him nonetheless. He’d spent one month with her five years ago. One incredibly hot month that he couldn’t seem to forget, no matter how he tried. He’d enjoyed her company like none other. Enjoyed the way she’d looked at him, the way she’d smelled like wildflowers, and her funny way of saying things that meant something entirely different in American than they did in the British English he’d learned.
He’d cared for her; he’d planned to marry her in spite of what his father expected. No matter what he told her now, he hadn’t been promised at all; it had been his brother who was to marry Caridad Mendoza, not him. Until Roberto had died of a drug overdose in a Middle Eastern hellhole.
Still, Alejandro had no intention of taking his brother’s place in the arrangement. He’d spent years fighting in the ring, making himself into something. His future had been bright and he’d choose his own wife. Rebecca Layton, daughter of a successful American hotel magnate, had been exactly the type of woman he needed to marry.
Until she’d betrayed him. An ex-bullfighter and fledgling entrepreneur wasn’t good enough for the pampered heiress, apparently. The dirt, sweat and blood of the ring would never wash completely away for someone like her. She’d accepted him as her lover, sworn she loved him, and then tried to steal his future from under his nose.
Her betrayal had cost him more than he could ever make her pay. Taking Layton International was only the beginning. He’d set it up carefully, made sure he would own her completely when it was done. It had taken years of planning and months of careful execution, but the culmination was here. Rebecca Layton would regret the day she’d crossed paths with him.
Alejandro pushed open the French doors and padded out to the pool. Lights flooded the water from below, illuminating the terracotta and turquoise tiles. He dove into the coolness, hoping it would drive the heat of kissing her from his memory.
Why had he succumbed to the urge? That one kiss had brought every bittersweet memory flooding back—especially when she’d clung to him, her soft moans coiling at the base of his spine, poisoning him with the urge to strip her naked and take her right there on the floor of his office.
“What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing?”
Alejandro reached the wall, did a flip turn and propelled himself back toward the voice.
“Swimming.” The water came up to his abdomen as he stood and looked at her.
“Not that,” she said. “This.” Rebecca thrust a handful of papers at him.
He ignored it and let his gaze wander over her sleek form. A red headband held her curls back from her face and matched the muted Hawaiian-print dress she wore. Slim legs tapered down to bare feet, but it was the circle of tiny white shells around one ankle that caught his attention. They caressed her ankle with every tap of her foot, kissed her bare skin like a lover.
Like he’d once done.
His gaze snapped to her face. “Those would be my plans to sell off a few of Layton’s less lucrative holdings.”
She took a step toward the pool. “The New York location? New York? Are you crazy?”
“Not at all. That hotel is small, outdated. It costs more in upkeep each year than it makes in profit.”
The papers crinkled in her fist. “Why do you hate me so much?” she said, in a smaller voice than he would have expected.
She seemed almost bewildered. But it was a ploy. She would use anything to distract him, including sex. How well he knew that about her.
Her poor little me act angered him. “You know why. You used me to get information. You slept with me, then stole what you learned about the London deal to grab it for yourself. That move nearly destroyed Ramirez Enterprises.”
Ramirez Enterprises had been little more than bravado and a dream back then. But losing the Cahill Group’s financing had destroyed far more precious things than his fledgling enterprise. He wasn’t about to tell her what she’d really cost him—what she’d forced him into to save everything.
She tilted her head to one side. “I didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?” he said, when she stopped speaking and stood there gazing off into space.
“You’re lying.” She crossed her arms and glared down at him. “You couldn’t possibly be wiped out by one deal gone bad.”
Of course she didn’t realize how he’d struggled. She’d never struggled for anything a day in her life. From her first moments everything had been handed to her on a silver platter. He very much enjoyed being the one to take it all away.
Alejandro pressed his hands on the pool deck and levered himself out of the water. She took a step backward as he suddenly towered over her. He wanted to grab her, wanted to yank her into his arms and plunder her sweet mouth again. He turned away before his body betrayed his reaction to her. “Things were less certain then.”
“So you bought a controlling interest in my company and now you plan to sell off my hotels one by one?”
Grabbing a towel from the lounge chair, he wiped his face dry before giving her a dangerous smile. “Only the unprofitable ones, querida.”
“La Belle Amelie was the first hotel my father opened after he married,” she said. “He named it for my mother.”
Alejandro finished drying off and tossed the towel aside. She looked at him like he’d kicked her puppy. He hated it, hated the way she made him feel. But she was oh so good at manipulating him, wasn’t she?
Never again.
“It goes.”
Her laugh was bitter. “To think I once believed—” She shook her head, inched her chin higher. Met his gaze firmly. “I’ll buy it from you. Give me a couple of weeks to put together the financing and I’ll—”
“You once believed what?”
“Make you a good offer.”
“Believed what, Rebecca?”
“Did you hear what I said? I want to buy La Belle Amelie. What I believed is of no consequence.”
“Did you think I would marry you after a month together? Is that why you left?”
“God, no!”
She took another step back and he realized he’d been stalking her. He moved casually toward the edge of the pool, gave her space. The restless energy in him still demanded release, pounded through his body in waves. The hum was almost sexual, primal. Not much different from the way he’d felt whenever he’d faced a bull in the ring. He wanted to conquer, subdue, triumph.
“I left because you were engaged, Alejandro.” Her chin fell as she studied the tiles at her feet. “I thought you were an honorable man. That’s what I once believed.”
If he’d been gored by a bull he’d have felt less pain. Less anger.
The unbelievable nerve of this woman.
“You dare to question my honor when it was you
