Page 40 of A Wedding Negotiation with Her Boss

‘You have?’

Gabriel shrugged. ‘Did you know that once upon a time Genoa was one of the richest cities on the planet? It was because of its port. So many of the wealthy lived there that there was more money than good causes to spend it on. They built houses and mansions, and more houses and more mansions.’

‘That’ll be interesting.’ Helen peered at the map, then she looked at him. ‘But I don’t understand, Gabriel. Why there?’

‘Arturio and Isabella. They’ve opened my eyes to the value of the family I never knew through no choice of my own. My parents had no use for blood ties. It’s time I corrected that oversight...and it will start with the place they once called home.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

GABRIELDIDN’TQUITEknow when he’d decided to abandon Rome in favour of Genoa, a place that had only existed in his head as where his parents had come from—the birthplace they had jointly vacated in their early teens, first to board at school in America, one in California and the other in New York and then later, when they were married, because they had found it boring and stultifying.

He would never know what might have happened had they come from larger, more united families. Would they have been duty-bound to stay? To supervise fortunes that would have been spread around family members?

‘We’re not a million miles away from the city,’ he said now, ‘so it’s not as though it’s going to be much of a detour—an hour or so. I’ve booked a hotel in the middle of the city for four nights.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘What’s there to be sure about?’

‘Well—retracing your past. Wouldn’t you rather do that on your own?’

Gabriel flushed. ‘That’s over-romanticising the situation, Helen. I’m not embarking on a touching voyage of discovery, and I won’t be investing time working out the family tree. That said, since when is it ever too late to be curious? We’re reasonably close, location wise, and so why not? I’ve been to Rome a hundred times. If you’d rather I take you to Rome, or anywhere else for that matter, then of course...’ His eyes darkened as he brought this back to a level he found comfortable. ‘Your body would turn me on wherever we choose to go.’

‘Don’t be silly.’ Helen smiled but her eyes remained serious.

‘Like I said, I’m curious,’ Gabriel conceded with a shrug. ‘Neither of my parents spoke much about the city that had raised them and, when they did, they were hardly flattering.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Dull, antiquated, no fun at all... My parents placed a lot of value on having fun which is probably why they relinquished responsibility for me to people they could pay. I don’t believe they thought a kid was much fun, far less a baby.’

When she looked at him, he threw her a crooked smile but his eyes were thoughtful. ‘You make a ridiculously good listener,’ he said gruffly.

‘Surprisingly, so do you.’ Helen blushed.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘You’re very spoiled when it comes to women complimenting you, aren’t you?’

‘Is that because I’m amazing?’ He grinned but his eyes remained thoughtful.

‘In a way, I guess I could have done with a less devoted father,’ Helen said slowly. ‘The older I got, the more I understood why he was as protective as he was, but looking back?’ She sighed. ‘I drifted into that engagement with George because I suppose I was conditioned to be safe, and that was a safe relationship, a known quantity. It just wasn’t the right relationship for me. I guess George drifted into it as well, if not for the same reasons. I guess he found it comfortable, and sometimes men can end up going down the road of least resistance.’

‘And here you are now,’ Gabriel drawled. ‘Burning up the rulebook when it comes to safety.’

‘Yes.’ But then, she thought in confusion, why did he make her feel so safe if he was so emotionally dangerous for her?

‘I can’t believe you weren’t just a little bit tempted to visit your roots before.’ Curiosity brought her back to the topic they had started off discussing.

She thought about what he had said about her being a good listener and it warmed her inside, yet wasn’t this a very special trait born from the fact that they had known one another for some time before becoming lovers? Wasn’t there a familiarity there that had expanded now that the boundaries between them had become blurred? It was something neither of them had factored in, but it was why things felt so right between them for her, even though what they were doing was so foolhardy.

‘It would have been out of my way,’ Gabriel said prosaically. ‘Now, though? I had no idea Arturio’s place was within spitting distance, so to speak.’

‘How do you think you’re going to feel?’

‘Not following you.’

‘I mean...’ Their eyes tangled and Helen reddened. At what point did she start overstepping the mark? At what point would his shutters come down because, no matter how cosy they got with one another, he would always have a wall up when it came to gettingtoocosy?

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