Page 26 of The Lovers (Echoes from the Past #1)

SIXTEEN

Gabe scarcely noticed where he was going as he navigated the nearly pitch-black lane leading away from Quinn’s house and toward the motorway.

The windshield wipers were swishing madly, but still the visibility was no more than a few inches, the rain coming down in a torrent.

He knew he should slow down, but his agitation clouded his judgment, and he stepped on the gas instead, racing blindly—not toward home, but away from Quinn.

He hadn’t meant to reveal his hand, not this soon anyway, but he never could think clearly around Quinn.

Luke’s departure had thrown Gabe into turmoil and upended his well-organized existence, forcing him to confront the truth.

He supposed he was happy enough with Eve.

He’d given up on the idea of ever finding the type of love that made him feel as if he’d come home at last and didn’t wish to ever leave, but Quinn’s altered status changed everything.

Gabe had come to terms with Quinn’s choice a long time ago and braced himself for the moment when she’d tell him that Luke had finally proposed and she’d joyfully accepted, but Luke, damn fool that he was, had never made the ultimate commitment.

Gabe tried to ignore the gossip in the archeological circles, had closed his heart to the black rage that made him want to kill Luke when Gabe heard that he was playing the field.

There had been more than one indiscretion, mostly while Quinn was away on a dig and Luke was left to his own devices or was on an assignment of his own.

The liaisons were brief and meaningless, by all accounts, but it still made Gabe burn with a helpless fury to know that the woman he’d adored for the past eight years was being deceived by that philanderer who took her for granted.

She deserved so much better than Luke, but Quinn appeared to be blind to his faults—or perhaps, given her history, she was just desperate for a family of her own.

Gabe supposed that Luke could be charming and urbane.

He had a certain polish that many academics lacked and had a knack for making women feel beautiful and special.

Quinn had been no exception. Luke had managed to charm her and steal her away because Gabe had made the mistake of hesitating too long and putting his professional commitments before his romantic feelings.

Luke got there first, and there wasn’t a day since that Gabe hadn’t regretted his decision to wait until the end of the dig to pursue Quinn Allenby.

For some while after that dig, Gabe lived in the hope that Luke would tire of Quinn and clear the way for him, but Luke seemed to love her, as much as he could love anyone, until Ashley Gallagher came along.

Gabe had seen her several times: a bouncy American graduate student with golden tresses and wide blue eyes set in a china-doll face, atop a body that was all legs and large breasts.

Luke seemed charmed by Ashley’s American accent and her giggly forwardness.

She played the ditzy Barbie doll to perfection, but Gabe could see the shrewdness behind the eyes.

Ashley was no fool, and she got her man in the end.

A flirtation turned into something more, and Ashley had staked her claim while Quinn was in the Middle East. Luke had gone to the States to be with his new love and to put an ocean between himself and Quinn, whom he couldn’t face.

Quinn clearly knew nothing of Luke’s betrayal, and it wasn’t for Gabe to enlighten her.

But he finally had a chance, and he’d be damned if he let it slip away.

He’d ended things with Eve. It’d been easier than he anticipated, for both of them.

He was free, and now all he had to do was wait for the right moment.

Quinn was skittish and on the rebound, and he had to give her the time and space to mourn her loss and get to a place where she was ready for a new relationship.

Sound reasoning, except that all his plans went tits up the moment he saw her again.

He’d blurted out the words before he could stop himself.

She clearly wasn’t ready to hear what he had to say, but there was no going back.

He’d made the opening move and now he had to play the game to the end.

Gabe swerved as a stray dog ran into the road, its wet fur clinging to a skinny frame and lips stretched back in a snarl.

Gabe forced himself to slow down and took the next turn with more care.

He was still upset, but he was beginning to regain perspective.

His carelessness this evening had been a minor setback.

He’d lost the battle, but he hadn’t yet lost the war.