Page 26 of A Wedding Negotiation with Her Boss

‘That might very well be the case.’

‘And I just want to say that—being out here—we were in a bubble. When we’re back in London, there’s no bubble and...’ she breathed in long and deeply ‘...I want this to be put behind us.’ Her head said this was imperative; everything else said that it was easier said than done.

‘Think it’s going to be as easy as that?’ he said, reading her mind.

‘It has to be because, if it isn’t, then I’m going to have to hand in my notice and I really love what I do.’

Their eyes met. She sipped her wine and looked at him, her face revealing nothing in the subdued lighting while her heart was beating like a sledgehammer inside her.

Gazing right back at her, Gabriel could only admire her cool.

She’d been swept up by something bigger than both of them, just as he had been, and in that crazy place there had been no room for rational thought.

But that didn’t matter.

She’d thrown down the gauntlet—forget this ever happened or she’d quit—and he knew that she meant every word she’d said. When he considered her doing that, he drew a blank.

‘Arturio will never be the wiser that we’re not a couple,’ she said, breaking the silence as he sampled the tapas between them. ‘Your deal will go through and at some point when you see him again...’

‘Relationships end, and even the die-hard romantic can appreciate that.’ Gabriel filled in the blanks and she nodded.

It all made sense and, truth was, he couldn’t envisage walking into his office without the expectation of her being there. But forgetting that it had all happened—how easy was it going to be to shut that open door? He still wanted her and she still wanted him. They’d both let the genie out of the bottle.

Yet his hands were tied and that, in itself, was new for him.

‘Agreed.’ He reached out to shake her hand. ‘Back to the status quo in London and picking up where we left off...’

Helen thought she’d handled the situation really well.

The following morning, as she flung the rest of the stuff into her case she had brought with her, she reflected that she had successfully managed to get on the front foot.

Inside? She was all over the place, emotions running high, head filled with questions, doubts and a reckless sense of daring that made her light-headed, frightened but excited, as though one foot was poised, outstretched, taking a different path in her life.

Outside? She was cool, calm, mature and laying down all the rules and boundaries she knew had to be laid down if they were to continue to have any kind of working relationship. Gabriel had crept through a side door and entered her personal life, and she knew that she couldn’t allow him to remain there.

When she thought of him, she shivered. He was so wildly different from any image she’d ever had in her had of the perfect guy, and yet so powerful in the position he now occupied. Maybe those snatched moments with him had been important when it came to showing her that the time had come for her to move on with life and start dating again.

Naturally, not with someone like Gabriel, but perhaps someone in between...

Once upon a time, growing up in the shadow of her father’s loving anxiety and desperate need to protect her from anything and everything, safety had been paramount. Whilst it was still important, London and working for her charismatic boss had opened her eyes to what adventure might taste like. And, being out here, she had seized the opportunity to go where she had never dared go before.

It had been wise to lay down that ultimatum. It had been clever of her to put up the sort of defence that would protect her from—weakening.

She zipped up her case and for a few moments looked at herself in the full-length mirror, making sure the image would be just right when she next saw her boss. She saw average height, slim build...a coltish figure, which some might like but many might not...with chestnut-brown hair and eyes with just a hint of green.

She’d never given much thought to her looks, and had certainly never considered herself to be anything but averagely attractive, but when Gabriel had touched her she had feltoh, so sexy. Even thinking about it now made her shiver.

They had agreed that they would have breakfast together, a perfunctory meeting to go over any final bits of work, and then the rest of the morning would belong to her, with a taxi coming to collect her just after four.

Accordingly, she had dressed for shopping, relaxing and seeing Gabriel in a multi-purpose outfit: light cream trousers, a sensible cotton shirt with a round neck and buttons up the front and her trusty flat shoes. No laptop bag to hide behind, but her backpack and a little nylon bag strapped round her waist for easy access to her phone.

She had no idea how she would feel, seeing him after the night before, but she told herself that it would be a good opportunity to reinforce the message she had sent. He’d always been the one to do the walking away. She knew that. How would he feel now that the shoe was on the other foot? When she thought that he might just see that as a challenge, she shivered with a dangerous mix of dark excitement and thinly suppressed panic. No—it was a definite plus that she had slammed down her boundaries.

She swung into the restaurant, where the buffet was laid out to the left in groaning splendour, cast her eyes around the room, which was filling up, and then abruptly screeched to a halt and stared.

From the opposite side of the room, Gabriel spotted her roughly at the same time as she spotted him, and he read the expression on her face with ease.

Oh no, help...!

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