go toe to toe with Lazaro Sanchez. The bristling tension between the men.
‘Look,’ he said, before she could say a word, throwing his phone down on a nearby chair, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I knew Sanchez. I didn’t realise how it would look. Or how it would make you feel when you discovered we did know each other.’
She asked tautly, ‘What is it between you?’
Gabriel stuck his hands in his pockets. ‘Ever since he arrived on the scene a few years ago he’s made a beeline for me. Shadowing my every move, trying to disrupt deals I’m involved in. We’re both currently involved in a bid to redevelop the old Madrid marketplace.’
Leonora had heard about that bid. It was huge. ‘I had no idea you were involved in that.’
The hurt she was feeling intensified. While she’d been thinking that she was growing closer to Gabriel, developing an intimacy that might one day extend beyond the bedroom, he had basically told her nothing about his day-to-day life. It was like a slap in the face.
He looked at her. ‘I didn’t think you’d be interested.’
‘I’m your wife. I think I should know what you’re involved in.’
Gabriel walked over to the window. He said, ‘I’ve never had to answer to anyone. I’ve never had to explain myself.’ He turned to face her. ‘It didn’t occur to me to let you know about these things.’
The anger in Leonora diminished slightly. She could appreciate how a lone wolf like Gabriel might find it hard to adjust to being in a relationship.
Still... ‘That doesn’t excuse you not telling me about Lazaro. It’s too much of a coincidence that we ended up in bed together the same night my engagement was meant to be announced.’
Gabriel shook his head. He came closer, but Leonora backed away. He stopped.
‘I went there that night because of Sanchez, yes. But as soon as I saw you I got distracted. It became about you, not him.’
Leonora cursed the fluttering in her belly. ‘It was about him when you walked me out through the front door of the hotel.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I was aware of how it would look, yes. But I was also conscious of wanting to get you out of there, and getting to know you.’
His straightforward honesty deflated her a little. Her heart beat fast as she recalled how she’d felt the pull between them that night. She’d felt guilty, standing next to her fiancé and being mesmerised by another man. And as soon as he’d asked if she wanted his help in leaving she hadn’t hesitated.
As if sensing her weakening, Gabriel said, ‘I swear to you, from the moment we got to my apartment Sanchez was not in my head or my thoughts or my motivations. I wanted you. Do you really think I would have seduced you into my bed just to get back at him?’
Pride oozed from every inch of the man in front of her. But she resisted the urge to let herself weaken too much.
She remembered something. ‘You were saying something to Lazaro earlier...about meeting him in a street with your father. What was that?’
Gabriel’s jaw clenched. ‘He claims to be my half-brother on my father’s side.’
Leonora sat down on the seat behind her. ‘What?’
‘He confronted us in the street years ago. It was my birthday. He accused my father of being his father...but then two of my father’s men took
him away and I never saw him again until a few years ago.’
‘So...he could be your half-brother?’
‘It’s quite possible. My father could have sired any number of illegitimate children.’ The bitterness was in Gabriel’s voice was palpable.
‘Who is his mother?’
Gabriel shook his head. ‘I don’t know...and I don’t care.’
But Leonora saw something. A flicker of emotion. And the fact that Lazaro Sanchez could inspire emotion in Gabriel made her feel almost...jealous. Which was crazy. Jealous of a business rival!
‘Did you marry me to get back at Lazaro?’
He took a step forward, a fierce look on his face. ‘No. I married you because you were the first woman who made me even want to think about it.’
