Enraptured Page 5

  Ellie and Ramsey had initially tried to set dinner up for Gabriel and herself in the formal dining room, but she’d quickly nixed that idea. She wasn’t here as Gabriel’s guest or date, she was here in a professional capacity, so she’d insisted on dining with them in the kitchen. Gabriel had seen the place setting for one in the dining room, snorted, and joined them in the kitchen for the evening meal, and it hadn’t been brought up again. Which was just as well.

  She inhaled the strong aroma of the coffee. Funny, Ellie baked and cooked, but it was Ramsey who insisted on making the coffee, and his brews always made her perk up – like a Chihuahua on speed, she’d told him. Just not today. The lack of sleep was accumulating, making her feel punch-drunk.

  ‘Is it because you’re sleeping away from your home bed?’ Ellie asked, gesturing to the steaming mug in her hand.

  Bella grimaced. She hadn’t really slept in her own bed for months. She’d camped out at the hospital for those last days of her father’s life, then had taken an assignment almost immediately after the funeral, something that would pay the bills and get her away from a home burdened with sorrowful memories, the home she now had to sell to wipe out some of the debt. She was okay, though. Without her father there, it was just a pile of bricks and mortar.

  ‘I don’t usually have a problem sleeping,’ she commented. No, she had an ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Usually. Just not here, in this house. She started to walk down the hallway. She and Gabriel had gotten into a routine. At nine-thirty every morning, she would run him through his exercises under strict supervision. He would grumble, she would ignore the grumbling, then they would break for morning tea. After that she had free time until after lunch, where she would do some light muscle manipulation, followed by a massage.

  She winced as she swallowed a mouthful of too-hot coffee. Those massages were becoming sweet torture. Funny, he didn’t grumble through those.

  She walked into the room and set her coffee on the side table, then frowned at her massage table. She was sure she’d set it up last night, ready for this morning. Where were the towels? She scanned the floor, thinking they may have slipped off the table. She was looking back towards the door when a shadow passed over the wall.

  She whirled around, glancing toward the window.

  Nothing.

  She crossed the room and flicked the curtain aside. It was yet another brilliantly sunny day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing – and nobody in sight. She twisted her head in one direction, then the other.

  She knew she’d seen the shadow, damn it. As though someone was striding down the verandah that rimmed the house.

  ‘Are you ready for me?’ A deep voice rumbled from behind her, and she jumped, twitching the curtain back as she turned to face Gabriel.

  He stood there, his shirt unbuttoned, denim cut-offs revealing strong thighs. The thin strip of flesh she could see between the gap in fabric was a wall of well-defined muscle. Was she ready for him? Like an uninhibited high-school graduate holidaying during Schoolies Week on the Gold Coast, maybe. With thoughts like that racing through her head, and lust coursing through her body, maybe she wasn’t ready at all.

  ‘Uh, just let me find some towels.’ She rummaged through her bag, and came up empty-handed. Hell. This was happening way too often. Gabriel must think she was the most disorganised, unprofessional physiotherapist… ‘I’ll go check in the linen closet.’

  No friggin’ towels. She could understand forgetting some things through sleep deprivation, but since she’d been at this job, something had gone wrong every damn day, and it was beginning to annoy her.

  She strode down the hall and flung open the door to the linen closet. Her jaw dropped. Not a damn towel in sight. What the hell?

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Ellie asked as she crossed the hallway, feather duster in hand.

  Bella frowned. ‘There are no towels.’ That was – odd. She always established a routine with the towels as she used so many of them, and wanted to avoid this situation. How could they all be in the wash?

  Ellie frowned. ‘But – I’m sure I put a whole batch in there last night.’

  ‘I can’t really work on him without the towels,’ she muttered.

  ‘I’ll be back in a moment.’ Ellie hurried out of sight, only to reappear moments later, carrying a bundle of towels. ‘Ah, they were in the laundry.’

  Bella’s eyebrows rose. ‘You got down to the laundry and back again so quickly.’ And she wasn’t even puffed. The woman was older than Bella, but obviously much fitter. Heavy footsteps clumped down the hall, and Bella turned, expecting to see Gabriel, but was surprised to see the noise emanated from a dirty Ramsey. A dark figure in the hallway, his footsteps had sounded much heavier and more substantial than his lean frame would imply. For a moment Bella thought she could see a golden shimmer surrounding him. She blinked, and the shimmer disappeared.

  Damn, she really needed to sleep.

  Ramsey frowned when he saw them. ‘What’s the matter?’

  Ellie hefted the bundle of towels. ‘Oh, Bella was just looking for some towels,’ she said.

  Ramsey cocked an eyebrow. ‘Really? I thought you…’

  ‘Oh, I left them on the machine, apparently,’ Ellie said quickly.

  ‘Here, let me help you,’ Ramsey said, and took the clean towels off his partner.

  ‘Oh, no, that’s all right, I can carry them,’ Bella said, hiding a wince as he clasped the clean linen to his dirty shirt.

  Ramsey grinned. ‘It’s no trouble. I need to talk to Gabe about his turtle pond, anyway.’

  That made Bella stop. ‘Turtle pond?’

  ‘Turtle pond?’ Ellie repeated.

  ‘Yeah, his turtle pond. You know how nuts he is over turtles,’ Ramsey said to Ellie over his shoulder. ‘I thought it would be a nice project for us to work on.’

  ‘You’re building a turtle pond with him?’ Ellie spoke with sigh, a happy smile blooming across her face. ‘That’s so nice of you.’

  Ramsey frowned. ‘No, it’s not.’

  ‘Yes, it is.’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ Ramsey growled.

  Bella blinked. There was something going on between these two that she simply didn’t understand.

  They paused in front of the hallway, and Ramsey turned to Bella, beaming as he handed the towels to her. He even inclined his head in a mock bow. ‘Here you go, madam.’

  She took the towels from him, and for a moment she saw a little cloud of what could have been dust, but looked more like glittery sand, drifting over the fabric. It tickled her nose, and she sneezed, seeing little glimmering cloud bursts behind her closed eyelids.

  ‘Bless you,’ Ramsey said, grinning, then stepped out of the way, allowing her to pass him.

  She entered the room, sneezing once more as Ramsey shut the door behind her.

  ***

  Rump turned to find Esmerelda standing behind him, arms folded, foot tapping. He raised his eyebrows innocently. ‘What?’

  She whipped her hand out, palm up. ‘Give it to me.’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Her brows drew together in what he assumed she meant to be a fearsome frown, but she ruined the effect when she scrunched her nose up, just a little, in that adorable way she had. ‘Give it to me, now,’ she muttered, emphasising the last word.

  He sighed and reached into his back pocket. She knew him too well, and saw everything. Well, almost everything. He handed the little drawstring bag over, flinching as she snatched it from him.

  ‘My fairy dust. Really, Rump? Really?’

  He shrugged. ‘I thought they needed a little help.’

  ‘We’re here to observe, Rump, not trip them out on fairy dust.’ She shook her head, frowning that cute scrunchy-nosed frown at him.

  ‘Come on. It’s been two weeks. At the rate they’re going, we could still be here next year. I figure they just need a little nudge along.’

  Her mouth opene
d, as though she was talking, but no sound came out. She lowered her hands to her hips. ‘Have you forgotten what happened the last time you handled the fairy dust?’

  They’d totally fried Gabe’s circuits for a few hours. Rump grinned. It had been quite funny, actually, watching the big guy wig out in a twinkling blaze of glory. He’d even danced. Esmerelda glared and Rump dropped his smile, donning a more suitably sober expression.

  ‘Yes, which is why I used much less this time.’

  Esmerelda shook her head as she turned away. ‘You can be such a troll sometimes.’

  ‘Hey, a moment ago I was nice.’

  ‘No, a moment ago I was wrong.’

  She hesitated, her hands stretching out either side to touch the walls of the hall. ‘Can you feel that?’

  He watched as a breeze stirred her blonde curls. ‘No,’ he lied.

  She shook her head, and tilted it to the side, her eyes closing. ‘No, wait, there’s something there.’

  Goosebumps rose on his arms, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Oh, yeah, there was something there, all right. Something that pulled at his memory, and the muscles in his jaw flexed as he tried to pull that dark memory into the light. He couldn’t quite get a fix on it, though. All he knew was that he was getting closer to that which he pursued.

  But if Essie realised, she would tell Matilda, and then this assignment would end as Matilda marshalled her forces, and all his hard work would be for nought.

  ‘Yes, there is something there,’ he whispered as he tugged her around to face him and kissed her.

  Chapter 5

  She tasted like honeysuckle and dew, sunlight and laughter. Rump deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue against hers as he pulled her in tight against his body.

  He realised that, for a moment, she was too shocked to do anything, then her hands slid into his hair, gently pulling at the strands as she rocked her body against his.

  Desire spiked through his veins, burning him up as she wiggled, moaning against him. He sucked the sound down deep inside him, and it fuelled his lust. He backed her up against a wall, slanting his lips one way, then another, in an effort to get even closer to her.

  Then all of a sudden those enchanting hands delicately tugging in his hair pulled with a swift painful yank, and he jerked his head back.

  Essie stared up at him, her cheeks glowing, her eyes sparkling. She was shimmering all over, just as he realised he was.

  ‘We shouldn’t do this,’ she whispered. ‘It’s not…’ her voice trailed off, as though she’d lost her train of thought.

  ‘Nice?’ He suggested, grinning as he winked at her. She tugged on his hair again, harder. ‘Ow.’

  ‘No, that wasn’t nice,’ she muttered as she shoved him back, putting a little bit of magical zing behind her hands for good measure.

  He stepped aside to let her pass, and it wasn’t until she’d walked down the hall and out of sight that he rubbed his chest. Ouch.

  He’d kissed her to distract her, but he’d been the one totally mesmerised. Despite the little burning sensation on his skin he smiled. She’d kissed him back. Despite her bluster, there was still a spark between them. That was good. He could work with that, breathe life into that spark, turn it into a blaze.

  Or burn out trying.

  For all his time in Confinement, two things had gotten him through it; memories of the fair Esmerelda – and plans for revenge. He just hoped getting both didn’t turn out to be one and the same. He didn’t want to hurt Esmerelda, but if she’d betrayed him…

  ***

  Gabe gritted his teeth as Bella made him raise his arm again. He wasn’t holding a weight, but his arm trembled as though he was carrying a load of bricks.

  ‘Okay, that’s good,’ Bella crooned in a husky voice. ‘And down. Great. One more time.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You can do it, Gabriel. Once more. I know it hurts, I know it’s uncomfortable, but you’re doing great. Just think, if you keep this up, you’ll build up that muscle, wake up those nerves, and you can be rid of us physios, once and for all.’

  And so he did it again. This was the pattern of their days. She pushed him beyond his pain barrier, he protested, and she ignored him and pushed him some more. Admittedly, overall he felt he was getting a little stronger, but he still woke up in pain, and she still had to spend some time on warming his muscles and pushing them back to where they were supposed to be. Bella had a way of calming him down, though; her determination was just the form of encouragement he needed.

  ‘Great. Good work, Gabriel.’

  Such a simple statement, but one that gave him a sense of pride he was too shy to show.

  ‘Okay, so let me go get a heat pack, and we’ll relax those muscles. We’ve done some good work today, and I don’t want your muscles to spasm before this afternoon’s massage.’

  His favourite part of the day, that massage. He watched as she left the room with the wheat bag. He liked her touching his body. Well, when she wasn’t trying to play macramé with his tendons, that is. She had amazing strength in her fingers, and yet could be so gentle, so soothing.

  So lust-inspiring.

  She hurried back into the room, her long braid falling over her shoulder as she grabbed a towel from the pile she’d placed on the side table. A dust cloud arose, and for a moment he was entranced by the sun glinting on dust motes so that it looked like a glittering shower.

  Bella sneezed. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she muttered. She crossed over to him, wrapping the heat pack in the towel. ‘Okay, so lie down, make yourself comfortable.’

  He did as instructed, and she placed the warmed towel against his skin. There was a little crackle, a pop, and they stared at each other in surprise.

  His senses sharpened, his vision bowing and flexing in on itself before snapping back into a sharp clarity. As the warmth spread through his shoulder, his pulse began to pound in his ears, and lethargy stole over him, like a sensual cloud of relaxed need unfurling through his body.

  Bella’s gazed dropped to his shoulder, and her fingers trailed from where they held the pack to his frame, across his torso so that she clutched both of his arms. Her breasts rose and fell beneath the soft cotton of her t-shirt. He’d wanted to touch that shirt so much, to run his hand over the swelling flesh beneath.

  He raised his hand, and it was as though he was watching a scene from a movie, or having an almost out-of-body experience. Then he touched the shirt, and sensation rippled through him at the contact. Bella’s eyes widened, the dark pools of her pupils expanding, and she leaned in.

  He ran his hand up over the top of her shirt, up and around to the nape of her neck, where he grasped her braid and tugged her head down to his. He kissed her, openly, wetly, his tongue sliding in to meet with hers. Her hands smoothed down his sides in a caress that was like flicking a match into dry scrub, and he surrendered to the conflagration of need that swept over him.

  He pulled her body over his, exactly the way he’d fantasised for so many days now, but his daydreams were nowhere near the ecstasy of the reality. Again and again, his lips widened, devouring hers in a kiss that went from hello to carnal in a heartbeat.

  His senses were on high alert. Her scent as he inhaled her essence into his body, fogging his mind, the whisper of their mingling breaths, the liquid hot taste of her mouth against his, the heat of her body as she arched her back, surrendering to their mutual arousal – and the unexpected chill that made the goosebumps rise on his skin.

  A mighty crack of thunder blasted through the room, and the lamp bulb shattered on the table next to them. The windows swung inwards, banging against the wall, shattering.

  Bella jerked away, startled, her eyes wide with desire, with surprise, with a slow building of awareness.

  Wind tore through the room, the curtains billowing inward, flapping as though reaching out with phantom fingers toward them. Bella slid off him, and he let her go, slowly, h
is hands gliding down her arms as his gaze held hers. She was breathing as though she’d run a race, and he realised he was panting in sync. He had to clench his fists to stop himself from reaching out to her and pulling her down for another kiss – and more.

  He forced his attention to the window – or what was left of it. He frowned. What the hell? The sky outside was dark, and the wind had picked up, the trees lining the drive were bending under the force of the gale. This morning had been so sunny, so warm, and now it seemed the temperature had dropped by several degrees, the weather turning on itself. Funny, he hadn’t heard anything about a storm.

  The door burst open, and both Ellie and Ramsey bolted in, concern on their faces.

  ‘What happened?’ Ellie asked, and Ramsey strode over to the window, glass crunching under his boots.

  ‘Uh, I’m not sure,’ Bella said, flicking her braid over her shoulder, avoiding Gabriel’s gaze. ‘Everything just seemed to explode.’ Did frustration grip her body as it seemed to grip his? He just wanted everyone to go away so that he and Bella could resume what they’d been doing before Mother Nature had effectively cleared her throat. He loved the feel of her body against his, wanted to experience more of it.

  Ramsey turned to survey the room, taking in the massage table, the towels, and the wrapped heat pack Gabriel held in his hands. ‘I see.’

  Ellie folded her arms as she stared at her partner. ‘It appears we need to do some housekeeping.’

  Ramsey nodded. ‘It would appear so.’

  Gabriel glanced between the two. Ellie seemed to be annoyed with Ramsey, for some reason. ‘It’s just the wind,’ he told the older woman. Ellie smiled, and for a moment something teased at his memory, and his brow wrinkled. She seemed so familiar.

  ‘It’s fine. Ramsey and I will clean up this mess. Why don’t you two go sit in the living room – I’ve just laid out some morning tea there.’