Claiming His Wife

by Diana Hamilton

  His mouth had indented wryly. 'The bargain wouldn't be one-sided. Since the death of your father you're a ship without a rudder; I gather that he had you convent-educated then used emotional blackmail to keep you at home acting as an unpaid house­keeper. Cass, marriage and motherhood would give you the direction you want. And no need to worry about the debts waiting for you at home—naturally, as your husband, I would discharge them. And for me—' his eyes had softened as he'd smiled into hers '—I would be free of the endless carping from my female relatives. In time, there would be our children to take their meddling minds away from me, and I could get on with my life in peace. And, more im­portantly, I would have a wife I'd chosen for myself. Will you think about it, dear Cassie?'

  She hadn't, she thought now, defiantly draining her wine glass. She'd simply accepted him and thought about it later, when it was too late to do anything other than acknowledge the fact that he had married her because she was biddable, undemanding, a creature of no consequence, and someone he could hide in a corner and forget about. Someone to pro­vide him with the heirs the vast Fernandez estates needed.

  Only it hadn't worked out like that, had it?

  'I see Delfina still visits you,' she remarked coolly to her mother-in-law. Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she added, 'So kind, don't you think, when so­phisticated social events, glitzy restaurants and ex­pensive shops are her natural milieu? Or so she al­ways led me to believe.'

  Before, she would never have dreamed of saying such a thing. She had almost literally withered away whenever her mother-in-law or the aunts had spoken to her, almost always with some criticism or other— the way she dressed, her apparent inability to con­ceive or keep her husband at her side, her weight loss.

  'She has always been fond of my son.' Dona Elvira dabbed her mouth with her napkin. 'As I said, it has been an uncomfortable time for all of us.'

  Was that sympathy in the older woman's eyes? Cassie thought so. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. Formerly, had she only listened to the words, failing to see the concern for her well-being and happiness that lay behind the apparent criti­cisms?

  She laid down her napkin, made her excuses, and left the room without even glancing at Roman. Sympathy from a most unexpected quarter wasn't worth thinking about. Not now. It was over.

  'Sis!'

  As Cassie closed the door to the formal dining room behind her Roy emerged from beneath the stone arch that led to the kitchen quarters. It took her two seconds to reach him. She wanted to shake him but he looked so wretched she hugged him instead.

  'I couldn't sit through dinner, not knowing whether you'd persuaded Roman to give me another chance.'

  She had meant to tell him that she'd tried and failed, that he was on his own now and had to take the consequences of his dishonesty, but she could feel his wiry body shaking. Her heart lurched. Her eyes filled with tears.

  In the past she'd fought all his battles for him. Maybe he would have been a stronger character if she hadn't. Maybe she was to blame for the way he'd messed up his life.

  But how could she fail him now, when he needed her most?

  'It will be all right,' she told him unsteadily. 'You'll be given another chance. Make the most of it, though, because it will be your last.'

  CHAPTER THREE

  The kitchen was in the older, original part of the house; the stone walls were painted white and the huge black range added to the warmth of the early morning. Asuncion, who ran the household and ca­tered for the unmarried estate workers with unruffled efficiency, was kneading dough; two of the maids sat at the other end of the central table, chattering over their toasted rolls and coffee.

  'Have you seen Senor Fernandez?' Cassie asked as her appearance made the housekeeper stop pum­melling and the maids fall silent.

  Unless they'd changed their habits during the past twelve months, Dona Elvira and the aunts wouldn't surface until after they'd breakfasted in their rooms at ten. But when he was here Roman was always out on the estate soon after sunrise; she didn't want to miss him and hang around until lunchtime, getting more nervous and downhearted with every passing second. She wanted to get this over with.

  'No, not this morning, senora.' Asuncion planted her floury hands on her wide hips, her small dark eyes sparking with curiosity. 'Senorita Delfina waits for him also.' One of the maids smothered a giggle, earning a quick dark look from the housekeeper. 'If you join her in the courtyard, someone will bring coffee out for you.'

  'Thank you, Asuncion.' Cassie retreated smartly, her cheeks burning. Las Colinas Verdes was like a small village; everyone knew everyone else's busi­ness and the affairs of the family were the subject of eternal gossip and conjecture.

  They would all be wondering why the runaway, unsuitable English wife had returned and why el pa­tron had taken his young brother-in-law out of his comfortable office in Jerez and put him to work like a labourer in the fields. Uncomfortably, she won­dered what answers they'd come up with.

  She had no wish to join Delfina but she really did need that coffee. Her night had been restless, tor­mented by the knowledge of what she'd let herself in for. She couldn't go back on her promise to Roy, but if Roman wanted her to pretend that they were making a fresh start, and get his relatives off his back, then she had a condition of her own to make, she thought firmly.

  Delfina was sitting in the shade of the sprawling fig tree which grew against one of the high stone walls of the courtyard. She was wearing form-fitting stretch jodhpurs and a cream-coloured, heavy silk shirt; the long sleeves were casually rolled up to just beneath her elbows, displaying lightly tanned fore­arms and a matching pair of thin gold chain bracelets.

  She looked every inch the aristocrat, as if she be­longed here. Cassandra couldn't understand why Roman was going to such lengths to pretend he wanted another shot at making his marriage to an average-looking nobody like her work, when surely he could see that this beautiful, sophisticated daugh­ter of a wealthy sherry family would make him a perfect wife. Or had he really meant it when he'd said that Delfina's type bored him?

  'If you're looking for Roman, you're out of luck,' Delfina snapped. 'We had a date to go riding but he must have left without me.' The lovely, perfectly made-up face was petulant, the scarlet mouth droop­ing sulkily. 'He always did head for the hills rather than spend time around you, so I guess that's what's happened now.'

  'Is that so?' Cassie slid on to the bench seat on the opposite side of the table, in the full glare of the already hot sun, noting that the other woman had barely touched her coffee or her juice. Roman might enjoy the flirtatious attentions of Delfina, and the way she hung around him would boost his already considerable ego. But he certainly wouldn't want to marry her, and not only because her shallowness would bore him.

  Delfina had been born to elegance and style, and was accustomed to the high life. She certainly wouldn't allow herself to be isolated here, seeing her husband only when he felt like dropping by for a week or two, producing babies and closely chaper­oned by his mother and aunts while he swanned off, free as a bird. She would make a demanding wife, while he had wanted a dutiful, self-effacing one, one who didn't ask questions or demand a single thing of him.

  Roman Fernandez was far too selfish to com­pletely tie himself down to a woman; he enjoyed the pleasures of a bachelor-style life far too much. But at least, Cassie knew, he wouldn't seduce the other woman. She came from an important family and he wouldn't compromise her; his Spanish code of hon­our wouldn't let him. Though why she should see that as a consolation, Cassie couldn't imagine. She no longer cared what he did.

  'I can't think why you came back after all this time,' Delfina said pettishly. 'You're wasting your time if you expect Roman to take you back—because he won't, you know. How long are you staying, any­way?' she wanted to know. 'It can't be too long if the only thing you've got with you is the same old suit you wore to dinner last night,' Delfina added disparagingly. 'And you really shouldn't sit in the sun, not with yo
ur ginger colouring. You'll get cov­ered in ghastly freckles, just like your brother. And what's he doing working here? I thought Roman had given him an easy life back in the office in Jerez.'

  'He's learning estate management from the bottom up,' Roman's dark, velvety voice supplied. He was standing in the shadow of the pillared arcade that surrounded the courtyard on three sides. 'And you never know, if he's not otherwise engaged when Miguel retires in six years' time, Roy might make manager.'

  Cassie got the message. Roy could make some-thing of himself here on the estate, or go to prison. She shivered, despite the warmth of the sun. At least Roman hadn't confided the true situation to Delfina. She offered up a silent word of thanks for his tact.

  'We had a date,' the Spanish woman cooed as Roman stepped out of the shadows. The petulance gone, she was all smiling welcome. She stood up, smoothing her hands over her prettily curved hips. ‘I've waited for ages, but at least you're here now— so just this once I've decided to forgive you!'

  He wasn't dressed for riding. Wearing narrow fawn-coloured cotton trousers topped by a black shirt in the finest lawn, he looked fantastic, all raw male sexuality—and then some. Cassie knew exactly why Delfina couldn't keep away from him; she could imagine how the Spanish woman's hopes would have soared when she'd learned that his failure of a wife had left him.

  Cassie almost felt sorry for her! 'You're going to have to ride alone this morning,' Roman stated abruptly, as if his patience was running out. 'I have urgent business with my wife. But,' he added as a palliative, 'I had Demetrio saddle up for you. The mare's ready and waiting in the stable yard.'

  His cool smile seemed to soften what was obvi­ously a blow and pushed what petulant words Delfina might have been about to say back down her throat. Asuncion, bearing down on them with a huge tray, did the rest.

  As the housekeeper, with a murmured, 'Senor, Senora,' set out breakfast for two and cleared away the offerings Delfina had barely touched, the Spanish girl swept her eyes dismissively over Cassie, gave Roman a commiserating smile and drawled, 'I'll leave you to your boring business then, caro. You can make amends for letting me down when you've finished with it.' Another pointed glance in Cassie's direction and then she was walking away, leaving the sultry perfume that was her trademark behind in the hot summer air.

  As Asuncion left, Roman took the seat Delfina had vacated and Cassie eyed the crispy rolls, honey, fresh fruit and coffee and felt her throat close up. Alone with him, she felt wound up enough to explode, and he made it a thousand times worse when he reached out a hand and ran the back of his fingers lightly down the side of her face.

  'Unlike your unidentical twin, your skin doesn't freckle.' His voice was slow, sexy and smooth, the smoky eyes following the movement of his fingers as they rested briefly on the corner of her mouth. 'And I wouldn't describe your hair as ginger—far more like burnished chestnuts, Cassie.'

  After those first few disastrous days of their hon­eymoon he'd never touched her, except perhaps by accident. He'd certainly never touched her skin de­liberately, lingeringly, seductively. So why touch her now? Why was he trying to contradict Delfina's ear­lier insults? Her huge eyes were bewildered.

  She tried to move, to jerk her head away from the gentle stroke of his fingers, the warmth that was setting fire to her skin—but she was mesmerised, trapped beneath the intimacy of his eyes, for all the world as if she were twenty-one years old again. Vulnerable, gullible, innocent and still traumatised by recent happenings.

  'Awwwk—' The sound that emerged from her painfully tight throat was more like a croak than the opening for a sensible statement. As if he knew he could sweet-talk her into a state of feeble submission where his threats had failed, one dark brow quirked upwards; a slight smile curved his sensual mouth as he dropped his hand and lifted the coffee pot.

  But it wasn't that; it really wasn't. She was beyond all that self-serving charm. It was just that she dreaded having to commit herself, but knew she had to if she were to save her twin.

  And now—apart from that condition she was de­termined to make—the time had come to tell him she agreed to accept his monstrous offer.

  She could hardly believe this was happening to her. It had taken courage to walk out on him, and a whole lot of determination to put him and what he had meant to her right out of her mind.

  Her throat jerking, she swallowed around the con­striction in her throat, stared into the rich, steaming coffee he had placed in front of her and stated as evenly as she could manage, 'If you must use me to divert your family from pestering you to provide an heir then I'll stay with you for the three months you stipulated. But—'

  'A diversion? Interesting...' Roman looked almost amused.

  'What other reason could you have?' Suddenly, Cassie was wary.

  'None.' A glint of wickedness in the dark eyes belied the blunt disclaimer, but she was reassured by his, 'You catch on quickly; well done! You are my wife, you're here, and you suit my purposes—but don't forget, the deal includes you sleeping with me, as a good wife should...'

  Cassie swallowed hard and forced an edge into her voice, 'Point taken. You don't have to paint a picture. I'll keep my part of the bargain, but not here.'

  'Is that an ultimatum, mi esposa’

  'Take it or leave it.' She echoed his former words, trying to blank out the knowledge that he was not a man to be coerced, trying to look as if she wouldn't back down while all the time knowing that she would have to if he didn't agree.

  'I wonder what it is about Las Colinas Verdes that you dislike so much?' he queried idly. Cassie shot him a suspicious glance from beneath her lashes. Buttering a roll, spreading it with honey, he gave every appearance of being totally relaxed about the whole surreal situation. 'I seem to recall a previous time when you asked if we might make a home somewhere else.'

  She hadn't simply asked, she'd begged—practi­cally pleaded with him on her knees! She hadn't been able to bear being left here, watched over and criti­cised by his mother and his aunts, enduring Delfina's visits—visits which had always miraculously coin­cided with Roman's own.

  But he had barely listened. But then why should he have when her misery—the feeling of being aban­doned, a prisoner—hadn't been important to him? After their disastrous wedding night, it had suited him to have her out of sight and out of mind.

  'It isn't the place,' she corrected sharply. 'It's the people.' And if that was insulting to his family, tough! She had grown out of pussy-footing around him, trying to please him, vainly hoping he would start to feel something for her beyond indifference. 'If we were here, they'd be watching like hawks to see if I got pregnant. I've been there, done that. And I don't want a repetition.'

  'You could have told them they were wasting their time,' he said coldly. 'That the likelihood of your conceiving my child was non-existent because you couldn't bear me to touch you.'

  Cassie swallowed the instinctive, vehement re­sponse that the blame for that was just as much his as hers. After all, she'd broached this subject yester­day; the snap of his eyes and the tightening of his jaw line had showed her that her criticism of his family had made him angry.

  She took a deliberate sip of coffee, then took a deep breath and made her tone entirely reasonable as she told him, 'I don't want to get into a fight, Roman. Our marriage was a mistake. It didn't work for all sorts of reasons. The past is best forgotten; it's no longer important. What matters right now is deciding how we're going to handle the next three months, and where we'll spend them.'

  Another few sips while she weathered the startling frisson that racketed through her body at the mere thought of the coming three months. And, if any­thing, her prosaic words—meant to pour oil on wa­ters that were beginning to look ominously turbulent- seemed to have worsened the situation, because his black brows were drawn together, his haughty Spanish disdain sharp enough to cut.

  'We'll spend them together. That was the bargain.' He got to his feet, the dappled shade reinforcing the mystery o
f the man. He was a complex character, many-faceted; she had never been able to understand him. 'I will break the news of our reconciliation to my family. Be ready to leave in an hour.'

  His mouth pulled back against his teeth, he stared down at her, as if daring her to say another word, then swung round and walked away. He left her won­dering at his change of mood.

  Set to charm the socks off her to start with—most probably in an attempt to persuade her to fall in with his wishes. Then showing flashes of simmering black temper after she'd agreed to what he wanted: the pretence of a reconciliation!

  No, she never had been able to understand him. But it really didn't matter now, did it?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Beyond a few lines of self-consciously banal chit­chat, they had barely spoken. The prickly silence in­side the air-conditioned car was beginning to get to Cassie, but it didn't seem to bother Roman and that annoyed her.

  Everything had happened so quickly her throbbing head was still going round in ever accelerating cir­cles.

  Yesterday they'd driven away from the finca, the vast Las Colinas Verdes estate, leaving behind Dona Elvira and the aunts, who had looked as if they didn't know what had hit them, Delfma, who knew very well what had hit her and hated it very much indeed, and a suitably chastened and contrite Roy.

  Roy had hurriedly assured her in a last-minute un­dertone that he would work his socks off on the es­tate to make up for what he had done, adding gruffly, 'Don't worry about me. I've got my head straight­ened out. Just concentrate on making a go of your marriage this time, sis. Roman's crazy about you; he's been unbearable to be around since you went away.'