AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I think I’ve grown up a little more than that,’ Gaby murmured stiffly, her spine rigid, her chest still heaving as she battled to get her temper back under control. No man had ever driven her to such immediate rage as Angel did. He had a special knack in that department. They were oil and water or hay and a lit match, she conceded heavily.
‘Prove it,’ Angel invited, striving not to let his attention be drawn by the shimmying swell of her sumptuous breasts below the cotton. ‘Enjoy your wine. Talk to me.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHATDOYOUwant to talk about?’ Gaby asked very drily and sipped at her wine.
‘Tell me what it is like being a nanny,’ Angel invited, folding down into an armchair in a graceful sprawl that signified a level of relaxation that could only make her envious.
Gaby sighed and attempted to mirror his laid-back vibe. ‘My first couple of placements were great and I got to travel and use my linguistic abilities. That’s what gets me the best jobs—keen parents who want bilingual children or tutoring.’
Angel angled his darkly handsome head to one side. ‘Yet I hear a jaded note in your voice.’
Gaby grimaced. ‘Because my last two jobs weretoochallenging. First, I landed an employer who wanted to turn me into a maid of all work round the clock to justify my excellent salary.’
‘Were you living in the household?’ Angel queried.
‘I usually do.’
‘That makes you an easy target.’
Gaby winced and gazed down into her wine glass. ‘My duties are listed on my employment contract, but I had to resign to enforce them and, as always, I hated leaving the kids because I had become attached to them. It was the job I took after that one, though, that was therealproblem...’
The silence hummed. Angel studied her, admiring the copper shine of her hair in the lamplight, the pale perfection of her dainty profile, the long feathery lashes momentarily veiling the dark blue depths of her eyes.
‘And the problemwas...?’ Angel prompted, watching as she glanced up through her lashes and bit at her full pink lower lip, sending a roar of arousal coursing through him that tightened every defensive muscle in his lean, hard body.
Gaby tensed. ‘The husband. The wife and the children were lovely but he...he was scary.’
Angel stiffened and sat forward, brilliant dark golden eyes now intent. ‘How...scary?’
‘He was a banker. He asked me to join him for a drink once when his wife was abroad and I said no and he didn’t make anything of it, but he began to hang around when I was looking after his kids...and of course I couldn’t object to that,’ she pointed out ruefully. ‘I was careful to act very much like an employee to keep the boundaries up. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop him. There were little admiring remarks, little touches, never anything I could make a fuss about though, and he would stand too close, getting right into my space. It was intimidating. He was a big guy.’
Becoming increasingly restless as he listened, Angel sprang upright, his anger stirred by the thought of her being frightened by another man. ‘Andthen?’
‘My room was in the basement and he began to come down there at night and walk up and down the corridor. I went out once and he said he was reorganising the wine cellar, and maybe he was, but it went on for weeks. It got to the stage that every time I looked up, he was close by, watching me. I got nervous and tried to avoid him, but it was hopeless. I felt like I was being stalked. I was scared of him, scared of what he might try to do if he got the opportunity,’ she admitted, her eyes stinging with guilty tears.
‘Of course you were scared.’ Angel sank down on the sofa beside her, startling her, and she lifted her head to look at him. ‘Any woman would have felt threatened by that kind of behaviour...and presumably there were times when you were alone in the house with him?’
‘Yes,’ Gaby conceded, relieved by his understanding and grateful for it as well because it was not a story she had shared with anyone else, fearful that they might suspect she had been flirtatious and had somehow invited the man’s unwelcome interest. ‘And I hated those times when his wife was away. I went out those evenings if I could...but then he would be hanging around when I came back, acting creepily friendly.’
Angel appraised her pale, anxious face and the teardrop inching its way down over a delicate cheekbone and something cracked inside him, unleashing a tangled flood of emotions that powered right through and straight past his innate reserve and distrust of women. It was a gut response to curve a supportive arm around her taut, trembling spine. ‘Why on earth are you crying and sounding so apologetic about what must have been a ghastly experience?’
Setting her glass down, Gaby sucked in a shuddering breath and coiled helplessly into the comforting heat of him. ‘The whole thing made me feel so weak and I didn’t feel safe, yet all the time I was worrying that maybe I was being silly, too imaginative and making a fuss about nothing...or that at some stage, without even realising it, I might have done or said something that encouraged him.’
Angel frowned, his censorious golden eyes in a direct collision with her strained gaze. ‘No, you didn’t. I know you. You’re blameless in this. It was your job to keep yourself safe and he was a threat. He was probably getting off on your fear. It was a power trip for him and sooner or later I believe he would have assaulted you,’ he forecast.
Gaby shivered. ‘I thought that too. I hated myself for giving way, but I was so scared of him I handed in my notice and warned the agency about him. Unfortunately it’s put me off taking another live-in position.’
‘Of course it has. Is that why you’re here in Alharia in a temporary job that you are vastly overqualified for?’
‘Yes...and I needed a breathing space before I decided what to do next.’
‘You have to be the least weak woman I have ever met,’ Angel intoned in a fierce undertone.
And her tummy flipped an entire somersault in receipt of the glow of appreciation in his stunning gaze. She felt warm, reassured, championed for the first time in her adult life. She had never had anyone behind her before. When she had been bullied at boarding school, her aunt had told her that it was her own fault for winning prizes every year and that being less of a ‘brainbox’ would make her more friends.
‘I never thought that you would admire strength in a woman,’ Gaby confided, looking up at him without bothering to hide her surprise.
