Page 51 of A Wedding Negotiation with Her Boss

‘It doesn’t,’ Gabriel ground out forcefully.

The thought of her going from bar to bar, getting more and more intoxicated, made him feel sick. She barely drank. In his head, he had images of her being pursued by drunken strangers, misreading signals she wasn’t sending out because she just wasn’t a ‘bar’ person. He had no idea who this Lucy character was, but he assumed someone happy to lead someone else off the straight and narrow, even if that someone else was supposedly a friend.

Of course, what she did henceforth was none of his business, but was it any surprise that he was inclined to feel a certain amount of protectiveness towards her?

This wasn’t just one of those women he dated who was experienced in the ways of the world.

‘Good,’ Helen murmured, looking down at her entwined fingers. ‘And, just for the record, I have quite some holiday stored up, so I’m entitled to take it in lieu of working my notice.’

‘This is crazy! You’re acting as though...’

‘As though...?’

‘As though we’re not friends,’ Gabriel muttered with biting incredulity.

Helen whitened. In a nutshell he had found the core of her unhappiness and dragged it out into the open.

This man was more than just a guy she had fallen into bed with against all better judgement. This man was her friend, and the thought of walking out of these offices never to see him again was unbearable.

For a second, she wondered what would happen if she’d accepted his crazy proposal, but she reminded herself that storing up heartbreak was no way to spend her life. And, besides, it was a moot point because no sooner had that proposal been made than she had swiftly rejected it.

‘I don’t want you to think that,’ she said gruffly. ‘Of course we’re friends. If you—really want me to stay and work out my notice, then I will.’

Gabriel waved his hand dismissively. ‘Not important. You want to go? I wouldn’t dream of standing in your way.’ He moved abruptly towards her, towering over her, before reaching down, hands planted on either side of her chair, caging her in so that she could scarcely breathe for want of his proximity. ‘But as your friend and, believe it or not, someone who cares about you, I would like to offer a word of warning.’

Helen didn’t really want to hear about him caring about her because it was so far removed from the crazy passion she felt for him. They’d been lovers, but now that was off the cards and what remained for him was friendship.

Who wanted to be buddies with a guy they were in love with? That line of thinking gave her some much-needed backbone, powering her to withstand his chummy, patronising advice.

‘What’s that?’

‘Pace yourself with the drinking and don’t hand out your phone number to anyone, however convincing he might seem.’

Helen’s eyebrows shot up and she offered him a wry smile. ‘Repeat—I think I’ll be okay out there in the big, bad world and, besides, I’ll be with Lucy, my closest friend.’

Gabriel frowned.

‘Mind me asking when this drinking session in bars and clubs is going to get under way?’

‘Gabriel, I don’t need your guiding hand when it comes to my social life,’ Helen told him, but there was a slow heat burning a path through her and she wished he would just stand up so that she could get her breathing back under control. ‘And, as for when we’re going to have a night out, who knows? Maybe Friday. Everyone goes out on a Friday.’

There was no room for daydreaming. She knew that if she did that she would stagnate and the years would creep up on her while she busied herself thinking about the past. She might as well get her head around one or two concrete plans.

It was agreed that she would work to the end of the week. Julie, who filled in occasionally in Helen’s absence, would temporarily hold the fort but would have to be shown the ropes.

‘I’ll leave it to you,’ Gabriel said, stalking back to his desk and killing the personal and awkward conversation they had been having. ‘I have several meetings that will take me out of London, so don’t expect me to be around much.’

Helen smiled, annoyed with herself for not wanting that personal conversation to end; annoyed with herself for thinking that it showed protectiveness towards her, perhaps evenpossessiveness, and baulking at the commitment she had made to herself that Friday would be the start of a new chapter in her life. She didn’t quite feel ready for new chapters just yet.

‘Great.’ She shot him a brittle, mega-watt smile and told herself that not having him around was going to do wonders for her nervous system.

Gabriel made it to the office a little after six on the Friday evening.

It was still way too hot and way too sunny. He’d just sat through a five-hour meeting and, even with the top two buttons of his shirt undone, he still felt uncomfortable. The crush of people on the streets threading their way through the city had got on his nerves.

Why was London always so busy? It had made him think of Genoa, the vineyards and a way of life that was calm, laid back and unstressed. At least, comparatively. The days there had melded into one another and the nights had been filled with making love.

Why couldn’t she see what he did in the idea of a union that could work?

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