allowed this one clause to scupper their marriage plans: a slow, cripplingly painful death for her mother. She would do anything to ease her mother’s suffering. Anything. The first message that had popped into her phone when it had come back to life earlier was her father’s daily update. Her mother had had ‘a relatively comfortable night’. Translated, that meant the pain had only woken her a couple of times.
‘If you’re allowed to make a change in the contract then I must be allowed to make one too,’ she told him, jutting her chin out and refusing to wilt under the swirling green eyes boring into her. She would not let him browbeat her before they had even signed the contract.
‘Which is?’
‘I was supposed to be moving in with Javier. My flatmate’s already found a new tenant to take my room so I’m not going to have anywhere to live when I’m at work. I want you to buy me an apartment to live in in Madrid. We’re on a two-week shutdown so that’s plenty of time for a man of your talents to buy one for me.’
She saw the faintest clenching of his jaw before his eyes narrowed.
‘I will not have my wife working for my rival.’
‘The contract states in black and white that I continue my career for as long as I like and I do what is best for me and my career. You have no say and no influence in it.’
‘I can change the terms to include that.’
‘You said one change. Or have you forgotten you’re a man of your word?’
No, he had not forgotten, Benjamin thought grimly. It had simply not occurred to him that, having agreed to marry him, Freya would want to return to Madrid. She could work anywhere. It didn’t have to be there.
‘He will make your life a misery,’ he warned.
‘Javier has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the company. He’s rarely there.’
But Madrid was his home. The thought of Freya living in the same city as him set his teeth further on edge.
‘There are many fine ballet companies in France who would love to employ you. I will never interfere with your career but in this instance I am going to have to insist.’
‘Insist that I quit Compania de Ballet de Casillas?’
‘Oui.’
The black eyes shot fire-dipped arrows at him. ‘So you want to punish me and an entire ballet company for the sins of its owners, is that what you’re saying?’
‘Non. I am saying I do not wish for my wife to work for her ex-lover. It is not an unreasonable request.’
Something shone in her eyes that he didn’t recognise, a shimmer in the midst of her loathing that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. ‘It’s a request now? That’s funny because the word insist made it sound remarkably like a demand.’
‘This will be my only interference.’
Her foot tapped on the carpet but her tone remained calm. ‘So I can get a job working in Japan and you won’t complain?’
‘You can work wherever you like.’ As long as it was far from the Spaniard who had captured her long before he’d set eyes on her...
‘Just not for Javier.’
‘Just not for Javier.’
She sucked in a long draw of breath before inclining her head. ‘I will hand my notice in but I will work my notice period. You can add that to the contract and reiterate you are never to interfere with my career.’
‘How long is your notice period?’
‘Two months. That will allow me to do the opening night of the new theatre. I’m on all the advertising literature for it. I can’t pull out. It’s the biggest show of my life. I’ve worked too hard to throw it away.’
‘D’accord.’ He took in his own breath. Two months was nothing. He could handle her working for Javier for that period.
He reminded himself that until that morning he had expected her to insist on returning to Madrid.
‘You share my bed when we are under the same roof and hand your notice in to Compania de Ballet de Casillas. I buy you a property to live in while you work your notice and guarantee never to interfere with your career again. I believe that is everything unless there was something else you wished to discuss.’
Colour rose up her cheeks, her lips tightening before she gave a sharp nod. ‘Just one thing I think it is best to make clear. I may be agreeing to share a bed with you but that does not mean you take ownership of my body. It belongs to me.’
‘I think the kiss we shared earlier proves the lie in that, ma douce,’ he said silkily.
The chemistry between them was real, in the air they both inhaled, a living thing swirling like a cloud, shrouding them.
‘Think what you like.’ She dropped her gaze. ‘I will not be your possession.’
‘I am not Javier. I do not expect you to be. But I do expect a wedding night. After that, you can turn your back to me as often as you wish. I do not forget the clause in the contract allowing Javier to take a mistress without question or explanation and, seeing as you have not requested that clause to be removed, it stands for me too. And as you know, I am a man who likes to have all options on the table.’
Her nostrils flared as she jutted her chin back out again, a sign he was starting to recognise meant she was straining to keep her composure.
Let her try and keep it. Come their wedding night he would shatter that composure and discover for himself if her veins ran hot or cold.
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