Izzy hovered and finally allowed her eyes to settle on him.
He looked tousled, his dark hair every which way. He hadn’t bothered with the shirt, which he had obviously left dumped on the ground where they had been, and the top button of his trousers was undone. He was barefoot. The black loafers were doubtless with the shirt and both would be dutifully tidied away the following day by the same smiling girl who kept the utility room shiny and spotless.
She knew she looked as rumpled as he did. Her hair was a tangle down her back and she was likewise barefoot, although she had her shoes in one hand.
‘It’s not something that can be rushed,’ Gabriel murmured.
‘She must be upset to have been told that she would no longer be required, especially as she’s still recovering from surgery.’
‘I offered her a year’s worth of pay. Whatever feelings of despondency she might have had were thankfully short-lived.’
They were moving out of the utility room, opening the door to the kitchen. The house was more or less in darkness. Upstairs, lights on the wide landing were on, but down here they emerged into a pitch-black kitchen.
They didn’t see the figure opening the kitchen door just as they were exiting the adjoining utility room.
Izzy was far too busy projecting all manner of unlikely possibilities that might be attached to his pronouncement.Was this a way of ensuring that she stuck around for a bit longer? He hadn’t said a word about a future between them, but if there was no replacement nanny on the scene then didn’t that imply that he was happy for things to carry on as they were? And, if that was the case, then could there be the slimmest chance that, like her, he had become more involved in their relationship than he had anticipated—even if that might be something he would not want to admit?
Looking down at Izzy’s bent head, Gabriel was wondering what she was thinking. She gone into a funk earlier and he had no idea why. He didn’t do women in a funk but this time it had jarred. He’d wanted to find out why.
Had the Bella situation been playing on her mind? It was the first time she’d mentioned the other woman. Was she uneasy about the prospect of an indeterminate stay at the house? Typically, he had taken it as a given that she would have no objection to sticking around for as long as he wanted her to, but now it occurred to him that he might have misjudged the situation. How, he wondered, would he react if she told him that she was on her way out?
When Gabriel considered that option, it surprised him just how unwelcome her departure would be. Surely he was no longer reliant on her for any information she might be able to pass on? When he had telephoned Bianca three days previously to tell her that Bella’s services would no longer be required, he had coldly put her straight the second she had begun to launch a counter attack.
‘Accept it,’he had informed his ex-wife.‘Or I’ll play hard ball and you won’t like it.’
And, when she had begun to go down the usual route of reminding him of all his shortcomings as a parent, he had softly imparted a few words of wisdom of his own and she had shut up. For the first time since the divorce, he had the weaponry with which to fight her and he intended to make full use of it.
Both preoccupied, Izzy and Gabriel only woke to the realisation that someone was in the kitchen when the lights were switched on, flooding the massive space with blinding fluorescent light.
And there she was.
Gabriel had said very little about his ex-wife, aside from her skill at manipulating the custody order. For a man as proud, as ruthless and as sharp as Gabriel, Izzy had seen it as a testament to his bone-deep integrity that he had refrained from setting the dogs loose on her to get what he wanted with his daughter. He had stepped back to avoid Rosa unwittingly being dragged into a row that wasn’t her concern and that had been admirable.
Personally, she didn’t think the woman had a leg to stand on, given everything Rosa had let slip over the time they had spent together.
At any rate, he hadn’t described what Bianca looked like, but straight away Izzy knew that this was his ex. Five-foot-nine of sizzling, raven-haired, voluptuous beauty stood in the doorway of the kitchen with an expression that could have slain Medusa.
Izzy automatically took a step back, using Gabriel as a shield.
‘Bianca,’ he said, gathering himself with what Izzy considered formidable self-control. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ His voice was glacial and Izzy shivered.
Bianca, on the other hand, looked far from cowed. She took a couple of aggressive steps towards him. Her black eyes were positively spitting fury.
‘What do you think, Gabriel? You tell me that you’re sacking my nanny and you expect me to nod and agree without a fight? I flew straight back and rushed here to demand an explanation!’
She moved with panther-like grace to look at Izzy through narrowed eyes and this time her expression was one of triumph. ‘And I see that nothing has changed with you, Gabriel.’ She folded her arms and continued to stare at Izzy. ‘I hope you’re not getting any ideas, my dear,’ she said. ‘But, if you are, I should point out that my darling ex-husband is only interested in short-term prospects.’
She turned to Gabriel while Izzy tentatively eyed the kitchen door and toyed with the idea of making a run for it. ‘This one is a change for you, isn’t she? Nondescript little creature. And bringing her back here? With my daughter sleeping upstairs? Not such a good idea, Gabriel.’ She wagged her finger. Izzy held on to her temper through gritted teeth. This wasn’t her fight and she wasn’t going to get involved, whatever the bait thrown at her.
She thought that this might be what it felt like to be trapped on a battlefield with opposing sides firing cannonballs overhead.
‘You think you can threaten me while you continue to womanise with every cheap floozy who happens to take your fancy? I don’t think so!’
Finally, Gabriel moved and there was something menacing in his lack of urgency. A simple half-turn towards Izzy, a couple of steps towards her, and then he rested his arm across her shoulders.
What the heck was going on here?
Izzy was mesmerised by Bianca, so beautiful, so larger than life,so flamboyantly exotic, so unashamedlyfurious.A hissing, spitting cobra with deadly venom. She barely noticed the very slight squeeze Gabriel applied to her shoulder.
