habit of admitting failure.’ He took a glass of champagne and a tall, elegant glass of elderflower cocktail and handed it to Lisa.
She took the drink, sipped it as she looked out across the room decorated in gold for the party. ‘So it’s all about what other people think? To hell with what I think.’
She moved away from him to briefly speak to someone and he watched her. He wouldn’t have been able to drag his attention away from her if he’d wanted to. The black dress emphasised every curve, sending a spike of lust through him. He clenched his hands into tight fists. Now was not the time to become sidetracked by her—by sex.
As she returned to his side he looked down at her, liking the way she’d put her hair up, twisting it into a tousled kind of knot that made her look as if she’d not long left his bed. Damn. Why did everything come back to sex with this woman?
‘Of course it is. I have no wish for Angelina to think there is discord between us on her birthday.’ Even to him the words sounded stilted. Rehearsed.
She turned to glare at him. ‘Discord?’ The word echoed loudly around them. Too loudly.
‘Everyone will know if you are not able to lower your voice.’
‘I don’t damn well care.’ Before he could add anything to that she flounced off and although he wanted to go after her, he didn’t. It would create more of a scene if someone saw them arguing.
He swigged back his champagne, put down the glass and went in search of a proper drink. At the bar he ordered a whisky and sent it chasing after the champagne, then turned, leaning against the bar, and surveyed the room, the guests.
‘I see impending motherhood is wreaking its usual havoc.’ Raul’s voice jolted him and he turned to see his brother, cutting a handsome figure in his black tuxedo.
There was a smile on his face, but he looked different. Much less tense and not so on edge. More relaxed. Marriage obviously suited him and that fact only made Max even angrier. Why could his younger brother make a success of it and he couldn’t?
‘I think it’s more to do with the stress of the season,’ Max offered by way of an explanation. ‘We’ve hardly been in one place for long.’
‘So how was Christmas in the English country cottage?’ Humour bubbled in each word, only adding to Max’s disgruntled mood. What the hell did Raul have to be so happy about? As soon as the thought made its presence felt, he pushed it back. He didn’t wish unhappiness on anyone, least of all his brother, who’d also suffered in his childhood due to their so-called father. ‘Was it as romantic as you wanted it to be?’
It was on the tip of Max’s tongue to tell him it was excellent, but something stopped him. Maybe it was some kind of brothers’ code he wasn’t yet aware of, but he didn’t want to elaborate on the truth.
‘It all went very well at first.’
‘But?’ Raul asked, a grave look sliding over his face.
‘We want different things. Things I can’t give her.’
Raul nodded. ‘You have to find the solution to that yourself, Max. Only you can and only when you are ready.’
Max knew they were talking of the same thing. Hadn’t he witnessed it between him and Lydia that day in the restaurant when he’d arrived to meet him? Raul had found his way through the mire of his past and had found love. Just seeing him and Lydia together proved that.
‘Any more news on Carlos?’ Max changed the subject. This was not the time or the place to have such a talk with his brother, not after he’d told his wife he wanted a divorce.
‘He’s resigned from the board. He’s been in my father’s pocket for so long he seriously thought the company would come to him, that he could buy it for a rock-bottom price. I nearly fell for his insistence that I marry Lydia instead of finding you.’
Max remembered well the evening they’d met and talked through everything that had brought them together. How they’d both been convinced that their father had wanted them to find one another, to run the business together. That was why he’d put the marriage clause in the contract Lydia’s father had signed, knowing full well marriage was the last thing Raul had wanted.
‘But you married her anyway,’ Max said, wondering for the first time if it was a marriage that was as real as it looked.
‘Only because I realised what a fool I was to let the one woman I loved walk out of my life.’ Raul looked at him then took a glass of champagne. ‘You’ll know what I mean one day, brother.’
‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Max inhaled deeply and looked away from his brother. He didn’t want to see that smug smile of satisfaction on his face.
‘You can’t shut it out for ever,’ Raul said as he clapped a hand on his back. ‘Now if you will excuse me, my new wife is in need of a dance partner.’
Max watched Raul go, watched as he took Lydia’s hand and led her onto the already crowded dance floor. He knew exactly what his brother was referring to but he was wrong. Very wrong. Love wasn’t shut out of his life, it was completely obliterated—for ever. Wiped out by the actions of his father, a man who hadn’t even known the meaning of the word.
* * *
Lisa’s attention was captured as Raul, leading Lydia by the hand, made his way to the dance floor. A pang of envy rushed through her and she clutched her elderflower cocktail a little tighter. He was as commanding as Max and she didn’t miss the guarded glances from men and the longing looks sent his way by women. Most of the guests here might not have known of him until the story in the newspapers, but they would certainly remember him now.
She turned her attention elsewhere, not wanting to intrude on the lovers, and there was no doubt they were in love. Slowly she ambled through the throng of guests, the laughter and excitement of the evening contagious even though it had been the last place she’d wanted to be this evening, especially after Max told her he wanted a divorce. It just made her feel physically sick, but the prospect of going back to her flat and being alone with her mother’s words ringing in her head was far worse.
Across the other side of the room, she saw Max talking to some of his team players and their partners. They all looked very glamorous. The women looked sassy and exciting in their cocktail dresses and the men handsome in their tuxedos, but Max stood out. Like the lion who led the pride, there was no doubt he was the ultimate alpha male. Maybe that was her problem. He could never allow her into his heart because he kept it so well hidden in his pursuit of complete dominance and superiority.
‘Penny for them?’ A cheeky female voice at her side stopped that train of thought dead.
‘Angelina.’ Max’s sister had changed since she’d last seen her, over six months ago. She looked at the tall, willowy young woman, whose hair was even darker than Max’s, she realised how much she’d missed her. From the greeting she’d been treated to, it was a mutual feeling. ‘It’s so good to see you. Happy birthday.’
Angelina held her champagne glass in one hand, and tilted her head to the side, a big smile on her face. ‘So is it true?’
‘What?’ Lisa smiled with a frown, wondering what was coming next, because if there was one thing you could guarantee with Angelina it was complete honesty.
