Free Double Dealing by Jayne Castle

methodical way of his. What would it
be like?
    “No, I don’t think you do see,” Gabriel corrected her mildly.
“You asked earlier if it was Emil’s money behind the spa. It isn’t. It’s mine.
I loaned the capital to Donna two years ago. It’s been a very profitable
venture for both of us.”
    Samantha gave him a sharp look. “You’re her financial backer?”
    “ Ummm .” His mouth twisted wryly. “At
the time I didn’t know who her brother was. By the time I found out, it was too
late. I couldn’t back out of the deal and leave Donna stranded.”
    “If Donna’s family has so much
money, why didn’t she borrow from them?”
    “Believe me, that’s one of the first questions I asked Donna
when I found out just what I’d gotten involved with! The simple truth is Donna
has spent her whole life trying to break away from the family connections. She
wanted her business to be strictly legitimate, funded with strictly legitimate
money. When she came to me two years ago, she deliberately neglected to tell me
about Emil and the other relatives. The first I knew of it was the night
Fortune showed up on my doorstep.”
    “A shock?”
    “To put it mildly. But it turned out he only wanted to make
sure I didn’t have any designs on his sister.”
    “Romantic designs or financial designs?” Samantha demanded
without stopping to think.
    One mahogany brow lifted coolly. “Do you always say the
first thing that comes into your head?”
    “Not everyone is as deliberate and premeditated as you are,
Gabriel,” she murmured, ruffled at the implied accusation of flightiness.
    “I prefer to do business with people who think and act the
same way I do,” he warned very gently.
    “Then you must find your life a bit dull at times,” she
snapped.
    To her astonishment he considered that. “At times,” he
finally agreed. “Are you going to liven things up for me a bit?” he asked
whimsically.
    “Your friend Mr. Fortune thought it might be good for you,”
she grinned wickedly. “Don’t worry, though. I assured him our association was
strictly business.”
    “That was exactly the type of association I had with Donna
Fortune,” he said calmly.
    Samantha narrowed her eyes briefly.
    “Which was why Emil was so concerned. He had visions of some
enterprising capitalist getting his financial hooks into Donna and then taking
advantage of her. By the time I had assured him everything was straightforward and
honest between Donna and myself, Emil and I somehow discovered we had become
friends.”
    “It sounds like a dangerous friendship.”
    “Friendships, I’ve discovered, aren’t always logical.”
    “Don’t look so chagrined.” Samantha laughed. “There are a
lot of things in life which aren’t logical.”
    He looked at her. “So I’m learning.”
    Samantha chewed reflectively on her lower lip and wondered
exactly what was going through her angel’s very logical, very organized brain.
    Gabriel saw the speculation in her gaze and thought he knew
precisely what was going on in the lively brain of the sweet witch he had invited to dinner. She found him dull,
pedantic, slow, and God knew what else. But she was here, he told himself. She
was in his house, drinking his wine, and about to eat the food he had prepared.
He was amazed at how territorial and possessive his thoughts were. Even a
little predatory.
    “It’s time to start dinner,” he announced, getting to his
feet with a decisive movement, feeling a need for some
physical release from the tension he’d been under. When seven o’clock had
arrived with no sign of Samantha, he’d experienced the most appalling surge of
anger. It was an anger which had died quickly after her belated arrival, but
some of the tension it had caused persisted. “You can stay here and finish
another glass of wine if you like.”
    “No, I’d much rather watch you at work. Perhaps I’ll learn
something,” Samantha said lightly, rising quickly to follow him into