Claimed for the De Carrillo Twins

‘So if you’re hoping to see the back of me it won’t be any time soon, I can assure you.’

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, the heavy door closing with a solid thunk behind her. Cruz cursed volubly and stood up, muscles poised to go after her. But then he stopped.

He turned to face the window, which took in the breathtaking vista of the expanse of his estate. He couldn’t allow Trinity to distract him by fooling him into thinking she’d changed. Because the moment he dropped his guard she’d have won.

* * *

‘What on earth did you say to him?’

Trinity was too shocked to respond to Mrs Jordan’s question as she took in the scene before her. Building was underway on a playground for the boys...an exact replica of the playground in Regent’s Park.

At that moment the atmosphere became charged with a kind of awareness that only happened around one person. Cruz.

Mrs Jordan reacted to his presence before Trinity did. ‘Mr De Carrillo, this really is spectacular—the boys will love it.’

He came to stand beside Trinity and his scent tickled her nostrils, earthy and masculine. Her belly tightened and she flushed. Superstitiously she didn’t want to look at him, as if that might make his impact less.

He answered smoothly, ‘Please, Mrs Jordan, call me Cruz... Trinity was right—the boys need somewhere they can expend their energy safely.’

Matty and Sancho were currently playing with big toy building bricks in an area that had been cordoned off for them by the builders. They were wearing small hard hats and jeans and T-shirts and they looked adorable, faces intent, trying to keep up with the real builders just a few feet away.

Mrs Jordan turned to Cruz more directly and said, with an innocent tone in her voice, ‘We were just about to bring the boys in for lunch—won’t you join us?’

Trinity glanced at the woman, aghast, but Mrs Jordan was ignoring her. Fully expecting Cruz to refuse, she couldn’t believe it when, after a long moment, he said consideringly, ‘Thank you. That would be lovely.’

Mrs Jordan smiled. ‘I’ll ask Julia to add another place.’

She disappeared with a suspicious twinkle in her eye before Trinity could say anything. She supposed she couldn’t really blame the woman for taking the opportunity to meddle gently when it arose.

When Trinity glanced up at Cruz she almost expected him to look irritated at the thought of spending lunch with them, but he was staring at the boys with an enigmatic expression on his face. Uncertainty?

Then, as if he sensed her watching him, the expression was gone and he looked down at her. ‘You haven’t said anything—are the plans all right?’

Against her best intentions to remain impervious to this man’s pull, something inside her melted a little at his thoughtfulness. She forced a smile. ‘They’re perfect. I didn’t expect you to take my words so literally.’

He frowned. ‘But you said they loved that playground, so naturally I would try to recreate it for them.’

Trinity desisted from pointing out that only a billionaire would think along such lavish lines and just said dryly, ‘It’s extremely generous, and they will love it. Thank you.’

Cruz looked away from her to the boys and another curious expression crossed his face. She’d seen it before when he looked at them: something between fear and longing. Trinity cursed herself for not reading it properly till now. This man scrambled her brain cells too easily

.

She said, ‘They won’t bite, you know. They’re as curious about you as you are about them.’

Without taking his eyes off them Cruz said gruffly, ‘They always seem to look at me as if they don’t know what I am.’

Trinity felt something weaken inside her at this evidence of rare vulnerability. ‘They don’t really know you yet, that’s all. Once they become more used to you they’ll relax. Why don’t you help me get them in for lunch?’

She moved forward before he could see how easily he affected her.

‘Matty! Sancho!’ she called out when she came near to where they were playing so happily. ‘Time to go in for lunch.’

Two identical faces looked up with predictable mulishness—and then they spied Cruz and immediately put down what they were playing with to come to Trinity. She bent down to their level and took their hats off, ruffling their heads, feeling the heat from their small, sturdy bodies. Even though they were in the shade the Spanish spring was getting warmer every day.

Cruz was towering over them in one of his trademark pristine suits. No wonder he intimidated the boys. He intimidated her. Softly she said, ‘It might help if you come down to their level.’

He squatted down beside her and the movement made her uncomfortably aware of his very potent masculinity. She closed her eyes for a second. What was wrong with her? Until she’d shared that incendiary moment with him in his study she’d had no great interest in sex. And yet a couple of days in Cruz’s company again and all her hormones seemed to have come back to life.