Читать книгу The Baby Proposal - Rebecca Winters - Страница 7

WHILE they sipped their wine and ate the mouthwatering bread, Andrea cast Gabe furtive glances.

The flicker of candlelight revealed the amazing color of his eyes. She’d always thought them a solid gray, but tonight the outer rim of his irises gleamed silver. With his head of swirling black hair and a five o’clock shadow covering the lower half of his face, he was the most sensational looking man she’d ever seen.

“Bon appetit,” the waiter said after placing side dishes of French fries and a hot platter heaped with mussels in front of them.

Gabe’s eyes met hers. “They’ve been cooked in a sauce of white wine, garlic and cream. Try one and you’ll understand.”

The fragrance tickled her nose. After she took her first bite, she couldn’t stop.

“My grandmother used to cook moules this way. My brothers and I would have contests to see who could eat the most.”

Andrea chuckled, wishing she could have been witness to such a sight. “I can see why. I’ve never tasted anything so delicious.”

The confidences coming bit by bit were starting to fill in the gaps that explained the man behind the corporate mask. When Andrea was finally full she put down her fork. “So, when did your grandmother pass away?”

He finished off his wine. “Two years ago.”

“I’m sorry.” Maybe he didn’t like all her questions, but she was hungry for answers only he could give. “Do you have a big family?”

“I’m the second of four brothers, two of whom are twins.”

Twins—

“How lucky for you. I’m an only child.”

“They’re all married. At last count I have seven nieces and nephews. There’s my father Giles, of course; my grandfather Jacques, two aunts with husbands, children and grandchildren.”

No mention of his mom…

“Everyone lives in the same neighborhood in St. Pierre and derives their livelihood from the sea. The first Corbin we know of came from Brittany and was fishing those waters when Jacques Cartier stopped there on his return to France in the mid-fifteen hundreds.”

Fascinating. “What about your mother’s side of the family?”

“I have a lot of relatives in Chicago.”

“How on earth did your parents meet?”

“Mother was coming home from a trip to Europe when her plane had to be diverted to Halifax. She and my father were both stranded at the airport for the better part of a week due to a ferocious Atlantic storm. One thing led to another and he took her home to meet the family. They married, had children. She divorced my father when I was eighteen.”

The unexpected revelation pierced her heart. His parents’ breakup would have done terrible things to his emotions, yet he’d channeled that hurt and anger to build an empire. If he hadn’t gone down that path, Corbin PC’s might not have been, Andrea might not have ever met him. The thought made her ill.

“We survived, Andrea. Though my mother has never discussed the divorce, she and I have remained close. We see each other often. She works for a travel agency and flies to St. Pierre to visit my brothers every month.”

It was just as well one of the waiters chose that moment to clear their dishes. Andrea wanted to get to know Gabe better. She could see the pain in Gabe’s eyes as he talked about his past.

Another waiter followed with two plates of melon chunks. The dessert looked simple enough until she tasted it. “Oh—I don’t believe anything could be this divine.”

Gabe’s eyes were smiling. “It’s the champagne glaze.”

Between his nearness and the effect of the wine after all the delicious food they’d eaten, she was dangerously close to floating.

“You were going to tell me about the problems your island is facing.”

“Later,” he murmured. “Right now I want to dance with you.”

Her heartbeat accelerated to a galloping pitch as he grasped her hand and drew her into his arms.

She’d heard “La Vie en Rose” many times in her life, but she’d never danced to the live music of an authentic French accordion player before. Gabe’s hard muscled body seemed to meld with hers. She buried her face in his shoulder.

“Are you having a good time, Andrea?”

The question made her a little crazy. She was in heaven, but she couldn’t tell him that. “Thanks to you I’m having an unforgettable experience.”

“Then look at me.”

She clung to him even tighter. “I’m afraid to.”

“Why?”

“Because I smell of garlic.”

His body began to shake with silent laughter. “We both do, so there’s no problem.”

She finally raised her head, but the slight motion caused her to feel dizzy. “I—I wish I had some gum.”

“I’d rather taste the champagne on your lips.” In the next breath his tempting male mouth closed over hers in a warm kiss that seemed so natural, she opened hers involuntarily.

While they moved around the dance floor, their kiss slowly deepened and became a part of the total magic of the night. One song turned into another, one kiss grew into another. Andrea had no idea how long they communed in that halcyon state.

Gabe had begun kissing her cheeks and neck and hair, and she was making little moaning sounds while she let him. She’d forgotten they had an audience until they’d stopped dancing.

A wave of heat engulfed her at her loss of control. Breaking away from him, she walked past other diners to their table on unsteady legs to get her purse. She hadn’t drunk that much wine and couldn’t blame the alcohol for her reckless behavior. It was Gabe who’d turned her into some kind of sybarite.

Without waiting for him, she left the café and headed for the hotel. Pierre’s father stood behind the front desk, thank goodness. He nodded to her. She flashed him a smile and kept walking.

Gabe caught up to her on the staircase. When she sensed him behind her, she ran up the last few steps.

“What’s the hurry?” By this time they were both standing outside her door. She was breathless.

“I got a little carried away on the dance floor and figure it’s past my bedtime.”

His low chuckle resonated to her bones. “I should have brought you to Paris long before now. It’s wonderful watching someone else react to it for the first time.”

“You made it wonderful by bringing me here, Gabe. I’ll never forget it.” Her voice was trembling again. “Good night.” She put her key into the lock and opened the door.

“Andrea?”

Her heart thudded in her chest. “Yes?”

“Thank you for giving me a memory. I’ll come by for you at eight-thirty in the morning. We’ll raid that pastry shop next door before we do anything else. Sleep well,” he whispered before walking off.

There was no possibility of that now. He’d made the night too magical for her.

Grabbing her toiletries, she hurried down the hall to get ready for bed. But she knew she would stay awake most of the night reliving every thrilling moment with him.

A creature of habit, Andrea woke up at six-thirty though her body craved more sleep. Gabe wouldn’t come knocking for another two hours.

Unwilling to lie there in fresh anticipation of seeing him without being able to do anything about it, she dressed for work in a matching cotton blouse and skirt in a khaki color. When she’d done her hair and makeup, she packed her bag and carried it downstairs.

This time she encountered a woman at the front desk who was probably Pierre’s mother. The older woman greeted her.

“Bonjour,” Andrea responded in kind.

“Monsieur Corbin is next door eating breakfast.” Gabe was already up? “You are welcome to leave your suitcase with me while you join him.”

“Thank you.”

After the woman came around to take it from her, Andrea walked outside to an overcast sky filled with the most amazing cloud formations. She discovered tables and chairs set up in front of the patisserie. Gabe sat at one of them dunking a croissant in his coffee before eating it while he read the Figaro.

In thigh molding jeans, a burgundy T-shirt and sneakers, he gave off a sexual male aura that made her heart leap. But it was hardly the attire she expected him to wear to work.

Since her talk with him yesterday morning, nothing had gone the way she’d thought. There was no possibility of second-guessing him. It was one of the many aspects about him that increased his desirability.

As she approached, he looked up from the newspaper. His glance was swift but thorough, otherwise she wouldn’t be feeling this sudden weakness. He got to his feet in one lithe movement and helped her to sit down.

“I can never sleep in, either,” he murmured before removing his hand from her arm. Her skin continued to feel his imprint even after he’d taken his place once more.

“It’s just as well. I’m sure Emile wants to get started as soon as possible. If we hurry and settle down to business, he won’t have to keep his team working through the whole weekend.”

Gabe poured her a cup of hot coffee from the carafe without commenting. Apparently he’d been expecting her at some point. Unlike him, she was as predictable as the sun rising every morning. After last night she feared her attraction to him was transparent.

The woman who ran the shop brought out a plate of golden croissants.

“Try one,” he said. “They’re filled with spinach and feta cheese.”

She trusted him to know what was good and took a bite. He was right. It was a gourmet’s delight. But she had a fluttery sensation in the pit of her stomach that robbed her of an appetite. She reached for the coffee instead.

Gabe appeared so calm, it convinced her he’d forgotten what had gone on between them last night. “It feels like it might rain.”

“But it won’t,” he said, eyeing her over the brim of his cup.

“How soon is Emile expecting us?”

“He isn’t.”

She almost choked on her coffee. “I don’t understand.”

“Then I’ll clarify things for you.” He put down his cup and leaned forward, staring at her through veiled eyes. “I brought you to Paris for one reason only.”

She didn’t know Gabe like this. “If you’re talking about seducing me, you had your chance last night—” she joked because she didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on in his mind, let alone where this conversation was headed.

To her shock he didn’t laugh or even smile.

“You’re way off base, Ms. Bauer.” He hadn’t called her by her last name since the first day she’d interviewed with him.

Heat rose in her cheeks. “You think I don’t know that?” Talk about twisting the knife till blood gushed.

“I’ve never proposed marriage to a woman before, and thought this the ideal place.”

Marriage—

The cup slipped from her hands, spilling some of the coffee on her blouse.

“S-sorry I’m so clumsy,” she stammered as she dabbed at the stain with a napkin. “I must have misunderstood what you just said.”

“You mean about my asking you to be my wife?” His hand covered hers, stilling it.

“You’re joking of course—”

“I never joke.”

She knew that.

His was a serious nature, even brooding. The man worked harder than anyone she knew, and expected the same from the people around him. She doubted he had a frivolous bone in that tall, powerful body she found undeniably appealing.

Sometimes she glimpsed a mystifying streak of melancholy that tore at her heartstrings. After their conversation last night, she thought she understood part of the reason for it.

“You don’t marry someone when you’re not in love,” Andrea whispered, struggling to find her voice.

“We like each other.” He inserted the irrefutable fact in the same way he made a polarizing comment at a board meeting, inevitably silencing everyone. “All you have to do is remember last night to know it’s true.”

Last night…

She hadn’t been able to think about anything else. It had haunted her dreams and made her so restless she’d wanted to steal to his room and beg him to make love to her.

“Who’s to say ‘like’ isn’t preferable to love that can twist and torture the soul.” Gabe’s rhetorical question was proof his parents’ divorce had crippled him emotionally, just as she’d thought.

“Admit we have an excellent working relationship, Andrea. We know each other better than anyone else. I don’t recall us ever having a serious disagreement. There’s no doubt we’re sexually compatible.” The thumb caressing her palm was sending little darts of awareness through her system.

“You’re crazy!” As if she’d just been stung, she pulled her hand away. Beyond pain, she said, “I’ve worked with you long enough to know Gabe Corbin never does anything without it being part of a grand design.”

He sat back. “That’s true.”

She eyed him frankly. “What’s the real reason you’ve picked on me to enter into a loveless marriage?”

After subjecting her to an intimate appraisal he said, “I’m not about to allow you to throw away your chance to give birth to your own child if I can help it. We’ll make it our top priority.”

They were back to a discussion of her female problem. “You want to give me a baby—” she mocked.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances, yes, I’d like to give you a child. I want us to marry so that you can have our baby.”

She sprang to her feet and put her fists on the edge of the table. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “And don’t tell me you want to do this for me out of the kindness of your heart! What’s in it for you?” By now her curvaceous five-foot-five body was leaning toward him.

Lines darkened his features making him look all of his thirty-six years. “A way to atone for my sins,” he answered in a gravelly voice.

It never failed that when Andrea asked him a pointed question, he always came back with an unexpected answer that confounded her. This one reached a spot deep in her soul and she quietly sat down. “What sins?”

“When I left St. Pierre for college, Jeanne-Marie, one of the girls from the island, came to my apartment in New York.”

Andrea knew there had to be a Jeanne-Marie-whatever-her-last name-was somewhere in his past.

“She claimed she hadn’t wanted me to leave home and was hoping I would marry her.”

If anyone understood what it was like to love Gabe, Andrea did. The heartbroken girl would have been in agony to watch him walk out of her life.

“That was a ludicrous announcement on her part since Jeanne-Marie and I had no past together. She knew there could never be a future.

“The truth is, we slept together one time. I’m not proud of the fact that I had a one-night stand, but I did and marriage was the last thing on my mind where she or any woman was concerned.

“I told her to go back to St. Pierre. Later on I received a call from my father that she was going to marry my brother Yves.”

The picture was getting clearer. When Jeanne-Marie couldn’t have Gabe, she chose the next best thing.

“It pained me to realize I’d been with a woman my brother loved enough to marry. He deserved to know the truth about Jeanne-Marie and me before things went any further, so I made plans to fly back to the island to talk to him. But my father told me something that changed my life.”

Andrea had a premonition where this was leading. Her eyes closed tightly and she sat back down in her chair.

“He said she’d just suffered a miscarriage. Though everyone thought it was Yves’s baby, he knew differently, meaning I was the father. My father suggested that for Yves’s happiness, it might be wise if I never came back.”

“Gabe—” Gut wrenching pain tore through her. “Do you mean to tell me you’ve never been home since?”

Emotion darkened his eyes until she couldn’t see any silver. “I flew in the day my grandmother was buried, but waited till night to visit her grave. Grand-père was there alone. We talked until first light, then I left the island.”

She shook her head, aghast to think of his being estranged from his family all these years. “Why didn’t Jeanne-Marie tell you she was pregnant when she came to see you?” her voice trembled.

“The night we were together I took precautions which let her know I didn’t want there to be any consequences. She was probably afraid to tell me she’d gotten pregnant.”

“But it was your baby!” Andrea said emotionally. “You had a right to know.”

He folded his powerful arms. “I agree. However at eighteen who’s thinking clearly?”

“You were, otherwise you wouldn’t have left home to follow your dreams.”

“I got out of there because I couldn’t stand to see the pain in my father’s eyes after he and mother divorced.”

Andrea believed him, but whether he realized it at the time or not, she knew other forces had been at work prompting him to fulfill his destiny.

“I’m so sorry, Gabe.” She wished there were a better word besides sorry to convey her feelings. “I— I still don’t understand how marrying me would help you atone for your sins.”

He sucked in his breath, “You haven’t lived with my guilt. Jeanne-Marie needed me and I rejected her.”

“You wouldn’t have, if she’d been truthful with you!”

A wintry smile came and went. “Thank you for defending me, but it doesn’t relieve me of blame. I slept with her when I didn’t love her.”

“She sought you out because she was willing, Gabe. That makes her share equally in the blame.”

“Maybe,” he conceded, “but if I’d married her, she might not have had the miscarriage.”

Her heart ached for him. “You’re beating yourself up for something you were helpless to rectify without knowing all the facts.”

He shook his dark head. “None of that matters now. Our baby didn’t survive, and there’s been no way for me to make restitution. When you came to me yesterday morning, I sensed your desperation and realized there was something I could do for you before it’s too late.”

She averted her eyes.

“Knowing what was at stake, I admired your honesty in not using Bret who was obviously ready and willing to make you his wife, something I wasn’t prepared to do for Jeanne-Marie…” His voice trailed. “I believe we could make a marriage work, Andrea. We have no secrets, only the hope of getting you pregnant.”

Andrea looked up at him again. His eyes shone with an intensity she’d never seen before. If she didn’t miss her guess, he wanted a baby to replace the one his father had told him he’d lost.

Her stomach clenched because she was holding back a lie of her own by not revealing that she was in love with him. But how could she open up to him? He wasn’t asking for her love any more than he’d asked for Jeanne-Marie’s…

“I’m far from perfect, Gabe.”

He shrugged his broad shoulders, drawing her attention to the movement of rock-hard muscles beneath his T-shirt. “Our relationship would be built on honesty, not perfection.

“What I’m proposing is that we get married immediately and try to get you pregnant as quickly as possible.”

“And if I don’t conceive?” she challenged. His cold-blooded approach to something as sacred as marriage angered her.

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

“You mean divorce.”

After a pause, “Only if it’s what we both want.”

He was too shrewd an entrepreneur not to leave himself a loophole. Oh Gabe—you’re so transparent. He might just as well have pushed her off a cliff. A heart could only take so much.

“There is one condition. For fathering our baby and bestowing my worldly goods on the two of you for the rest of our lives, you would have to agree to it.”

She knew there had to be a condition! In fact she’d been waiting for the other shoe to fall.

If she were to marry him and they divorced, naturally he wouldn’t be ecstatic about parting with half of those worldly goods which included a billion dollars or more.

Andrea couldn’t comprehend that amount of money any more than she could comprehend the damage done to him by his parents and Jeanne-Marie.

“Beyond a healthy respect for the way you’ve made your money by the sweat of your brow, I would never want to have your wealth. The responsibility would be…frightening.”

“I’m well aware of that,” came the surprising rejoinder. “When you’re in my position of having lived hand-to-mouth before making a fortune, you acquire a sixth sense about people. I’ve learned to choose my associates carefully.”

He subjected her to an intense regard. “If you had been a gold-digger, you would never have made it through our first interview.”

A shiver ran down her spine. She imagined many women, ambitious and otherwise, had tried without success to pierce his impregnable armor. How could they know a scarred soul lived inside such a successful man?

“Don’t you want to know what my condition is?”

She shivered.

When Bret had started dating her, he’d told her there was a ruthless side to Gabe’s nature. Otherwise he wouldn’t have become a billionaire by the time he was thirty-six.

Andrea had laughed off the comment because she’d never witnessed that trait in Gabe. Though he’d always been somewhat aloof, everyone in the company admired him. He treated his employees fairly and cared about them. The man commanded the highest respect from people worldwide.

But she’d seen multiple sides of him since coming to Paris and felt no urge to laugh. In fact she was in a state of absolute panic because she could feel herself caving even though she knew he wasn’t capable of loving her or any woman.

“Gabe—”

“I’m going home to St. Pierre.”

She blinked. “You mean you want to take me with you for a visit?”

“No. It’ll be for good. Yves and Jeanne-Marie now have two teenage children, I’m no longer a threat to their marriage. I miss the sea…and home.”

“But your company—”

“I’m selling it and funneling the money into a perpetual fund for the welfare of the island which has been in economic crisis for years.”

He was giving away his billion dollars? Just like that? “When did you make this decision?”

“A long time ago. Since my family wouldn’t let me help them financially, I had to find another way to do it. The point is, I always intended to go back, and have stayed in touch with my grandfather.

“However since my grandmother’s death, he has been depressed. To make matters worse, his friend from childhood, Gorka Zubeldia, who lived next door passed away recently. His widow Karmele is planning to move to the Pyrenees any day now to join their son.”

“So you weren’t the only son to leave the island.”

He flashed her another penetrating glance. “No. When Grand-père told me that news, I had my realtor buy the Zubeldia’s house for me without Grand-père’s knowledge. It has possibilities.”

“Possibilities? In other words, it will need a lot of work.”

His lips twitched. The sight was so rare, it was hard not to stare. “Until it’s vacant, we’ll stay with Grand-père. I’m hoping my return will raise his spirits and help him to enjoy the years he has left. The Corbins are known for their longevity. He’s only eighty-one.”

She studied Gabe for a long moment. He seemed to have planned everything down to the last detail. It was all going so fast. “He has no idea you’re coming, does he.”

“No. But the day I left St. Pierre, my grandparents told me their door would always be open. That has never changed over the years. The house holds many choice memories for me.

“Nevertheless it’s an isolated world, Andrea, and in some ways very harsh. Naturally I’m going to keep enough money in trust for you and our child so that if anything happened to me, you would be taken care of.

“But I’m speaking of the total picture, of the fog and the interminable ice and cold of winter. Few outsiders can make it in such an insular society of people who tend to stick to their own and draw their livelihood from the sea.

“But it’s my home. If I had a child, that’s where I would want to raise it. No son or daughter of mine is going to grow up any differently than I did.”

What an extraordinary man he was.

“Except for my father and grandfather, the family doesn’t know the real reason I never came home again. They believe I’m a traitor who left the island because hard times hit economically.

“Because of their resentment of me abandoning the life I was born to—an action they consider to be a sin—the family will crucify you by their unwillingness to get to know you. They might never accept you. I’m telling you all this so there won’t be any surprises in case you decide to marry me.

“I’d like your answer by tonight,” he murmured. “In the meantime we’ll tour Paris to your heart’s content.”

She doubted any woman had ever received such a bizarre marriage proposal.

What a choice— Never see him again, or live with him under almost untenable, if not impossible, circumstances. You’re damned whether you accept or not, Andrea.

“You’ve given me so much to think about, I’m afraid any sightseeing would be wasted on me.” She pushed herself away from the table and stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to fly back to New York today.”

“So be it. I’ll send for a limo and alert my pilot you’re on your way to the airport now.”

She bit her lip. “You’re not coming, too?”

“No. I have business at the fisheries board and will fly home later on a company plane.” He cocked his head. “Don’t take too long making up your mind. It would be a crime to delay, if you only have five months to conceive.

“Though I only slept with Jeanne-Marie one time, there’s no guarantee I could make you pregnant that fast, but I’m prepared to try.”

Such brutal honesty was hard to take. Andrea would have welcomed even one tiny white lie such as, “I’ve had my eye on you for a long time, but knew you were involved with Bret.”

He poured himself another cup of coffee. “When I’m back in New York I’ll call you for your answer. Have a safe flight, Andrea.”

“You, too,” she whispered before walking back to the hotel alone.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur as a limo pulled up in front of the hotel and swept her away to the airport. Evidently yesterday’s romantic raft ride across the river was all part of the atmosphere he’d orchestrated to prove she wasn’t physically indifferent to him. Her enthusiastic response to him on the dance floor had probably shocked him.

Six hours later she stepped off his private jet where she discovered his driver waiting for her. “Welcome back, Ms. Bauer.”

“Good morning, Benny.”

“Mr. Corbin said you haven’t had much sleep after such a short trip. He told me to take you straight to your apartment.”

Nothing escaped Gabe’s notice. “I have to admit I’m tired. Thank you for coming to get me.”

“It’s a pleasure.” He helped her in the back of the limo before they drove into Manhattan.

There weren’t many clouds overhead. It didn’t look anything like the sky above Champigny. She couldn’t smell the perfume in the air. The atmosphere was all wrong.

Everything was wrong because Gabe wasn’t with her…

When she entertained the thought of never seeing him again, an emptiness stole through her too terrible to contemplate.

“Here we are, Ms. Bauer,” Benny said twenty minutes later. He’d come around to open her door. She’d been so buried in thought, she hadn’t realized they were back in front of her apartment.

Andrea climbed out and thanked him for the ride.

He handed her the suitcase. “I’m always glad to be of service.”

She waved him off and hurried inside.

One of the first things she did after entering her small fourth floor apartment was go to the kitchen and listen to the messages on her answering machine.

There were several calls from her mom wondering if she’d be coming home for the weekend. Sue, a friend in the same apartment building, wanted to go to lunch. The next voice was Bret’s.

“It was hard seeing you at the elevator without being able to talk. I’m missing you like crazy, Andrea. Forgive me for accusing you of being in love with the boss. You said you weren’t, but I wouldn’t listen. Maybe it’s because I sensed his interest in you from the beginning.”

She shook her head. Bret was so wrong where Gabe was concerned.

“I’ll admit I’ve been jealous as hell. Gabe Corbin is an impossible act for the normal man to compete with. Can we start over again? If I promise not—”

Andrea deleted all the messages, too torn up over the decision she was grappling with to deal with anything else. She’d heard of people who said they’d reached a turning point in their life that had altered it forever. It never occurred to her she would be one of those people.

While she stood there trying to sort out her chaotic emotions, her cell phone rang. She reached in her purse for it.

The caller ID indicated an out of area call. It was probably her mom. She clicked on. “Hello?”

“I’m glad you arrived safely, Andrea.”

Gabe— She clung to the edge of the counter for support.

“You’ve had seven hours to consider my proposal. I’d like your answer now.”

Now?

The phone fell to the floor. She rushed to retrieve it. Her hand pressed against her heart where it pounded so hard, it hurt. She hadn’t expected to hear from him until tonight. “A-are you still in Paris?” she spluttered.

She felt his hesitation before he said, “I’m at the airport. If you’ve decided to marry me, we have plans to make. Otherwise I’m going to fly to St. Pierre now.”

The breath froze in her lungs. “H-how long will you be there?”

“For good. I thought you understood that.”

“But—”

“It sounds like you’ve made your decision,” he interrupted without missing a beat. “Andrea, I thought my proposition would make you happy, that it would give you one last chance at getting pregnant. But I understand your decision—and I hope your surgery is successful and you’ll be pain-free.

“Don’t worry about anything at the office. I’ll phone Sam Poon and let him decide how to reorganize your department. You can pick up your severance paycheck from Karen.”

“Wait—!” she cried out in panic.

“If you’re uncertain about quitting, so much the better for the company, Andrea. Take your six weeks to recover. By then you may feel diff—”

“No—” This time it was she who cut him off.

“No, what?”

The blood pounded in her ears. “You’ve misunderstood me. I—I want to try to have a baby.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Gabe sounded quietly pleased, just like he did when he’d sewn up another market on the international scene. “I’ll meet you at the county clerk’s office at three. Benny will be by for you at two-thirty. See you then, Andrea.”

He clicked off before she could say goodbye.

Dear God… What had she done? She could hear her mother’s voice asking her the same question.

The more she thought about it, the more Andrea feared calling her parents. Gabe wasn’t in love with her. Better for them not to know anything yet.

There was every possibility she wouldn’t be making that three o’clock deadline downtown Gabe had set…