Читать книгу Modern Romance Collection: November 2017 Books 5 - 8 - Annie West - Страница 13

CHAPTER TWO

RAUL COULD HARDLY believe the surprising deal he was about to agree on with this woman. He’d been immediately captivated by her beauty, but had pushed that aside, unable to think past the terms of his father’s will or the fact that it appeared ever more likely that he was going to have to do the unthinkable and marry.

He had no desire to get married to any woman. Least of all one his father had tricked him into marrying. The last thing he needed right now was the constant temptation that this woman would represent if she came back to Madrid with him. From the moment he’d first seen her, annoyed and angry at his late appearance, he’d been fighting the pull of attraction that insistently demanded satisfaction.

He couldn’t act on it, not when it was the one thing his father had wanted, obviously considering him as much of a womaniser as he had been. Did his father recall the time he and Lydia had met? Had she been part of his plans even then? But what was there to gain from two years of marriage? That was the part that didn’t yet make sense.

As he’d arrived at the busy London restaurant, decked out for Christmas, the one thing he hadn’t anticipated was that Lydia would hold cards of her own—and be more than willing to put them into play.

Had she sensed how much he needed to track down Max? Did she really have the connections to trace people or was family history just the passing fancy of a rich girl with too much time on her hands? He had little option but to trust her now and cursed himself for having confided in her. Her offer of a deal, even one as outrageous as that, was one he wasn’t able to refuse. Not now she could walk away and spill the long-kept family secret he’d only recently discovered. There would of course have to be a back-up plan, one that would mean he wasn’t about to risk his business reputation now that he’d finally proved he was not the same man as his father to those that mattered in the business world.

Until recently, he’d been unable to work alongside his father and had started buying up small and struggling businesses, turning them around and either selling them on or trading their shares. It was far more than just the banking business his father had operated. It was a way of helping people and now the Lopez deal was back on the table. His biggest yet.

‘You want me to come to Madrid? To drop everything at this time of year just so that you can trace a long-lost relative?’ Lydia’s shock-infused words dragged him back to the hustle and bustle of the busy London restaurant.

‘And what keeps you so busy, Lydia? Parties? Shopping? All of that happens in Madrid too.’ Annoyance filled each word. He hadn’t expected instant compliance from her, but he had anticipated she’d be ready to do anything to avoid her father’s debts.

‘Don’t assume you know me.’ Her eyes sparked angrily at him.

‘I don’t assume anything other than you will come to Madrid, trace the person I am looking for and settle your debt. Unless you wish to be married before Christmas?’

‘I will not go to Madrid on your whim.’ She pulled back her hand before he could shake on the deal and he had to suppress the urge to smile. He liked the anger that sparked in her eyes brighter than the Christmas lights of London. He liked the way her lips parted in almost total contrast to that anger. What he didn’t find so appealing was his questionable urge to kiss those lips until desire replaced the anger in her eyes.

‘Then there is only one alternative open to us.’ He let his words hang heavily between them and for the briefest of seconds it was only the two of them. The noise of the other diners slipped away and all he could hear was the rhythmic thump of his heart. He couldn’t let her walk away now. He had to find Max as discreetly as possible—and quickly.

‘Which is?’ The brittle words snapped from her and he became aware of everyone around them once more.

She scowled at him, suspicion in those sexy green eyes, and he decided perhaps it wouldn’t be so very bad to be bound in marriage to such a fiery beauty. Two years living as her husband would at least be entertaining.

‘You or your father must settle the debts—in full. By the end of the year.’

‘By the end of the year? That’s little over a month away.’

‘The debt must be settled, Lydia, by either full payment or marriage.’

‘Believe me, Mr Valdez, if I could make the payment I would, but I can’t.’

A spark of fury rose in her voice and a smile pulled at his lips. Instantly her mouth pressed into a firm line of annoyance, which only made the urge to smile at her greater.

‘Then you have no alternative but to come back to Madrid and either find the person I am looking for, quickly and discreetly, or announce our engagement. The terms of my father’s will state there is a financial reward for finding that person. Enough to cover the debt.’

She shook her head in denial, her soft dark hair bouncing invitingly on her shoulders, snagging his attention all too easily. ‘No, I won’t leave London now. I can’t.’

‘A lover?’

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but no.’

‘Then you will become my wife and settle your father’s debts—unless your claim is true.’

He wouldn’t enlighten her yet to the fact that they would have to be seen as a couple, seen to be preparing for their nuptials. Carlos had insisted that would be the only way to satisfy the board of directors that he was calling in the debt, that his bride was willing.

‘If I am not about to waltz off to Madrid with you, I am hardly likely to agree to a marriage, whatever the conditions attached to the deal my father signed.’

He watched as her eyes narrowed with anger and her lips pressed together and as much as he wanted to kiss those lips until they softened he knew he never could. That would be indulging a side of him he had no wish to explore, be it playboy or something more emotionally involved.

However, her father’s debt was to be settled, she was well and truly off-limits and he certainly didn’t need the complication of having to resist an ill-timed attraction. He needed the board off his back, to know the debt would be settled. Then he could resume his search for Max, which now seemed much more hopeful if Lydia Carter-Wilson did really have a passion for family history. But what would she make of his family, of the tangled web of deceit that had corrupted recent generations?

More to the point, could he trust her? If this got out it could undo all the good work he’d done to prove to the business world he was a man of morals and high values. A man to be trusted.

‘I can of course call in the debt right now.’ He could almost feel the angry vibe coming across the table at him and wondered what her reaction would be if they hadn’t been having this conversation in such a public place. Would she have given vent to her anger or would she have been as controlled as he was?

‘You wouldn’t dare.’ The whispered words had a hiss of anger in them and his body responded wickedly, the earlier urges to kiss her returned in full force. Only the desire to be different from his father had made him accept the somewhat desperate bargain Lydia had made. It would be a high price, but one worth paying if it avoided the messy tangle of marriage.

‘Don’t underestimate me, Lydia.’ He knew he sounded hard, more of a snarl, but he had to instil such aggression. He needed to make this deal, because he had never expected to be filled with lustful need for the woman he might well have to make his temporary wife.

‘It is you who underestimates me, Mr Valdez.’ Despite the anger that still simmered in her eyes he detected a hint of compliance in her voice.

‘I never underestimate anyone I do business with and you are certainly no different.’ He wouldn’t tell her that he’d done his homework on her, found out all he needed to know about the woman who could become his wife. ‘Whatever deal we strike, it is for business and nothing more.’

‘Nothing at all?’

‘No, nothing. It will be a marriage in name only and will end in exactly two years.’

‘Before I commit myself, I think you had better tell me exactly who it is I am locating for you.’ The frivolous tone of her voice belied the inner turmoil he could see playing out in those expressive eyes. He doubted she could hide anything from him and he certainly hadn’t missed that spark of attraction that had briefly showed through all the irritation he’d witnessed in their depths. Her pretty face was so expressive he could read every emotion that crossed it, including the attraction that had sprung as instantly to life as when they’d first met.

Whatever it was sizzling between them, she was as aware of it as he was.

‘I am not sure I can trust you yet.’ He veered towards caution. She could take the secret he’d uncovered, which would blow his family wide open, and sell it to the press for a huge amount. Maybe not enough to clear her father’s debts, but it would still damage his business and his father’s, which was precariously positioned with share prices falling since his sudden death. He would not allow it to happen—whatever the cost. He was more than prepared to sacrifice his bachelor status—temporarily—to calm the nerves of the board.

‘Then you have wasted my time and yours.’ The crispness of each word jarred his senses and he quickly tried to rationalise the situation.

With one call to the press she could destroy his family and his business, but it would ultimately drag her father into the limelight. She appeared to have as little desire for an arranged marriage as he did and even professed to have the skills and knowledge he needed to trace his half-brother. But would she be discreet?

His father had been manipulative to the end. If Lydia successfully found Max, the half-brother he’d never known anything about, then he could claim the money, clear her debts and release them both from the need to marry. His father had excelled himself this time, but had his plan been to force him to marry or bring his unknown half-brother into the business?

‘Your father has a debt to pay, Lydia, and I am collecting it—from you. If you can indeed trace the person I am looking for, make contact without arousing the suspicion or interest of the media, then your father’s debt will be cleared immediately. Marriage in any form will not be necessary.’

‘If you are so against the idea of marriage too, why don’t you just pay it off now?’ That was exactly the question he’d put to Carlos and his legal team and even now he could feel the cold fear sink through him as he recalled Carlos’s reply.

‘Such an action will invalidate the will and your father’s business will no longer be yours. Failure of any kind to clear the debt will result in the business being sold.’

He had to convince Lydia. There was no way he was letting anyone get his hands on a company he’d painstakingly expanded. ‘When I find the person I am looking for it unlocks funds, more than enough to clear your father’s debts.’

‘So this is all about money? Silly me, I thought you had sentimental reasons for wanting to find this person.’ The accusation in her eyes was clear, but she could think what she liked. He’d never have to see her again after this.

‘Yes, it’s about money—as all business is.’

‘So, who is this person? Is it a love child you abandoned and now want to bring out into the open?’

Such an accusation made it clear she’d researched him too and believed him to be as much of a playboy as his father had been. Maybe that was for the best. She didn’t seem the type to enter into brief affairs merely to satisfy a sexual attraction. This was a woman who would demand so much more from a lover, whatever her earlier protestations had been.

‘It is a love child, yes.’ He flaunted the truth before her, aware of the conclusions she was making.

‘I hate men like you.’ She snapped the words at him and he smiled lazily. He hadn’t fathered any children. That was something he’d been extremely careful of, but he enjoyed seeing the anger mix with contempt, filling her eyes, again letting him know exactly what she was thinking.

‘Not as much as I dislike women who jump to conclusions.’ He sat and watched the questions race across her face. ‘It is not my child.’

‘So if it’s not your love child, whose is it?’ Her fine brows rose elegantly in question and the satisfaction that danced in her eyes told him she thought he was lying.

‘As I have said, it is not mine.’ He wasn’t ready to give her the secret that had stayed hidden for so many years. All the times he’d tried to be the son his father had wanted had been in vain and now, with the discovery of Max, his half-brother, it had all become perfectly clear why.

‘You are going to have to tell me, if I am to trace this person.’ A haughty note had entered her voice. She thought she’d got him on the run, thought she now held the power. Never. But he’d allow her to think that. For a while at least.

‘It is my father’s son I wish to find.’

* * *

Lydia’s stomach plummeted. She’d been challenging him, pushing him to reveal his true self to her, and it had just backfired spectacularly. The fierce expression on his face warned her she’d gone too far, pushed too hard. Would he now revoke the offer, force her to find an extortionate amount of money to settle her father’s debt? Or worse, marry him?

Suddenly she was that awkward sixteen-year-old again being introduced to Raul by her father. She’d smiled at him, pleased to know that someone closer to her own age would be at the dinner party her father had insisted she attend with him, but Raul had looked down at her with barely concealed lack of interest.

Not that that had stopped the heady attraction she’d instantly had for him and she’d been glad she’d chosen the fitted black dress that had made her feel taller, more attractive and much more grown up. Stupidly, she’d hung on every word Raul had said as they’d been placed next to one another at the dinner table. She’d liked him—more than liked him—and had wanted him to notice her, to like her too. She’d wanted to be more than friends and had already wanted him to be the one she experienced her first kiss with.

All evening she’d tried everything to get his attention, even trying to use her classroom Spanish.

‘If you can’t say it correctly, don’t bother.’ The high and mighty put-down had done just that, crashing all the dreams of a friendship, or more, with him.

‘I don’t have much call to use the language,’ she’d retorted, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. How had she thought him nice? How had she even begun to imagine that he might like her, might want to be friends, go on a date?

‘Then I suggest you stick to your usual shopping and partying and give languages a miss.’

‘But I’m going to study languages at university,’ she’d replied with a gauche smile.

He’d looked at her then, his dark eyes locking with hers, and she’d held her breath, wondering if he was teasing her—teasing her because he liked her.

‘Don’t. You clearly don’t have any talent for Spanish, exactly what I’d expect from Daddy’s little princess who does nothing other than look pretty.’ The scathing tone of his voice as his gaze had travelled down her had left her in no doubt that he didn’t like her, that he despised her and all he thought she was.

She’d bit back a temper-fuelled retort and vowed that one day, she’d tell him exactly what she thought of him and she’d do it fluently in his language. If he thought she was a spoilt little thing, that was fine by her, but her sense of injustice didn’t leave her, not even when she and her father left the dinner party. It had stayed with her, adding to all the insecurities her father had instilled in her.

Now she looked at Raul, ten years older, anger at what her father had done mixed with sympathy for this proud man. Her father’s deception, the way he’d forced her mother to leave with his detached and cold ways, his constant need to make the next million before losing it again, seemed minor compared to the family secret Raul had just revealed.

‘I’m sorry, I had no idea.’ Her voice softened, but it did nothing to the feral expression on Raul’s face. He was a man who didn’t show softer emotions, that much was clear.

‘I have only just discovered the existence of my half-brother. He and I are due to inherit from my father’s estate.’

‘I don’t understand.’ She was perplexed by the unveiling of the last few minutes. ‘Your father must have known about him, to have included such conditions in the will.’

‘He knew. He also knew that I wouldn’t want to marry anyone, least of all the daughter of one of his debtors.’

‘We have both been set up.’ Shock set in and the full implications of the situation she was in finally hit home. How could her father have been so cruel? How could he have used her like this? She could almost imagine him concocting this strange deal with Raul’s father. Two heartless men together.

‘It would appear so. My father knows that money will motivate me over marriage.’

She tried not to feel insulted, tried not to feel glad that there was a way out of this mess and once she was out of it she’d insist her father sold the properties to repay the debt that, as far as she was concerned, he would still have to Raul. Debts had to be honoured.

‘I need to find my brother, preferably without any media attention. I have no wish for the circus they can create or to expose my father’s weakness, which will push the company further into the wrong kind of spotlight, not to mention destroy my mother.’ His eyes were harder than ever, like a heavy thundercloud about to unleash its fury. Did he hate the brother he’d never met?

Questions raced through her mind, but one had to be asked. ‘So why trust me, someone you barely know, with such sensitive information?’

‘Because you’re as against the idea of marriage as I am and claim to have what I need. Added to that, you are your father’s only hope of clearing his debt without dragging his long-standing family name through the bankruptcy courts. That in itself should ensure your compliance with my request.’

He was right about that. If there had been another way to settle this she wouldn’t have even met with him today. Her relationship with her father was strained to say the least, but she didn’t want the family’s name brought into disrepute. Her grandmother might be elderly, but it would break her heart and after what her mother and father had done to her with their selfish actions she would never do anything to upset the only person in the world who had shown her genuine love and affection.

‘And there is no other way?’

He paused for a moment and, although those dark eyes were focused on her, she was sure his thoughts were far away. A pang of sympathy zipped through her for him. How would she feel if she suddenly discovered that she had a half-brother or sister?

‘I either find my half-brother or we must marry.’ His accented voice was sharp as he set out the alternative and totally obliterated that misguided sympathy.

At least any marriage that did have to be made would be purely for the purpose of transferring her property assets to settle the debt. The fact that he wouldn’t contest a divorce went some way to settling the unease that still ran through her. He obviously didn’t have any intention of making her truly his wife.

So why did disappointment filter through her? Surely she had got over that teenage crush? He might be handsome and possess a lethal charm, if the waitress’s reaction to him was anything to go by, but succumbing to his looks and charm was unthinkable. She would never give him the satisfaction.

As if to prove the point, their meals arrived and that skilful charm once again melted the waitress into a puddle. Lydia shook her head in disbelief and looked down at the food she suddenly had no appetite for.

‘I don’t need to go to Madrid with you. I can work from here.’ She had her own business to run and in the final weeks before Christmas it would be busy. Added to that the idea of going to Madrid with this man was not one she welcomed, but the prospect of marriage, even if it was only on paper, was infinitely more unappealing.

‘Your enthusiasm for my company warms me.’ He mocked, but there was a hint of a mischievous smile on his lips, which she couldn’t help but respond to. ‘But you will come to Madrid. That is non-negotiable.’

* * *

Raul watched the battle play out in those expressive eyes. He could see every twist and turn of her doubt

and reluctance, mirroring all he’d felt when he’d realised just what his father had done.

‘Neither of us have much choice in this arrangement.’ He tried to avoid becoming sidetracked by her long lashes as they lowered over her eyes, shielding his view into her soul. He hadn’t expected to find a solution to the problem of tracing his half-brother when he’d made arrangements to meet her, just as he hadn’t expected to find the spark of desire from the very first moment he’d seen her, anger sparking from her as she prepared to leave.

‘Before I go anywhere with you, or make any kind of formal agreement, I will need a written contract, Mr Valdez. I need it in writing that if I find your brother, my father’s debts will be settled.’ She hesitated. ‘And if the worst happens and we have to marry, it will be nothing more than a deal on paper.’

So she didn’t trust him either. He admired her courage to sit there and demand a contract for the repayment of her father’s debt. ‘I will have it drawn up and you can sign it as soon as we arrive in Madrid.’

He’d already decided they would leave tomorrow as he had no intention of giving her too much time to begin enquiries into the whereabouts of his half-brother, Max. He might not yet have given her any details, but he couldn’t risk her discovering the full extent of his father’s treachery, not until he could be sure she wouldn’t leak the story to the press. He had no intention of putting his mother, the only person to have shown him genuine love, through such a public humiliation.

His father had treated him and his mother badly. For eight years he’d led a double life, deceiving not only his wife and son, but another woman and child. Raul remembered the day his mother had found out about his affair. He could still hear the hurt echoing from the past as she’d told his father the marriage was over, that he could do what he liked but she and her son were staying where they belonged. That was the start of the coldest example of marriage he’d ever seen. What if he too was destined for the same?

Now that he’d discovered his father had turned his back on a child and its mother, Raul wanted to deal with it. He’d grown up with a father in his life and another child hadn’t. It didn’t sit well and he was determined to do all he could to make some kind of amends for the past. He only wished his father were here to listen to the tirade of angry words he had for him. Given his father’s reputation, it was worryingly possible that more children had suffered the same fate.

He sat back and pressed his fingers together in a steeple, forcing all the hurt and rejection from his childhood down, trying hard to keep those negative emotions out of play. Now was not the time to relive that constant feeling that he’d never be good enough for his father, no matter what he did.

He had two choices. To ignore his half-brother and marry Lydia to settle a debt or take Lydia’s offer, find Max and hopefully free them of need to marry. He didn’t have to think too long about that answer. His father might have wished Max away by ignoring him, but he didn’t want to do that—just as much as he didn’t want to enter into the negative binds of marriage. If his father thought the threat of sharing his inheritance would be enough to force him into marriage, he had miscalculated—badly.

‘What if I don’t find your brother?’ The question slipped innocuously from her lips and he looked at them, briefly wondering how they’d taste and feel beneath his.

He bit down on such traitorous thoughts, focusing instead on the shock of all he’d discovered yet had been unable to uncover himself. ‘Half-brother.’

‘Half-brother, brother...what difference does it make? What if I don’t find him?’

‘It makes a great deal of difference, Lydia. You too are an only child. How would you feel if you’d just discovered you had a sibling?’

‘That’s not what we are discussing,’ she fired hotly back at him.

‘If you don’t find my half-brother within four weeks, then you will become my wife and your father’s debts will be cleared.’

‘For two years.’ The dejection in that statement almost got to him. Almost.

He nodded. ‘Sí. After which you can file for divorce.’

‘Four weeks is not very long to undertake such a task,’ she said as she took a sip of her wine, the action once again drawing his attention to her lips, causing his mind to wander in directions it shouldn’t be going in. ‘And it will be Christmas too.’

‘All the more reason to succeed. Four weeks is all you have. If you fail, Lydia, you will become my wife on Christmas Eve.’