A Deal Before the Altar

‘It’s a family business, started by my grandfather—my mother’s father. I suppose he assumed that as I was older by nine years I’d marry and have a family a long time before Carlo did.’

He sounded resigned and it tugged at her heart to hear him, almost as if he was admitting defeat.

‘He must have thought he was being fair to us both, putting that clause in his will.’

‘So why didn’t you marry?’ The question just had to be asked. He’d never been short of female company. She’d very quickly learnt that.

He turned to face her and she held her breath as he looked down at her. His eyes searched her face as if looking for answers to questions he didn’t even know. She watched as his face set into hard lines, shutting her out.

‘To avoid the mess we are in now.’ The angry words all but barked out at her.

She shivered despite the sun. ‘It’s easy to sort out.’ Her words were curt as she lifted her chin in defiance and challenge, the softer emotions quashed by his frozen expression. ‘I leave and you file for divorce.’

In one swift stride he came towards her, his hand holding her arm firmly. ‘You are not going anywhere unless I do—and as for a divorce...’

He spoke with a voice so stern and disapproving she blinked in shock.

‘There will not be a divorce. Your meddling has made sure of that.’

‘But—’ she began, wondering what she wanted to try and tell him, even what she didn’t. ‘There isn’t any reason to remain married—not now.’

‘You are forgetting, mi esposa, that an heir may yet still be needed.’ He let go of her, keeping her where she stood with just the fixed glare of his dark eyes.

‘No,’ she snapped, and backed away from him, bumping against the chair she’d sat in to call her sister earlier. ‘Even you’re not so cold and callous that you’d bring a child into the world just to inherit a business.’

‘I had hoped not even to marry to inherit. When you so kindly offered yourself I believed it would be enough, that I could find a way out of the clause long before Carlo married. But your meddling has changed everything.’

His eyes glittered furiously at her but she held her ground, squared her shoulders and met his accusation head on.

Her meddling? ‘What do you mean?’

‘Don’t play the innocent with me.’

His eyes glittered dangerously but she refused to be intimidated, refused to back down.

‘Not when you’ve led me on, driven me wild with need for you since the night of the party.’

‘I did not lead you on.’ Indignation flared to life in her and she almost stamped her foot in frustration.

* * *

Santos knew he was losing his patience, reaching the boiling point that very few people managed to push him to. All he wanted was to prevent her from leaving. He needed her, yes, but he wanted her more.

‘So what was our wedding night if not to divert my attention and keep me out of the way?’

She gasped at him, a blush creeping over her cheeks, and she looked as if she was struggling for words.

‘You must have been delighted when I took you to the yacht. What better place to keep me out of the way?’ Humiliation burned through him like a forest fire. He’d been used, played for a fool, and it wounded him even more to think that he’d relaxed. He’d wanted to open up to her, wanted to be who he really was, when all along she’d been as fake as snow in the desert. ‘You flirted yourself at me in an attempt to stay longer on the yacht.’

Her brow furrowed and pain and confusion swirled in her eyes. For a moment he wanted to reach for her, wanted to kiss it all away. But kissing had got him into this mess. Kissing and much more had left him emotionally exposed and vulnerable.

‘If that’s what you think, Santos, it would be much better if you just let me go home. Alone.’ Her words were firm and devoid of any emotion.

‘That,’ he snapped, instantly reining himself back, ‘is not negotiable. You will stay here with me now I know where Carlo and Emma are.’

‘Where they are?’ She spoke rapidly, shock sounding in her tone. ‘You mean they’re not in London?’

Was it possible he’d got it all wrong? That she’d known nothing of their marriage plans?

He moved away from her—away from the intensity of her eyes and the questions deep within them. Maybe sending her back to London alone would be for the best, enable him to think clearly. Because his need for her had increased since they’d spent the night together and each time she came close his body remembered, even if his mind refused to acknowledge what he was beginning to feel for her.