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wearily. ‘It’s been a long and—and difficult day.’
‘For both of us,’ Gabriel pointed out.
‘Yes.’ Bella turned her head to look at him.
Gabriel looked as strained as she felt, Bella acknowledged ruefully, lines beside his eyes and the grimness of his mouth, his skin slightly pale beneath his naturally olive complexion.
How different this could all have been if Gabriel hadn’t been in love with another woman five years ago. How different today could have been if the two of them had married because they were in love with each other now.
Instead they were two strangers who had married to protect and sustain their young son’s happiness.
Bella swallowed hard. ‘I think, if you don’t mind, that I would like to just sit here quietly for a while.’ She closed her eyes.
Gabriel did mind. If Bella thought the last five weeks had been any less of a strain for him, then she was mistaken.
In company, Bella had managed, as agreed, to maintain an air of tranquil happiness, but once they were alone it had been a totally different matter. She had shown a total lack of interest whenever he had tried to discuss the wedding arrangements with her. Had been uncommunicative on the three Sunday mornings they had attended church together in order to hear the reading of their Banns.
Worst of all, once they were alone, Bella had avoided so much as touching him…
If Bella wished to punish him for forcing this marriage on her then she could not have chosen a better way to do it than with her icy silence and her obvious aversion to his lightest touch!
‘You and your father certainly know how to travel in style,’ Bella commented lightly as she sat across the table from Gabriel in the luxurious cabin of the Danti jet, only now beginning to appreciate the wealth and power behind the Danti name.
Well…apart from earlier when Gabriel had informed her he had given her an island in the Caribbean as a wedding gift!
Bella shied away from even thinking about what she was going to do with an island in the Caribbean and instead turned her attention back to her present surroundings.
The Danti-owned jet was the height of luxury, only six ultra-comfortable seats in the spacious and carpeted main cabin, with a bar at the cockpit end, and a door to another private compartment at the other.
Gabriel had given instructions to the captain to take off as soon as they were on board and their luggage had been stowed in the cabin at the back of the plane. A male steward had then placed two long-stemmed fluted glasses on the glass table in front of them before pouring the bubbly champagne, leaving the bottle cooling in a bucket of ice beside Gabriel and then disappearing back into the galley behind the bar and closing the door discreetly behind him.
Bella had totally avoided even looking at her own glass of champagne as it reminded her all too forcibly of that night with Gabriel five years ago. The last thing she needed to think about at the moment was that!
Gabriel nodded now. ‘As you and Toby will also do now that you are Dantis.’
The sinking feeling in Bella’s stomach owed nothing to air-sickness and everything to the realisation that that was who she really was now.
Isabella Danti. Wife of Gabriel.
‘No doubt Toby will be impressed,’ she answered.
‘But not you?’
Bella was more nervous than impressed. Nervous of being really alone with Gabriel for the first time in five weeks. A quivering wreck just at the thought of spending a week alone with him on her Caribbean island.
She shook her head. ‘I’m not four years old, Gabriel.’
‘No, you are not, are you?’
Bella shot Gabriel a swift glance, not in the least reassured by the intensity of his chocolate-brown eyes as his gaze met hers and held it captive.
She physically had to turn her head away to break that gaze before she could stand up abruptly. ‘I—I think I would like to go into the other room and take off this wedding gown.’
‘An excellent idea, Isabella,’Gabriel murmured huskily.
Bella frowned up at him as he rose slowly to his feet, his height and the width of his shoulders at once dominating the cabin. ‘I think I’m quite capable of changing my clothes on my own, thank you,’ she told him sharply.
Gabriel gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘I thought you might need some help with the zip at the back of your gown.’
Good point, Bella realised. The wedding gown was medieval in style, with long, close-fitting lace sleeves that tapered to a point at her wrist, their snug fit making it impossible for Bella to reach the zip that ran the whole length of her spine without risking ripping the sleeves at the seams. It hadn’t been a problem earlier today, because Claudia had helped her to dress, but Bella couldn’t say she was exactly comfortable now with the thought of Gabriel helping her to undress…
Comfortable? The thought of Gabriel touching her at all was enough to send her already fractured nerves into a complete tailspin!
She was never going to wear this gown again anyway, so what did it matter if she did rip the sleeves?
‘I’m sure I can manage, thank you,’ she replied distantly as she turned away.
‘I need to change into less formal clothing, too,’Gabriel insisted quietly as he reached the door to the back compartment before Bella and held it open for her to enter.
Bella looked up at him uncertainly, knowing by the hard challenge she could see in his eyes that Gabriel expected to continue—and that he was actually enjoying!—arguing with her. On the basis that some sort of response from her was better than none, perhaps? Probably, Bella acknowledged wryly, even as she experienced a perverse desire not to give him that satisfaction.
‘Fine,’ she accepted airily before striding past him into the cabin at the back of the plane.
Only to come to an abrupt halt as she found herself, not in another sitting-room as she had supposed, but in a room totally dominated by the king-size bed in its centre!
Gabriel’s eyes darkened with amusement when he saw Bella’s stunned expression as she took in the luxuriously appointed bedroom with its fitted wardrobes, gold thick-piled carpet, and the deep gold and cream silk linen that covered the bed, several throw cushions of the same rich material against the sumptuous pillows.
Unfortunately Bella didn’t stay stunned for very long as she turned to look up at him accusingly. ‘I hope you don’t have any ideas about adding my name to the list of women you’ve no doubt seduced in here!’ she snapped.
Gabriel’s humour faded at the deliberate insult. ‘You have the tongue of a viper!’
She raised mocking brows. ‘It’s a little late for second thoughts, don’t you think, Gabriel? We were married earlier today, remember?’
‘Oh, I remember, Isabella,’ he rasped harshly. ‘Perhaps it is time that I reminded you of that fact also!’ He closed the door gently behind him.
Bella took a step back as she obviously read the intent in his eyes. ‘I meant what I said, Gabriel—I am not about to become another notch on your mile-high bedpost!’
Gabriel’s jaw clenched as he took that same step forward. ‘I meant what I said five weeks ago, too, concerning the right to change your mind about our marriage being in name only!’
Her eyes widened in alarm. ‘Not here!’
‘Wherever and whenever,’ he promised.
She backed away from him. ‘I told you I will not become another notch—’
‘If you look at the bed again, Isabella, you will see that there is no bedpost.’ Gabriel’s