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‘I’ll think about it.’ It didn’t sound as if he was planning on doing any more than that.
‘Seriously, Gabriel. I want you to think seriously about it. Because that’s the advice you’d give to anyone else.’
He laughed suddenly, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘I’ll think about it seriously. I promise.’
‘And you’ll go?’
‘I didn’t say that. But I will consider it very carefully.’
It was the most she was going to get out of him, and perhaps it was too much to ask for any more. Sitting up in the night, talking about it, was very different from committing himself to counselling. But he’d said he’d consider it so maybe Clara should count that as a win and forget about the losses.
‘You’re tired. You should go back to bed.’
That was a good suggestion. One she wasn’t going to take up. Clara rose from her seat, stretching her limbs. ‘I think I’ll just get some coffee. I have things to do today.’
‘Watching me?’ He pursed his lips.
‘Yes. Watching you.’ Clara wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to do that after the night they’d just shared. But that was the way of things with her and Gabriel. They shared so much in the quiet hours of the evening, and then went back to being strangers during the day.
‘If I tell you that I’ll stay put until you wake up, will you go to bed?’ He grinned up at her. ‘You can chain me to the kitchen table if you want, just to be sure.’
‘Unfortunately, I don’t carry chains. It’s an oversight, I know.’
‘Well, then, you can rip my head off if I take one step out of the house.’
‘No can do, Gabriel. I’m supposed to be protecting you, and ripping your head off isn’t covered in the contract.’
He got to his feet, walking round the table. Catching her hand in his, he brushed her fingers against his lips. ‘I’ll give you my word of honour, then. I won’t leave the house until you wake up.’
Gabriel did it every time. That dark-eyed look that had her falling under his spell. And she was beginning to feel very tired. ‘Okay. Not a step?’
‘Not even a millimetre. Even if the place is on fire.’
Clara laughed sleepily. ‘If the place is on fire you have my permission to leave. Not before you come and save me, though.’
‘Understood. Consider yourself saved.’
He couldn’t save her, though, could he? As Clara followed him upstairs, she couldn’t help wishing that Gabriel could sweep her up in his arms and carry her away. Save her from wanting him, and knowing she couldn’t have him.
But that wasn’t going to happen. He was too damaged. He’d tried so hard to be the son that his parents wanted, and in doing so he’d shut himself away. Maybe one day he’d learn that love wasn’t solely a matter of duty, but by then she’d be long gone.
He walked through the sitting room and opened her bedroom door, staying on the threshold. ‘Get into bed.’
‘Okay...okay.’ She tried to pull the bedcovers straight and gave it up as a bad job. Asking him to come and tuck her in wasn’t going to work well...
Clara climbed into the bed, unzipping her sweatshirt and wriggling out of it. It dropped onto the floor, but she couldn’t be bothered to get up again and pick it up.
‘Close your eyes.’
‘Are yo
u still here?’ She was half-asleep already.
Gabriel chuckled, and she heard the door close quietly.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IT WAS GOOD to see Clara lose her guardedness. It was one thing for Gabriel to feel that he was looking over his shoulder—that was a relatively recent development in his life. But it seemed wrong that she should be doing it for a living. She had so much else to give.
