‘Lucky cat,’ Cruz muttered, wrapping a handkerchief around his hand to try and staunch the blood pouring from the teeth marks left by the creature from hell.
‘Thank you for rescuing him. Oh...’ Sabrina was shocked to see blood pouring from Cruz’s hand. ‘George only bites when he’s upset. It just goes to show how traumatised he must have been, poor angel.’ Seeing Cruz’s glowering expression, she added hurriedly, ‘You had better come into the house and let me clean the wound.’
The main part of the house, including the kitchen, had not suffered any fire damage. Sabrina set George down on the floor and fed him a handful of cat treats before she took the first-aid box from a cupboard. ‘Wash the bite area thoroughly,’ she instructed. ‘Cats have a high level of bacteria in their mouths and bites can easily become infected.’
‘Wonderful,’ Cruz said drily. As he held his hand under the tap he gave George a dark look and was fairly certain than the deep sound coming from the cat’s throat was not a friendly purr. He turned his attention to the breakfast trays set out on the counter. ‘Had you planned to serve your guests breakfast in their rooms?’ He counted the trays. ‘It must take you all morning.’
‘I have John, the butler, to help me, although the arthritis in his knees means he can’t manage the rooms on the top floors. A girl from the village comes to help on party weekends. Breakfast in bed is part of the party package offered at Eversleigh.’
Sabrina saw the puzzled look Cruz gave her and bit her lip. The shock of the fire was sinking in and she was struggling to contain her emotions. ‘You may as well know the truth as it will be public knowledge soon,’ she said heavily. ‘I can’t afford to pay for the upkeep of the house and estate and I might have to sell up. It’s been on the cards for a while, but tonight’s fire means that selling Eversleigh Hall looks unavoidable.’ The words sounded like a death knell, and misery settled heavily in the pit of Sabrina’s stomach.
Cruz dried his hand on the paper towel that Sabrina gave him and allowed her to apply antiseptic solution to the bite wound. ‘I assume the maintenance costs of a huge mansion are expensive.’ He recalled his conversation with the farmhand in the pub. ‘Has your father run out of money?’
‘There is money in his account but I can no longer access it to pay the hall’s bills since—’ Sabrina hesitated ‘—since Dad disappeared. He’s been missing for over a year and his bank accounts and assets have been frozen. I’ve employed a missing persons’ agency to search for him but so far they’ve found no trace of him. If he isn’t found after a number of years, he will be presumed dead, but in the meantime I’ve used all my savings and spent everything I earn on the house and, to put it bluntly, I’m broke.’
‘I imagine a house this size must be worth a lot of money,’ Cruz said casually.
‘The house and estate, which consists of three hundred acres of prime Surrey land, have been valued at ten million pounds.’
Cruz’s brows rose. That much! Eversleigh Hall was worth more than he had expected. It had occurred to him that he could buy the house so that he would have the opportunity to look for the map of the diamond mine. But a house as old as Eversleigh was bound to be a money pit, and there was a chance that the map did not exist. He was a gambler but he wasn’t a fool.
‘It will probably take some time to find a buyer,’ he commented, thinking that in the meantime he needed to persuade Sabrina to allow him to search the house for the map. ‘Not everyone can afford, or would want the responsibility of owning, a historic stately home.’
‘I already have a buyer lined up. A hotel chain approached me a few months ago and made an offer for the estate. The Excelsior Group plan to build a golf course in the grounds and turn the house into a luxury golf and spa resort.’
Her shoulders slumped. ‘Once I give the go-ahead for the sale it should only take a matter of weeks. Sometimes I’ve even wondered if I would be happier to be free of the worry of trying to maintain the estate. But this is my home and I have happy memories of living here with my mother before she left us. My father was never interested in Eversleigh but I always hoped that one day Tristan would run the place properly.’
Cruz frowned at the unwelcome news that the house could be sold so quickly. ‘You said your father’s assets are frozen because he is officially registered as a missing person. Surely Eversleigh Hall is listed as one of his assets, so how can it be sold without his knowledge or permission?’
‘The house is owned by a group of trustees made up of Dad, me and my brother. Only two of us need to agree to the sale.’
‘And Tristan is in agreement?’
‘Tris is unaware of the financial situation,’ she admitted heavily. ‘I’ve tried to spare him the worry because he is studying for his final exams at university. He’ll be upset to lose our ancestral home, but he’s a realist and he’ll understand that we have no choice but to let Eversleigh go.’
Sabrina was shocked to feel tears sting her eyes. She rarely cried, but the impact the fire would have on her life, if—as it seemed almost certain—she would have to leave the only home she had ever known, was starting to truly sink in. Feeling as vulnerable as she did, the last thing she felt able to cope with was Cruz.
Sabrina used the excuse of putting the first-aid box back in the cupboard to move away from Cruz. Being so close attending to his injured hand, she was supremely conscious of his lean, muscular body. Vivid memories rose to the surface, the feel of him on top of her, his weight pressing her into the mattress as he thrust into her over and over again.
Just thinking about him making love to her induced a molten sensation between her legs, and a quick glance downwards showed the outline of her nipples was clearly visible. She reminded herself that the peach silk robe she had pulled on over her matching nightdress when the fire alarm had sounded was perfectly respectable, but she was aware of Cruz’s intent scrutiny and fought the urge to cross her arms over her breasts. It was imperative that he leave before she made an idiot of herself, and she walked over to the kitchen door, hoping he would take the hint and follow her.
He was unfairly gorgeous, she thought as she took advantage of him looking at his phone to study his chiselled features. Wealth and success had given him an air of sophistication that he had not had ten years ago, although he had never lacked self-confidence, she acknowledged. She flushed when he suddenly looked up and caught her staring at him.
‘It’s late,’ she said abruptly, glancing at the kitchen clock. ‘I’m sure you can appreciate that it has been a stressful night. I want to go to bed so I’ll have to ask you to leave.’
Cruz flashed a smile that stole her breath. ‘Not a chance.’
She stiffened. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that I am not going to allow you to stay here on your own while the house is unsecured. Every burglar and criminal in the area will have heard about the fire. They won’t even have to break in—they can simply walk into the fire-damaged part of the building and access the rest of the house, including your bedroom.’
‘Rubbish! You can’t tell me what you’ll allow me to do.’ Sabrina’s temper simmered. ‘Anyway, there is very little crime in the village, and the local police constable said he will post one of his officers at the front gate tonight.’ She placed her hands on her hips when Cruz did not move off the kitchen stool where he was sitting. ‘I’m not going to argue with you.’
‘Good idea,’ he said blandly. ‘Save your breath, gatinha, and show me to a spare bedroom.’
He slid off the stool and walked towards her, his eyes glittering with a fierce possessiveness that touched something deep inside Sabrina. Despite his size he moved with a noiseless grace and the predatory intent of a panther stalking its prey. ‘Unless you would prefer me to share your room?’ He stopped in front of her and ran his finger lightly down her cheek. The caress was as soft as a butterfly’s wing brushing against her skin, yet her senses leapt and she felt as if he had branded her with his touch. ‘Although I can’t guarantee that either of us
would get much sleep,’ he murmured.
She swallowed hard, fighting the treacherous longing of her body. Why not forget her worries for one night and lose herself in the guaranteed sensual pleasure of making love with Cruz? whispered the voice of temptation in her head. But all he was offering was sex, she reminded herself. It hadn’t been enough for her ten years ago, and she sensed it would not be enough now.
‘You are unbelievable,’ she told him tightly.
He grinned. ‘So I’ve been told.’
Sabrina recalled the recent stories she had read in the newspapers about the hotshot Brazilian diamond tycoon who had taken the London social scene by storm and seemed to be intent on sleeping with every beautiful blonde he met. A sharp barb of jealousy stabbed her through the heart. To disguise her swift intake of breath she swung round and marched out of the kitchen door, aware, because she was so intensely aware of Cruz, that he followed her across the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. Frustration surged through her that she could not make him leave, but she recognised the determined gleam in his eyes and knew that she would lose an argument and probably her dignity in the process.
‘You can use the bedroom at the far end of the corridor,’ she told him in an emotionless voice, and did not glance at him as she walked swiftly along the hallway towards her room on the opposite side of the house.
But the trauma of the fire, the likelihood that she would have to sell her home, and more shockingly the images in her mind of Cruz naked in bed just down the corridor, kept her awake until the pearl-grey glimmer of dawn peeped through the chink in the curtains.
* * *
Eversleigh Hall had never looked more beautiful, Sabrina thought the next morning. She had ridden Monty up to the North Downs Way, classed as an area of outstanding natural beauty, and from her viewpoint the fire-damaged section of the house was hidden. In the early morning sunshine the sandstone brickwork gleamed palely gold, and she could see the elegant knot garden, the tall poplar trees and the deep blue of the lake.
Her heart ached. How could she bear to part from the place that meant so much to her? How could she end the Bancroft family’s five-hundred-year ownership of the hall? But what choice did she have? She had run out of money and ideas, and her hopes that her father would be found alive and well were fading.
Monty pawed the ground restlessly, bored by the prolonged inactivity. Sabrina patted his neck. ‘Come on, boy, let’s go home,’ she said in a choked voice. The woeful state of her finances meant that selling her horse seemed unavoidable.
Cruz was waiting for her in the stable yard. It was the first time since he’d come back into her life that Sabrina had seen him in daylight and her heart slammed against her ribs as her eyes were drawn to his black hair gleaming like raw silk in the sunshine.
She dismounted and let Monty loose in the paddock while she dealt with Cruz.
‘You’re up early,’ he commented. ‘I thought you might be tired after the events of last night.’
‘Nothing happened between us...’ She broke off and flushed hotly. ‘Oh, you meant the fire.’ Idiot, Sabrina told herself furiously. She didn’t want Cruz to guess that she had been kept awake for most of the night by erotic fantasies of him making love to her. ‘Dawn is my favourite time to ride, when the sun is pale pink in the sky and the dew on the leaves sparkles like diamonds.’
Outwardly, Sabrina was the archetypal ice princess, Cruz thought as he studied her cool beauty. Her pale blonde hair was tied in a long plait that fell to halfway down her back and her intelligent grey eyes surveyed him with an unflattering lack of interest. Only the faint tremor of her sensual mouth and the delicate rose flush on her porcelain skin gave a clue to her inner fire.
His arousal was instant and uncomfortably hard. Damn her witchery, he thought grimly. He could not take his eyes off her. Last night she had looked glamorous in her scarlet evening gown, and when he had returned to the house after hearing about the fire he had been turned on by the sight of her in a silky robe. This morning she was no less sexy wearing jodhpurs that fitted her like a second skin, teamed with a soft grey cashmere sweater that echoed the colour of her eyes and clung with loving attention to the firm swell of her breasts. The sound of her cut-glass accent catapulted Cruz back to the present.
‘I trust you slept well?’
He recalled the previous night tossing and turning beneath the sheets and sweating like a teenage boy with a surfeit of hormones. ‘I didn’t stir all night,’ he lied. ‘I have to go back to London, but I’ve arranged for a local building firm to come to the house and make it secure.’
‘That’s unnecessary. There’s no need for you to get involved,’ she said stiffly.
‘You have no money,’ Cruz reminded her. His eyes rested on the stubborn set of her lips and he wondered how she would react if he were to crush her mouth beneath his and kiss her into submission. She would probably slap his face again, he decided with a mixture of amusement and reluctant admiration, remembering her explosion of temper in the library the previous evening.
‘On the subject of your financial difficulties—I have a proposition to discuss with you. Not now.’ He did not give her a chance to speak. ‘I’m due at a meeting at eleven.’ He handed her a business card. ‘This is my London address. Meet me there at six tonight if you are interested in finding out how I might be able to help you.’
Pride snapped Sabrina’s spine straight. ‘I don’t need your help.’
‘Don’t be late.’ Cruz swung his jacket over his shoulder, but instead of walking away he stepped closer to her and wrapped her long plait around his hand. ‘And wear your hair loose tonight, Sabrina, to please me.’
Sabrina’s chest heaved as she sucked oxygen into her lungs. ‘Why on earth would I want to please you?’
He grinned before dropping a brief, hard kiss on her lips. ‘Because you need salvation, querida, and I might just be the answer to your prayers.’
CHAPTER FIVE
SHE WOULD RATHER walk barefoot over hot coals than meet Cruz at his London home, Sabrina thought grimly as she watched the taxi that had come to collect him drive away from the house. As for him being an answer to her prayers! She gave a snort of derision.
Her heart lurched when in the distance she saw a car turn into the main gates of Eversleigh Hall and she thought for a moment that Cruz was coming back. The sound of a blowing exhaust pipe was a clue to the visitor’s identity.
‘Tris!’ Sabrina forgot her worries as she gave a cry of pleasure and ran to meet her brother. ‘I wasn’t expecting you this weekend,’ she said when Tristan uncoiled his lanky frame from his old car. She inspected him with loving eyes. ‘I’m sure you’ve grown.’
He grinned. ‘When are you going to stop saying that? I’m not a kid any more, I’m twenty-one.’
Tristan might be a good six inches taller than her, but he would always be her little brother and she would probably always try to mother him, Sabrina thought ruefully. She had taken on the role when their mother had left. Tris had only been seven. ‘When is Mother coming back?’ he’d asked tearfully as they had stood at the nursery window and watched Lorna Bancroft drive away from Eversleigh.
Fourteen-year-old Sabrina had swallowed hard. ‘She isn’t. But we’ll visit her at her new home in France in the summer holidays.’
‘But who will look after me for the rest of the time? Father is always going away, and I don’t like the new nanny.’
‘I will,’ she had promised her brother. ‘I’ll always take care of you.’
Cruz had not understood how much she had missed her brother. She had rushed back to Eversleigh Hall after the miscarriage because it was where she felt most secure. Tris had been her only source of comfort in those dark days when she had grieved for her baby. Having lost her own child, she had poured her maternal feelings onto her brother, and, even though he was now a strapping six-footer about to graduate from university, Sabrina still felt protective of him.
‘What the hell happened
to the hall?’ Tristan’s shocked voice pulled Sabrina’s mind from the past. She followed his gaze to the burnt-out wing of the house and quickly sought to reassure him.
‘There was a fire, but fortunately only the annexe was affected.’
Her brother gave her a worried look. ‘You’re all right? What about John and Mary?’
‘No one was hurt.’
Tristan slung his arm around her shoulders. ‘Well, that’s the main thing. As long as you’re okay, the damage can be repaired, and the insurance will cover the cost of rebuilding.’
Sabrina’s heart sank. ‘Tris, I need to talk to you about Eversleigh.’
He gave her another of his quick smiles. ‘Let me tell you my news first, before I burst. I’ve passed the selection process to be a commercial pilot and been offered a place at an aviation school that provides airline-pilot training.’
‘Oh, Tris, that’s fantastic.’
‘Of course, I’ll need to get a first-class degree, but I’m on track to do that. The training is expensive though. I’ve been careful with my allowance, but I can’t afford the flight school’s fees. Dad promised he would invest in my career. Have you heard from the old man lately? I’ll need the money soon so that I can start the training programme in the summer.’
Tristan was looking up at the burnt-out roof of the annexe and did not see Sabrina’s troubled expression. She had not wanted to worry her brother while he was taking his final exams and had played down their father’s disappearance, saying that Earl Bancroft was on an extended trip abroad. She couldn’t keep the truth from Tristan for much longer, she realised, but she was certainly not going to ruin his excitement at being accepted for pilot training by revealing that there was no money to pay for it. This was it—she’d have to sell Eversleigh. It was the only way that would allow Tris to fulfil his boyhood ambition, the only way to raise the aviation school’s fees. Wasn’t it?
She remembered Cruz’s parting comment.
I might just be the answer to your prayers.
Mistress of His Revenge (Bought by the Brazilian #1) Page 5
