And there was something else. Gabriel was aware that his focus should be entirely on Rosa. He knew all about the importance of family life. He had grown up with devoted parents who had bent over backwards for him. He was divorced but suddenly it felt as though he was being driven down a different road from the one he had spent the past few years walking.
Perhaps it was the removal of a nanny. Without Bella around, he would have to confront his own limitations. Maybe the escalating situation with his ex had also rammed home that single-handedly running an empire did not make for perfect parenting. Or maybe it was being here, under a vast and serene sky. Life here was so very different from the cut and thrust, his fast-paced life in New York, where slowing down for five minutes was a luxury he seldom enjoyed.
What had been planned as a functional visit to conclude the business of the cottage, which his people had been unable to do, had turned into...
Something quite unexpected.
And just like that he thought of Izzy—her long, curling white-blonde hair, the argumentative pout of her mouth, the fiery glare of those aquamarine eyes.
Unexpected indeed, Gabriel thought.
Ever one to find solutions to problems and to seize opportunities as they came his way, Gabriel began quickly walking towards the cottage, his mind engaged on a tangent hitherto not considered. Rosa was waiting impatiently and he smiled.
‘I love this!’
She was grinning like a Cheshire cat and Gabriel grinned back at her.
‘Who knows?’ he murmured, squatting so that he was on eye level with her. ‘Maybe you’ll see a lot more of this enchanted place than I thought...’
With all the doors open, Izzy heard the sound of the knocker loud and clear, even though she and Evelyn were sitting outside in the back garden enjoying the last of the sunshine before it dipped away into night.
She’d explained the outcome of her meeting with Gabriel. She had actually referred to it as a ‘meeting’, making sure that everything was kept on a purely business level. This, in an effort to dispel some of the disconcerting effect he had on her.
She’d made sure to stress that nothing had been decided but during the course of the afternoon, as they had had tea and waited for Gabriel to show up, she had realised with a sinking heart that the older woman’s hopes had been raised to an unrealistic level.
‘I can’t wait to show him my garden, dear,’ Evelyn had told her excitedly. ‘He’ll want to see that this patch of land is not and never will be a blot on the landscape! You know how much I love this house and this oasis, dear. I feel that once he sees that for himself, he’ll realise that there’s no need to gobble up my house and land! He’ll realise that we can be perfect neighbours. I may be elderly but I’m fit as a fiddle and well able to look after my little patch!’
‘He’ll be in no doubt about that,’ Izzy had said, tentatively repeating what she had now said half a dozen times abouttaking nothing for granted.
‘He strikes me as a pretty ruthless kind of guy,’ she had felt constrained to point out, as they’d made their way back into the house. ‘Not a very pleasant manat all.’ She had thought of all six-foot-something of smouldering masculine beauty and had shivered.
Now, as she pulled open the front door, Izzy hoped that Evelyn had listened to her and heard what she had tried to say.
She was prepped to hiss a warning to him that he shouldbegentlewith Evelyn, because she wasn’t as robust as she looked, but was immediately thrown off-course by the sight of Rosa, who smiled with pure joy as she looked up at her.
‘Can you take me out to the back?’ she asked, dropping Gabriel’s hand and stepping forward towards Izzy. ‘Is there an apple tree? Can you draw some more stuff for me? I should have brought my drawing pad.’ She looked crestfallen. ‘Dad, can we go back so that—’
‘It’s okay.’ Izzy smiled. The dad might set her teeth on edge but his daughter was a poppet, she thought. She sneaked a glance towards Gabriel to find him looking thoughtfully at her. She hurriedly looked away and stooped down. ‘I’m pretty sure I can rustle up some paper,’ she said. ‘And of course there’s an apple tree! What cottagedoesn’thave an apple tree? And lots of plants and flowers and herbs and vegetables. I’ll draw some cartoon pictures of them, if you like. You pick the vegetable and I’ll turn it into whatever you want.’
‘Excellent plan.’
Izzy glanced up at Gabriel’s deep voice to find him stepping around her into the house and introducing himself to Evelyn. Gone was the cool, unyielding face he had shown Izzy. In its place was a smile of such easy charm that she had to blink to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.
They weren’t. The tenor of his voice matched the twinkle in his dark eyes as he began chatting to Evelyn.
‘What a stunning location... The cottage is charming... Tell me about all those photos... Yes, I’m sure the garden is as beautiful as the cottage...’
He now turned to Izzy, his smile still in place, although the expression in his eyes informed her that he wasn’t about to brook any staging of a protest at this point.
‘Why don’t you take charge of Rosa for a while?Give me an opportunity to talk to Evelyn in private.’
Evelyn, Izzy noted with dismay, seemed to be lapping up Gabriel’s superficial charm. Her eyes were bright, her smile was broad and she was positively blushing with pleasureas he continued to lay it on thick, chatting winningly while managing to propel her back into the house and out in the direction of the garden.
Evelyn was bustling towards the kitchen, chirpily telling him about some home-made lemonade and carrot cake. Izzy tried to catch his eye but he was having none of it, instead choosing to give his daughter the go-ahead to explore outside for as long as she wanted.
‘Absolutely no hurry.’ He finally looked at Izzy as he vaulted upright, so shockingly sexy in some faded jeans and a black polo shirt that he took her breath away.
Izzy scowled, deprived of any opportunity to tell him what he should and shouldn’t say to Evelyn, because there was no way she would allow him to offend the older woman in any way. Rosa was impatiently waiting to go outside and, as far as chaperones went, she was the best he could have hoped for, silencing all the warning protests bubbling up inside Izzy. When he grinned with slow, lazy deliberation, she realised that he knew exactly what was going through her head.
