A Deal Before the Altar

‘But why me?’ She moved backwards, but still the sizzle was there. She could feel it with every pore of her skin. He’s just trying to throw you off balance, she assured herself, and asked again. ‘Why me, Santos? Why now?’

‘Because you’re the only woman who’s asked me to marry them at a time when I need to be married.’

When I need to be married.

Those words rang inside her head like a cathedral choir. He didn’t want to be married either, and she clung to the hope that she could persuade him later that separation was the best option.

Images of being with Santos, of spending days and nights with him, filled her mind. She became dizzy at the thought of what the nights would entail. Why did he want her in that way when he could have any one of the glamorous women who always seemed to be in his life?

* * *

Santos watched as an array of emotions flashed across her beautiful face. She might well have asked him to marry her, but he could see the idea of a real marriage unsettled her as much as it did him. Marriage was something he’d never wanted to enter into. He hated that he was being forced to marry by his father’s ridiculous clause in his will. As a child he’d witnessed the destructive side of marriage—a side he knew lurked beneath every claim of love.

Love. He knew it didn’t exist. It was a false and misleading emotion that could destroy any man, woman or child. It was open for exploitation. Never would he allow any woman close enough to manipulate him. Marrying Georgina was a necessity, nothing more.

‘Lucky I asked when I did,’ she said, and flashed a smile at him. But sadness clouded her eyes.

Was she thinking of her first husband? Had she loved him? Had he been manipulated just as easily? Fool, he told himself, fighting back irrational emotions that were completely alien to him. Don’t even go there.

‘Lucky for who, querida?’ He couldn’t resist the urge to provoke her, wanting to see those soft brown eyes spark with passionate fire, as they had done the very first time he’d seen her in his office.

She raised her brows at him. ‘For you. I could have just encouraged Emma and Carlo to slip off and get married without anyone knowing. So I suppose you have the most to lose, Santos, and you have the most at stake.’

His name sounded hard on her lips, fierce. He wanted to go over to her and kiss them until they softened, until every last drop of restraint disappeared. Instead he focused his mind, because if one thing was true it was the fact that he did have the most to lose.

But he’d never admit that.

‘We both have things at stake, Georgina.’ Impatience crept into his voice. ‘So I have had a mutually beneficial agreement drawn up.’

‘Ah, the pre-nup.’ She picked up her drink, ice clinking, and took a sip, all the while maintaining eye contact with him. ‘I’ll sign whatever is needed. I made that clear when I first put the proposition to you.’

‘In that case, now would be a good time to do it.’

He saw the colour drain from her face, watched as she took a deep breath and met his gaze.

‘Okay.’

That one word shook with fierce determination.

‘We can finalise the formalities of our arrangement so that we can enjoy a relaxed evening out.’ His business mind took over, insisting he secure everything before going any further with this deal—because a deal was all it was. One struck for the mutual benefit of both parties.

A flicker of guilt flashed into his mind. A moment ago she’d looked vulnerable, outside her comfort zone, but now she was as dignified and collected as she could be. Was she trying to throw him off balance in a bid to secure more for herself out of the marriage?

‘Let’s just get it done, Santos.’ Her shoulders straightened and the spark of fire flared in her eyes, leaving him in no doubt that she meant every word.

He nodded his approval and admired her undaunted tone. ‘The agreement is on my desk.’

He led the way to his study. For the first time in his life he was anxious about the outcome of a deal. Normally he would be in total control, able to steer deals his way, manoeuvring people like pieces on a chessboard.

But not with Georgina.

It wasn’t her rigid sense of purpose or her defiance that left him second-guessing where their conversations would lead, but the woman herself. The soft curves of her delicious body, the passion in her eyes in those rare unguarded moments, always left him feeling distracted.

He wanted her.

But she was unlike any woman he’d wanted before. He sensed she was different, sensed that he had to play it cool. He knew she was like a proud lioness, knew that she would show her strength, her courage, but if she needed to she’d turn and flee, leaving him in the dust. And if she did that all would be lost. She was, after all, his last hope—his legal team had made that clear—but, like a card player, he’d keep his hand close to his chest and certainly wouldn’t be revealing the full extent of the will just yet...not when he was still trying to get his head around it himself.