The Russian's Pregnant Mistress (9 page)

No, he knew that he’d been trying to figure out how to have her close ever since he’d given in on his need to see her. He’d even rearranged his travel schedule so that he would be in D.C. for the next few weeks, just so he could be with her with some uninterrupted time away, delegating several issues to his vice presidents so he didn’t have to travel.

He’d looked into her work life and found that her company didn’t allow their personnel to work outside of the office. Apparently her boss assumed that working from home or off-site meant the employee was most likely slacking off. Damon had fixed that issue easily enough. He’d bought the whole damn company, using his personal accounts so that it wouldn’t fall under the purview of his international corporation. He wanted to be able to oversee this company on his own, to ensure that Gabriella had all the opportunities she wanted without an obnoxious boss to hold her back. It hadn’t even dented his bank account since she worked for a small company.

This was the one area that wasn’t in place. He’d finalized the deal with the current owner, but there were still some lingering legal issues that had to be dealt with. Until then, he kept this part of his plan to himself. He’d tell Gabriella about the sale when the time was right.

Gabby took several more sips of tea, considering all the angles. After several minutes, she nodded her head. “I don’t have any place for the baby, so I don’t mind moving in with you until I can have an addition put on this cottage. That would be a huge help.”

Damon didn’t like the sound of that at all. He didn’t want a temporary relationship. He wanted a permanent one. He wanted to be with Gabriella every day. Suddenly, he realized it wasn’t just because of the baby and he backed off, his mind stunned to think that he was falling into the same trap he’d done to himself with that bitch Nika when he was eighteen. Great sex did not equate to love, he reminded himself. When he’d gotten to know Nika better, he understood that he hadn’t really liked the person she was, but had been too blinded by sex to see the rotten personality inside of the beautiful package. That had happened even before she’d aborted his child. He’d hated her after that but it had been a good lesson for him. It made him stronger now as he dealt with Gabriella.

He straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath. “There’s no need to put an addition to this house. I’ve already bought you a house that’s much larger than this one.”

Gabby’s eyes moved from her kitchen wall to his face, trying to understand what he was telling her. “You bought me a house? Why?”

He shrugged and pushed away from the wall. “Let me show you the house. Once you see it, you’ll understand that it’s large enough for the baby.” He was actually eager to show this place to her. All of this was strange to him. Just a half hour ago, he’d been trying to figure out how to get out of here and needing to keep his distance so he wasn’t surprised by any of those nasty emotions he’d experienced the last time he’d been with her. Now he was ready to spend the day with her, showing her the new house and hoping she would like it. He’d hired a decorator, given the woman only a few days and a general sense of Gabriella’s style. The results looked pretty good in his mind, but he wanted her to like it as well.

He didn’t wait for her response, but took her hand and pulled her out of the chair, leading her through her den and out the front door, grabbing a sweater off of the hook by the door because of the chill in the air. He grabbed her purse as well, locking the door before leading her out to the waiting limousine. Gabriella made a few feeble attempts to resist his pull, but he ignored her, sensing her curiosity about the house.

It was a short, ten minute drive to the house he’d selected. He’d actually wanted her closer in to the city so that he could get to her with less hassle, but at the time, he’d been trying to be considerate by not taking her completely out of the neighborhoods she was familiar with. Now that there was a baby in the picture, the house was actually ideal because it had a large amount of land surrounding it. That would provide both an area for his son to play in and would give his guards an easier area to protect. The issues surrounding guarding a house with close neighbors were massive. The nearest neighbor in this area was several hundred feet away, more than enough room for his guards to set up their equipment and ensure his family’s safety.

Gabby sat in the limousine, her body tense with both nerves and the thought of what this house implied. He must have misspoke about the house though. He hadn’t bought the house for her. He’d just bought a house as an investment and thought she might like to visit. Or maybe he’d bought it with her preferences in mind. Her heart soared at that possibility. It meant he’d been thinking about her after he’d left that horrible morning. It still didn’t explain why he’d left, but it soothed a wound in her heart that she hadn’t realized was still sore.

“We’re here,” he said as the limousine pulled into a long, tree lined driveway. When the house finally appeared, Gabby’s breath stopped in her throat. This wasn’t a house! It was a mansion! It was huge! The white, neoclassical style house had six massive columns on the front porch that stood in front of six large windows with black shutters framing each one. The ground floor had three doors. Three! And that was just what she could see from the front! There were side buildings and extensions, a circular drive that was surrounded by large shade trees and an enormous weeping willow dusting the opposite side of the house. The center of the drive had what seemed like a magical garden with lush bushes surrounding a stone fountain in the center.

“This is your new house?” she asked, sitting up and looking out the tinted window to get a better view. Already she loved the style even though it was bigger than she would have liked. It was just another example of Damon’s enormous wealth, a wealth her mind simply couldn’t grasp since it was so far outside of her world.

“This is your house,” he clarified. “I bought it for you.”

She turned around and looked back at him, her eyes wide with amazement. “What do you mean? You couldn’t have bought a house for me. Especially not one this large and expensive.” She couldn’t even imagine what a house like this would cost, but it had to be in the millions.

“Why not?” he asked and opened the door, stepping onto the driveway and extending his hand to help her.

Gabby stared at the hand, actually afraid to touch him. But she couldn’t just ignore his hand. That would be rude, wouldn’t it?

In the end, she took the offered hand, trying very hard to suppress the shiver of awareness that struck through her every time she touched him. She obviously wasn’t quite successful because he looked down at her, the heat right back in his eyes. He’d felt her reaction and thought he was going to be back in her bed as easily as that. He would be severely disappointed if he thought he was getting back into her bed tonight. Or even this afternoon, she thought with full realization that he didn’t reserve his sexual appetites for the night hours.

Okay, neither did she, she thought as she pushed her need for this man to the side. She couldn’t have sex with him now, she told herself firmly.

She distracted him by stepping away and asking about the house. “Why did you buy this house?” She still couldn’t accept that he’d bought it for her.

“It's yours. It’s fully paid for along with a staff. There’s a gardener to take care of the grounds and a housekeeper to clean and make your meals. She has the authority to hire additional staff when you want to entertain and I’ll pay for all the expenses.”

Gabby’s mouth dropped open. A gardener? A housekeeper? Was he serious? “That still doesn’t answer the question of why you did it.” She was too stunned to react to the staffing issue. What did one do with a household staff? And a gardener? Who had a gardener? Even her friends who had a maid come into their homes once a week to clean didn’t have a gardener.

He shrugged his shoulders and took her hand, tucking it into his elbow as he led her up the stone stairs to the wide, grey porch that already had rockers on each end, complete with flowered pillows that were similar to the ones she had in her family room. “I had a decorator come in and set things up, but I’ll provide an allowance for you so that you can change anything you want so it suits you better. And we’ll need to decorate one of the rooms upstairs into a nursery. Obviously that’s one thing I hadn’t anticipated.” They stepped into the foyer which was incredibly lovely with a black and white marble floor, a large, wooden table in the center with a gorgeous floral arrangement in the center. He handed her an envelope saying, “Credit cards for anything you need.”

Gabby wouldn’t take the envelope, just stood there staring at it as if it were evil. “I already have credit cards,” she said coldly. A thought was starting to seep into her brain and she didn’t like the direction it was going. Not one little bit.

He tossed the envelope back onto the polished table. “I’ll show you the rest of the house.” He led her through room after room that continued to amaze her. There were fresh flowers everywhere, even outside at this early fall day with chrysanthemums blooming in a rainbow of colors. Inside, there was the front parlor that moved into a dining room, then a kitchen that a gourmet chef would love. The kitchen and dining area were so filled with sunlight because of the wall of windows that Gabby gasped with delight, ignoring the smile of satisfaction he arrogantly bestowed on her as he led her to the other rooms. An office on the ground floor, a living room, a separate area for watching television or listening to music with every conceivable piece of stereo equipment available. He started to show her how to use the universal remote, but she shook her head and pushed it away, pulling her arms away and crossing them over her stomach.

She moved upstairs and, just as she’d suspected, there were several bedrooms. Nine in all, but two were filled with office equipment, one with masculine, techy sort of furniture and the other was more feminine. Both had state of the art laptops and multiple monitors and some sort of tech-looking chair, but the only other room that was furnished on this floor was the master bedroom. It was done in a soft, buttery yellow and light blue décor, plush chairs and sofas in the sitting area which was separated from the sleeping area with columns. The plush carpet cushioned her feet and the curtains filtered the bright, autumn sunlight. She didn’t even want to look at the bathroom, knowing that it would be gorgeous and decadent.

The house was amazing, but the more she saw, the higher her anger boiled. This house wasn’t for her. It was a house for a mistress! He’d bought this house so he could come here when he was in town and had time, let her entertain him and then he could move on to his next business deal, showing up the next time he had a break in his corporate schedule.

“What sort of schedule did you have in mind?” she asked, not even trying to keep the sarcasm and anger from her tone of voice.

Damon stopped looking around, satisfied that his directions had been followed perfectly. Especially the bed, he thought. He couldn’t wait to get Gabriella into that bed where his legs weren’t dangling off the end and he could spend more time enjoying her lush, incredibly sexy body at his leisure.

There was something wrong with her tone though. He turned around and looked down at her, suddenly seeing the anger there. “What’s wrong? You don’t like the colors? I’ll have the decorator stop by and talk to you. She can change anything you don’t like.”

Gabby took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “The house is beautiful. The problem isn’t with any of the decorations, it’s with the implication.”

He was confused. If she liked the house, what was the problem?

“You’re going to have to explain this to me. If you like the house, what’s wrong?”

She threw her arms up. “You bought this house for me? Or for your convenience? Were you just going to plunk me in this luxury and feel good about coming and going whenever you had a moment to spare for a quickie?” She was so furious, she could barely think. “Was I to become your mistress?” she yelled at him.

She saw the truth immediately in his eyes and her anger increased in intensity. She couldn’t ever remember being this furious in her whole life. This man just brought out the most extreme emotions in her! “You bastard! You thought I was the kind of woman who would appreciate this kind of gesture! You thought I would actually agree to become your mistress! No strings attached, you can come and go as you please, do as you please and I’ll just wait here, wondering when you might have time for me.”

“All that has changed, Gabriella. I’ll be living here with you! And I’ll marry you if you’d just say yes!” He honestly didn’t understand why she was upset by his assumptions.

She was shaking with her anger, livid that he would think she was so low. “You can live here all you want, but there is absolutely no way I’ll be living here with you! I’m not some….” She couldn’t even say the word, tears forming in her eyes. She angrily wiped them away and almost ran out of the bedroom. Her pride was wounded because she’d thought he was different! Yet again, she was disappointed in her assumptions, her dreams cruelly crushed by his arrogant assumption that she would be thrilled with this kind of arrangement, that she would actually like it!

She’d honestly thought that she’d glimpsed a small bit of vulnerability in that arrogant man but all she’d done was delude herself into thinking that he might have some emotions deeply buried. She was such a sap to think that he might need her, that she could help him and heal something that had happened so long ago that had made him into this hard, unyielding man.

He was handsome and wealthy and had confidence oozing out of every pore of his body. But the tender side of him was non-existent. He was just a bastard and she’d allowed him in, once again giving him the opportunity to hurt her and humiliate her!

She ran down the stairs and outside into the sunshine, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she cried out her mortification.

“Gabriella, if you don’t like the house, I’ll find another,” he said, right behind her and completely confused. He wanted to go to her, to pull her into his arms and make everything better but he didn’t understand why she was upset. All the other women he’d been with had been begging, needling, cajoling and doing everything in their power to get him to offer them this kind of relationship. All of them would have been thrilled at what he was offering to Gabriella but none of them had tempted him in the smallest way to make this kind of commitment. She was the only one that had made him think that a long term relationship even had a chance. And he would go even further by marrying her if she would consent to the marriage.