To Sin with the Tycoon Page 7

  ‘What about family holidays?’

  ‘There weren’t many of those,’ Alice said abruptly.

  ‘I know the feeling.’

  She looked at him, startled. She knew next to nothing about his past. He came to her as the man already formed, the billionaire with no emotional ties and no desire to form any. He was the brilliant, talented, driven guy who worked hard and played hard; who snapped his fingers and expected the world to jump, but who rarely seemed to put himself out for anyone.

  She teetered on the brink of asking him for details. Curiosity clamped its teeth into her but for some reason the thought of stepping over that brink terrified her and she changed the subject, asking him about the places he had been and the countries he had visited.

  Besides, would he even share personal details with her? He was intensely private and guarded in what he revealed.

  Gabriel noted the way she had backed away from following up on his remark. He wasn’t too sure why he had said that in the first place. He had never felt inclined to let any woman into his past. Would he have told her about his foster-home background? Doubtful, although in fairness he couldn’t imagine her exclaiming with false sympathy or using it as leverage to try to prise him open like a shell.

  His interest spiked and he looked at her with cool, guarded eyes.

  The four-day trip to Paris suddenly seemed ripe with all sorts of possibilities. He wondered whether she had ever let her hair down, gone wild, got drunk, danced on tables. He couldn’t see it. He wondered what she was thinking, what was going through her head.

  What she did on those weekends.

  He caught himself wondering whether there was a man in her life, despite protests to the contrary...

  The questions settled into vague background thoughts as their flight was announced and soon they had left the country.

  Predictably, she talked about work on the trip over. She had shown a great deal of commendable initiative with one of his deals, presenting him with a list of facts and figures on a company he was in the middle of acquiring.

  But she was awed by the whole first-class travelling experience. Gabriel was picking that up with antennae finely tuned to women and their responses. She wanted to play it cool, to keep that work hat firmly pinned in place, but she also wanted to stare around her at the plush surroundings, the muted subservience of the airline staff, the luxury...

  They would be staying at one of the most expensive and high-profile hotels in Paris, a hotel that took luxury seriously. It was the only hotel in which he stayed when he was in the city and they knew how to look after him.

  He felt a kick of pleasurable anticipation at seeing her face when they walked in.

  He was a teenager again, trying hard to impress a girl...

  Except, his teenage years had been a little too busy for such distractions. Escape had taken priority over making out with girls, not that that had been a problem for him. Besides, he wasn’t in the business of impressing anybody. He didn’t have to.

  The limo that would be driving them wherever they wanted to go while they were in Paris was waiting for them at the airport when they arrived and Alice glanced over to him with a dry smile.

  ‘Don’t you ever do things the way most normal people do?’ The question was directed more at herself than it had been to him, although he picked up the half-murmured remark and chose to answer as soon as they were in the back seat of the car.

  ‘Why would I do that?’ he asked with a careless shrug, angling his big body so that he was facing her. She had tucked her hair behind her ears and was wearing ear rings, little pearl studs that were a far cry from the wildly extravagant costume jewellery most girls her age would probably have worn.

  Infused with silly holiday excitement, and guiltily feeling a bit like a princess after her first-class experience, now in this chauffeur-driven limo, Alice laughed.

  ‘You don’t do that enough,’ Gabriel said gruffly, surprising himself with that observation, but meaning every syllable of it.

  ‘Do what?’ Alice rested back against the seat and looked at him through half-closed eyes.

  ‘Laugh.’

  ‘I didn’t realise that being at work was a laugh-a-second experience,’ she said, but there was no sarcasm in her voice which was lazy and relaxed. ‘Do you do anything for yourself at all, Gabriel?’ she mused aloud and he gave her a toe curlingly slow smile.

  ‘I make money. A lot of it. Beyond that, I pay people to take care of everything else.’

  ‘But surely that can’t be satisfying all of the time?’

  ‘Are you going to give me a mini-lecture on all the great things money can’t buy?’ He thought back to his fractured, troubled past. Money would have bought a hell of a lot for him back then, which was probably why he had become so intensely focused on making lots of it. ‘Because, if you are, there’s no way you can sell it to me.’

  ‘Money can’t buy love.’

  This time Gabriel laughed out loud but there was an edge to his laughter that Alice picked up and her brown eyes were curious as they rested on his handsome face.

  ‘Oh, but I’ve found just the opposite.’

  ‘That’s not love...’ How had they ended up having this very personal conversation? She sat up and leaned against the car door.

  ‘No, but it works for me,’ Gabriel told her drily. He hadn’t taken her for a romantic, but was she one at heart? Perhaps all women were. Or at least, they were in love with the idea of being in love: the excited trip to the jewellers; the wedding planning; the meringue of a white dress on the big day; the happy-ever-after, as if such a thing existed. The fact was, the relationships didn’t last. They all collapsed in varying degrees. He was a prime example of that, although in his case the degree of collapse had been severe, if the two people who had stupidly had sex and produced him had ever had a relationship at all. It was doubtful, although that was something he would never know. He had been dumped as a baby, taken into care and his life had been kick-started from that point.

  ‘What about marriage? Settling down?’ She couldn’t resist giving in to her curiosity and he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Aren’t you tempted at all...?’

  ‘Not that I’ve ever noticed. I long ago came to the conclusion, my dear little secretary, that the one thing I can rely on is money. I know how to make it and I’m fully aware of the uses I can put it to. There are no unpredictable variants when it comes to money. It might be hard and cold but it doesn’t make demands, it doesn’t nag and it doesn’t want what’s not on the cards. It also...as you have experienced...buys me exactly what I want, when I want it.’

  Alice had no illusions about love either, but neither was she steeped in cynicism, and she shivered involuntarily at the ice-cold centre she glimpsed inside him.

  Not only did he not believe in love, he would never bother trying to find it. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t exist. He made money, he paid people to take care of life’s little inconveniences and he slept with women for physical release.

  He was not one of life’s good guys and how fair was it that, despite that, his raw sexuality made him a magnet that few could resist?

  She turned away and stared out of the car window. It was a beautiful day with skies as clear and as blue here as they had been in London.

  ‘Perhaps you could tell me what the plans are for today,’ she suggested, pulling back from the conversation, although it lingered in her head like a song being played on a loop.

  ‘Hotel. A few hours’ respite. Then we will be taking the client out tonight.’

  ‘I haven’t booked anywhere.’

  ‘Francois and Marie are entertaining us,’ Gabriel informed her. ‘At their home. Hence arriving today rather than Monday. The entire family will be there. I thou
ght it might be an opportune moment to hear their various opinions on the company sale so that we can squash any last-minute nerves.’

  ‘At their house?’

  ‘Rumour has it that the place is palatial. I’ve been told by Francois that various important dignitaries will be there. They are celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary; we’re honoured to have been invited.’

  Alice looked at him, alarmed. When it came to the client entertainment side of their stay in Paris, she had been thinking more along the lines of one or two stuffy restaurants where she could easily fade into the background—the ever-professional secretary tagging along to make notes.

  She hadn’t banked on anything too elaborate. Frantically trying to think what she could wear to somewhere palatial with circulating dignitaries, all thoughts left her head as the limo pulled up outside their hotel.

  Lacking in money and poorly travelled as she was, Alice had still heard of this hotel. She paused and stared at the impressive building facing her and was even more impressed when she followed Gabriel inside.

  Marble, chandeliers and stunning paintings and tapestries announced its enviable status as the very best anyone could get for their money.

  ‘We’re staying here?’ she breathed, and Gabriel turned to her with a slight smile.

  ‘If you can afford the very best, why not have it? You know by now that that’s my mantra.’

  Alice glanced at him. He was the very epitome of a man at ease in his surroundings. He accepted the sudden flurry of activity around him as his due. No one could bow too low or scrape too hard and she felt a thrilling little flutter at being the woman at his side.

  Even if she was only here in her role as his valuable secretary.

  ‘There’s something I need to ask you,’ she whispered as they were shown up to their adjoining suites.

  ‘No need to whisper,’ Gabriel whispered back. ‘I very much doubt the bellboy is interested in anything we have to say. A poker face is essential in places like this. The truly wealthy seldom like to be gawped at.’

  Alice’s eyes flashed and he laughed. ‘Should I apologise for my arrogance?’ He briefly turned away and spoke fluently to the bellboy in French, who faded away with a slight bow and an ingratiating smile at the huge tip placed in his hand.

  ‘I guess you’re only being honest,’ she reluctantly conceded. From what she could glimpse behind him, the room was spectacular. Huge, big enough for a separate little sitting room, and everything was decorated with decadent opulence.

  ‘One of life’s few true virtues: honesty. You said you had something to talk to me about...’ He walked into the room, paying no attention at all to his surroundings, leading her to assume that he had been there many times before. ‘Come in and spit it out.’

  Alice hovered by the door as he pulled his jumper over his head and flung it on the bed which, like the room, was super-sized. In the process, his shirt was tugged out of the waistband of his trousers and she glimpsed a tantalising sliver of bronzed stomach, as flat and as hard as a washboard.

  ‘Well?’ Gabriel prompted. ‘Don’t just stand there.’ He turned away and began scrolling down his Blackberry, frowning at emails as Alice tentatively walked into the room.

  The presence of the bed was disconcerting. It brought back memories of the last time she had been in a bedroom with him, which was not what she wanted to think about.

  When she was stranded in the middle of the room, he eventually glanced up and indicated one of the chairs which formed a little cluster by the window.

  ‘I’m afraid I hadn’t banked on us doing anything as fancy as dining out with...dignitaries,’ she said without beating around the bush. ‘I was under the impression that this was going to be all about work.’

  ‘So you packed your grey suit, a couple of white blouses, some black tights and your black patent shoes...’

  ‘I know it’s boring, Gabriel, but I don’t see work as a fashion parade!’ Her face stung from the implied insult. ‘If you had told me that—’

  ‘You knew we would be entertaining this client,’ Gabriel pointed out flatly. ‘Surely you wouldn’t have assumed that your work suits would do the trick?’

  ‘Why not? They’re smart and professional—’

  ‘They’re bland and drab.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s fair at all!’

  ‘You get exactly the same clothes allowance as the rest of my employees on your level, yet you don’t appear to have spent a penny on clothes.’

  Because she spent the money paying a professional to help her mother with her problem. Because, however much she was paid, by the time that money left her hands, given all the other bills, plus the little nest egg she was slowly accumulating, there was precious little left and none at all for jackets that cost five hundred pounds and designer shoes that could run to more.

  ‘How do you know I haven’t?’

  ‘Well, unless you’re throwing money at an exotic out of work wardrobe, it shows.’

  ‘I didn’t realise that there was a certain dress code to work for you.’ But it was apparent all around her. She had noticed it on day one. ‘And I don’t think I should be channelled into wearing stuff I don’t like because you say so.’

  ‘Before this conversation starts drifting into territory I know I won’t like,’ Gabriel informed her coolly, ‘I suggest you use what remains of the day to go shopping.’

  Alice thought about the paucity of her funds and blanched. ‘I...I would have to dip into my savings...’

  Gabriel waved aside her faltering objection with an impatient wave of his hand.

  ‘I will transfer money into your account today. Use it. Buy enough designer clothes to last the duration and feel free to make use of the spa centre here. Do whatever it takes.’

  ‘Do whatever it takes...for what?’ Alice said stiffly. If the ground had opened up, she would have dived in head first and emerged somewhere very far away from where this man was sitting, telling her in not so many words that she was an embarrassment.

  ‘Alice,’ Gabriel told her bluntly, ‘you’re a young girl in your twenties and I have yet to see you in something frivolous.’

  ‘I would never come to work in anything frivolous.’

  ‘Do you possess anything that isn’t sober? Serious? Grey?’ He knew he was being harsh but he had seen a hint of someone fiery lurking underneath the proper exterior and he wanted to see that person on the outside.

  ‘Francois and Marie are rich and they’re French. Put the two together and what you have is elegance. They will be startled if you appear at my side wearing off-the-peg cheap, ill-fitting grey suits. What you wear might not be a deal breaker, but it will help if you blend in. Do you really think that you can show up to tonight’s event in a suit?’

  Cheap, off-the-peg, ill-fitting... The words reverberated in her head until she was giddy with anger.

  ‘I did think to bring my black dress.’

  ‘I’m imagining it’s along the same lines as the suit...?’

  ‘By which,’ Alice said tightly, ‘you mean cheap, off-the-peg and ill-fitting?’

  Gabriel raked long fingers through his dark hair and sighed heavily. ‘I could have skirted round this,’ he told her bluntly. ‘I could have wrapped up what needed to be said in lots of pretty packaging, but that’s not my style. If you wear one of those suits of yours, you will feel desperately uncomfortable the minute you step through their front door. I’m sparing you that ordeal by being honest. They will wonder what sort of employer I am if I don’t pay my staff enough for them to afford decent clothing...’

  ‘Do you have any idea just how insulting you’re being right now?’ She was close to tears but there was no way that she would allow them to spill over.

  ‘Do you have any idea just how awkward you will feel if you arrive there
and find that you’re not blending in? That you’re sticking out like a sore thumb?’ His dark eyes challenged her to continue an argument which he knew he would win.

  ‘And what exactly do you suggest I waste your money buying?’

  ‘You’re treading on thin ice here, Alice. I could suggest that you buy something dressy...colourful. Or else I could just tell you to—’

  ‘I apologise if you think I’m being ungrateful or rude, Gabriel, but I resent being told what I can and can’t wear!’ But when she thought about entering a room full of elegant French people who were dressed to kill, in one of her suits or her very simple black dress, she knew that he had a point.

  She just hated the way he felt free to tell her with no regard for her feelings at all. She resented the way he felt that he didn’t even have to make a pretence of trying to be diplomatic.

  ‘It is what it is.’ But for once he was annoyed with himself for doing what he always did, for speaking his mind without window dressing what he had to say.

  ‘Fine!’

  She glowered at him and Gabriel was sorely tempted to tell her that there wasn’t a woman on the face of the earth who wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to go out and have a shopping spree at his expense. Yet she had that ‘just swallowed a lemon’ look on her face as though he had somehow humiliated her in public. Hell, he was trying to spare her from being humiliated in public! People were shallow and one of the first things he had learnt in his climb up that swaying ladder was that they judged according to what they saw; forget all that claptrap about what was underneath. Dress and act like a king, and they would treat you like one.

  Yet he was further annoyed when he felt another wave of guilt wash over him. She had been insulted, even though what he had said had been perfectly true.

  He wasn’t about to apologise even if she stood there glowering until kingdom come. He pointedly looked at his watch and told her that she should get her skates on if she intended to get through some shopping, then he recommended a couple of districts where designer shops lined the streets. He even told her she could take the limo