They’d sent him to boarding school? She suppressed a shudder. ‘How old were you when you first attended?’
‘Five.’
Dear God.
‘My university was also of the highest standard. I have been granted the very best of opportunities.’
‘But...you don’t speak of your parents with the same warmth that you do of Lorenzo.’
‘Lorenzo and I were...how do you say it? Kindred spirits.’
She suddenly saw that Lorenzo had been the one bright light in what must have been a very lonely childhood. No wonder Xavier’s grief ran so deep.
‘I’m utterly convinced that I’d have liked Lorenzo.’
‘He’d have liked you too.’
And then he stiffened, as if that thought surprised him. He shifted on his chair. ‘Are you close to your parents, Wynne?’
She had to answer—tit for tat. It was only fair. But it occurred to her that sharing such intimacies, while innocuous on the surface, might lead to deeper intimacies. She swallowed as temptation coiled about her in ever tighter circles. She sensed that she needed only to give Xavier the smallest of signs and he would kiss her.
One tiny sign...
Her mouth dried. What was she thinking? Xavier was nothing like any of the men she’d previously dated, and for that reason alone she needed to stay well and truly out of his way—she’d be out of her depth with him. Besides, what if she took the chance and things went badly? It would put everyone’s jobs in jeopardy. She couldn’t risk that.
Xavier leaned in and his sudden closeness chased a thrill across the surface of her skin even as fear tripped ice down her spine. Not fear of what he would do, but of what she wanted to do—she wanted to drag his head down to hers and lose herself in him completely.
There’s too much at stake!
‘Where on earth did you just go?’ he demanded. ‘So many emotions fired across your face I could barely catch a single one of them.’
‘Good,’ she croaked.
His eyebrows lifted.
‘It never does for a woman to be an open book.’ She made the riposte in an effort to lighten the mood, but it didn’t help.
She grabbed the jug and refilled his glass, tried to gather her scattered wits. Easing back, she tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. ‘You asked about my parents...I have no idea who my father was. I’m not sure my mother ever knew either.’
‘We were ships in the night, darling’—that was what she’d always been told.
‘Does that not bother you?’
She could tell that it would bother him. ‘Not any more. I went through a stage in my teens when I wanted to know, but...’ She shrugged. ‘I eventually came to the conclusion that if he’d cared so little about my mother then he probably wouldn’t have cared too much about me either.’
He didn’t say anything in answer to that, so she pushed on.
‘I love my mother, but she doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body.’
He frowned. ‘I do not understand.’
‘I mean she had me, and then discovered she much preferred being a free spirit. She found it limiting to have a baby tying her down.’
Wynne hadn’t been enough for Coral. She’d tried hard not to take it personally.
‘It was a relief all round when she finally left me with my grandmother and moved on to greener pastures. She’s currently being a free spirit in France.’
‘How old were you when she left you with Aggie?’
‘Five.’
‘And yet you still love her?’
That was the difference between them—he would resent something like that forever. ‘My grandmother has been the real maternal figure in my life. I’ve not lacked for love, Xavier. My mother has been more like...an aunt.’
He nodded slowly. ‘So you love her, but perhaps you do not respect her. At least not in the same way that I respect my parents.’
She braced her hands on the table. ‘If I ever have a child and the best they can say about me is that they respect me, then I’ll feel as if I’ve gone wrong somewhere.’
He blinked.
She folded her arms. ‘Please tell me you mean to demand more of yourself in the parenting stakes.’ Her heart started to thud and she didn’t know why. ‘Do you mean to send Luis away to boarding school?
He stiffened. ‘This conversation has become far too personal.’
He could say that again!
He swiped a hand through the air. ‘This is not where I meant for our discussion to go.’
She folded her arms. She knew that revealed her defensiveness, but she couldn’t help it. He made her defensive.
‘You had an agenda for our conversation?’ she asked.
She watched him war with himself, and eventually he drew away, slid back behind that impervious mask. She told herself she was glad of it.
If only her gladness didn’t feel so much like disappointment.
‘You accused me earlier of treating you like an enemy, and you were right. I’m sorry for that.’
Oka-a-a-y. In her mind Wynne drew that word out. It was an expression of regret rather than an apology, but she was happy to roll with it. For now.
‘And yet I cannot help feeling that there is something you are worried that I will do...something in relation to the motel that you would fight tooth and nail against.’
Bingo.
‘I would like to know what that is.’
If she told him would he use it against her?
She leaned towards him. ‘Xavier?’
‘Sí?’
‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is my afternoon off, is it not? I don’t talk shop in my leisure time any more—boss’s orders.’
She seized her glass and drained it. When she set it back down she found him glaring at her.
‘Now you are...how do you put it...? Fudging...fencing with me?’
‘Being obtuse,’ she agreed. ‘I would argue, however, that work wasn’t the conversational agenda you originally had in mind.’
His glare deepened. ‘You know not of what you talk.’
That was another thing. Whenever he grew uncomfortable his grammar suffered. Well, far be it from her to shy away from an awkward topic—she’d acknowledge it, get it out in the open, and move on.
She pulled in a breath. ‘I think it had something to do with the fact that I kissed you. I think what you really want to tell me is that I overstepped the boundary and to not let it happen again.’ She shot to her feet. ‘Well, you don’t have to worry. I...’
Her words petered out as he rose and leaned so far across the table her mouth went dry. Desire drew maddeningly lazy circles across her skin.
‘Then you would be wrong.’
His eyes flashed, but the finger he trailed down her jaw to where the pulse pounded in her throat was gentle. He idly toyed with the sensitive flesh there, his finger moving back and forth until the breath jammed in her throat.
‘Wrong?’ she croaked.
‘I wanted to determine if...’
A breath shuddered out of her. ‘If...?’
‘If you would be amenable to overstepping those boundaries further.’
He couldn’t mean that!
‘Oh, but I do,’ he murmured, and she realised she’d said the words out loud.
He leaned in so close his breath fanned across her lips. She could feel herself sway towards him. She wanted him so badly exactly because he was so different from the men she usually dated. He wouldn’t want anything from her. He wouldn’t ask her to introduce him to someone who would further his career. He wouldn’t want her to mollycoddle him.
She broke out in gooseflesh. He’d be an amazing lover.
‘You are a beautiful, desirable and
sometimes baffling woman, Wynne. I want to make love with you.’
She bit her lip to keep from saying, Yes, please!
‘And I do not think you would take much persuading.’
She let his words sink in. He thought her so desperate and needy that she’d fall into his hands like a ripe plum? She opened her mouth, but his finger against her lips halted her words.
‘I do not say that because I am arrogant. I say it because I recognise that there is a spark, a heat between us. You can refuse to acknowledge it if you wish, but ignoring it won’t make it go away.’
They stared at each other. She was sure he must hear the thud of her heart.
‘So I accepted your offer of a drink with the intention of...’
She held up a hand and nodded. ‘But then you thought better of it?’
Before she could tell him she applauded his wisdom he drew himself up, his eyes flashing fire.
‘You told me I was a bad father! I will never send my son away!’
She rocked back. ‘I did no such thing.’ She went over her earlier words. ‘You’ve completely misinterpreted what I said. I meant that I believe you would prefer to have a relationship with Luis that is closer to the one you and Lorenzo shared rather than the one you have with your parents.’
They stared at one another in silence for a long moment, until Wynne nodded to break the spell that threatened to wrap around her.
‘But you were right—our conversation did become far too personal. I shouldn’t have said such a thing. Be assured that from now on I’ll mind my Ps and Qs.’
His nostrils flared.
‘And, while there might be heat between us, if I recall it correctly you don’t fraternise with your staff.’
His chin lifted. ‘For you I would make an exception.’
She couldn’t afford to be his exception.
Why not?
Um...
This man addled her brain, but instinct told her to retreat. Becoming lovers didn’t mean they’d become friends. She needed the security of friendship before she entered into anything deeper with this man. Never again would she set herself up to be told she wasn’t good enough.
‘As you say, there might be a spark—but it doesn’t follow that every spark should be lit.’
He didn’t answer.
‘I don’t think you like me very much,’ she added.
He opened his mouth, but she pressed on.
‘And, while I respect you, I’m not sure I like you very much either.’
His lips pressed together into a tight line that turned them white. ‘I see.’ His nostrils flared. ‘You have made your position very clear. I’m sorry if I have made you feel uncomfortable. If you’ll excuse me, I have phone calls I need to make.’
He strode across her yard and disappeared through the gate. She collapsed back down to her chair, but it took a very long time before her heart stopped pounding.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUIS ARRIVED THE next day. Given what had passed between him and Wynne the previous afternoon, Xavier had been tempted to delay his son’s arrival for another few days. But he ached to see him. And in his heart he knew Wynne would not treat Luis with anything but kindness.
And, as he’d known she would, she made sure she was in the foyer when Reyes returned from his trip to the nearby airport with Luis and Paula to welcome them personally to Aggie’s Retreat. Villa Lorenzo, he silently amended.
Xavier’s heart lifted at his first sight of his son. He had spoken to Luis every day on the phone, but it didn’t make up for seeing him in the flesh. Especially when Luis had grown so uncommunicative of late.
A frown shuffled through him when Luis didn’t come racing into the motel as fast as his legs would carry him and hurl himself at Xavier. So, instead, Xavier strode forward to seize Luis beneath the armpits and toss him above his head.
‘I have missed you, Luis.’ He kissed his cheek.
‘I missed you too, Papà.’
He said it formally, and it stung. What had happened to make Luis so withdrawn and reserved? Did he blame Xavier for Camilla’s absence from his life? He bit back a sigh. He’d hoped a few days of sightseeing—of enjoying the zoo, the amusement parks and ferry rides—would lift his son’s spirits. It obviously hadn’t worked. But then only a fool would think that fun and amusement could make up to a child for a mother who’d proved false—a mother who’d turned her back on him.
Luis was suffering and the knowledge broke Xavier’s heart.
He turned to Wynne, letting Luis slide down to the ground. ‘Wynne, this is my son. And this is his nanny, Paula.’
‘I’m not sure I like you very much.’
All night her words had tormented him. He’d tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter what she thought of him. Except...it seemed it did.
Wynne sent a smile to Paula, and then she actually knelt on the carpet in front of Luis, so as to be on the same level as the four-year-old.
She held out her hand. Luis stared at her with big eyes. In Spanish, Xavier told him to shake Wynne’s hand. Instead of shaking his hand, though, Wynne seized it and pressed a kiss to the palm, which almost surprised a smile from Luis. Almost.
‘Luis, I swear you’re so cute I could just gobble you up. Speaking of gobbling... Have you had one of these yet?’ She pulled something from her pocket. ‘This is one of the best chocolates in the whole world.’
She handed a bright wrapped sweet emblazoned with a cartoon koala to Luis. He stared at the candy bar in awe, then at Wynne, and then, to Xavier’s absolute amazement, he grinned.
‘Gracias,’ he murmured shyly, before holding the candy bar up so Xavier could see it.
Xavier tried to make the appropriate noises of wonder that were expected of him.
Laughing, Wynne rose to her feet. ‘I’ll let you into a little secret, Luis. I have a huge jar of those in the kitchen. So you let me know when you need another one, okay?’
Without warning, Luis grabbed Wynne’s hand. ‘Would you like to hear a song?’
Wonder briefly lit her eyes, and something in Xavier’s chest jangled when her face softened.
‘More than anything in the world.’
And Luis sang her a song! It wasn’t a song Xavier had ever heard him sing before.
When he was finished, Wynne tucked his hand inside her own with a smile that could light a ballroom. ‘Luis, I can tell that you and I are going to be the very best of friends.’
That wasn’t part of the plan!
She led him towards the drawing room. ‘Would you like to learn a new song?
Luis nodded eagerly, and Xavier was left staring in bemusement after them.
* * *
Over the course of the next few days Luis chatted to Wynne and Tina with a total lack of reserve. He played rowdy games of cricket with Blake and Heath, and the sound of their laughter and the healthy glow in Luis’s cheeks lightened Xavier’s heart. But Luis grew quiet and solemn whenever he was alone with his father. And when Xavier questioned him Luis swore that nothing was wrong.
Something was wrong, all right. It was just that Xavier didn’t know how to get to the bottom of it.
Xavier strode down the stairs to check on Luis. Paula had a migraine and he’d ordered her to take the rest of the day off to rest. Wynne and Tina had set Luis up with some books and toys in the drawing room.
Tina glanced up, but her smile faltered when she saw him. It put him on his guard. ‘What is wrong?’
‘Nothing. Luis is in the drawing room.’ She picked up the phone as if she needed to make an urgent call. ‘He’s been as good as gold.’
From the foyer windows he could see Wynne exchanging pleasantries outside with the florist’s delivery driver. And then he watched her fish out her phone, glanc
e at the number, and then glance back towards the motel.
Had Tina just rung her?
What on earth...?
Without waiting to hear any more half-truths or obfuscations, he strode into the drawing room. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw that Luis had a playmate. His heart started to thud as he watched Luis order the girl to do something or other with the blocks they were playing with. She said something back that he didn’t catch, and their shared laughter made something in his chest twist.
Wynne almost barrelled into him when she came charging into the drawing room a moment later. She somehow managed to sidestep him with a funny little, ‘Oomph.’ The scent of jasmine rose up all around him.
She righted herself and sent a cheery greeting to the pair on the floor. ‘Hello, Luis. Hello, Libby.’
Both heads shot up from where the children played between the sofas and the television, the coffee table having been moved against the wall.
‘Miss Wynne, come and see what we’ve built!’
She moved across to them, and it left Xavier feeling stranded.
‘Wow! You’ve built a city? That is the best! You sure you guys did all that on your own?’
Luis grinned and nodded. ‘Sí.’
The girl opened her mouth, closed it, and then shrugged as her innate honesty came to the fore. ‘Luis did most of it. But I helped—didn’t I, Luis?’
‘Sí, Libby helped a lot.’
Libby had Down Syndrome, and her...difference didn’t seem to faze Luis in the slightest. The realisation had pride puffing through Xavier’s chest. He didn’t want his son judging others because they were different. He didn’t want him to be afraid of that difference. He wanted his son always to display kindness and acceptance.
Wynne glanced at Xavier, as if trying to judge his reaction at finding Luis playing with the girl. Did she think he’d be angry? Dios! What kind of man did she and Tina think him?
Wynne held up the flowers. ‘Libby, look what’s arrived.’
Libby scrambled to her feet and clapped her hands. ‘Mrs Amini’s flowers! I’ll go put them in her room right now. Can I? I got the vase ready before...I’ll be really, really careful.’
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