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‘That can’t be helped. I’m not going any further, I’ve reached my limit.’
‘Fair enough, we all have them. But in the real world it’s good to remember that the female of the species can be deadlier than the male.’
‘Oh, I know that all right. Down a little further?’
‘Yes. Don’t push me, just apply leverage.’
Carefully Gabriel moved her down onto the mat. As if he were moving a patient almost, using his knowledge of the body to move her without doing any harm.
‘That’s good. Now, if you wanted, you could use your foot to keep my shoulder down and reach across with your hand to the other shoulder.’
That sounded a bit complicated and it was further than he wanted to go. Gabriel loosened his grip, releasing her and sitting back on the mat. ‘I’ll stop there, I think.’
She nodded, getting to her feet, holding her hand out to help him up. When he took it, she twisted suddenly, and he was on his back on the mat, her weight on top of him. That was okay. Better than okay, in fact. She was using her whole body to subdue his, and that involved physical contact. Quite a bit of it.
‘The next lesson is always to keep an eye on your opponent. They might not be as gentlemanly as you are.’
‘Yeah. Lesson learned.’
He relaxed, stretching beneath her as much as he could. She was good, and no doubt if she’d been using her full strength he’d be hurting right now. But instead of consolidating her advantage, she let go of one of his arms. Gabriel reached up, brushing his fingers against her cheek, and suddenly she smiled. Not that composed smile that she’d given him up till now but something full of warmth that seemed to glisten with a touch of mischief. She took his breath away.
The game had changed. Using all his strength, Gabriel rolled her over, ending up on top of her. The moves seemed more like loving than fighting. Two bodies locked together, testing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. By now they’d probably have tumbled off the bed onto the floor, and he’d be so deep inside her...
‘Oof!’ His breath was suddenly pushed from his lungs as his back hit the mat, and Clara gained the upper hand again. That served him right for letting his mind wander. But the smile on her face, the lock of hair that had come unhooked from the elastic band that held it back were making that very difficult.
‘You win, Clara.’ He murmured the words and saw her eyes darken suddenly, her body still against his. What she would have done next was left to his imagination because a sudden banging at the door interrupted them.
‘Open up, Cupcake.’ That had to be Ronnie.
Clara jumped to her feet as if someone had just put a handful of ice down her back, leaving Gabriel to sit up. Twisting the key in the lock, she opened the door.
‘What’s up, Ronnie?’
‘Terry was doing some pad work with one of his lads, and the kid got him off balance and knocked him over. He’s cut himself pretty badly, there’s a lot of blood...’
‘Okay, we’ll come and take a look at him. Gabriel’s a doctor.’
‘Thanks.’ Ronnie gave Gabriel a tight smile as he got to his feet, shaking his head in an attempt to knock some sense back into it. ‘I’d really appreciate it.’
CHAPTER NINE
IT WAS JUST as well that Ronnie had knocked on the door when she did. Clara had felt Gabriel’s body respond to hers and things had changed so suddenly that she was still reeling from the impact of it. She’d wanted him so very badly that it had almost made her forget that it broke every professional rule there was.
She pulled her shoes on, glancing at Gabriel. He flashed her a grin and she breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that things were okay between them, and all she needed to do now was to avoid being alo
ne in the same room as him. Easy.
When she led him through to the sparring area, she saw an older man, who she recognised by sight, sitting on a bench. Blood was running down his arm and pooling onto the floor and a couple of the gym staff were unsuccessfully trying to staunch it.
‘All right, people. Give the doctor some room.’ Ronnie addressed no one in particular and the little circle of people around Terry sprang back. Gabriel took a pair of surgical gloves from the first-aid kit, which lay open on the floor, and started to inspect Terry’s shoulder.
‘This doesn’t look so bad, Terry.’ Gabriel’s words were reassuring, but something in his face told Clara that he wasn’t happy with the situation. Without being asked, she fetched a pair of scissors from the first-aid box, so that Gabriel could cut away a little more of Terry’s polo shirt to inspect the damage.
‘Thanks...’ He flashed her a smile. ‘Are there some large dressing pads in there?’
Only about a hundred. Ronnie didn’t do anything by halves when it came to looking after her patrons, and the first-aid kit was very well stocked. Clara took a pair of gloves from the box, pulling them on and fetching a handful of dressings.
‘Take a look.’ Gabriel turned to her. ‘Can you see something I can’t?’
