A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid

‘I think you can trust me to interpret the music without risk to life and limb.’

‘But this is more fun,’ he said, bringing her closer still.

He did have a point, Sadie conceded, giving a mock growl of complaint, when actually there was nowhere else she’d rather be. But her satisfaction didn’t last too long. ‘Alejandro! Put me down again this instant!’ she insisted when he carried her away to a chorus of cheers when the musicians dramatically upped the tempo of the music.

‘I prefer something slower and more considered,’ he said as he drew to a halt in front of his caravan.

‘And now I’m going to claim back my caravan,’ he said as he gently lowered her to the ground.

‘You can’t just move back in,’ Sadie insisted as Alejandro strode purposefully towards the command centre she’d set up. ‘I’ve requisitioned it.’

‘And I’m countermanding your order,’ he said. ‘The army has established a perfectly adequate command centre, so no one’s going to come back here. More crucially,’ he added with a slanting glance, ‘my caravan has a clean, undamaged bed, and you need to rest.’

‘Rest?’ Sadie protested. ‘How can I rest when there’s still so much work to be done?’

‘I’ll make you sleep,’ Alejandro promised as he mounted the steps, entered the shady caravan, and closed the door behind them.

‘I thought you said I had to rest?’ Sadie protested excitedly, recognising the look in his eyes.

‘You will rest when I’ve finished with you.’

With a promise like that, she had no intention of arguing, especially when Alejandro reminded her how good making love in bed could be.

‘You have absolutely no scruples,’ she accused.

‘None at all,’ he agreed, and, flicking a lever on the wall, he brought a bed down. ‘While we worked through the night, many of the volunteers grabbed some sleep, so now it’s our turn to rest and recuperate.’

‘Is that what you call it now?’

His laughing eyes made her smile as he explained, ‘You will rest, while I recuperate—with enthusiasm, and exquisite attention to detail. I think that’s a fair description.’

She laughed. ‘I’m not going to argue with you.’

Sadie’s body thrilled to feel Alejandro’s pressing into her as he lowered her down on the bed. Unshaven in work-stained clothes, he was even more irresistible, and he was right about making love in bed. She had forgotten nothing.

Stroking her hand down his powerful back as he swung out of bed a long time later to take a call, she realised how much she loved him, and had missed him.

‘Trouble?’ she asked, seeing him frown as he ended the call.

She should have known, Sadie realised, feeling that big black hole opening up again as he placed another call to book a flight plan back to Madrid.

‘More supplies for the camp?’ she asked worriedly.

‘No. Everything’s settled here. The army will be rehousing people whose homes have been destroyed, so there’s no need for me to open Castillo Fuego. In fact, everything should return to normal within the next few hours. But it’s something else,’ he said.

‘Not enough!’ she insisted when he started to pull on his clothes. ‘You can’t leave me again without an explanation. We both have duties and responsibilities, and, though you’re not used to talking about yours, if I mean anything to you, you must learn to share, as I must learn to trust. We both have hang-ups, but can’t you see how they’re linked? If you don’t share with me, how can I trust you? And if I can’t trust you, what kind of life is that going to be for our child? We still haven’t talked about the baby, and we must.’

Alejandro’s face was grimmer than she’d ever seen it. ‘Annalisa has summoned me to Madrid,’ he explained. ‘She’s broken off her engagement to the Prince.’

‘Well, she must have a very good reason,’ Sadie reasoned out loud. ‘But why would she want to stay in Madrid? Maria told me that Marissa’s on her way home to the flamenco camp, so Annalisa will have no one to stand beside her when the press gets wind of this. Send for her, Alejandro,’ she begged. ‘Bring her home to us where she’s safe from the chatter in the city. Don’t you always say, it’s easier to see things clearly in the mountains?’

‘You’d do that for my sister?’ Alejandro said quietly.

‘Of course I would,’ Sadie confirmed. ‘I’d do anything to help your family, and maybe it would help Annalisa to talk to another woman. I can’t imagine she’d find it easy to confide in her brother. She’s all grown up, Alejandro. Annalisa isn’t that same little girl. What you did for her was amazing, but you have to learn to let her go and stand back now.’

‘I have to protect her,’ he said, raking his hair. ‘I always have, and I always will, and if that man’s hurt her—’

‘Of course, step in,’ Sadie agreed, ‘but I’m confident Annalisa can sort this out. Believe in your sister. With you for a brother, I don’t think she can go far wrong. Allow her to take charge of her life, as we all must. I’m not going to hang around to see what fate decides for our baby, and neither should you.’

There were a few long moments of silence, and then Alejandro said abruptly, ‘I’ll cancel my flight.’

‘You’re not admitting I’m right, are you?’ Sadie queried with a small, slanting smile.

Grabbing her close, Alejandro stared fiercely into her eyes. ‘On this one occasion—all others are up for grabs.’

‘Then, I’d better make sure I grab a few,’ Sadie countered as she linked her hands behind Alejandro’s neck to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere.

* * *

As he watched the two women reunite on the steps of Castillo Fuego, he knew Sadie was right. There was something up here in the Sierra Nevada that made everything possible. Some called it magic. He called it peace and fresh air. Whatever it was, seeing his sister with Sadie to advise her made him happy, and clearly it made Annalisa happy too. Convincing Sadie to trust him, however, might turn out to be a longer and more complicated task.

* * *

Once his sister was settled in her room and Sadie had reappeared on the landing, he called up the stairs and suggested they saddle up and go for a ride so they could talk about the baby uninterrupted.

‘Good idea,’ Sadie agreed, but she was frowning when she joined him in the hall.

‘You don’t seem so keen?’

‘I am. Absolutely,’ she insisted. ‘It’s just that listening to Annalisa takes me back to my childhood and reminds me how unkind people can be to each other. Your sister doesn’t deserve that. No one does.’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

‘Stay out of it,’ Sadie advised. ‘Unless Annalisa asks you for help. She’s got this.’

He ground his jaw, knowing Sadie was discreet and loyal, and unlikely to part with any details. He’d have to wait for Annalisa to do that. ‘How can you be so level-headed about everyone else, and yet still allow the past to haunt you?’

‘Maybe I’m starting to lay those ghosts,’ she said. ‘And it’s your turn next,’ she challenged, smiling as they left the house and headed for the stables.

How could she know him so well, when his default setting had always prohibited the smallest show of feelings? How much he’d changed, Alejandro marvelled. Years of battling to keep things running smoothly for Annalisa and the business had accustomed him to keeping any personal concerns to himself, but with the arrival of Sadie in his life his thoughts and feelings were an open book. ‘I know I’m tired of being alone.’

The words had shot from his mouth like bullets from a gun, and he doubted he could have shocked Sadie more. She hid it well as she suggested, ‘Let’s take that ride. I think we both need a chance to talk.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THEY AMBLED ALONG, reins hanging loose, completely relaxed and chatting e

asily.

Of course she missed the flat-out gallops, but being pregnant meant being careful, and knowing the baby was safe was everything.

‘Happy?’ Alejandro asked.

‘Of course.’ He only had to turn to look at her for her heart to soar. Thinking about the day when she would introduce their child to this world of dramatic mountain scenery was all the happiness she needed. The shades and contrasts alone were incredible. Lavender mountains, green plains, stark grey granite cliffs, laced with silver and aquamarine ice, dazzled the eye, while tiny luminous white villages dotted the valley far below. There was something about the scale of their surroundings that put everything else in perspective. It freed the spirit to range far and wide and allowed the imagination to venture boldly. Talking about the past was suddenly easy. They even laughed together at her stubborn belief as a child that things should be better, and that it was up to Sadie to change things.

‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ Alejandro teased.

She shrugged and smiled. ‘I’ve just become more determined and driven.’

‘But time out like this is good, isn’t it?’

‘Says you!’

They smiled at each other, and as Alejandro stared out across the trail, she thought it was by far the best thing of all to ride alongside the man she loved, the man who was a gypsy king and Spanish don, but to Sadie would always be Alejandro.

Just to make her senses a little more on edge, he’d tied a black bandana around his head to keep his thick wild hair out of his eyes. With that thick coating of sharp black stubble on his jaw and wearing old jeans, he had never looked more attractive. A tight-fitting top emphasised his muscular physique, so, all in all, he gave the mountain scenery a run for its money. With no appointments to keep, or meals to prepare, they allowed the horses to set the pace. It was just the two of them, and their thoughts and hopes for the future.

All I want is to be with you, Sadie thought, and that would be with Alejandro the man, not the hard-driven billionaire. I want this amazingly sexy, funny, honest, deep-thinking man to be a father to my child, the man who worries so much about other people that he never has time to consider the possibility of someone caring about him, worrying about him.

‘Your thoughts for the future?’ he prompted.

‘With you,’ she said bluntly, ‘but I always was a dreamer.’