‘Dios mio!’
As wave after merciless wave of disbelief, hurt and disappointment submerged him, Pascual scanned the letter again, hardly able to take on board the devastating contents that had been so cruelly revealed to him. She had left him … Briana—the woman of his heart—the beautiful girl he had fallen so hard for almost on sight and had been going to marry—had left and gone back to England, without even having the guts to tell him to his face the unbelievable decision she had made.
Last night at the party she had seemed so happy. Hadn’t she? Now he remembered that later on during the evening at his parents’ house she had been looking a little tired and strained, and he had longed to get her alone and find out what was troubling her. In the end—because his friends had not wanted him to desert the party too early—he had conceded to stay and had got his chauffeur to drive Briana home, thinking he would see her tonight and get to the bottom of her disquiet then.
It was too cruel to realise that his intention would now never materialise because she had elected to leave rather than wait and talk to him. Why had he not listened to what she had tried to tell him before? he asked himself, anguished. Clearly Briana had believed there definitely were problems, even if he had not. But how dared she assume that she knew what was ‘ultimately best’ for both of them? She was merely speaking for herself … not for him!
Suddenly feeling that the generously sized room had become a stifling prison, the growing need inside him to escape and breathe some fresher air galvanised him into unhappy action. Throwing the letter down on a nearby bureau, he once again went outside. A violent expletive left his lips as he strode purposefully out into the hot mid-morning sun, the heels of his hand-crafted, made-to-measure calf leather riding boots ringing out clearly on the bleached white cobblestones before him.
For the second time in his thirty-six years he had been brought starkly face to face with what loss meant and it had left him reeling. The year he had turned thirty his best friend Fidel had lost his life in a horrific car crash, leaving behind a wife and child. Pascual had been brutally awakened to the fact that life was short—and what was the use of having great wealth at his fingertips if he had nobody significant to share it with? Soberly he had reflected on the future and realised that he craved a wife and family of his own. But in his hopeful search for a mate it had unfortunately transpired that he had given his heart to a woman who had clearly thought so little of his feelings that she imagined it was nothing to him for her to simply walk out without warning or giving him proper explanation.
Again it hit Pascual that Briana had left and such was his agony of spirit that for a moment despair almost brought him to his knees. Why had she not trusted him enough to talk to him about her doubts for their future—if doubts were what she had had? As far as he was concerned right now, her actions put her beneath his contempt! His only consolation was that he hoped she would come to bitterly regret her hasty desertion of him and suffer accordingly.
Because he would not go after her … Not for a second time would he invite her rejection of him—no matter how desperate he might become to see her again in the following few days, weeks, years. And if he ever happened to discover that she had left him because of the unthinkable … because she had fallen in love with somebody else … then he would honestly curse her to the very end of his days …
Five years later, London, England.
‘Was that the postman, love?’
‘Yes, Mum.’
Staring down at the slim brown envelope that she’d retrieved from the mat, Briana felt her heart drop like a lead weight inside her chest. If she wasn’t mistaken it was another missive from the bank, and this time maybe the threat of a court summons that had been hanging over her head for weeks now had become a horrible reality.
Just eighteen months ago the hospitality business she had set up, providing administrative and organisational services for visiting business people from abroad, had been flourishing almost beyond her wildest dreams. But since the threatening global recession had taken a grip the way Briana’s thriving business had started to plummet was no joke. People were not so eager to use less well-established businesses like hers when other, more long-standing companies could risk undercutting their fledgling competitors and charge less for the same services.
She had a son to raise and rent to pay—and how was she going to do either of those things when there was barely enough money coming in to feed them, let alone pay bills?
‘Briana? Are you going to come in and have some breakfast with me and Adán before you leave for your weekend away?’
‘Of course. Just give me a minute, will you?’
Stuffing the offending envelope unopened into her bag, Briana sighed heavily. She had no intention of sharing with her mother the news that she had received yet another worrying letter regarding her debt. Frances Douglas would sell the clothes from off her back if it would help her daughter and grandson make ends meet, and she had already threatened to take a second mortgage out on her own house to help them. She had done enough. Without her help Briana wouldn’t have been able to set the business up in the first place. Now it was up to her to get them out of the hole they were in.
Pushing her fingers resignedly through the mane of silky brown hair that seemed to have a mind of its own, she returned to the kitchen with a deliberately cheerful smile on her face. Her young son was seated up at the breakfast bar on a high stool, eating his cereal, and his grandmother was busy slotting two slices of wholemeal bread into the toaster.
The child beamed when he saw Briana. ‘Mummy, this is my second bowl!’ he happily announced, milk glistening on his small dimpled chin.
‘Is it, my angel? No wonder you’re getting so big!’ Lovingly dropping an affectionate kiss on the top of his silky dark head, Briana started moving away towards the boiling kettle on the marble-effect worktop. ‘Cup of tea, Mum?’
‘Why don’t you sit down with Adán and let me do it? And you’re not going out of this house this morning until you eat at least a couple of slices of toast, either! All this worry is making you thin and pale—and how is it going to help anybody if you fall ill?’
‘It’s not that I’m not eating.’ Curling her hair behind her ears, Briana sighed and dropped teabags into the two waiting mugs, ‘I’ve just been a bit distracted, that’s all. This weekend simply has to go well, Mum. I’ve got three entrepreneurs entertaining some billionaire from abroad, and I’ve got to help take care of them in a Tudor mansion I haven’t even had a chance to familiarise myself with yet. I have to get there early and get my act together to greet them or I’ll be for the high jump! Thank God Tina went there yesterday, to do some groundwork for me! If I impress, it’s been hinted that there might be some more work coming my way from that direction—so keep your fingers crossed for me, won’t you?’
‘You shouldn’t need me to keep my fingers crossed!’ Frances Douglas announced, her smoothly powdered features gently chastising. ‘You are the very best at what you do, Briana Douglas, and don’t you forget it! Your trusting nature brought you that bad debt that’s got the business into trouble … not your lack of ability!’
‘Thanks, Mum. I needed a boost this morning. You’re an angel!’
‘And don’t fret about Adán either. I have a lovely weekend for us both lined up. I just want you to go to work and concentrate on what has to be done without worrying about us.’
‘I promise I won’t let you down.’
The older woman’s light grey eyes glistened. ‘You’ve never let me down in the whole of your twenty-seven years, child, so don’t even think such a thing!’
Her own eyes moist, Briana sniffed and gave her mother a brief hard hug. She was so lucky. She had the most wonderful mother a girl could wish for, and a darling little boy who was the light of her life. All things considered—financial problems aside—she wasn’t doing badly. So why, then, just at the moment when she had determinedly decided to look on the bright side, did a disturbing visi
on of her child’s father slide across the cinema screen of her mind and clamp her heart hard enough and painfully enough to take her breath away?
The house was startlingly impressive. Set in the napped velvet green of the gently undulating Warwickshire landscape, in what was known as Shakespeare country, it was a genuine beautiful relic from England’s tumultuous Tudor past that anyone with half an interest in history would relish.
Pascual had stood outside for several minutes after the chauffeur had opened the door of the Rolls-Royce that had brought him from the airport—simply to admire its black and white three storeyed wattle and daub façade and the small arched windows with their leaded panes. The grounds were stunning too. On the way in they had driven past an imposing gatehouse and parkland, as well as some trees that looked as durable as any fascinating ancient monument he had ever seen. As if to doubly remind him that he was in the English countryside now, and far from the vibrancy, colour and heat of Buenos Aires, rain had started to fall—softly at first, then hard enough to make him immediately dash for cover.
As he did so he literally bumped into a young slim blonde who announced that her name was Tina and that she was working for the businessmen who were hosting Pascual’s stay this weekend. After showing him to his suite of rooms she said she would bring him some coffee and refreshments—then her colleague would take him to meet his hosts.
Welcoming the opportunity to shower and take stock of his surroundings before partaking of any refreshments and putting on his ‘business head,’ Pascual took his time getting ready for his meeting. All the while the steadily falling rain drilled against the diamond-patterned leaded windows of his bedroom and, glancing outside, seeing the boughs of the surrounding trees bend almost to the ground, he realised that the wind was whipping up quite a storm too. But inside it was cosy and warm, and the kind of peace and quiet that he almost never experienced at home descended like a soft down blanket, cocooning him from the rest of the world.
His ensuing sigh was almost contented. After all … what had he to worry about? However long he made his hosts wait, the last thing they would do would be to voice a complaint. They were getting the chance to buy the most sought-after thoroughbred polo ponies in the business—the elite of the elite—and so they would stem their impatience and relax for however long it took before Pascual finally sought them out.
Absorbed with fastening the small diamond cufflinks on his tailored deep blue Savile Row shirt, he frowned at the sudden knock on the door. No doubt it was the little blonde, returning with his refreshments, he thought lazily. Good. He could do with some strong black coffee.
Outside the panelled oak door in the long, low-ceilinged corridor, Briana was schooling herself to try and breathe more slowly. She’d arrived late, despite all her best efforts, and had just got there in the nick of time to take the tray of coffee from Tina and bring it up to their VIP guest’s room. Patting down her hair, she hoped her motorway dash and her lack of time to retouch her make-up would not detract from the warmth and professionalism that was usually her byword. She hadn’t even had the presence of mind to ask Tina what their important guest’s name was! Never mind. Perhaps he’d just be so grateful for the coffee he wouldn’t notice that she didn’t address him by his name.
The silver coffee pot, patterned cup and saucer and little white jug on the elegant silver tray rattled a little between her hands as Briana held it, and she made herself take another steadying breath.
‘Good timing! I was just—Dios mio!’
Hooded eyes the intensity and colour of luxurious cocoa set in a handsome strong-boned face with high cheekbones and the most sensuous masculine mouth imaginable stared back at her, as though its owner hardly believed the validity of his own eyesight.
‘What in God’s name are you doing here?’
Just in time Briana held onto the already precariously rattling tray. Was she dreaming? As her heart pounded out a shocked tattoo, she had to struggle to maintain her balance. Pascual was the VIP guest? How could she not have known that? Suddenly her equilibrium and professionalism fled altogether, and she was left feeling so painfully vulnerable, exposed and inadequate that tears were a mere breath away.
‘Did you hear what I said?’
For a moment his accent sounded heavier than she remembered. The naturally sensuous timbre of that arresting voice still had the power to turn her limbs to the fluidity of water Briana discovered disturbingly. ‘I’m working … and I’ve brought you your coffee,’ she managed through numbed lips, giving him a nervous lopsided smile. ‘Do you mind if I put the tray down? I’m afraid I might drop it.’
Holding the door wide so that she could enter, Pascual allowed his dark, accusing gaze to follow her like sharpened daggers as she crossed the room to deposit the tray on a small carved oak side-table.
‘What is the meaning of this?’
He was studying her as if she were a nasty trick being played on him … a trick he abhorred and detested.
‘I told you … I’m here working. Your hosts hired my company to provide hospitality services for your stay. I didn’t realise that you were the VIP guest. I’m sorry, Pascual …’
Biting her lip, she felt herself blush hard at the old familiar use of his name and instantly regretted voicing it. Especially when his handsome face demonstrated no pleasure whatsoever in seeing her again … in fact the exact opposite!
‘This is probably the last thing you need. Seeing me again, I mean,’ she murmured. Her confidence drained away as his eyes tracked slowly and devastatingly up and down her body, in a simple but professional black A-line skirt and jacket, as if checking her out for flaws.
What was he going to do? If he dismissed her and she couldn’t carry out her job it would be the last straw as far as her finances and her reputation went. Briana prayed he wouldn’t go as far as that. And at the same time as she worried about losing this job—and laying the hurt of the past aside—her hungry eyes wanted to weep with joy at the flesh-and-blood evidence of the man she had loved and had secretly dreamed of one day seeing again.
He looked wonderful. ‘A sight for sore eyes’, as her mum would say. And he’d hardly changed at all—though his stature seemed more imposing than ever. His physique was still leanly muscular, and underneath the sublimely tailored clothes he wore no doubt still in tip-top, enviable condition. And with that arrestingly gorgeous face Pascual Dominguez was not the kind of man who appeared on a girl’s radar every day. At least not where Briana came from.
Right from the start she had been smitten, and in no time at all had found herself blissfully and madly in love with him. When she’d discovered that he felt the same way about her she had hardly been able to believe her luck. But that had been five years ago—five years in which she’d had to come to terms with being a single mother, because Pascual had no clue that he had fathered a child with her when she left. Not a day went by when the dreadful guilt of that reality didn’t weigh her down …
When he still didn’t speak, but continued to stare at her as if not knowing whether to shake her senseless or verbally rip into her until her ears rang, Briana twisted the suddenly chilled fingers of her slim hands together and glanced back at the ornate little table where she had put down the tray she had brought. ‘Shall I pour you some coffee?’
‘Forget the damn coffee! What do you think you’re playing at?’
His bitter, chastising tone shocked her blood to ice. ‘I’m not playing at anything. This situation is as unexpected and shocking for me as it is for you.’
‘But you did play me for a fool—didn’t you Briana?’ His dark eyes narrowed furiously beneath their long-lashed hooded lids. ‘I still find it hard to believe you did what you did … even after all this time!’
‘It was never my intention to make you feel like a fool.’
Feeling her lips tremble, Briana desperately sought to hold it together—not to break down in front of him and confess all. What would it serve to fully explain now why she had left
him? Five years had passed by. He hadn’t wanted to listen to her then, so why should he listen now? Anyway … right then she was hardly prepared or willing to rake over old coals and engage in a row—which was no doubt what would happen. As for Adán’s existence—she couldn’t tell him about that just yet. She needed more time …
‘I’m really sorry things turned out the way they did, but perhaps it was for the best?’
It was a stupid thing to say, and it sounded totally banal.
‘For the best?’
The words reverberated round the room on a savage breath, and Briana registered the emotion Pascual was feeling like a punch. Confusion, anger, frustration … it was all there.
Scraping his fingers agitatedly through silken layers of rich dark hair, he moved his head from side to side, staring at her hard. ‘I can get over being made a fool of in front of my friends and family, but what I cannot come to terms with or forgive is that you gave me no indication that your professed feelings for me could be broken off so easily. Or that you would leave without even giving me a chance to hear why from your own lips instead of reading it in some cold, unemotional letter! You must be a consummate actress, Briana … You seemed happy and in love and I believed you. What an idiot I was!’
CHAPTER TWO
HIS heart was thundering as hard and as fast as any express train. It was difficult to take in the fact that the woman he had once loved, who had so callously deserted him mere days before their wedding, was standing there in front of him.
Pascual discovered that his memory of her had not served him as well as he’d thought. In the flesh Briana Douglas was far more beautiful than any mental picture he could call up. Right then she reminded him of an exotic intense port wine, and even though he deplored what she had done he still wanted to drink in every inch of her until he was intoxicated. She had always had a figure to make his pulse race, and in the slim pencil skirt and smart tailored jacket she wore he saw that it was Marilyn Monroe hourglass perfect. Her very presence exuded an earthy sexiness that heated his blood. Would heat any man’s blood! But it was her face that arrested his attention the most.
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