Rage of Passion. Diana Palmer

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       Chapter Three

      It was vaguely like living in a war zone, Maggie thought as the first few days went by. Gabriel was impatient and irritable because of his arm, and he seemed to hate the whole world. Nothing pleased him—least of all, it appeared, having Maggie in the house. He treated her with a cold formality that raised goose bumps on her arms. It was obvious that he was tolerating her for his mother's sake alone. And just in case she hadn't already guessed it on her own, he spelled it out for her at breakfast three days after she'd arrived.

      He glanced up coldly when she sat down. It was just the two of them, because his mother was still upstairs. She and Maggie had been up late talking the night before, and Janet seemed to sleep poorly anyway.

      “I'm sorry, am I late?” she asked, throwing out a white flag.

      He smoked his cigarette quietly, his icy eyes level and cutting. “Do you care, one way or another?” he asked.

      She took a deep breath. “I realize you don't want me here…”

      “That's an understatement.” He rolled the cigarette between his lean, dark fingers while he studied her. “What did she offer you to get you down here, Margaret?” he added suddenly, using her name for the first time since she'd been at the ranch.

      Her eyes widened. “N-nothing,” she stammered. “I just needed some rest, that's all.”

      “Rest from what?” he persisted. His pale eyes cut into hers. “You're thin. You always were, but not like this. You're pale, too, and you look unwell. What's going on, Margaret? What are you running from? And why run to me?”

      Her face went white. She caught her breath. “As if I would ever run to you…!”

      “Don't be insulting.” He lifted the cigarette to his chiseled lips, watching her. “Talk to me.”

      She was closing up, visibly, her body taut with nerves. “I can't.”

      “You won't,” he corrected. He smiled slowly, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. It was impatient and half angry. “I'm not blind. I know my mother, I know how her mind works. You're the sacrifice, I gather. Are you a willing one, I wonder?”

      “I don't understand,” she said, bewildered.

      “You will,” he promised, making a threat of the words. He got to his feet, more easily now than he had three days ago. He was improving rapidly; he even looked better.

      “I came to visit with Janet—not to get in your way, Gabriel,” she tried one last time, hating her lack of spirit.

      Gabriel seemed frozen in place. It was the first time she'd said his name since she arrived. He looked at her and felt a wave of heat hit him like a whirlwind in the chest. Odd, how it had always disturbed him to look at her, to be around her. She got under his skin. And now it was worse, now that she was vulnerable. It irritated him to see her like this and not know why. Was it an act? Was it part of the plan his mother had mentioned when she'd thought he was out of earshot? He was wary of the whole damned situation, and the way Maggie affected him after all these years was the last straw.

      “In my way, or in my bed, Maggie?” he asked, deliberately provoking. “Because you wanted me when you were sixteen. I knew it, felt it when you looked at me. Do you still want me, honey?”

      Her face paled, and she dropped her eyes to her faded jeans, staring dully at her slender hands. The old Maggie would have snapped back at him. But the old Maggie was dead, a casualty of her marriage to a cruel and brutal man. She felt sick all over.

      “Don't,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “Don't.”

      “Look at me!” He stared down at her with his cold blue eyes until she obeyed him. Dimly, she noticed he was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved chambray shirt with worn, warped leather boots. In one lean, strong hand, a battered gray Stetson dangled. “You and Mother don't have a chance in hell of pulling it off,” he said quietly. “Give it up. I don't want to hurt you.”

      And with that enigmatic statement, he turned and strode angrily out the door.

      She didn't tell Janet about the confrontation. And afterward, she made it her business to be where he wasn't. He glared at her as if he hated her very presence, but she pretended not to notice. And around his mother, at least, he was courteous enough in his cold way.

      She wondered if he'd ever loved anyone or been loved. He seemed so unapproachable; even his men kept their distance unless they had urgent business. He had little to say to them and even less to say to his mother. He seemed to dislike her, in fact, СКАЧАТЬ