THE RELUCTANT BRIDE (14 page)

“
Good.”
Gabriella smiled at the girl, glad that she would have her support
but aware that she had just taken one more step towards the point of
no return.

****

Sue
Landon was at her desk and greeted her with a mocking smile that made
Gabriella want to hit her.

“
Good
morning, Gabriella. Rod's not back yet – is he expecting you?”

“
Yes,
he is.” Watching Sue pick at the keyboard with long crimson
nails she found herself hiding her own hands with their short
scrubbed nails in her pockets. She withdrew them, annoyed that she
should allow Sue to make her feel inadequate in any way. The girl was
beautiful and it was well known that practically every man in the
Company regarded her with interest. Including Rod, it seemed.
Gabriella smothered a sudden pang. What did she care if he was
attracted to Sue? But he would have to stop seeing her outside the
office if the marriage was to appear genuine.

“
I'll
wait in his office,” she said.

“
Of
course. Can I get you some coffee?” Sue rose from her desk in
one fluid movement. Once more Gabriella felt at a disadvantage as the
girl, half a head taller, looked down at her.

“
I'm
far too busy to stop for coffee,” she answered, hearing her own
voice sharpen.”

“
In
that case, let's not waste time.” She felt Rod's warm hand on
her shoulder and he was steering her into his office. “I'm
honoured,” he said, closing the door firmly behind them. “I
hadn't expected such an early visit but I'm sure it's not my personal
charm that's brought you here. What do you want, Gabriella?”

She
looked at the door. “Sue won't come in, will she?”

He
shook his head. “She's well trained. Always waits for an
invitation.”

“
How
chauvinist you sound.”

“
Really?
Would Jenny interrupt when you had a visitor?”

“
No,
of course not. But you make Sue sound like an obedient little slave.”

He
laughed. “Oh, she's far from that! Sue knows her value here –
and she can give as good as she gets.”

“
I
can imagine.”

“
But
I thought you were anxious to get back. What did you want to see me
about?”

You
phoned me last night.”

“
Yes,
I forgot you were meeting your fiance. Did you settle things?”

“
Yes.”

He
waited but she said no more. “Well, I just wanted to talk to
you about the wedding. We'll have to book a church as soon as
possible.”

“
I
called you back.” She hesitated. “Sue answered the
phone.”

He
raised an eyebrow. “So it was you. Why didn't you ask to speak
to me?”

“
I
didn't want to interrupt anything.” She watched him, but apart
from a slight compression of the lips his face told her nothing. “All
the same, Rod, I'd advise you to pick your girlfriends from farther
afield. If you want the staff to believe in our marriage you should
be more discreet.”

He
strolled to the window, turning his back on her. His office, on the
opposite side of the building from Gabriella's, overlooked an
enclosed yard where the firm's vans were stored and she wondered what
could be attracting his attention. The morning sun pierced the glass
and brought a gloss to his thick dark hair. She noted the way the
hair curled on the nape of his neck, just touching the crisp
white
collar of his shirt. Today he wore a slate grey suit with an almost
imperceptible stripe, but the quiet understatement of the fabric and
the elegance of the tailoring did nothing to disguise the power of
the body beneath.

She
looked away as he turned suddenly from the window.

“
So.
You think I was being indiscreet with Sue Landon?”

“
What
else am I to think? You wouldn't invite a girl like Sue to your house
just to talk about the national debt!”

“
Do
I detect a note of jealousy?”

Ignoring
the flush that was creeping into her cheeks Gabriella gave him a cold
stare. “Why on earth would I be jealous?”

“
God
knows, but the world is full of people with a dog in the manger
attitude.”

“
Dog
in the – How dare you! How
dare
you!”
And now she was fighting back the tears of hurt and anger that
pricked her eyelids. How could he be so unfair? Rod himself had
stressed the importance of appearances and now, when all she wanted
was to ensure there would be no speculation about their marriage, he
was attacking her. It could only be guilt. Entangled as he was with
Sue – and how many others? - he was trying to transfer the
blame. What he said next confirmed it.

“
You're
a cold fish, Gabriella, and like so many of your kind you can't bear
to see others enjoying normal relationships. Perhaps I should feel
sorry for you but really, my dear, there are other more serious
matters to concern me at the moment. But I warn you, Gabriella, if
you ever try to pass judgment on me again you;ll wish you had'nt.”

He
held her eyes and she felt herself shiver. In the narrowed gaze and
the voice that had dropped to a quietness she had to strain to hear
she sensed an anger greater than her own, and for a moment she found
herself conjecturing what form his anger would take if he allowed it
to escape his tight control. Then the injustice of his words brought
her own temper to the fore.

“
My
God, you're so arrogant! How typical of
your
kind
to assume that any girl who doesn't succumb to your charms is a cold
fish. And as to passing judgment – what the hell do you think
you're
doing?”

For
a long moment he stared at her, then a rueful smile smoothed the
anger from his face. “You're right. We're both guilty. I
apologise.” He moved to his desk and pulled out a chair for
her. “Sit down, Gabriella.”

She
wished she could shake off her own anger as rapidly. She longed to
lash out at him with further accusations. Silently she took the seat
he offered, watched as he moved things about on his desk, her eyes
caught by the deftness of those long blunt fingers with their clean
square cut nails.

“
Our
truces never last long, do they?” he said.

“
Whose
fault is that?”

He
sighed. “Gabriella, this isn't going to work unless we can
learn to cooperate. Accept each other's failings.”

“
Can
it work at all?”

“
It
has to. There aren't any other options, we're in too deep now.”

She
nodded. “All right. I'll try my best.”

He
smiled. “That's all any of us can do. Now let's try to make
some decisions. The wedding first. Your church or mine?”

The
next week passed like a whirlwind. Gabriella had never realised how
much time could be consumed in arranging a wedding. Meetings with the
vicar at her parish church, which fortunately could accommodate them
on the required date, with the hotel she had chosen for the
reception, with the dressmaker who was designing gowns for herself,
Jenny and Rachel, an old school friend whom she had invited to be her
other bridesmaid. There were flowers to be ordered, wedding cars to
be
booked,
a guest list to be prepared and invitations sent out. Rod helped, but
he was deeply involved with bank managers, machine suppliers and the
production team at Englands in a bid to get the new company policy
under way within the next three months, and Gabriella found the bulk
of responsibility for the wedding falling on her own shoulders.

She
was thankful that she had already arranged for her mother to enter
Rosebank, a nearby private hospital, the following Monday. They had
debated postponing the hip operation until after the wedding, but Mrs
Stevens was determined to have it done as soon as possible.

“
They
say the pain goes immediately,” she told Gabriella, “and
I'd rather walk into the church with a zimmer frame than be wheeled
in in a wheelchair.”

If
she felt any apprehension it was well hidden. So immersed was she in
preparations for the wedding that she seemed to live in a permanent
state of feverish excitement, and Gabriella could almost believe that
she scarcely gave the operation a though.

“
What
about your trousseau?” she asked one day. “You haven't
bought anything new yet and if you're going abroad you may need a
warm weather wardrobe.”

“
Going
abroad?”

“
Your
honeymoon, dear.”