Both events had given her a huge morale boost and the courage now not to flinch in the face of a man who was clearly accustomed to getting his own way.
‘Come again?’
‘I said...’ Izzy looked at him with challenging eyes ‘...that it’s not cool to be inflexible.’
Gabriel was incredulous.
He was exhausted. It had been a long evening. He had used all the authority at his disposal to ensure the very top consultant was involved in making sure Bella got the best possible medical attention. As he’d thought, it was a ruptured appendix, and her recovery would be at least a week, possibly more.
He had phoned Bianca to explain the situation and discovered, to his surprise, that she had taken herself off to the Tuscan villa that had been part of her divorce package, revitalising his uneasy suspicions that threats about her absconding to Italy with his daughter hovered on the horizon as a dangerous possibility. He hadn’t been able to picture the Italian beauty suddenly turning into Florence Nightingale to care for a mother she had never had time for, but Donata Mancini lived in the Tuscan hills, so why else would his ex be there now?
Unsurprisingly, he had had to deal with Bianca’s evident pleasure that he had found himself without a nanny. She had only just stopped short of crowing that he could now see for himself what full-time parenting looked like. Not that she had a clue herself, he’d been tempted to say, bearing in mind her life of pampered luxury in which, if his daughter was to be believed, bonding times with Rosa involved joint manicures at her beauty salon—an experience Rosa described with horror.
Bianca had mournfully told him about her mother’s failing health and how much she was needed in Tuscany but, she had hinted nastily, perhaps it would stand in his favour if he actually proved that he could manage single-handedly with Rosa and put some of his precious work to one sidefor a change.
The last thing he needed was this conversation with Izzy. The fact that he couldn’t look at the stubborn little blonde sitting in front of him without his body hiving off at a tangent was a sensation he found intensely irritating, a distraction he could do without.
It was infuriating enough that one very important area of his life could not be controlled, that no amount of power, money or influence could bring about the conclusion he wanted when it came to his daughter. He really didn’t need for any more areas of his life to go off-piste.
And yet...
There was something about the blonde that made him stop dead in his tracks, even though she was the most argumentative and irritating woman he had ever met.
‘You really think that insulting me is going to encourage me to meet you halfway on this?’ Gabriel drawled. He shoved the plate to one side, pushed his chair away from the table and angled his long body so that he could stretch his legs out.
Each small, economical movement made for compulsive viewing.
‘I wasn’t insulting you, but I think it’s a good thing if someone can see all points of view and...er...give other people a chance to speak their mind and make a case for what they want. I mean...’ she looked around her at the impressive paintings hanging on the walls, the pale, expensive furniture and the faded, silken elegance of the Persian rug on the wooden floor ‘...Iknowyou probably don’t want to be having this conversation but do youreallyneed to add to your wealth?’
There was genuine curiosity in her question because, although she had had a comfortable lifestyle, thanks to her brothers and her privileged background, she had never really understood other people’s fixation with money. In fact, if anything, money had brought its own problems. Because how could you ever tell whether the people who pursued you wanted you for your money or for who you were?
Her assumption was that Gabriel came from money. He carried himself like someone born into great wealth. He had that mantle of self-confidence, that assumption of obedience that spoke of an elevated background.
For Izzy, it was a turn-off.
Gabriel said with amazement, ‘Are you preaching to me about my life choices? And, yes, I really would rathernotbe having this conversation.’
Izzy decided to ignore that particular segment of what he had said. ‘I suppose when you’ve been born into a rich background it’s really tough to try and see how people feel and think who come from the opposite side of the tracks...’ She pensively looked off into the distance, then frowned at her mobile phone, because the taxi was taking longer than she’d expected.
‘You are an extremely challenging woman.’ Gabriel gritted his teeth.
Izzy half-opened her mouth to tell him thathewas equally challenging, and then blushed a bright red, because from the expression on his face he seemed to know exactly what was going through her head.
Her phone buzzed. The taxi had finally arrived and she leapt to her feet, relieved to be going. She would have to think about how best to make her case one more time because the man was intransigent.
Her high hopes were currently at rock bottom. If he couldn’t be persuaded into seeing what the consequences of his actions would involve for Evelyn with his own eyes, then she would simply have to help the older woman adjust to a lifestyle she hadn’t banked on at her age.
She was very much aware of him walking her to the front door. He emanated a powerful masculine pull that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and gave her goose bumps. He was good-looking, she thought, but that wasn’t it. She wasn’t that shallow. Jefferson had been good-looking, in a different type of way. Blond hair and green eyes. Surfer looks. But he had been funny and free-spirited, and that was what she had been attracted to in him.
This man gave her goose bumps because of that aura of threat he wore. He would give anyone goose bumps. A charging army would stop dead in their tracks. The fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous was just a peripheral distraction.
‘How long are you planning to stay in the area?’
The deep timbre of his voice interrupted the feverish train of her thoughts and she slid a sideways glance at him from under her lashes.
‘I’d planned on staying...seeing this through...helping Evelyn...’
‘Don’t you have a job to get back to? Family? A significant other?’
