the three businessmen were waiting to meet him, they rose in unison from their pin-tucked armchairs round the fireplace. Her voice had a slight tremor in it as she made the formal introductions. There was no doubt in her mind that the men were relieved that Pascual had finally appeared, and straight away she sensed how deferential they were towards him. Her ex-fiancé had always seemed to elicit that kind of response from other people. There was something almost aristocratic about him that, along with his sensational looks, guaranteed he commanded instant attention wherever he went.
After five years of not seeing him the impact he made when he walked into a room had not lessened one iota, Briana discovered, and she wondered what Tina would say if she ever found out that this ‘gorgeous man’, a wealthy Argentinian, was the father of her little boy Adán. Surveying him now, she could hardly believe it herself. Their whirlwind romance seemed such a long time ago. A long, lonely time ago, she thought with a sudden profound ache in her heart.
‘Can we get some more coffee in here—and maybe some brandy, sweetheart?’ Steve Nichols, MD of an advertising agency in Soho and lately coowner with his two colleagues of highly desirable stables in Windsor, took Briana aside.
Glancing into his pale blue eyes and looking at his slightly shiny pallor, she couldn’t help shivering with distaste. Unfortunately she knew his type. He might be on a business trip, but he would consider any reasonably attractive female between the ages of sixteen and forty fair game. Briana knew she would have to keep her wits about her around him. His business credentials might be impeccable, but that didn’t mean his manners or his behaviour towards women followed suit.
To Pascual—a fellow entrepreneur, with a commodity to sell that he very much desired—he would be sycophantic and deferential to a tee. But to her and Tina he could potentially be a nuisance.
‘Of course…Was there anything else?’ Glancing deliberately over at the other men she waited until they all agreed that coffee and brandy was just perfect for now.
As she turned to leave Steve Nichols leaned over to her and whispered conspiratorially, ‘Hurry back, sweetheart,’ and winked. At that very moment she sensed Pascual’s deeply disapproving gaze come to rest on her, and then on the man beside her. Briana’s face flamed again. She hoped to God he didn’t think she was encouraging him!
The meeting went on for at least three hours, and by then it was nearly dinnertime. The hosts had requested that dinner be provided and catered for by a local well-known Michelin-starred restaurant, and while Briana and Tina dealt with the staff from there, who had arrived with their supplies and were currently ensconced in the house’s ample kitchen, the three businessmen retired to their respective rooms to get ready.
To be honest, Briana was glad of the breathing space in which to busy herself with the practicalities of her job and stem the tide of anxiety and emotion that had swept over her since she’d seen Pascual again. But she knew she couldn’t avoid him for ever. Sooner or later he would confront her about the events of the past and the unexpected and abrupt manner in which she had left Argentina.
He would demand a fuller account of why she had left.
The plain fact of the matter was that her reasons for leaving had not become any easier to come to terms with over the years. In fact, some days she worried that they would be with her, spoiling her chance of happiness with a man, for ever…Not that she even wanted any other man. After all that had happened, Pascual’s trust in her was obviously going to be in very short supply. Would he even believe her when she did finally explain things?
About halfway through the evening Tina emerged from the private dining room that overlooked the beautiful gardens which now, as darkness fell, were hidden from view by the heavy velvet drapes at the windows. Briana rose up from the padded love-seat in the lobby and asked, ‘How’s it going in there? Everybody happy?’
‘The food looks amazing! Everyone is tucking in, but our gorgeous Argentinian looks bored, frankly—as if he’d much rather be somewhere else than here.’
Briana’s stomach sank. Their personal business was one thing, but if Pascual was looking bored then the businessmen who had hired her company’s services would not be so thrilled, and she felt responsible for that. Somehow she had to rescue the situation.
‘I was thinking everyone might like to go out somewhere afterwards. There’s a private members’ club with a casino in town. I’ve already been on the phone to them and they would be more than happy to have our party visit.’
‘Great idea! Why don’t you go in and tell them?’ Tina replied, with a wink of her plum-coloured eyelid. ‘They’ll probably appreciate the suggestion more coming from you…I’ve noticed how they’ve all hardly been able to take their eyes off of you—especially the heavenly Mr Dominguez!’
‘You’re imagining things.’
‘All I know is if I had even half the sex appeal you’ve got, Briana Douglas, then I’d be milking it for all I was worth! Every one of those men in that dining room is a multimillionaire, and Mr Dominguez—who’s by far the yummiest of the lot—is apparently a billionaire! Haven’t you ever fantasised about some outrageously rich and gorgeous man sweeping you off your feet and marrying you?’
Briana would have laughed out loud if the irony of her colleague’s words hadn’t been quite so acutely painful. Touching her fingers briefly to her burning cheek, she dismissed the younger girl’s comments with a deliberately distracted air, and gave the black velvet waistcoat she wore over a white silk blouse a little tug to bring it better into alignment with the waistband of her matching fitted skirt.
‘I’ll go in and talk to them…In the meantime, Tina, could you get me a cup of coffee and a sandwich from the kitchen? I don’t think I could face a meal tonight. Do you mind?’
‘You’re mad, turning down the chance to try some of that fantastic food that’s been brought in! They brought enough for us with them, you know.’
‘Then why don’t you have my share?’
Heading down the rich maroon carpet of the hallway that led to the dining room, Briana thought she’d be hard pressed even to eat the sandwich she’d requested, let alone a full meal. Her stomach was deluged with butterflies at just the thought of having a private conversation with Pascual, as she knew she must. She felt doubly unsettled when she thought about her little son…the child he had no idea that he’d fathered when she’d left Argentina in such an unseemly hurry. Following on from that came the realisation that someone with the wealth and status he had at his fingertips could all too easily take Adán from her if he had a mind and a will to…
‘A casino? What an inspired idea—if you don’t mind my saying so, Miss Douglas!’ Steve Nichols leant back in the rather grand Tudor dining chair he occupied as his colleagues readily concurred, and gave Briana another one of his irritating winks.
Compressing her lips in mild irritation, she quickly glanced round the rest of the table and endeavoured to engage the other diners with her pleased smile. But the gesture faded prematurely when her anxious gaze inevitably collided with Pascual’s. He did not simply look bored, as Tina had suggested. Quite clearly he was more annoyed than anything else! Was that because she had walked in and soured his mood?
Once upon a time his face had lit up whenever she came into a room where he happened to be, and again Briana’s heart couldn’t help but yearn for those happier times. To be young and in love with the man of her dreams, living in a vibrant and amazing city like Buenos Aires, had been more than incredible!
