A Deal Before the Altar

‘Excuse me, Miss...’ the shocked woman said as she made her way straight towards Santos’s office.

Georgina stopped and turned to face her. ‘It’s Mrs,’ she said firmly. ‘Mrs Ramirez. And I’m here to see my husband.’

With that she turned and walked down the wide corridor that led to his office. Nothing was going to stop her now.

She paused briefly outside the door, her hand poised above the handle. Last time she’d stood there full of nerves, hardly able to believe she was about to propose to a man she’d never met.

Not for one minute had she thought she would find him so devastatingly attractive. And if she’d known that from the very first moment their eyes met a sizzle of desire would weave a spell so strong about them she would have turned and run, regardless of her motives.

She’d never expected to fall in love with him so quickly and so completely.

It had taken the letter instigating their divorce this morning for her to realise what she had to do—that she couldn’t run any more. She’d stood by and watched two men she’d loved in very different ways from the way she loved Santos leave her. This time she was determined it would be different. This time she wouldn’t shrink from the pain. This time she’d face it head-on.

She took a deep breath, gathered all her nerve and opened the door.

He was sitting at his desk, looking cool and composed. Her heart lurched just at seeing him, but she couldn’t let that get the better of her now.

‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’

His words were as cool and clear as a mountain stream but she couldn’t falter now.

She put her briefcase on his desk, looked him in the eye and flicked it open. The dark depths of his eyes glittered as he watched every slow, purposeful movement. Taking out the letter, she placed it on the desk and then closed her briefcase.

‘Don’t play games, Santos. You know why I’m here. To put an end to our marriage.’

But not until he knew how she felt—knew she loved him. But telling someone who hated even to hear the word, let alone acknowledge the emotion, wasn’t going to be easy.

He stood up, his height as intimidating as the breadth of his shoulders, but she held his gaze, trying hard to ignore the lurching of her heart.

* * *

‘A marriage you instigated, Georgina. Here, in this very room.’

Santos moved from behind his desk and came closer to her, even now unable to resist the challenge her eyes fired at him. The first time she’d stood in his office, with fire and determination burning in her eyes, he’d wanted her.

He still wanted her. The force of the attraction hadn’t lessened after spending the night with her. It had increased.

‘One you willingly went along with. You changed it to suit your needs simply to get a business. You didn’t think I was worthy of an explanation about the heir you needed to inherit everything.’

Her angry accusation had found its mark but he wouldn’t let her see that.

‘You make it sound calculated when it wasn’t.’

He leant against the edge of his desk, folded his arms across his chest, fighting the urge to tell her everything. Then he remembered the pain in her voice when she’d told him she couldn’t have children.

‘I had no idea then that you couldn’t have children.’ His voice sounded unsteady even to him, and she closed her eyes, her long lashes shutting him out. He reached out to her, his hand touching her arm in a gesture of concern. She jumped back from him, her eyes now blazing. ‘I’m sorry.’

She remained silent, her steady gaze holding his, and he wished she’d let him close. He’d never meant to hurt her. She had made him feel things he’d never thought he would. He still found it hard to comprehend the aching void in his life, an ache born out of love. But now she hated him.

‘It’s not that I can’t have children, Santos.’

She spoke in a harsh, raw tone, her words snagging his conscience.

‘I just couldn’t bring a child into the world for that reason. I would have thought you of all people would understand that.’

His mind roared as the pain of his childhood rushed back at him. He’d been a mistake. One that had forced his mother into marriage with a man she couldn’t love. With dreadful clarity he realised Georgina was right. If he’d had to he would have resorted to fathering a child just to get the business—a child that he didn’t want. But wasn’t that why he’d never married? To avoid such a decision?

Guilt slashed at him, making his next words harsh and serrated.

‘If I could have avoided that I would have done.’

‘The same as you could have avoided all this.’ She pointed fiercely at the letter which lay on her briefcase. ‘If you’d just talked to Carlo he wouldn’t have had to go to the extremes he did. You denied Emma her big day.’ She paused for a moment, her dark eyes flecked with gold sparks of determination. ‘You should still talk to Carlo.’