Wear My Ring: The Secret Wedding Dress / The Millionaire's Marriage Claim

Lydia had been his port in the storm, and it had never occurred to him that her motivations in being with him might have been anything less than romantic. In the end that error of judgement had all but destroyed everything he and Nate had worked so hard to build.

And here he was, set to make the biggest financial decision of his life, and he’d gone and entangled himself in a blonde distraction once again.

‘Having fun?’ Nate said, slapping Gabe on the back, rocking him back on his heels.

A dark cloud hovering about his ears, Gabe shoved his fingers hard into the front pockets of his jeans. ‘So much so I barely know how to contain myself.’

Nate snorted. ‘Now quickly, I have a thing in Sydney this week. A meet and greet with an upstart encryption software company. Looks schmick. I was going to send Rick, but I’m not sure that he’s as net savvy as—Gabe?’

‘Hmm?’ A sliver of white glinting through the crowd had snagged Gabe’s attention. ‘What now?’

‘I was being about as subtle as a woman in red lipstick. I’m offering you a lifeline, mate. An actual prospective client to sound out while you’re here. Thought you’d jump at the chance to sink your fangs into an actual real live deal.’

Normally he would, but he was in a questioning type of mood, and even while Nate’s face was a picture of innocence, so far everything he’d said or done that night had screamed ulterior motive.

‘Unless you have other plans? More decorating perhaps? Like what you’ve done with the place so far. Very … pretty.’

Gabe cut him a glower. ‘Considering your flair for interior design I take that as a compliment. When’s the flight?’

‘Daybreak tomorrow. And you’re welcome.’

Gabe caught the glint of light on blonde hair move through the swarm and heard himself say, ‘Make it a day later and I’m there.’

He felt Nate’s incredulous stare. Pretended he didn’t.

Nate said, ‘Am I missing something here? I’ve had people manning the lifts at work in case you slipped out and were never heard from again—Ri-i-ight. I see.’ Nate grabbed a tiny pastry from a passing tray and threw it into his mouth. ‘So who’s the blonde?’

Gabe breathed out long and slow. He’d been quietly concerned about the ever-decreasing degrees of separation between Paige and Nate and confirmation that Nate wasn’t a paid-up member of the ‘I Fantasise About Paige’s Legs’ club was more of a relief than he cared to admit. Gabe set his vision at the middle distance, and drawled, ‘Any blonde in particular you need me to soften up for you?’

Nate grabbed him by the ears and turned his head the half-inch to face the blonde in question. ‘The one who has you dancing about like you have ants in your pants. The one making you think twice about getting out of bed early tomorrow.’

Gabe swiped his hands away. ‘For starters, I don’t dance. And secondly she lives in the building and …’ She what? Wasn’t the reason why he was actually considering shucking off work? The dark cloud surrounded his whole head. ‘She all but shut the lift doors on my fingers when we first met.’

‘That’s it? Well, then you won’t mind if I head that way and—’

Gabe’s hand shot out and grabbed Nate by the back of the neck.

Nate laughed as he ducked out of Gabe’s grip. ‘Been so long since I’ve seen you even look twice at a blonde, it’s bloody reassuring. Like you’re really back. Not just here, but back. Now, seems I have to go tell poor Rick he has an early start in the morning.’

With that, Nate headed off, leaving Gabe silenced. And shrouded in more grey clouds than ever. Of all times for Nate to slant a reference at Lydia … He’d dated blondes since her, surely? Lydia hadn’t screwed him over that much.

Sure she’d sold their pillow talk with the competition, leading to an investigation by the Australian Securities Commission for insider trading, which had meant the near undoing of the business into which he and Nate had poured their hearts and souls, the repercussions of which had sent him careening off to all four corners of the globe in an effort to wrench BonaVenture from the grips of obliteration—

But it wasn’t as if it affected him any more. Unless you counted the fact that he was more vigilant when it came to his business dealings. Perhaps even a little zealously so. But his dating habits were peachy. Or at least they would be once all the monkeys finally left his apartment.

All bar one.

Paige sensed Gabe a good second before his deep dark voice said, ‘Miss Danforth, how good of you to come.’

She took a quick heartening gulp from her champagne, then turned and said, ‘Why, of course.’ At least she planned to. But nothing came out.

In leather and a three-day growth Gabe Hamilton looked like a sexy pirate. In pyjama bottoms and nothing else he was every woman’s fantasy. In a cool pin-striped jacket, navy cashmere sweater, and dark jeans he looked so delectably tactile he was more dangerous than ever.

When he leant to place a soft warm kiss on her cheek she had a fair idea of what oxygen deprivation must feel like—all breathless and weak and woozy, with a touch of delirium thrown in.

‘For you,’ she said, shoving the small box between them. ‘Housewarming present.’

He took the package, his brow furrowing as he stared at it. And suddenly she felt silly for bringing anything at all.

She flapped her hand at him. ‘On second thoughts, give it back. It so won’t go with your gorgeous new decor.’

Pulling the gift out of her reach, he glanced up under his thick dark lashes. ‘You noticed.’

‘I’d be pretty sucky at my job if I didn’t. It looks great. You did good.’

He cocked his head in thanks. Then brought her gift to his ear and gave it a little shake. ‘So long as it’s not a throw cushion I’m sure it’ll do fine.’

All she could do was shrug, while she felt more and more sure that what was meant to be a funny little trinket was too ridiculous, too overfamiliar, too obvious he’d made an impact on her. But then she thought of the big changes he’d made to his apartment, because of her, and didn’t quite know what to think any more.

He opened the box, a wash of surprise, bewilderment, and laughter playing over his beautiful face as he stared at the hot-pink flamingo in his big dark hands.

‘For your phone,’ she explained, sliding her hand to the inside pocket of his jacket, knowing that was where his ever-present phone would be. She drew it out and placed it neatly into place in the crook of the bird’s bent leg. Tilting her head for him to follow, she slipped through a gap in the crowd to put the phone holder on the kitchen bench.

She turned and, with a ta-da move, said, ‘To keep the doughnut crumbs away.’

Gabe blinked at the kitsch splash of pink adorning his sleek dark kitchen, then back to her. His silky dark eyes looking right into her. She knew how Lois Lane felt knowing Superman’s X-ray vision meant he could tell what colour undies she wore. She felt the same desire to hide behind something big and solid for protection.

Waving her hand in front of her dramatically pinking face, she said, ‘It’s a silly little—’

‘It’s perfect,’ he said, placing a hand over his heart. ‘Thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’ And it was. He was. Her complete and utter pleasure. A pleasure she’d actually thought might fizzle in the glaring light of a public outing.

The crowd jostled and she bumped against him. He gathered her with a strong arm until she was flush against his big strong front, the heat of him bleeding through her barely there dress. Again she wondered how she’d gone so long without a man in her life. Without the mouth-watering ache inside her. How? Because it had never felt like this before.

‘Let’s get the hell out of here,’ Gabe’s voice rumbled through her.

Paige laughed. ‘But the party’s just started.’

‘Really? Feels like it’s been going on for days.’

When it began to dawn on her he might not be kidding, she glanced over his shoulder at the party going great guns behind him. ‘But don’t you need to—?’

‘Not so much.’

Her eyes swung back to his to find them drenched with desire. For her. The hot ache sank and spread until she would have collapsed in a quivering puddle of pure need had Gabe not been holding her.

When the urge to grab his hand and run, dispatching a coat-hanger tackle on anyone in her path, swelled hot and fast inside her, Paige knew then that she’d gone past the point of curing her dating-drought.

She’d cracked.

Relinquishing a degree of control had seemed a worthy price to pay to find her feet again. But the raging desire to give in and do whatever Gabe asked of her was so strong it scared her. It felt like a heck of a short trip from that to becoming her mother, watching the clock, marking off the calendar, blushing hopefully every time the phone rang. And living a life of perpetual disappointment.

She locked her knees and pressed her hands into his chest, steadfastly ignoring the urge to curl her fingernails against the hard planes. ‘Gabe, you have to stay.’

He slowly shook his head. ‘I have to have you.’

Good God. Paige licked her lips, preparing to explain why he’d have to wait but there were simply no words. She bit her bottom lip to stop from whimpering. His dark gaze honed in on the movement, a muscle jumping in his cheek. The hastening of his heartbeat beneath her palms was her undoing.

‘Okay. Let’s go,’ she said.

Apparently that was all Gabe needed. He grabbed her hand and drew her through the crowd, parting it like a hot knife through butter.

‘Gabe!’ a voice broke into her buzzing sub-conscious.

Fully expecting Gabe to accelerate into a sprint, Paige was so surprised when he actually stopped she banged into his back, and had to grip his arm in order to steady herself. He wrapped his arm around her in order to steady her, so she was all wrapped up in him when she found herself the subject of some shrewd attention from a man she’d never met.

‘Now what?’ Gabe said, his impatience clear as day.

The party guest, handsome in a clean-cut jock kind of way, smiled patiently at Gabe, and then at her.

Gabe sighed, then said, ‘Nate Mackenzie, Paige Danforth.’

Nate grinned as he held out a hand. ‘The infamous lift monopolist. Pleasure.’

Paige laughed in surprise. Then glanced at Gabe to find him quietly fuming at his friend. A friend he’d talked to about her. While she’d never said a word to Mae. Mae who was somewhere at the party, clueless she was about to do a bunk. Her stomach clutched more than a little.

‘One last thing before you depart,’ Nate said to Gabe. ‘The men in grey by the window. Go say “hi”.’

Gabe growled so low Paige winced. ‘Another time.’

Paige felt Nate’s attention focus on her even as he held Gabe’s dark gaze with his deceptively smiling eyes. ‘This is the only time. We need them. For the … deal.’

Gabe’s grip tightened on hers and she prepared to make a dash for the door. But when her eye slid to his it was to see a muscle clenching in his cheek.

To her he’d always seemed basically untouchable. As if nothing could topple him. In that moment he looked like a fish on a hook. A fish who could have thrown the hook with little more than a jerk of his great head if he’d decided to do so. But a fish who was currently chewing on the hook instead, gritting it between his teeth, before he squared his shoulders, apologised to her for a momentary change of plans, and took off.

‘Sorry,’ Nate said, clearly meaning it. ‘Business, you know.’

‘That’s fine,’ she said, even though she hadn’t a clue. She barely knew what Gabe did for a living. It involved travel, a phone that might as well be permanently attached to his hand, and … men in suits, apparently.

‘I’m his partner at BonaVenture,’ Nate said. ‘And by the look in your eyes he’s never mentioned me to you.’

‘Sorry.’

They’d never talked that much about her work either. Which added to growing worry gnawing at her innards, because her work was pretty much the most significant thing in her life. Only the past week that distinction had been usurped by the man standing stiff-backed amongst a group of men who were grinning and fawning, shaking his hand as if he were some kind of rock star.

‘If only he wasn’t one of a kind.’

‘Hmm?’

Nate ran a hard hand up the back of his neck, eyes zeroed in on the conversation on the other side of the room. ‘Gabe. He’s brilliant, you know.’

She didn’t know that either, actually. Oh, she knew the man had skills, but she was fairly sure she and Nate were thinking of quite different ones.

‘I have a good line in spin,’ Nate continued, ‘but Gabe? He’s a superstar. He can smell potential from a continent away. He can seduce even the most timid ideas men to let him in. Nobody else out there like him. My life would be a hell of a lot simpler if there were.’

Nate’s astute gaze slewed from Gabe and back to her, his mouth lifting into a smile so self-confident it completely belied his previous words. She could see in that look why the two men got along. They were both forces of nature. And even while she had no idea what was going on behind Nate’s clever hazel eyes it gave her goose bumps.

Then Nate said, ‘If you have any kind of influence over him—’

She held up her hands and waved them frantically enough to stop Nate in his tracks. ‘I don’t. Honestly. We’re … friends.’

For a perfectly nice term, ‘friends’ sounded such a lame description for what they were, and Nate’s raised eyebrows told her he wasn’t buying it either.

But he backed down. ‘Apologies. Clearly I’m getting desperate.’

‘For?’

‘Him to stay, of course.’

The worries that had been little fissures splintered to form the Grand Canyon. ‘He’s considering sticking around?’

‘You tell me.’

She swallowed past the tightness in her throat. Like a good many things, they hadn’t talked about when he was leaving as an actual couple would, because they weren’t an actual couple. They were … flinging. And to protect herself from any damage the act of flinging might incur, she’d done a lot of assuming. And you knew what they said about assuming?

She needed him to go. The only reason she was taking chances where she’d never taken them before was because it had an end date.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, Gabe looked back across the room. As their eyes connected she could practically see the energy arcing between them.

Gabe shook his head once, promising he wouldn’t be long. Or was he saying, Don’t get any ideas, now. Don’t make the mistake of falling for me? On any other man the warning would be conceited. Gabe ought to have had it tattooed on his bicep at birth.

It seemed she’d been right to try to protect herself from fling damage. Only problem was, it hadn’t worked.

CHAPTER SIX

THE sound of the party spilled through the closed front doors of Gabe’s apartment as Paige pressed the lift button, her finger shaking, whether from anticipation of what was to come or aftermath of the conversation with Nate. Probably a mixture of both.

She glanced up, and caught Gabe’s eye. Remembered the warmth that had flooded her the night she’d caught him smiling at her over a doughnut while he leant against his kitchen bench in unbuttoned jeans and felt a tiny stab of fear that Mae wasn’t the only one she was hiding things from any more. So she blurted, ‘When are you going back to Brazil?’

‘I’m not,’ he said, and Paige’s stomach fell to her shoes. Then, ‘That deal’s done. But I will be leaving as soon as I’m done here. I follow the work, and ninety per cent of the time it’s many many miles from here.’

She breathed out a sigh of relief so loud she closed her eyes tight against the embarrassment of it.

‘Wrong answer?’ he asked, and she was surprised to find humour in his voice.

She screwed up her eyes. ‘Will it sound callous if I say that’s the right answer?’

‘It does a bit,’ he said, his smile growing. He gathered her to him, sliding his hands over her hips, his thumbs trailing hot and tempting spirals over her lower back. ‘But then it seems I’m into callous women.’

The lift binged. Opened.

Paige let out a huge ‘Whoop!’ as Gabe’s hands slid to her backside, lifted her and carried her into the lift. Then, before the lift doors closed, his lips were on her neck, his fingers sliding into the edge of dress, caressing the outer edge of her breast.

This, she thought. This was what mattered. Not all that thinking, and wondering and second-guessing. It was exhausting. And unnecessary. Thank heavens. Because she’d much rather be doing this instead.

Goose bumps sped across her skin as Gabe’s warm breath shot across her ear. ‘Although it’s not manly to admit as much, I’m strangely looking forward to learning what real garnish might look like.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘I finally get to see your place.’

Paige’s eyes flung open. The wedding dress! It was still hanging over the chair in her kitchen. She’d never got around to putting it away. As though if it went into her cupboard that would be the final evidence of ownership.

In one second flat, Paige kicked off her shoe and with a naked toe jabbed the emergency stop button. The lift juddered to a halt with such suddenness she gripped Gabe’s jacket for dear life.

In the sudden silence their intermingled breaths sounded overly loud. Her heart rocking against her ribs sounded even louder.

Though she was clueless as to how she was going to explain that little move, her eyes went back to Gabe. Surprise lit the dark depths for a moment before one dark eyebrow rose, and his smile kicked up at one corner. And relief flowed through her like an injection of pure heat on a cold winter’s day.

Then with a growl that spoke to something deep and primal inside her, Gabe pressed her back into the wall of the lift. Their hands were all over one another, urgent, desperate to find skin.

Her skirt was up, his pants down, he was sheathed and inside her. Hard, solid heat filling her until she cried out with the pleasure of it. She flung a hand over her eyes as sensation pummelled her every which way.

So hot, so right, she thought. Whatever else was going on, however short a time they had, they were made for this and that couldn’t be denied.

Sensation pounded through her like a perfect storm as she tightened around him, pleasure pulsing until she couldn’t stand it any more. And with a cry that must have echoed up and down the lift shaft every last tension fell away in waves of perfect heat, until it ratcheted right back up again as Gabe’s powerful release followed right on top of hers.

The storm inside her quieted slowly as she leant her forehead on his chest, letting the deep rhythm of his breaths calm her.

When she finally lifted her head it was to find his eyes were closed. His lips parted as he found his natural breath. The bright lights of the lift created shadows beneath his brows, highlighting every crinkle around his eyes, every hair on his jaw, the curve of his Adam’s apple.

He was so much man it made her chest hurt just looking at him.

He opened his eyes, gave her a small smile, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and then his eyes left hers to drift over her face. Hovering momentarily on her hair, her neck, her lips.

This, she thought, swallowing hard.

Raging attraction plus wedding-dress-purchase-recoil had sent her into his arms in the first place but this was why she wasn’t yet ready to walk away. The way she felt when they were alone together. Work, family, Mae; they didn’t come up because they didn’t matter. He stilled her mind. Made everything feel simple. Let her live in the moment.

She reached up and traced the backs of her knuckles along the hollow of his cheek. Ran a thumb softly over his bottom lip. Smoothed a stray hair in his eyebrow. And he let her. His eyes gave nothing away, but his nostrils flared at her quiet touch.

When the feeling inside her began to swell so large she struggled to find a full breath Paige curled her fingers into her palm and pressed herself against the wall so that they could disentangle themselves. Gabe fixed his pants, she fixed her dress, both of them flickering sly glances at each other, before they both burst out laughing.

‘You, Miss Danforth, are a revelation,’ he said.

‘Would you believe before you came along I was a bit of a good girl?’

His dark eyes connected long and hard with hers for long enough that her breath caught in her throat. Then, as he reached for the emergency button, he said, ‘Nah.’

And Paige laughed again, light, free. Happy. Even as she revelled in the feeling, she knew it was dangerous.

Gabe didn’t notice as he was jabbing and jiggling the emergency button. Yet the lift refused to budge.

Giving her dress a last fix, she joined him. ‘You’re kidding me, right?’

Gabe spared her a flat glance, before reaching into his jacket pocket for his mobile to call for help. Only to find it was missing.

‘The flamingo,’ they said as one, and Paige laughed so hard she clutched her stomach.

‘This isn’t funny. There are over a hundred people stuck up there.’

‘And it’ll only take one to leave early to notice the lift’s not working.’ Paige put a finger to her bottom lip. ‘If not for the fact that the lift is a total diva at the best of times.’

A muscle jumped in Gabe’s cheek and she realised he was beginning to look kind of stressed. Poor love.

‘Here,’ she said, pressing him aside to pop the hatch to find the lift’s emergency phone. It was busted. Seriously, at the next tenants’ meeting she was bringing out a whole bag of whoop on Sam the Super’s ass.

Gabe ran a hand through his hair as his gaze shot up, down, and at the seam in the lift’s doors.

And something occurred to Paige. ‘Gabe. Are you claustrophobic?’

He tugged at the V of his sweater. ‘Of course not. But neither am I keen on feeling trapped in a small space for an extended period of time. This rotten, stinking, no good—’ Gabe said, his voice now not much more than a growl as he banged at the control panel with enough force to bruise. Still the lift didn’t budge.

Paige lost it. Laughing so hard now she hiccuped. ‘See!’ she managed to get out. ‘It’s not just me. This is fantastic. And I was so sure he’d fallen under your spell.’

‘He?’

Paige blinked up at Gabe, whose eyes were narrowed dangerously in her direction. She was the one who’d hit the button in the first place after all.

Her bottom lip slid straight between her teeth and his gaze slid straight to her mouth, his eyes darkening, his breath lengthening, as she said, ‘Rock Hudson, of course.’

Then his eyes shot back to hers, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a dangerous smile.

Silence stretched between them, only broken by the occasional creak of the lift. They were left with nothing to do but wait.

‘So,’ Paige said, crossing her arms, cocking her hip, ‘what now?’

‘What kind of name is Gabe?’

Gabe’s thighs burned from being on his haunches the past ten minutes as he tried to rewire the phone and get them the hell out of the box. He could sniff out creative accounting in a company report from a mile away, but he knew less than nothing about electrical engineering.

‘Just Gabe? Or short for Gabriel?’ Paige added when it became clear he wasn’t about to answer.

‘Short,’ he said.

‘That’s sweet,’ she said, clearly not as concerned as he was about the thinning of the air. ‘Like the angel.’

Gabe’s knees creaked as he pulled himself to standing. He turned to find Paige standing in the far corner of the lift, one bare foot on top of the other, her hair now up in a makeshift knot, the ends of his sports coat rolled up at her wrists. Despite the stale air all sorts of parts of him stirred for her again. He shot them down. He was conserving air. ‘You having fun over there while I try to get us out of here?’