Olivia felt her cheeks heating. “Do you think he’ll approve?”
Ariana smiled. “How could he not?” Her gaze slipped over Olivia, stopping at the diamond-and-emerald bracelet. She reached for Olivia’s hand, as the color drained from her face. “Where did you get that?”
“Gabriel sent it to me.” Concern rose in Olivia. Why was Ariana looking as if she’d seen a ghost? “Why? Do you recognize it?”
“Gabriel sent it?” Ariana echoed. She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“You recognize it?” Olivia felt her heart hit her toes. “It’s cursed, isn’t it?”
“You might say that.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s none of my business.”
There was no way she was letting Ariana get away without an explanation. “If there’s something wrong, I need to know.”
“Really, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Ariana backed toward the bedroom door. “I’m sure everything is fine.”
It wasn’t like Ariana to hedge, especially when it came to things that distressed her. And seeing the bracelet had obviously upset the princess.
“What do you mean everything is fine? Why wouldn’t it be? What aren’t you telling me about the bracelet?”
Olivia caught Ariana’s wrist in a tight grip. Startled, the brunette looked from the hand holding her, to the bracelet on Olivia’s wrist and finally met her gaze.
“I don’t want to upset you.”
“And you think that’s going to persuade me to let you walk out of here without spilling the truth?” Olivia tugged her future sister-in-law toward the wingback chairs flanking the fireplace. She didn’t let go until Ariana sat down. “Tell me what about the bracelet upset you.”
Releasing an audible sigh, the princess leveled her pale gold eyes on Olivia. “The last time I saw that bracelet was the night before Gabriel broke things off with Marissa.”
Pain lanced through Olivia, sharper than anything she’d experienced this morning as she’d watched the pictures of Gabriel and Marissa on the television.
“He bought it for her.”
“Yes. It was...for their second anniversary.”
The cool platinum burned like acid against Olivia’s skin. She clawed at the clasp, blood pounding in her ears. Her excitement over having dinner alone with Gabriel vanished, replaced by wrenching despair. The first gift he’d given her had been the bracelet he’d bought to celebrate two years with Marissa?
The clasp popped open beneath her nails. Olivia dropped it on the mantle and sat in the chair opposite Ariana, unsure how much longer her shaky legs would support her.
“How did he get it back?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she returned it when they broke up.”
Olivia felt sick. It was bad enough that Gabriel had given her the trinket he’d bought for another woman, it was worse that it was a returned gift. “I thought I’d seen it before,” she murmured.
Ariana leaned forward and placed her hand over Olivia’s. “I’m sure this is all a huge misunderstanding. Maybe I’m thinking of a different bracelet.”
Olivia drew comfort from Ariana for a moment, before sitting up straight and bracing her shoulders. “The only misunderstanding is mine. I thought tonight was supposed to be the beginning of something between us.” She offered Ariana a bitter smile. “I forgot that our marriage is first and foremost a business arrangement.”
“I don’t believe that’s true. I saw the way Gabriel watched you this morning. He was worried by how you reacted to the press coverage of the twins’ arrival and all the scandal it stirred up.”
“He’s worried about losing the deal with my father.”
“Yes, but there’s more to it than that. He had other opportunities to secure Sherdana’s economic future. He chose you.”
Ariana’s words rang with conviction, but Olivia shook her head. The sight of the bracelet made her long to hurl it into the deepest ocean. She felt betrayed and yet she had no right. She was marrying Gabriel because he was handsome and honorable and she would one day become a queen. Her reasons for choosing him were no more romantic than his.
“Ask him to tell you about the first time you met.”
“The party at the French embassy?” Olivia recalled his stiff formality and their brief, stilted conversation, so different from their exchange in the garden this morning.
“Before that.”
Olivia shook her head. “We didn’t meet before that.”
“You did. You just don’t remember.”
How was that possible? Every time he drew near, her stomach pitched and her body yearned for his touch. His lips on hers turned her into an irrational creature of turbulent desires and rollicking emotions. If they’d met, she’d have recognized the signs.
“Your brother is very memorable,” she argued. “I’m certain you are mistaken.”
Ariana’s eyes glowed. “Just ask him.”
Abruptly filled with uncertainty, Olivia looked down at her gown and noticed the brush of cool air against her bare back and arms. She’d dressed to entice Gabriel. She’d wanted his hands to go places no man had ventured before. Even after learning that he’d given her a bracelet that once belonged to his former lover, she still wanted him. She ached with yearning. Burned with hungers unleashed by an hour in the bath tracing her naked skin with her fingertips, imagining Gabriel doing the same.
“Damn it.” The curse shot out of her and startled Ariana.
“Oh, I’ve really done it,” the princess muttered. “Please don’t be mad at Gabriel. That was five years ago. I’ll bet he doesn’t even remember the bracelet.”
Olivia’s gaze sharpened into focus as she took in Ariana’s miserable expression. “You remembered.”
“I’m a woman. I have an artist’s eye for detail.” Ariana shook her head. “Gabriel is a man. They don’t notice things like fashion. Now, if he’d given you a set of antlers off a buck he’d shot, that he’d recall.”
Olivia recognized that Ariana was trying to lighten her mood, but the damage had been done. She wasn’t half as angry with Gabriel as she was with herself. For being a fool. For not realizing that she never would have agreed to marry Gabriel unless she was already emotionally engaged.
But it was too late. She was already in too deep. The only thing she could do now was keep her wits about her and not allow herself to be disappointed again.
* * *
To his intense shock, Gabriel was second-guessing himself.
As he towel-dried his hair. As he shaved for the second time that day. As he dressed in gray slacks and a black collarless button-down shirt.
All he could think about was what a mistake he’d made with the bracelet he’d chosen for Olivia’s first present. As beautiful as the item was, he couldn’t help but think she’d appreciate something more romantic with a little history attached.
He was grimly amused with himself. Since when had he devoted this much time and energy to a gift for a woman? In Marissa’s case, he’d always zeroed in on the most flamboyant piece available, the more expensive the better, and been richly rewarded for his generosity.
Gabriel slid a watch onto his wrist and checked the time. He had half an hour before Olivia was due to arrive if he wanted to fetch a particular piece from the vault. “I have a quick errand to run,” he told Stewart. “If Lady Darcy arrives before I return, serve her a glass of champagne and assure her I won’t be long.”
With that, he exited his suite and headed to the vault, his mind on the perfect thing to present to his fiancée. It took him exactly ten minutes to find the necklace and return. Stewart was alone when Gabriel returned.
“Dinner is set to be served at eight.”
“Perfect.” Gabriel had no interest in rushing. At the same time, he wanted plenty of the evening left over for getting to know Olivia thoroughly. “You ordered all her favorites?”
“Of course.” Stewart’s head turned at the light knock on the door. “That must be Lady Darcy. I’ll let her in, then make myself scarce.”
Gabriel grinned, glad she was as eager to begin their evening as he. Stewart went to answer the door. With his pulse kicked into overdrive, Gabriel found himself holding his breath in anticipation. Realizing what he was doing, he exhaled, wondering how long it had been since the idea of spending time alone with a woman had excited him. But Olivia wasn’t just any woman.
She aroused him faster and more intensely than anyone since Marissa. To look at her, it made no sense. She was elegant, cool and poised. Not the sort of sultry, lush temptress that turned men’s heads. But today he’d discovered an inner core of vibrant, sensual woman hiding within her. The little he’d sampled explained his craving for a more prolonged taste.
A tense conversation was taking place near the door. Gabriel frowned as he spied the petite woman standing in the hall. Not Olivia. Her private secretary. Although curious about the content of their discussion, Gabriel made no attempt to listen in. He would learn what it was about soon enough.