AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Angel frowned, black brows pleating. There were times when Gabriella frustrated him beyond belief, and this was one of them. He didn’t understand her in the way he had long understood other women. She didn’t go into ecstasies over expensive jewellery, and she hadn’t even mentioned the clothes. The gestures that usually smoothed feminine pride and other sensitivities didn’t work for him with her.
‘I meant well,’ he breathed tautly. ‘It’s hardly fake when we’re getting married the day after tomorrow, is it? But we skipped the conventional steps.’
‘We skipped a lot of stuff,’ Gaby told him tightly.
Intoxicating dark golden eyes framed by lush black lashes held hers. ‘But this is a fresh start.’
‘No, it’s another chapter. We didn’thavea proper start so we can scarcely have a fresh one,’ Gaby contradicted, her tension easing only when her friends appeared in the doorway. ‘Sorry, I have to go.’
All the way down to the entrance hall where Cassia awaited their arrival, Gaby castigated herself for her ungracious behaviour with Angel. She dug out her phone and texted him straight away, telling him how much she loved the ring and she thanked him very much for the new clothes. Sometimes in an effort to play it cool with Angel, she got things badly wrong and slid into sulky ingratitude, she acknowledged uneasily as her friends exclaimed in wonderment over the glittering sapphire and Cassia’s lips flattened to a thin line on her words of congratulation.
The restaurant was very large and imposing and frantically busy. Gaby thought it was a surprising venue in which to stage a small, supposedly discreet dinner party. They were met at the door and conveyed straight to a central circular table. Several other young women were already seated there. In the flurry of bright introductions that followed and the serving of drinks, Gaby’s tension began to lift. She sipped the glass of champagne that was served to her first, noticing that Cassia seemed to intimidate the other women present, giving her the impression that the blonde was not widely liked.
Not long after she had ordered her meal, she began to feel very hot. ‘Are you warm?’ she asked Liz.
‘No, I’m fine. The food looks amazing,’ her friend confided. ‘But I’m surprised Cassia decided to stage this somewhere so public. Every diner here is frantically trying to work out which of us is Angel’s bride and I’ve seen people taking covert photos on their phones.’
Gaby struggled to focus on Liz’s amused face. Her mouth was very dry, and the room felt airless. As her tummy gave a nauseous lurch that terrified her, she flew upright. ‘I’m off to the cloakroom.’
‘Want company?’
‘No, no, thanks.’ Gaby didn’t want an audience if she was about to be ill, nor did she wish to cast a dampener on the evening out. As she straightened, she felt dizzy and she wondered if she had picked up some ghastly bug travelling. Well, she would just have to get over it and fast, she thought worriedly as she followed the sign into a plush cloakroom. Her legs felt weak. Her breath rattled in her chest and something akin to panic assailed her at the rapidity with which she was falling ill. She dug out her phone and, without even thinking about it, pressed Angel’s number.
‘I’m not well,’ she whispered. ‘I’m feeling really ill, Angel...don’t want to wreck the party—’
‘Where are you?’
‘Don’t know name of restaurant...in the cloakroom,’ she slurred as she slumped down on a padded chair.
The claustrophobic room was swirling round her, and the phone slid from her fingers as her head fell back, too heavy for her to hold upright. A moment later, she knew no more.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GABYWAKENEDGROGGILYin a darkened room, snatches of foggy recollection tugging at her woozy brain. Her lashes fluttered in confusion as she slowly breathed in and out, relieved to discover that she could catch her breath easily again. She shifted her arm, and something tugged painfully at her skin, causing a sound of discomfort to escape her.
A hand settled over hers. ‘Relax. You have an IV line in...you were dehydrated,’ Angel explained.
And the instant she heard his voice, Gaby felt the panic recede and she was soothed. She remembered the tightness in her chest, the difficulty in breathing and the way she had slumped in the cloakroom. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled, taking in her surroundings and realising that hours must have passed because it was dark beyond the window. ‘What time is it?’
‘It’s the middle of the night. You weren’t fully unconscious when I found you, but this is the first time you’ve come round enough to speak,’ Angel told her grimly.
‘I’m in hospital?’
‘Yes, but I’m taking you out of here the minute the doctor tells me I can,’ Angel announced as he paced at the foot of the bed.
He looked ruffled, black hair tousled, his tie loosened, dark stubble outlining his strong jaw line. He still looked gorgeous though, just a little less immaculate than usual. ‘I felt ill... I phoned you,’ she recalled thickly, trying to regroup and compose herself.
‘And I thank God that you did,’ Angel breathed with raw sincerity. ‘You were roofied...in a public restaurant. It is beyond belief that such a thing could happen to my bride! I could not believe that you could be at risk of any kind on such an outing. Believe me, I will not be so careless of your safety again!’
‘Roofied?’ Gaby gasped in disbelief. ‘I was drugged? How is that possible?’
‘We will find out,’ Angel intoned wrathfully, smouldering golden eyes welded to the pale drawn triangle of her face. ‘I assure you that we will find out who is responsible for this outrage. But it makes no sense. It is not as though you were in a club where someone might hope to steal you away from your companions. Nowhere could have been more public, more apparently safe...the police want you to make a statement.’
Gaby was reeling from what he had told her. ‘Of course—’
‘Like me, they are very much taken aback by this assault and are determined to find the culprit,’ Angel breathed heavily. ‘I would never have forgiven myself had anything happened to you. Why on earth did you leave the table?’
‘I wasn’t feeling well, and I didn’t want to spoil the evening for everybody. I thought if I got away I would get some air and start feeling better...but when I think about it, that was foolish.’
