The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections) (181 page)

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Authors: Helen Bianchin

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Erotica, #Collections & Anthologies, #Contemporary Women, #General

BOOK: The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections)
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Only when the van was out of sight did she lower the car window and retrieve the keys.
Her blouse still gaped open, and she secured it as best she could. She was shaking so badly it took two attempts to insert the ignition key, then she fired the engine and eased the Bentley onto ground level.
Gabbi focused on the traffic, glad for once that there was so much of it. Cars, buses, trucks. Noise. People. They made her feel safe.
Home. She had never felt more grateful to reach the security of Benedict's palatial Vaucluse mansion.
Marie and Serg would be in their flat, and she had no intention of alarming them. Once indoors, she went straight upstairs to the bedroom and removed her clothes. Skirt, torn blouse, underwear. She bundled them together ready for disposal into the rubbish bin. She never wanted to see them again.
Then Gabbi went into the
en suite
bathroom and ran the shower. How long she stayed beneath the stream of water she wasn't sure. She only knew she scrubbed every inch of skin twice over, shampooed her hair not once, but three times. Then she stood still and let the water cascade over her gleaming skin.
Who?
Why?
The questions repeated themselves over and over in her brain as she replayed the scene again and again. Photos.
Blackmail?
The idea seemed ludicrous. Who would want to threaten her? What would they have to gain?
Then other words intruded... and she stood still, examining each one slowly with a sense of growing disbelief.
‘You were told to rough her up a little. Nothing else.
Remember?'
Who would want to frighten but not hurt her?
Dared
not harm her, to give such explicit instructions?
Gabbi shook her head as if to clear it. Photos. Damning shots taken with a specific purpose in mind.
Annaliese.
Even her stepsister wouldn't go to such lengths... Would she?
Slowly Gabbi reached out and turned off the water. Then she froze. Someone was in the bedroom.
‘Gabbi?'
Benedict.
She swayed, and put out a hand to steady herself. He couldn't be home. He wasn't due back until tomorrow. In a gesture born of desperation she reached for a towel and secured it above her breasts as he entered the
en suite
bathroom.
Her eyes skidded over his tall frame, registered his smile, and glimpsed the faint narrowing of his dark gaze as it swept over her features.
‘You're back early.' Dear God. She had to get a grip on herself.
She was too pale, her eyes too dark, dilated and wide, and it was almost impossible to still the faint trembling of her mouth. Without benefit of make-up and a few essential seconds in which to adopt a nonchalant air, she didn't stand a chance.
His silence was ominous, filling the room until she felt like screaming for him to break it.
When he did, she almost wished he hadn't, for his voice was so quiet it turned the blood in her veins to ice.
‘What happened?' No preamble, just a chilling demand that brooked no evasion.
Was she so transparent that he had only to take one look? she wondered. She fingered the towel, and fixed her attention on the knot of his impeccable silk tie. ‘How was the flight?'
‘It doesn't matter a damn in hell about the flight,' he dismissed with lethal softness.
‘Tell me.'
She heard the tension in his voice and was aware there was no easy way to say the words. ‘I stayed back at the office to work on some figures.'
His eyes never left hers. ‘Why did you do that, when you could easily have brought the disk home?'
Good question. Why
had
she? She swallowed, and saw his eyes follow the movement at her throat.
‘Someone slipped through car park security.'
‘Are you hurt?' The words held a deadly softness, and a tremor shook her body as his eyes raked every visible inch of her slender frame.
She lifted a hand then let it fall. ‘A few bruises.' He'd see evidence of them soon enough.
‘Slowly, Gabbi,' Benedict bit out softly. He reached out a hand and soothed her cheek with his palm. ‘From the beginning. And don't omit a single detail.'
His anger was palpable, and she felt afraid. Not for herself. But fearful of what might happen should that anger slip free.
‘I unlocked the car door,' she revealed steadily. ‘Then someone grabbed me from behind and pushed me onto the rear seat.'
‘Don't stop there.' His voice sounded like the swish of a whip, and she flinched as if its tip had flayed her skin.
‘He climbed in after me.'
A muscle tensed at the edge of his jaw. ‘Did he touch you?'
She shivered at the memory of those brutal fingers manacling her wrists while he ripped open her blouse.
‘Not the way you mean.'
Benedict's eyes hardened. ‘You called the police?'
She shook her head. ‘Nothing was stolen. The car wasn't damaged. I wasn't assaulted.'
His hands settled on her shoulders and slid gently down her arms. ‘Assault is a multi-faceted term.' His fingers were incredibly gentle and thorough. Her breath caught when he touched her wrists, and she flinched as he carefully examined first one then the other before raising them to his lips.
His hands reached for the towel, and she froze, all too aware of several deep pink smudges darkening the paleness of her breasts.
Naked fury darkened his features, and his hands clenched until the knuckles showed white.
Gabbi registered dimly that she had wanted to test his control and break it. But never like this.
‘I scratched him rather badly,' she offered in explanation. ‘And he retaliated.'
There was something primitive in his expression, a stark ruthlessness that frightened her. She needed to diminish it to something approaching civilised restraint ‘His purpose wasn't to harm me. He. had an accomplice with a camera.'
Dark, nearly black eyes assumed an almost predatory alertness.
The shrill sound of the telephone made her jump, and she stared in mesmerised fascination at the bathroom extension.
‘Pick it up when I lift the bedroom connection.'
Each word was a harsh directive she didn't think to ignore, and she watched, wide-eyed, as Benedict quickly crossed to the bedside pedestal. Her movements synchronised with his, she reached out and lifted the receiver.
‘Gabbi Nicols.'
‘Gabrielle.' Her name was a distinctive purr on the line, and Gabbi's fingers tightened measurably.
‘Annaliese,' she greeted cautiously.
‘I have in my possession photos which show you in a state of remarkable
déshabillé, mon enfant.'
It was almost possible to see Annaliese's cruel smile. ‘Copies of them will be despatched to Benedict by courier an hour after his return tomorrow. Together with a file on Tony detailing his career as a professional escort.' She paused, then added with delicate emphasis, ‘And listing other services he's only too willing to provide for a price.'
Gabbi felt sick at the thought of being a victim of so much hatred.
‘Lost for words, darling?'
‘Speechless.'
A tinkle of brittle laughter sounded down the line. ‘If you had taken me seriously, it wouldn't have been necessary to go this far.'
Gabbi tightened her grip on the receiver. ‘Don't be surprised if Tony hits you up for danger money. He received a knee in the groin and a few deep scratches.'
‘The photographs are worth it. Show a little wisdom and start packing,' Annaliese suggested with saccharine sweetness.
‘Benedict—'
‘Will be shocked at the evidence.'
‘Yes.'
There was a momentary silence.
‘You can present me with the photos and the file personally, Annaliese,' Benedict directed in a voice so silk-smooth it sent shivers scudding down the length of Gabbi's spine. ‘If you're wise, you'll be waiting at your front door with them in your hand ten minutes from now. After which you'll explain to Monique and James that you've received an urgent call from your agent demanding your presence elsewhere. So urgent,' he continued with deadly softness, ‘that you need to board a plane tomorrow. I'll arrange the airline ticket.
‘If you should be sufficiently foolish to set foot in Sydney again I'll lay charges against you for assault and extortion. And don't,' he advised icily, ‘put a warning call through to the infamous Tony. There isn't a place he can go that I won't eventually find him. Do we understand each other?'
Benedict replaced the receiver with such care, Gabbi felt afraid. With numbed fingers she replaced the bathroom receiver onto the wall handset.
Her eyes were impossibly large as he crossed the room, and she was powerless to utter so much as a word when he lowered his head down to hers and took reverent possession of her mouth.
‘I'll be back.'
Then he was gone, with a swiftness that made her shiver. Within minutes she heard an engine start up, and the refined purr as the car headed towards the gates. Then silence.
Gabbi discarded the towel and selected a pair of ivory satin pyjamas. She crossed to the large bed and turned back the covering. Then she sank down onto the stool in front of the mirrored dressing table and picked up her hairbrush.
It was twenty-five minutes later when Benedict re-entered the bedroom, and her arm slowed to a faltering halt as he moved to her side.
Her mouth trembled when he removed the brush from her hand.
‘Where are they?' Was that her voice? It sounded so hushed it was almost indistinct.
‘I destroyed them,' Benedict said gently.
She had to ask. ‘Did you look at them?'
His hands curved over her shoulders. ‘Yes.'
Her eyes filled, and she barely kept the tears at bay. ‘I imagine they were—'
‘Damning.'
A muscle contracted in one cheek. ‘Would you have believed—?'
‘No.' He touched a finger to her cheek, then trailed its tip to the corner of her mouth. ‘They were intended to be held against you as blackmail.' He traced the fullness of her lower lip. ‘What was the price, Gabbi?'
‘Me,' she enlightened him with stark honesty. ‘Out of your life.'
His hand slid to her throat and caressed the soft hollows at its base.
‘You imagined I would let you go?'
‘Annaliese was counting on it.'
His fingers slid to the top button of her pyjama shirt and dealt with it, before slipping down to the next one. The second button slid free, as did the third and last. Gently, he pulled the satin shirt free from her arms.
Gabbi watched his eyes darken as they rested on the pink smudges marking each pale globe.
‘It's to be hoped the infamous Tony was well paid. Expert medical care can be expensive.'
Her mouth opened, then closed again as he brushed it with his own.
She shivered at the extent of his power. At how quickly he could exert it, and how far it could reach.
‘You came home early,' Gabbi whispered. ‘Why?'
His lips curved. ‘Because I didn't want to spend another night away from you.'
Unbidden, the tears welled up and spilled, trickling down each cheek in twin rivulets. Gentle fingers tilted her chin, and she felt the touch of his mouth as it trailed one cheek, then the other, before he kissed each eyelid in turn.
‘Don't,' Benedict bade her quietly.
She wanted to say she loved him. The words hovered near the edge of her lips, but remained unspoken.
‘Tomorrow morning we're flying out to Hawaii.'
A protest rose to her lips. ‘The office—'
‘Can get by without us,' Benedict assured her as he scooped her into his arms.
‘The Gibson deal—'
‘James will handle it.'
‘Benedict—'
‘Shut up,' he ordered softly as he sank down onto the bed with her cradled on his lap.
Her pulse leapt then accelerated to a faster beat as his mouth brushed her temple then slid to the sensitive hollow beneath her ear.
She felt secure. And protected. For now, it was enough.
Gabbi's fingers worked the knot on his tie, then slid to the buttons on his shirt. ‘I need to feel your skin next to mine.'

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