If he had to guess, local merchants had made a killing off the fair Dr. Abbott during her short tenure in the bayou. He lifted a squat gnome grinning with ivory teeth. These weren’t items lovingly accumulated over the years. These were the mementos of other families, the creations of shopkeepers, calculated to sate the nostalgia of tourists. He didn’t know her well, but he was willing to bet good money these items weren’t Erin’s keepsakes. Not unless she harbored an unusual fascination for the cheap and grotesque, a possibility belied by the showroom quality of the rest of the apartment.

Intrigued, Gabriel set the gnome beside a porcelain ballerina, en pointe, and dropped into the great chair without asking permission. He could tell from the gentle indentation of the cushions that the massive chair was her favorite seat.

Standing over him, Erin seethed at his easy usurpation of her place. He, she thought dourly, has no manners. “Feel free to sit wherever you want,” she muttered.

“You say something?” he asked with a smirk. “You tend to mumble when you’re angry.” Without waiting for an answer, he lifted the album she’d set on the table and began to flip through the vellum pages.

“I’m not angry. I’m irritated. A condition that is easily satisfied by having you not here.” Erin perched on the sofa. She didn’t sit back, deciding that if she made herself comfortable, he’d take it as an invitation to stay. Instead, she scooted forward farther to the edge of the cushion. Her knee brushed his, and she quickly shifted away.

Gabriel slowly moved forward until their knees brushed again. He murmured, “You still don’t like me, do you, Erin?”

Stubbornly refusing to move again, she retorted, “What gave it away?” She’d be fine if he’d stop touching her. Light, undemanding points of contact designed to rile and disturb. “In case I’ve been vague, I don’t like you.”

“Then move.”

When she didn’t, he angled closer, caging her legs between his powerful thighs. His eyes captured hers as he stroked a finger along the fist she’d been unaware of making. “However, in all fairness to me, you’ve only said you don’t like me once.”

Though only her legs were imprisoned and a single fingertip touched suddenly sensitive flesh, Erin felt surrounded. Invaded. What disturbed her more was the feeling of safety. “I don’t want you as a partner. I don’t want you in my house,” she said. “But you keep crowding me.” She stared pointedly at his position. “Like now.”

Gabriel looked down as well. “You think I’m crowding you? I’m sitting in a chair, darling. And there’s a whole lot of sofa on the other side of you.”