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‘Such dedication,’ he said, cutting her off. ‘But I think it can wait until Monday, don’t you?’
She took a deep breath. ‘It’s not about the acquisition.’
‘Then there’s nothing to talk about,’ he said, in that soft, lethal way of his that made her want to dive into the Mediterranean. And made her body shiver in response.
Tilting her chin, she met his gaze. ‘How can you say that after what happened the other night?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘I’m saying itbecauseof the other night.’ Shaking his head, he turned. ‘Go home, Ms Cavendish.’
Anger rose up like a wave, swallowing her whole. Moving swiftly, she stepped in front of him. ‘I am so done with you turning your back on me. Being rich doesn’t give you the right to be rude, you know?’
‘Actually, it does,’ he said softly. ‘It pretty much gives you licence to do whatever you damn well like. Like bribing someone to get out of your life, for example.’
She stared at him, her pulse beating so fast she thought she would pass out. ‘That’s not the same.’
‘Of course it isn’t.’
‘You’re twisting things again—’
‘No, everything is plumb-straight.’ He stared down at her, his face taut. ‘Go home, Dove. You have work on Monday—an acquisition to close. That’s all that matters here.’
She shook her head. ‘Then you’re going to have to fire me and get someone else, because I am not leaving this boat until we’ve had a conversation.’
There: she had a plan, after all. And she would do it. She would chain herself to the ship’s wheel if she had to.
There was a tiny snatch of air around them.
‘And it’s always about whatyouwant, isn’t it?’ His voice was harder and edgier than before. It sounded like bones snapping. ‘When to talk. When to end things.’
For a moment she couldn’t breathe. His words thudded inside her head in a terrifying drumroll. ‘That’s not true.’ She tried to shake her head, as if that would somehow validate her denial, but her head wouldn’t move. ‘I didn’t end anything.Youended us.’
‘Is that what you tell yourself? Tell other people?’
‘No, it’s what happened. My father offered you money and you took it.’
Her pulse jerked as he took a step closer, his blue eyes sharpening on her face.
‘And you can’t complain about that. Not when you made sure that was all that was on offer.’
Her hand crept up to her throat and she stared at him, mute with shock. She had offered him so much more than that. And he had tossed it aside.
‘That had nothing to do with me. My father went to see you because he didn’t trust you. He didn’t think you were who you said you were.’
Gabriel’s face stilled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘He thought you were a gold-digger. A chancer.’ Remembering how she had defended him to her father, she felt her face burn. ‘So he went to the hotel to find you. To test you. And you failed.’
She saw his jaw tighten.
‘You set me up to fail.’
His tone was still harsh, but now there was a different note beneath the anger and frustration, almost questioning, as if he was asking her, not telling her.
‘Of course I didn’t.’ Her head was spinning. ‘Why would I do that?’
I loved you, she finished silently. Hadn’t he known that? Hadn’t he known how much she’d loved him?
Gabriel was staring past her, almost as if he had forgotten she was there. ‘That’s what I’ve been asking myself for six years.’
