Keeping Her Close: In Christofides' Keeping / The Call of the Desert / The Legend of de Marco. ABBY GREEN
at the same moment, Rico looked impossibly grim as he picked up his phone. When someone answered, he bit out tersely, ‘Gypsy Butler. I want you to find out everything you can about her. Money is no object.’
When he put the phone down Rico took another gulp of whisky from the bulbous glass and passed a weary hand over his face. Women caused not a ripple in his life: they were there, they were willing, and he always chose the most beautiful and experienced. Until that night, when everything he’d thought he knew had blown up in his face…
No woman, ever, had made him want to simultaneously throttle her and kiss her. His mouth curled up in a feral smile. Kissing Gypsy certainly would help assuage the near-constant ache in his groin, but he could well imagine the resistance she would undoubtedly put up. She tensed whenever he came near her, but he could see the signs of attraction. It hummed between them like a current of electricity.
Domination of this woman was rapidly becoming his life’s obsession, and sensual domination over her rebellious nature was going to be sweet indeed. For the first time since he could remember work was taking a back seat in his life. Going shopping was something he hadn’t indulged in in a long time. It had reminded him uncomfortably of the night when he’d met Gypsy in the club, and he had ducked into an all-night pharmacy to get protection, like an out-of-control teenager.
He’d felt uncomfortably exposed when she’d pointed out his impulsive gesture to spoil his daughter. How could he explain to Gypsy that he wanted the chance to lavish everything on Lola that he’d been denied up till now? He’d felt exposed and weak; no one had made him feel like that in a long time and he didn’t welcome it.
Perhaps when he’d had Gypsy again he would be able to see clearly how best to slot her into his life. She had to want something, despite her apparent moralistic outrage at his wealth; she’d made a big song and dance earlier, insisting on paying for everything—Rico couldn’t remember the last time a woman had insisted on paying for anything—but once he knew what it was Gypsy wanted, what her weakness was, he would manipulate her to his ends. The most important thing for now was to ensure that he bound both Gypsy and Lola to him as tightly as he could. They weren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
The following evening Gypsy fumed and seethed. She paced along the huge window in the living room and glared at the view. The apartment was quiet. Mrs Wakefield had gone home and Lola was asleep.
When they’d woken that morning Gypsy had found a note from Rico.
I’ll be at the office all day. Call me if you need anything.
He’d listed a number. Gypsy had breathed a sigh of relief, but had momentarily felt an uncomfortable spiking of something suspiciously like disappointment.
It had been later, when she’d been in the hallway, putting the last of the bags full of new clothes she’d decided she and Lola didn’t need—which was most of them—that she’d noticed the tabloid newspapers.
Mrs Wakefield had confided to her that they were her weakness, and that Rico got them delivered each day for her. Something had caught her eye, and she’d opened the top one out to see a grainy picture of Rico, herself and Lola in the park the day before.
Rico had Lola in his arms, and Gypsy stood to one side smiling. She couldn’t even remember that she had been smiling, and it felt like a treachery to see it now. The headline screamed out: Tycoon Rico’s secret family!
In horror, Gypsy had thrown the paper down. With anger boiling upwards she’d tried to call him, but hadn’t been able to get past the clipped secretary who’d said officiously, ‘I’m terribly sorry but Mr Christofides cannot be disturbed at the moment if it’s not urgent. I’ll pass on a message?’
Gypsy had bitten out, ‘Tell Mr Christofides that his secret family would like to talk to him.’
He’d planned it—she knew he must have planned it. To make sure that it was out there in the public domain that he had a child. So that they wouldn’t be able to make a move without being followed.
Sure enough, when Gypsy had rung down to the doorman he’d sounded bewildered and confirmed that, yes, there suddenly seemed to be hundreds of photographers outside the door. To think that she had been surprised by Rico’s apparent willingness to spend time with them.
The apartment door opened at that moment and Gypsy turned round, hands clenched into fists at her sides. With her heart thumping she waited, and watched as Rico’s powerful frame appeared in the doorway. He was tugging at his tie and looked tired. She quashed the concern.
‘Thank you for calling me back today.’ Sarcasm dripped from her voice.
His eyes burned a dark grey, no expression on his face. ‘I got the message.’
Gypsy was starting to shake at his non-response. ‘Do you know that if I hadn’t seen the tabloids and had gone out with Lola we would have been ambushed by the hundreds of photographers outside? As it was we couldn’t leave all day, and to keep a toddler cooped up in an apartment—even one as large as this—is not a pleasurable experience.’
He walked further into the room and pulled off his tie, flicking it down onto a sofa while his large hand went to open the top button of his shirt. Gypsy wanted to back away, but couldn’t as the window was already at her back.
‘I heard about the tabloids getting pictures. There were bodyguards waiting outside. You would have been protected.’
Gypsy threw up her hands. ‘Oh, I’m sorry—is that something I’m just meant to know by osmosis? And what good would bodyguards have been with a hundred paparazzi snapping pictures of me and my child?’
He came closer, and Gypsy could see the glorious olive tone of his skin, that stunning bone structure, and the slightly crooked nose which hinted at a past which contained violence. Despite his urbane exterior, a sense of barely leashed danger oozed out of him.
His mouth was grim. ‘I didn’t call you back because I was involved in intricate negotiations and could not break away.’
Gypsy smiled bitterly. ‘Oh, I’m sure you were. Nothing is as important as negotiations, or making your next million.’
His eyes flashed at that, but he just said, ‘I knew you and Lola were safe. If I’d thought for a second you were calling about something serious—’
Gypsy gasped. ‘That was serious! Our safety was compromised, and we were forced to stay inside like fugitives. Not to mention the fact that our faces are all over the tabloids and everyone is wondering who this secret family is.’
Horror trickled through Gypsy at the thought of people digging and finding out about her history. She had a very real fear that if Rico found out who her father had been, and what she had done when he’d died, he would hold it against her—use the information to make her seem like a weak mother. And if he ever found out about her mother’s mental instability…
Fear galvanised her as she squared up to Rico. ‘I’m leaving in the morning. Taking Lola with me, back to our flat. Your plans are not going to work. I have rights as Lola’s mother. I’ve given you a chance to see her, but I will not let our lives be turned upside down like this.’
Gypsy went to stalk past Rico, but he caught her arm in a bruising grip.
She looked up and tried not to be aware of how tall he was. ‘Let me go.’
His mouth was a grim line. ‘You’re not going anywhere, Gypsy. We don’t have the test results back yet, and that mob outside will follow you and hound you until they know every last detail of your life.’
He articulated her fears exactly. Bitterness blinded her. ‘Which is exactly what you planned, isn’t it? You expect me to believe that you didn’t know about the pictures? Tell me—is one of those filthy editors your friend? Can you feed him stories when you want? Manipulate things to suit you? Manipulate us?’
It had been one of her father’s