Page 51 of Cinderella's One-Night Baby

‘I have to say, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you,’ Gregory said as he took a seat on one of his plush office sofas.

Andrés took the opposite sofa, laid his briefcase flat beside him and hooked an ankle to a thigh. ‘Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.’

A secretary bustled in with coffee, pastries and water. Once she’d left, Gregory said, ‘So, to business. I understand you want to discuss a proposal that could make us both a heck of a lot of money.’

Andrés picked up a chocolate croissant without bothering to use a plate, and took a huge bite out of it. ‘Actually,’ he said after swallowing, ‘it’s a proposal that, if you accept, will protect the wealth you already have.’

Thirty minutes later, Andrés put the pre-prepared and freshly signed documents back into his briefcase and got to his feet. Sweeping the crumbs that had fallen over his suit from the pastries he’d consumed onto the floor, making sure to scatter them in all directions, he extended a hand.

Gregory looked at it much as a lamb conscious of its fate would look at the knife about to slaughter it.

Andrés kept his steely gaze fixed on the spineless coward and his hand extended until Gregory’s tremulous fingers reached over.

When Andrés strode out of the office, Gregory was rocking with his closed hand loosely tucked under an armpit debating through the throbbing pain whether what he needed to call for first was a hand doctor or a bucket of ice.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ITWASWITHa pounding heart that Gabrielle entered Andrés’s apartment.

‘No Lucas?’ he asked, swooping in for a quick, hungry kiss which she wasn’t quick enough to duck out of the way of and which made her heart both sigh with the pleasure of it and sink to the pit of her stomach to know it was the last real kiss they would share.

She kicked her ballet shoes off and followed him through the reception room and into the main living area. ‘I got my mother to babysit.’

His eyes narrowed slightly before he shrugged and lifted a folder from the table. ‘Maybe it is for the best. It means we can talk while we eat. The chef is preparing steak for us.’

Carrying the folder into the dining room, he put it on the table next to the place setting with the glass of iced water already poured, then pulled out Gabrielle’s chair.

She sat, trying not to look at the surplus place setting with the glass of milk. It made her heart hurt.

Andrés had a large drink of the red wine already poured to accompany his meal, and nodded at the folder. ‘Open that.’

Certain it would contain house details, she opened the lip.

‘Start with the top document.’

She had to read it three times for it to make sense. Or, rather, for her brain to comprehend what she understood on the first read but which the violent thrashing of her heart pumping hot blood swimming in her head made impossible to digest.

‘Gregory has signed away all rights to Lucas,’ he explained into the ringing silence. ‘I have bought a majority shareholding in his company. If he makes one move out of line then I sell for a loss and destroy him. The country estate he is so proud of is owned by the company, ergo it is now owned by me. I have put a loaded gun to his head but I have left it for you and your family to decide if you want me to pull the trigger.’

She could only stare at him, hardly able to believe her eyes or ears. Hardly able to dare.

‘I know you were worried about the consequences of my involvement in this, but once I’d gathered and dissected all the information about him and got my legal team—who are all bound by confidentiality so please don’t worry about them—onto it, I knew I could make my move without any penalty to you or to Lucas.’ His eyes were shining. ‘This has freed you, Gabrielle. He can never do anything to hurt you or your family again.’

It took a long time for her to whisper, ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were doing this?’

The shine dimmed a fraction but his gaze remained steady. ‘I was trying to clear a burden that has laid heavily in you for far too long before I asked you to marry me.’

Gabrielle was almost stunned into silence. ‘You... You want tomarryme?’

‘Not only that but I want to adopt Lucas too.’

Now she really was too stunned to respond.

‘This is the point where you’re supposed to say something.’ His tone was teasing but she detected a slight edge to it.

She had to swallow hard to make her weak vocal cords work. ‘But we’re not going to marry. We’re going to move in together and live in separate wings and lead independent lives.’

‘I have had a change of perspective about things,’ he explained slowly. ‘It was the party. My parents’ arguing.’ He shook his head and drank some more of his wine. ‘What you said...it made me look, and for the first time I saw their marriage clearly. Everything they’ve been through and all the hardships they suffered. Those circumstances...we will never have to go through what they have. Our marriage doesn’t have to be like theirs.’

---