Читать книгу Introduction To Romance (10 Books) - Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 21

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘IS IT EVERYTHING you hoped it would be?’

Bryn turned to smile warmly at Eric as he came to stand beside her. ‘It’s so much more!’ Her smile widened as he handed her one of the glasses of champagne he carried.

There were over two hundred people crowded into the west gallery for this invitation-only showing, the men all wearing evening suits, the women chic and glittering in their evening gowns and expensive jewellery. Two dozen waiters circulated amongst them carrying trays of finger food and glasses of champagne and half a dozen huge arrangements of flowers perfumed the brightly lit room, all adding to Bryn’s light-headed euphoria.

Bryn had chosen to wear a simple black sheath of an above-the-knee length, her only jewellery a simple silver bracelet about one of her wrists and a silver locket at her throat, both of them presents from her mother.

Her smile faded a little at thoughts of her mother, knowing how much Mary would have loved all of this, how proud she would have been of Bryn’s success. Instead, Bryn still hadn’t so much as dared to tell her mother about the exhibition; how could she when that exhibition was being held at the Archangel Gallery?

As might be expected, the D’Angelo brothers all looked amazingly handsome in their evening suits as they stood head, and sometimes shoulders, above the other guests, the darkness of their different lengths of hair becoming a sable sheen below the glittering lights of the chandeliers above them. Michael was as remotely austere as ever when he gave her a brief nod of acknowledgement earlier, Rafe as rakishly devil-may-care as he shot her another wink.

But to Bryn’s biased gaze Gabriel was far and away the most distinguished man in the room, and she once again found her gaze shifting to the other side of the gallery where he stood in conversation with David Simmons. His mesmerising and dark good looks drew Bryn’s gaze to him again and again as if pulled by a magnet, her heart now skipping a beat as Gabriel laughed easily at something the older man had just said to him.

A heart that ached. To be with Gabriel. To make love with him, just once.

* * *

Gabriel stilled as he felt a prickle of awareness, of being watched, at his nape and down his spine. Allowing his gaze to move unhurriedly about the room, he sought the source of that awareness even as he continued his conversation with the enthusiastic David Simmons.

Bryn.

Standing beside Eric on the other side of the crowded gallery, her eyes a deep and misty grey as they looked directly into his, the fullness of her lips curving into an enigmatic smile.

Gabriel raised his champagne glass to her in a silent toast; the exhibition was only an hour old but already Bryn’s paintings were noticeably attracting the most attention.

Her smile widened as she accepted his silent toast, her eyes glowing. With happiness? Or something else?

‘—keep you any longer when I can see I’m keeping you from where you really want to be,’ David drawled dryly.

Gabriel drew his gaze reluctantly from Bryn’s as he turned back to the other man. ‘Sorry?’

The older man chuckled good-naturedly. ‘I advise you go to her, man!’

Gabriel gave a rueful smile. ‘Is it that obvious?’

David continued to smile indulgently. ‘Lovely-looking girl. Beautiful as well as talented. Deadly combination, hmm?’

‘Deadly,’ Gabriel accepted heavily.

‘Then go to it, man.’ David gave him an encouraging slap on the shoulder. ‘Before that rascal of a brother of yours beats you to it,’ he added with a pointed look at Rafe making his way determinedly in Bryn’s direction.

‘Damn you, Rafe,’ Gabriel muttered impatiently even as he placed his empty champagne glass on the tray of one of the passing waiters before striding forcefully across the room to intercept his brother. ‘This isn’t what we agreed your role would be this evening, Rafe!’ He glowered in warning.

Rafe raised mocking brows. ‘I just thought I would keep Bryn company while I’m waiting. She looks absolutely stunning this evening, by the way.’

‘Hands off, Rafe,’ he growled.

His brother grinned unrepentantly. ‘Does Bryn know how damned possessive you are over her?’

‘Yes.’ He frowned grimly, not sure that Bryn wasn’t actually going to hate him by the end of this evening.

Rafe chuckled. ‘And have you told her how you feel about her yet?’

‘Go to hell, Rafe.’

Rafe looked comfortably unconcerned. ‘Of course. Why do things the easy way when you can so easily complicate the hell out of them?’ He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘At this rate you’re going to end up as cold and remote as Michael!’

Gabriel glanced across to where their older brother managed to remain withdrawn even while mingling with their guests. ‘He likes his life that way.’ He shrugged.

‘But you don’t, not anymore. Which is why—’ Rafe turned back to Gabriel, brows raised ‘—complicated or not, you should just grab your woman and to hell with everything else!’

‘We both know it isn’t that simple where Bryn is concerned.’ Gabriel grimaced.

‘Then I suggest you make it that simple and put the rest of us out of our misery.’

‘Your turn will come, Rafe,’ Gabriel warned impatiently. ‘And when it does we’ll see just how well you deal with it. And her.’

Rafe gave a scornful snort. ‘There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that I’m going to let some woman—any woman!—come between me and my bachelor lifestyle.’

‘Oh, it will come, Rafe, take my word for it, and when it does I’m going to enjoy seeing you have to eat your words.’ Gabriel chuckled with satisfaction. ‘In the meantime, keep your lethal charms away from Bryn,’ he added firmly.

‘Just can’t stand the competition, hmm?’

‘You’re too irritating for me to consider you serious competition,’ Gabriel drawled dismissively, his gaze once again returning to, and remaining on, Bryn as she chatted with Eric. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go and talk to “my woman”.’ But before he could even begin to cross the room to Bryn’s side he saw her face pale, her eyes widening in distress as she stared across at the entrance to the gallery.

And Gabriel knew, without needing to turn and look, that the moment of truth had arrived.

‘Go now, Rafe!’ he rasped harshly as he strode towards Bryn.

* * *

Bryn was sure she had to be hallucinating, brought about, no doubt, by the strain of the past two weeks and too much champagne on an empty stomach; she had been too excited about this evening to even think about eating today!

Because she couldn’t really be looking at her mother and Rhys standing in the entrance to the gallery; it had to be her guilty thoughts of a few minutes ago that made her imagine she could.

Except... Bryn was sure she would never have imagined Rhys looking so handsome in an evening suit; as far as she was aware her stepfather didn’t even own an evening suit. In fact, she didn’t think she had ever seen Rhys in anything other than jeans and casual tops, T-shirts or sweaters, depending on the time of year. He had worn a suit at his wedding with Mary, of course, but as far as Bryn knew that had been put at the back of his wardrobe the day after the wedding and forgotten about.

Her mother looked slender and beautiful, of course, in her favourite gown, the same deep grey as her eyes, her ivory skin flawless, pale peach lip gloss on her parted lips.

A smile now curved those peach-coloured lips, grey eyes lighting up with excitement, as Mary looked straight across at Bryn before her attention was distracted by Raphael D’Angelo as he joined them in the doorway, speaking briefly before kissing Mary’s hand and shaking Rhys’s.

Bryn knew there was no way she could have imagined that.

Which meant her mother and Rhys really were here. How on earth had—?

Gabriel!

Gabriel had to have done this.

But why?

Why would Gabriel do something so potentially destructive to what should have been a glitteringly successful evening for the Archangel Gallery? Was he, despite having consistently denied it, still so absorbed in the past that he was willing to take his revenge against Mary and Bryn at the cost of that success and all the weeks of hard work that had gone into this exhibition?

No.

Bryn couldn’t believe that of him. She wouldn’t believe that of the man she loved and had come to know so well these past few weeks. There had to be another reason, an innocent reason, for Gabriel having deliberately invited her mother and Rhys to the exhibition.

‘Bryn? Bryn!’

She turned sharply at the sound of Gabriel’s voice, trying to focus through the black spots wavering in front of her eyes. ‘Why?’ she had time to gasp before those black spots all merged into one huge black hole into which Bryn thankfully fell.

She wasn’t aware of being swept up into Gabriel’s arms, of the sympathetic gasps of the other guests as he carried her across the room, or her mother’s concern as she followed the two of them out of the gallery and up to Gabriel’s office, leaving her stepfather and Rafe to deal with providing an explanation for her having fainted.

No, Bryn was aware of none of that as she slowly returned to consciousness and heard her mother and Gabriel talking softly together.

* * *

‘—should have warned her,’ Gabriel muttered disgustedly, holding Bryn’s hand tightly in his as he sat beside her limp form on the sofa in his office.

‘You wanted it to be a surprise,’ Mary soothed.

‘And this is the result!’ he cursed grimly as he looked down at Bryn, her lashes very dark against the pale delicacy of her face.

‘It’s just a faint, Gabriel,’ Bryn’s mother assured ruefully. ‘If I know my little girl, she’s been too excited about tonight to bother eating today.’

Gabriel stood up abruptly, running an agitated hand through the dark thickness of his hair. ‘I just wanted her to have the two of you here tonight to share in her success.’

‘I know that, Gabriel,’ Mary assured gently. ‘And so will Bryn once she’s thought things through.’

‘You think?’ Gabriel knew Bryn well enough by now—knew what she thought of him only too well—to know that she was more than capable of believing he had some Machiavellian reason for inviting her mother and stepfather to the exhibition.

Because he hadn’t thought his actions through properly, should have realised the shock it would be for Bryn when Mary and Rhys arrived at the gallery this evening.

‘I think,’ Mary echoed, having now taken Gabriel’s place on the sofa beside Bryn. ‘I accept my daughter can be fiery on occasion, Gabriel—part of her Welsh heritage, I’m afraid,’ she added ruefully. ‘But she isn’t so headstrong that she will judge you unfairly. And what you’ve done for her, in regard to her inclusion in this exhibition at Archangel, and inviting Rhys and I here this evening to share in her success, was incredibly kind of you.’

‘Bryn doesn’t see me as being in the least kind,’ Gabriel drawled ruefully.

‘Oh, I think you might be pleasantly surprised at what my daughter sees in you,’ Mary murmured dryly.

Bryn knew that last remark was directed towards her rather than Gabriel, that her mother, at least, was aware Bryn had recovered from her faint but was now choosing to appear as if she hadn’t.

Mary squeezed her hand to confirm it. ‘When she wakes up you need to tell Bryn everything, Gabriel,’ she told him—and Bryn—softly. ‘She especially needs to know what you did for us five years ago, what you did to help the two of us make a new life together in Wales after William died.’

Bryn frowned at this revelation, at the same time knowing her mother’s comment ‘when she wakes up’ was pointedly directed at her.

And she did need to do that; lying here listening to this conversation was totally unfair to Gabriel. Besides, she very much wanted to hear all about what Gabriel had done for them five years ago.

Mary released Bryn’s hand before standing up. ‘You’re a good man, Gabriel,’ she told him. ‘And if you give my daughter a chance, I believe you will find she already knows that. Now, I think it’s time I returned back downstairs, and left the two of you alone to talk.’

‘But—’

‘My mother is right, Gabriel,’ Bryn spoke at the same time as she opened her eyes and looked up at them both. ‘You and I do need to talk.’ She swung her legs to the floor and sat up slowly.

‘I’m not sure you should do that just yet.’ Gabriel stepped swiftly forward and sat down on the sofa beside her before once again taking one of her hands in both of his. ‘You’re probably a bit shaky still from—’

‘Mamma?’ Bryn looked up at her mother pointedly.

Mary nodded. ‘I’m going downstairs now to bask in some of my daughter’s glory,’ she murmured indulgently. ‘No doubt I will see the two of you sometime later this evening?’

‘No doubt,’ Bryn nodded distractedly, having eyes only for Gabriel.

‘And, Bryn?’ Her mother paused in the doorway. ‘You’re wrong. Gabriel isn’t in the least “unsuitable”. In any way,’ she assured before she left the office and closed the door softly behind her.