The Man She Can't Forget. Maggie Cox

Lara looked affronted, and again Gabriel couldn’t resist goading her.

      ‘Who’s he named after? One of your ex-boyfriends?’

      ‘He’s my parents’ dog, not mine, you ninny.’

      ‘You always used to call me that. You might be surprised to know I found it quite endearing.’

      ‘Now, that I don’t believe. My perception was that it irritated you. I was the pesky sixteen-year-old sister of your friend, remember? You didn’t take me at all seriously. You put up with me out of politeness to Sean and my parents, I’m sure.’

      ‘That’s not true.’ Gabriel frowned, perturbed that Lara had believed that.

      ‘Come on, then.’ As if intuiting his disturbance, she gave him a cheery smile. ‘Let’s go and find Barney.’

      As he squelched through the dense and muddied undergrowth in his thousand-dollar Italian loafers, with the damp leaves of bushes and thickets brushing against his immaculate white shirt, occasionally stumbling when he lost his balance, Gabriel had to smile at the ludicrous image he must present. His colleagues on Wall Street would have a field day if they could see him.

      Strangely enough, that made him smile even more. In truth, he wasn’t predisposed to be glum or morose. He honestly thought that he had the best of it. How could he not when he was following behind the long-legged beauty in tight jeans in front of him?

      Lara was negotiating the uneven muddy trail through the woods like a latter-day female Indiana Jones, hardly pausing for breath and calling out ‘Barney!’ every now and then with renewed gusto. Gabriel knew himself to be a fit man who welcomed a challenge—be it mental or physical—but his companion’s agility and stamina had to be seen to be believed.

      Suddenly coming to a halt, and with frustration and apprehension in her voice, Lara shouted, ‘Barney! This isn’t funny. What do you think you’re playing at, you naughty boy?’

      ‘Sounds like you’re expecting him to reply.’

      ‘Ha-ha, very funny...not.’

      This time Gabriel was treated to an irritated glare which, thankfully, he didn’t take seriously—not when he guessed that Lara would be utterly distraught if they couldn’t find the dog. It made him want to make more of a concerted effort to help her.

      ‘Barney!’ he yelled, striding towards an even denser section of the woods that they hadn’t yet explored, at that point not giving a fig that his shoes were now more or less ruined by the rough, muddy terrain.

      Was that a glimpse of a dark sandy-coloured coat he’d just spied through the trees? He squinted searchingly. Gabriel would bet his bottom dollar that it was.

      ‘Barney! Here, boy!’ he called again, moving more deeply into the shrouded area in front of him.

      He hadn’t gone very far when he saw the terrier’s wriggling rear-end pointed upwards towards the sheltering canopy of leaves. The dog was furiously digging in the earth as though intent on finding treasure.

      ‘I’ve found him!’ he called out to Lara, spinning round only to find her hurrying towards him. Her white shirt was splattered with mud, as his was, her long dark hair was engagingly dishevelled, and her pretty face was visibly flushed pink with the heat of her exertions.

      ‘Thank God!’ she exclaimed as she flew past Gabriel to reach her adored family pet, dropping down onto her knees on the rough woodland floor.

      She didn’t seem to care that she might potentially hurt herself or ruin her clothes.

      ‘Barney, you’re a very naughty boy,’ she scolded fondly, lifting the animal away from his enthusiastic digging and hugging him to her chest, uncaring that the terrier had made her white shirt even muddier.

      Crazy as it was, Gabriel couldn’t help but envy the small hound. He wouldn’t mind his once spotless tailored shirt getting even dirtier if Lara held him to her fulsome breasts like that.

      ‘He was probably digging for rabbits.’ She grinned up at him, her dark eyes shining. ‘He can’t help himself.’ Turning back to the dog, she crooned, ‘You’re a natural-born hunter, aren’t you, baby?’

      Then, before Gabriel could take command of his besieged senses and help her, she gracefully rose to her feet and slipped the leash back on the terrier’s collar.

      ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly starving. Let’s get back and I’ll fix us some lunch.’

      Starving didn’t come close to describing Gabriel’s appetite right then—and it wasn’t food that he hungered for. His best friend’s little sister was seriously challenging his libido and winning. Of all the things he might have envisaged happening on this trip to the UK, it wasn’t that.

      Just what the hell he was going to do about it he didn’t rightly know. But to seriously consider bedding the shapely brunette and risk sullying his once good relationship with her and her family almost didn’t bear thinking about.

      ‘I want you to take off that shirt when we get home,’ Lara instructed as she airily swept past him with Barney.

      ‘What?’

      Coming to a sudden halt, she turned to flourish at him a cheeky grin that would’ve shamed a mischievous schoolgirl.

      ‘Don’t worry—it’s not because I have designs on your body or anything. You’re quite safe. I was just going to put it in the washing machine. You can borrow one of my dad’s shirts in the meantime. He’s about the same build and height as you, although of course not quite as—not quite as...’

      As her big brown eyes swept over him, and she clearly struggled to finish the sentence, Gabriel once again couldn’t resist being provocative.

      ‘Fit?’ he suggested, smiling.

      ‘You know that saying? It should be “Vanity, thy name is Man—not Woman”.’

      Crossing his arms over his shirtfront, Gabriel mockingly raised an eyebrow. ‘That quote is from Hamlet, and it’s, “Frailty, thy name is woman”—not vanity. Just thought you’d like to know that for future reference.’

      His pretty companion tossed her head and spun away, striding through the undergrowth again with Barney yapping happily beside her—but not before Gabriel saw her look daggers at him, as if she’d like to abandon him in the middle of those dank, dark woods and leave him there.

      * * *

      Lara honestly didn’t know where she was finding the courage to deal with the disturbingly charismatic presence that was Gabriel. And neither had she fully dealt with the shock of him turning up out of the blue like that at her parents’ door.

      As time had gone on, her day had grown more challenging. When they’d been chatting in the living room earlier and Gabriel had drawn her up from her chair to ask about Sean she’d really believed she might faint from the sheer dizzying pleasure of the contact—not to mention the mesmerisingly intense glance he’d given her. His brilliant blue eyes had stared back into hers as though wanting to see into her very soul...as though even that wouldn’t be enough for him to find what he was searching for.

      She’d seen so many things in that seemingly endless glance to take her breath away, but rage and hunger—for what, she didn’t know—had been predominant.

      The second time he’d touched her, catching hold of her hand in the woods and smiling down at her, as though her company genuinely gave him pleasure, the sizzling jolt of electricity Lara had experienced when he put his hand round hers had left her feeling dizzy and confused. Such an extreme reaction to a simple friendly touch didn’t bode well for her peace of mind when the time came for her to say goodbye to Gabriel again. And this time she didn’t doubt his departure would be for good.

      He would go back to his high-octane life on Wall Street and she would return to her much more simple and ordinary routine