THE RELUCTANT BRIDE (6 page)

With
an exclamation she let the heavy gold hair slip to her shoulders and
turned from the mirror. What was she doing? Rod Nicholson clearly
found her unattractive, tiresome and lacking in sex appeal, but as
long as he kept that opinion she was safe from his advances. She
would be crazy to try to change it.

Grabbing
the nightdress, she pulled it roughly over her head, jumped into bed,
switched off the light and glowered into the darkness.

CHAPTER
THREE

In
the morning she awoke late, heavy eyed and irritable. Showering away
the disturbing, half remembered dreams of the night she experienced a
growing horror.

Last
night she had agreed to marry Rod Nicholson. She had allowed him to
persuade her – no, that wasn't quite true, she had persuaded
herself – that it was the sensible, the right, thing to do. But
in the cold light of morning she knew that it would be a fiasco of a
marriage. She couldn't possibly go through with it. No, not even for
a fortune, not even for White Gables. She paused, the sponge pressed
dripping against her throat. Not even to help her ailing mother?

Money
could buy her so much,. Renewed good health. A quality of life she
had lacked for so many years. Gabriella would be heartless to refuse
her such an opportunity. She leaned her forehead against the tiled
wall and closed her eyes. What was she to do? Did her own feelings
really matter? Yet the prospect of a close relationship with Rod was
so abhorrent that she doubted if anything could make it bearable. No,
it was no use. The price was too high. When she saw Rod, she would
tell him so.

Snatching
a towel, she began roughly to dry herself, refusing to dwell on what
she would be giving up.

Inching
through the peak hour traffic a quarter of an hour later she was glad
that Rod's appointments would keep him away from the office that
morning. She didn't trust him. He was quite capable of dropping a few
hints here and there without consulting her first. If she was going
to nip this whole thing in the bud, she had to make sure she got to
him before anyone else did.

The
sudden wail of a siren brought her back to the busy street and she
hunched obediently into the kerb as a police car screamed by.
Glancing at her watch she saw that she was already five minutes late
and the traffic was heavy. Suddenly anxious – suppose Rod
decided to call into Englands first? - she took advantage of a gap in
the oncoming line of cars and accelerated out to overtake a sedately
paced Jaguar, ignoring the driver's angry hoot. The road ahead was
clear. By nine fifteen she was turning into the car park at Englands.

Immediately
she saw Rod's Lexus,settled into the reserved space next to her own.
Damn, damn, damn! What was he doing here? She stared at the Lexus as
if it could tell her something. It stared blankly back.

“
Good
morning, Jenny,” she greeted her secretary as she hurried into
her outer office. “Hello, Sue, did you want me?” She was
surprised to find Rod's secretary, who rarely emerged from the
cloakroom before nine thirty, making her rounds so early. She watched
the girl slide elegantly, revealing a great deal of long shapely leg,
from her perch on Jenny's desk. There was no doubt that the results
of Sue Landon's grooming sessions in the cloakroom were spectacular.
Chestnut hair carefully combed into a luxurious tangle, lustrous eyes
fringed with lashes like black chenille and a voluptuous body that
most men at Englands found impossible to ignore, she was just the
sort of status secretary Rod would choose, Gabriella thought with
cynicism. Personally, she preferred her own hardworking Jenny.

“
I'm
just going,” said Sue. “How are you this morning,
Gabriella?”

“
Me?
Fine, why?” She fancied that the girls exchanged a knowing
look.

Sue
gave her red lipped smile. “Oh, I just wondered. Well, I must
be off before Rod comes and drags me physically back to his office.
That man Who'd object? But of course, you'd know better than any of
us, wouldn't you, Gabriella?” She laughed and with a swing of
her long hair sauntered out, closing the door softly behind her.

Gabriella
understood Sue's cryptic remark when she entered her office and saw
the outsize bouquet of red roses that lay across her desk. Through
the crisp cellophane the card was painfully easy to read.

“
Thanks
for an unforgettable night, Gabriella darling. Love, Rod.”

Snatching
up the roses, crushing their velvet globes, she was overcome by a
wave of anger that turned her dizzy. How dared he? How
dared
he! She turned to the waste basket. But throwing the flowers away now
would serve no purpose, the damage was done. Letting the bouquet drop
on to a chair she picked up her phone and jabbed at the buttons.

“
I
got your flowers,” she grated when Rod answered.

“
Oh
good! Did you like them?”

“
I
hate red roses.”

“
What
a shame. Tomorrow I'll send you white ones.”

“
I
don't want you -” She lowered her voice, aware suddenly of the
partially open door. “I don't want you to send me anything, Rod
Nicholson. I'd prefer you to crawl away into a hole and stay there.”

“
Darling,
such hard words to a new fiance!” She could hear the amusement
in his voice. “Should we be having lovers' quarrels so soon?”

“
We
shouldn't be having anything. I've changed my mind.”

“
Really
I'm afraid you're a little late, my dear. The word is already out.”

“
Couldn't
you even wait until I got here?” She was gripping the receiver
so hard that her knuckles ached. If he had been in her office at that
moment she would have hit him over the head with it. “And if
you had to rush at it like a bull in a china shop, couldn't you at
least have shown some decency?”

He
laughed again. “Well now, Gabriella, how would
you
have accounced our forthcoming marriage?”

“
If
there
had been one to announce I would have let everyone know gradually.
With some dignity. Not like this.”

“
But
darling, who'd believe it? We haven't time for a long drawn out
Victorian courtship.”

“
You
think they'll believe this? That I'd want to marry you after –
after -”

“
Why
not? The cool spinster, seething with locked up passions? The
handsome seducer with the key?” He laughed. “It's an old,
old story, my darling.”

“
You're
disgusting. I don't suppose you care that everyone will be laughing
at me. No doubt your secretary is out right now spreading the word.”

“
Actually
I did give her some errands that will take her all over the factory.
Darling, don't worry. This way it will be just a three day wonder and
then we can get on with what's important. Really, you mustn't care so
much what others think.” His voice sank to a caress. “After
all,
we
know
it's true love, don't we?”

“
God,
I hate you, Rod Nicholson! And stop calling me darling!”
Cutting short his laughter she rammed down the phone.

She
had been right not to trust him. Now what could she do?

“
Lovely,
aren't they?” Jenny advanced into the room with a mug of
coffee. “Wish someone would send me roses.”

“
Have
some of these. There's enough for six.”

“
Yes,
Rod doesn't do anything by halves, does he?”

“
No,
he doesn't

“
I
know I'm nosy as hell,” said Jenny, “and it's not my
business, but – you and Rod – are you -”

“
You're
right, it's not your business, Jenny.” Fussing with the
morning's post, Gabriella sensed the girl's hurt., “Sorry,”
she said after a moment. “I didn't mean to bite your head off.
It's just – it's just -”

“
I
think it's fantastic!”

Gabriella
shot her a glance but saw no mockery. “Really?”

“
You
and Rod are so different but they say opposites attract. You know, it
wouldn't at all surprise me if you didn't get Rod to settle down
again.”

Again?
What did she mean?

Jenny
prattled on as she changed the calendar date, sorted through
Gabriella's Out tray. “There'll be hundreds of jealous females
if you succeed. Including me!”

“
What
about Sue?”

“
Ah,
Sue's different.”

“
What
do you mean?”

Jenny
looked uncomfortable. “Well, she and Rod are quite close. He's
done a lot for her, but -”

“
Look,
there's something I must do,” Gabriella broke in, hardly
listening. Rod had put her in an unbelievably embarrassing situation.
She had to extricate herself before it became even worse.