The Spanish Consultant (Westerling)

Jago frowned. ‘Is he the same with Alex?’

‘He’s the same with everyone, but he has absolutely no influence over my brother.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘My father has met his match in Alex. They clash like herd bulls fighting over territory.’

‘And Libby?’

Katy gave a rueful smile. ‘We each handle him in a different way. Libby takes the confrontational approach and provokes him constantly so the atmosphere is pretty charged when they’re together.’

‘Whereas you go for the path of least conflict?’

She hesitated. ‘Let’s just say that over the years I’ve learned that it’s better not to antagonise him. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t stand up for myself on the big issues.’ She tilted her head to one side and her blonde hair shone under the lights. ‘What about you? Why did you go into medicine?’

Jago made a huge effort and dragged his eyes away from her hair. It was confession time. Just how honest did he dare be with her? For the first time since they’d met again, she seemed to be relaxing with him and he certainly didn’t want to destroy that. On the other hand, he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that having secrets definitely didn’t work. Especially not with someone as honest as Katy. ‘I’d been thinking about it for a while,’ he hedged, and then he caught her puzzled glance and let out a long breath. ‘You’re not going to like what I tell you, querida.’

Her blue eyes widened, and he reflected grimly that telling the truth certainly wasn’t the easy option.

‘After he showed me the photographs, your father suggested that it would be better for everybody if I left the company and started afresh somewhere else,’ he said curtly, aware that the facts looked uncomfortably incriminating. ‘You have to understand I was very hurt by the photographs. Had I stayed with the company it was inevitable that we would have run into each other again. I was only too pleased when your father encouraged me to leave.’

There was a long silence as she made the connection.

‘He paid you off, didn’t he?’ Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘He showed you the photographs and then he paid you to leave.’

She was obviously more attuned to her father’s tricks than he’d been.

‘At the time I thought of it as a generous severance package,’ he admitted not quite levelly, all too aware of the interpretation she would put on the facts.

Pale and taut, she slid off the bar stool and looked at him blankly.

‘I’d already decided to train as a doctor and he offered me a good package,’ Jago said, feeling the tension spread through his shoulders. ‘It’s standard practice in many companies. At the time I didn’t think it had anything to do with my relationship with you. It was a business issue.’

‘Not to my father. He didn’t dare risk having you anywhere near me because he knew you’d find out what he’d done.’ It was almost as if she was talking to herself and he felt maximum discomfort for the part he’d played in the destruction of their relationship eleven years previously. ‘He was determined to keep us apart.’

Jago found himself unable to argue with that. Even he was stunned by the level of manipulation to which her father had stooped and he thought of himself as a fairly cynical guy.

Katy stared at him in disbelief. ‘You accepted money from him in return for an agreement not to see me again.’

He stiffened. ‘That’s not true. Your name was never mentioned in connection with the money. That was a business issue.’

‘You’re deluding yourself.’ Her eyes glistened with hurt. ‘He paid you off, Jago. And you took the money.’

‘There seemed no reason not to.’

‘You were already rich, Jago. I know that. How much money was enough?’ she said shakily. ‘How much did it cost him to get you to walk away from me?’

Jago swore softly in Spanish. ‘It wasn’t like that.’

‘My life fell apart when you left but you were so self-absorbed, so wrapped up in your own emotions and feelings that you didn’t stop to think about me even for a minute. You took the money and ran. Literally.’

Aware that the warmth of the atmosphere had plunged several degrees below zero, and extremely disconcerted by her less than flattering interpretation of the facts, Jago attempted to salvage the situation.

‘We were having a pleasant evening before we started talking about your father,’ he said calmly. ‘Can we just forget it?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Her breathing was rapid and she lifted her chin. ‘You’ve just reminded me why I shouldn’t have said yes to going out with you tonight. You are arrogant and selfish and we don’t share the same beliefs and values. Goodnight, Jago.’

Reaching the frustrating conclusion that women were definitely from another planet, Jago made an abortive attempt to prevent her from leaving but she was too quick for him, heading for the door as fast as she could reasonably manage in Libby’s ridiculously high-heeled shoes.

CHAPTER NINE

STILL sniffing back tears, Katy slid out of her skirt and dragged off the clingy blue top that she’d put on with such breathless anticipation. Feeling in need of a warm drink, she ordered from room service and then padded into the bathroom in her underwear to run herself a bath.