The Argentinian's Solace

by Susan Stephens

  ‘So where my physios have failed you think you can help me?’

  ‘I can try,’ she said quietly.

  ‘One of these days you’re going to meet yourself coming back,’ he exclaimed with an angry gesture.

  She could see where Diego was coming from. Yes, she was pushy, and, yes, she was taking a risk in offering to try, but she had always tried to help and she couldn’t shake that off just because Diego hated her seeing him like this.

  Everyone felt vulnerable sometimes. ‘Please let me try, Diego. It can’t do any harm, can it?’

  His expression suggested she had better not get this wrong.

  CHAPTER SIX

  MAXIE was already regretting her reckless offer—maybe because her natural impulse to help had never been challenged by such rampant maleness before. Diego was relaxing on one arrogant hip and staring down at her, as if daring her to touch him—and the truth was she wasn’t so sure she dared.

  ‘There’s oil on the table,’ he said, with the mocking smile firmly fixed on his lips.

  ‘What is this?’ She turned the bottle in her hands.

  It was a potion he had bartered for with some quack in return for a lead rope and a packet of mints. ‘I don’t know. It’s massage oil. Does it matter what it is?’

  As she turned to look at him he wondered if this was the moment when she’d make some last-minute excuse and pull out. But, no—removing the cork, she sniffed the liquid inside the bottle.

  ‘It certainly smells like muscle relaxant.’ Upending the bottle, she rubbed some between her thumb and fingers. ‘And I think there are emollients in here too. I don’t think it matters where it comes from, just so long as it works …’ Her grey gaze held his steadily.

  ‘Then you’d better get started,’ he said.

  She was right. He had nothing to lose. Let Maxie try her hocus-pocus on his leg. The risk of embarrassment to him was hugely outweighed by the thought of her dark head bent over him as she worked diligently with those tiny hands in an attempt to ease his pain—an attempt that would fail, but still …

  ‘Well?’ he prompted. ‘It’s time for you to put your technique to the test.’

  Putting a towel on the lounger, to protect it, she indicated that he must stretch out on top of it. ‘I’m going to warm the oil first,’ she explained.

  He had to admit that after so long a drought the sight of Maxie warming massage oil in her tiny hands was a provocation too far. Grabbing a towel, he covered himself with it. ‘Do your worst,’ he said, and then he closed his eyes to blot out the sight of both Maxie and his scarred leg.

  What madness had brought her to this point? Maxie wondered as her oiled hands hovered above Diego’s spectacular form. Telling Diego to relax was a joke when she was the one most in need of stress relief. The thought of touching him as intimately and as firmly as she must was a daunting prospect. But exciting too.

  ‘I’m ready,’ he prompted.

  ‘Good.’ And now she must ignore him and concentrate on what she had to do. She had helped her mother, but could she help Diego? She had to help him. Tugging a cushion off one of the other loungers, she put it on the floor at his side and knelt down.

  ‘The injury is here,’ Diego said, pointing to a place just below his knee. ‘But it seems to affect all my leg right up to—’

  She cut him off. ‘I’ll find it.’ Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and began to work.

  ‘Don’t you need to see what you’re doing?’

  ‘Please be quiet.’ She said this calmly, then explained in the same soothing tone, ‘If I close my eyes and concentrate it allows my senses to come into play. If you talk, I’m distracted.’

  She heard him shift position restlessly. Diego didn’t like to be told what to do. She was certain no one had ever told him to be quiet, other than perhaps his siblings, but as he relaxed and the stillness of the room enveloped them both she began to feel the resistance of damaged flesh and muscle beneath her fingers and worked with more confidence.

  He couldn’t believe he was allowing Maxie to do this. Struggling to relax, he knew that if she proved even one iota less than good he would shrug her off and never forget this intrusion into his private world. Dissatisfaction at being so slow to heal was steadily eating away at him without this interference from her.

  ‘I’m not hurting you, am I?’ she asked him as he flinched with self-loathing.

  ‘No,’ he snapped as she hit a tender spot.

  Maxie’s small hands were surprisingly strong, but then he remembered the heavy ropes she’d tossed to shore. She might be small, but in determination Maxie was not to be underestimated. Against the odds, he began to relax. He stared down at her dark, silky head as she worked. There was something about her touch, her scent, her calming approach, her very presence when he had spent so much time alone, that made her intriguingly different—and incredibly, beneath her skilful fingers, he felt his damaged muscles begin to yield and loosen. Having lived with pain since the accident, his relief was indescribable. Closing his eyes, he rested back against the cushioned headrest …

  ‘Does that feel better?’

  He couldn’t believe he’d been asleep, or that her voice had wakened him.

  ‘Well?’ she prompted. ‘Has it helped?’

  He flexed his leg and could hardly believe there was just a low, throbbing ache where so recently there had been acute, stabbing pain. And the dull throb was probably due to the force of Maxie’s fingers. ‘It’s a lot better,’ he admitted.

  ‘Well, don’t look so surprised. If you patronise me I won’t do it again.’

  His mouth tugged in the first real smile. ‘I shall consider myself chastened, Señorita Parrish.’

  ‘You do that,’ she advised. ‘I’m going to wash my hands now.’

  He caught hold of her wrist as she moved away and had the satisfaction of hearing her suck in a sharp breath. She stood trembling and aware as he held her, reminding him of one of his wild ponies. When they were first captured and brought to him they averted their gaze just as she was doing now, as if to look at him would be an admission that they wanted to stay. He felt how vulnerable she was beneath his huge fist, and how delicate her bones were. He could feel her pulse fluttering beneath the skin and felt some primal urge to protect her. For Maxie’s sake he let her go.

  She felt light-headed as she walked the length of the swimming pool on her way to the changing rooms. And that wasn’t just the Diego effect—which was disturbing enough in itself. Her mother had always said Maxie had healing hands, and though Maxie had laughed at this suggestion sessions did take a lot out of her. She could only describe it as her own strength pouring into someone else. How did Diego feel about it? Why had he caught hold of her wrist? He had let her go again, she remembered wryly.

  She took her time washing her hands. Closing her eyes, she prepared herself for a return to a world with Diego Acosta in it and a wedding planner with an increasingly bad habit of straying from her brief. But at least she’d had good news to give Holly. Palacio Acosta had the best facilities for a wedding that Maxie had ever seen.

  By the time she returned to the side of the pool Diego was standing on his good leg, flexing the other. ‘Does your leg still feel better?’ she said, hoping there hadn’t been some unexpected reversal.

  The dark gaze reached deep inside her. ‘There is some improvement,’ Diego admitted. A faint, attractive smile played around his lips, making a crease in his cheek. ‘Same time tomorrow?’ he suggested, pulling on his jeans.

  She quickly averted her gaze and stared over his head. ‘I’ll see if I can fit you in,’ she said.

  ‘You do that.’ Diego’s dark eyes were amused as he fastened his belt. ‘Or we could run a barter system,’ he suggested, tugging a polo shirt over his head. ‘I teach you to ride. You work on my leg?’

  ‘Why not?’ she said, still dwelling on his naked torso, covered now—unfortunately. ‘That sounds fair.’ And totally insane.

  ‘I’d better
find you a good ride,’ he said, with the attractive crease back in his cheek. ‘You better had,’ she agreed.

  And there it would have ended, with a good bargain made, had she not been trying so hard not to look at Diego when she walked past him. If she had been paying any attention to where she was going instead of avoiding his glance she wouldn’t have tripped over the leg of the lounger and he wouldn’t have been forced to catch her.

  ‘Careful.’ His face was only a breath away.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, pulling away as if he had burned her.

  ‘My pleasure,’ Diego murmured, with a great deal too much insight in his voice and in his eyes for Maxie’s liking.

  This was like trying to take on the forces of nature single-handed, she concluded. Her heart was pounding a tattoo, and if she couldn’t trust herself to behave what hope was there? But instead of taking things further as Diego so easily could have done, he let go of her arm and stood back to let her pass.

  He wanted her. His hunting instinct was in full flood, but his instinct also told him to keep her safe. From him. He wanted to thank her for bringing him relief from pain, but he knew where that would lead. And he could sense that Maxie was vulnerable. In business she had all the confidence you would expect, together with the skills necessary to succeed, but in her personal life … He knew nothing about her personal life, except that she was innocence personified compared to him. What was she hiding? he wondered as he stared into her cool grey eyes.

  Damn it. She hated being on the back foot. Diego had almost certainly guessed how much she had wanted him to kiss her.

  ‘Are you coming?’ he said, holding the door.

  To buy time, she grabbed a couple of towels and waved them at him. She needed a moment. But she couldn’t keep him waiting all day … ‘Excuse me,’ she said politely when she reached the door. The open space with Diego in it was far too small to pass without brushing against him.

  ‘Excuse me,’ he replied, but instead of moving away he moved in.

  Catching her close, he smiled into her eyes, and with such exquisite confidence she could only gasp as he brushed her lips with his. And then he proceeded to tease her mercilessly with kisses to her neck, before pulling back as if to study the effect. He must have known she was lost. Closing her eyes, she pressed her palms flat against Diego’s chest. Two could play at this game. She slowly traced the map of muscle to his neck and then linked her hands behind his head. Opening her eyes she found him smiling down at her.

  ‘Maxie,’ he murmured in a faintly chastening tone.

  ‘Yes?’ she whispered.

  Taking hold of her hands, he gently drew them down again.

  ‘Don’t tease me,’ she warned, ready to push all her past failures aside in the hope of achieving one perfect moment.

  ‘Is that a challenge?’ Diego asked, drawing her attention to his lips.

  A dam burst inside her. Pressing against him, she reached up. Locking her hands behind his neck she exclaimed with relief when Diego’s grip tightened. Dipping his head, he brushed her lips with his. Parting them with his tongue, he searched deep. It was a fiery exchange, as if she filled some empty part of him. He certainly fulfilled every one of her wishes. A wild sound escaped her throat when his hands first touched her breasts, and she shivered with desire when he caressed them with a tenderness that amazed her. He chafed her erect nipples until she could hardly breathe and every part of her was on fire for him. Her lips were bruised and swollen from his kisses—she loved his taste, his warm, clean-man scent. The urge to battle Diego’s strength and share his passion consumed her, and uttering his name in a half-sob of desperation she thrust her hips greedily against the brutal thrust of his erection.

  ‘Maxie—’ It took her a good few moments to realise that everything had changed and that Diego was gently disentangling himself. She was lost in a world of sensation until he held her at arm’s length to whisper, ‘Enough …’

  What had she done wrong? Why had he kissed her in the first place? Why respond to her at all if only to draw back now? And then, in the most humiliating and provocative of gestures, he reached out to stroke her hair, as if he could tame her like one of his ponies, or pacify her like a child. ‘Don’t,’ she warned, pulling back.

  ‘Don’t you think I know?’ he said, holding her firmly in front of him. ‘Don’t you think I can read you like a book?’

  ‘What do you know?’ she asked, outraged.

  ‘You can’t use me to practise on.’

  ‘Of all the arrogant—’

  ‘You haven’t enjoyed sex in the past,’ Diego said, ignoring her, ‘and you want to know what it would be like. So what am I supposed to do about it? Throw you to the ground and ravish you? Is that really what you want?’

  She had to wait until her breathing steadied before she could trust herself to speak. By then she was ready to accept that Diego had only responded to the signals she’d sent him and that she couldn’t blame him for that any more than she could blame herself for wanting him.

  She had to calm down and pull this back. How else could she continue working with Diego to make Holly’s wedding day the best it could be?

  ‘I’ll see you at the house.’ Diego said this in an impressively normal voice and he stood well clear of the doorway.

  ‘Sure.’ She knew she should be relieved he could turn it off so easily and knew she must do the same. ‘I expect I’ll see you at supper,’ she managed in her usual businesslike voice, as if she hadn’t just flung herself at him. ‘You go ahead. I’ll gather up the rest of the things here.’ Along with her senses, she hoped.

  Diego walked off in the direction of the stables while Maxie clung to the fact that he had seemed to take their encounter very much in his stride. Not so good was discovering she was the type of woman he found so easy to resist. She couldn’t pretend that didn’t hurt—especially when every part of her had just woken up to the most amazing possibilities.

  Diego was seething with anger, all directed at himself. He had ignored every one of his self-imposed warnings and paid for that with the discovery that just being close to Maxie was enough to rock his self-control. He was in the barn now, walking down the line of stalls, searching for the soothing effect the horses always had on him. Today it eluded him. He and Maxie lived different lives. Making love to her would be the easiest thing in the world, but a brief period of elation would be followed by regret. And what form would that regret take for Maxie? Hadn’t he done enough damage in his life? For him, regret would only involve more self-loathing, knowing he had taken something pure and good, just because he could, and trashed it. He was bad news and Maxie deserved better. The animal inside him might be clamouring to be fed, but the man he was said no.

  Maxie spent the next week working as hard as she could on Holly’s behalf. She worked pretty hard at avoiding Diego too. When she had to meet up with him to work on his leg she made sure it was always under Maria’s watchful eye. Diego wanted her to continue the treatment, and Maxie had to prove to herself that she could. What had happened in the pool house couldn’t be allowed to interfere with his treatment when they could both see signs of improvement.

  Maxie had decided that the answer in the long term was to train Maria, and ask Maria to pass on the knowledge to whoever could help Diego at his next port of call.

  One evening, when she arrived in the kitchen, she found him pacing up and down impatiently. ‘You’re here at last,’ he said, throwing her one of his black looks.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ she murmured dryly.

  ‘I want you to come outside,’ he said.

  She looked at Maria for clues, but Maria just smiled at her and shrugged, as if to say Maxie would have to wait and see. The first thing she noticed when she stepped outside was the huge bonfire. ‘What are you burning?’

  ‘Can’t you guess?’ Diego demanded as he matched his stride to hers.

  ‘Your cane!’ One of the stable lads was stoking the fire with it. But as she tried to grab it Die
go stopped her.

  ‘Gracias, Maxie,’ he said, staring into her eyes.

  She went blank for a moment, seeing nothing but him, and then Maria was hugging her and the groom was laughing as he fed the fire with more branches. ‘You don’t need your cane!’ she exclaimed as the penny dropped.

  ‘I knew you’d catch on eventually.’ Diego’s eyes were dark and amused.

  ‘But what a massive turning point. This is wonderful!’

  ‘You have no idea,’ he agreed, turning serious.

  ‘I do have some,’ Maxie argued quietly.

  ‘But I still get my treatment,’ Diego threw back at her as he turned for the house.

  ‘So what about my riding lessons?’ she called after him.

  Diego stopped dead in his tracks. That was a very nice back view, she thought, wondering if Maxie Parrish and danger were joined at the hip these days.

  ‘We start tomorrow,’ he said, slowly turning to face her.

  ‘Suits me,’ she agreed, playing it as cool as he had.

  Diego’s recovery was all she cared about, but with that embarrassing encounter at the pool house still fresh in her mind she was going to have a word with Maria. Linking arms with the housekeeper, she outlined her plan.

  ‘I’m ready for my treatment,’ Diego announced, the moment Maxie walked through the door.

  He was sprawled back on the chair where he usually sat when she massaged his leg, with his powerful arms stretched across the back of it as he regarded her through half-closed eyes. The slight smile on his face only proved how right she was to make some changes.

  ‘There’s been a change of plan,’ she announced.

  ‘Oh?’ Diego demanded, instantly suspicious.

  ‘Sí, Señor!’ Maria exclaimed enthusiastically, bounding forward. ‘Today I am to perform your massage!’

  ‘What?’ Diego’s eyes were points of steel, but Maria quickly came between them and lost no time getting to work.

  ‘I won’t always be with you,’ Maxie explained, as Maria pummelled and rubbed with all the fierce efficiency of a champion bread-maker. ‘And I’m sure you’ll agree that in Maria I couldn’t have a better deputy. She’ll pass on everything I’ve taught her to the next person, and so on …’