She looked at him, a frown on her beautiful face.
‘The one who wanted nothing more than me to kiss her as we talked at your desk.’
‘I did not.’ The indignation was clear in her voice as she jumped to her feet; so too was the hint of colour on her cheeks. He’d known as he’d looked at her across the desk that if he’d kissed her, if he’d followed the silent requests of her lovely full lips, he would have wanted more. He’d resisted the temptation. If he’d given in so easily he would have been living up to the reputation he’d created as part of his armour, but he’d wanted to—badly.
‘Sit down, Lydia. It will look as if we are as far from lovers as can be if you stand there glaring at me so intently.’
‘Which is exactly what we are.’ The words hissed at him, but she did at least sit down again.
‘I intend for us to be seen as, if not lovers, at least friends. We are about to enter into the happy state of marriage.’
‘Hah.’ The false laugh that slipped so easily from her lips left him in no doubt that she too had little sentiment for marriage. ‘Is there such a thing?’
‘From that I deduce your parents’ marriage was as unhappy as that of my parents.’ Why was he talking of such things with her? He never discussed his childhood, never talked to anyone about the cold and heartless home he’d grown up in, or the constant warring of his parents as his father’s indiscretions became ever more frequent and ever more public. His mother had never forgiven the double life her husband had led for over eight years of their marriage and he intended to keep his search for the child of that double life from her for as long as possible.
‘It is not me who has a half-sibling to trace.’
So the kitten’s claws were still unsheathed. Maybe he should have kissed her when he’d had the chance.
‘True. But would you really know? Can you really say that your father has not sired another child when you spent most of your childhood with your grandparents until you went to boarding school?’
‘How do you know so much about me?’ Now he had her full attention.
‘Did you really expect me to even consider marrying you without some background, something more than our dinner-party talk ten years ago? Your father has told me much.’
She looked at him shrewdly, her green eyes almost dark with suspicion. ‘And what did you discover?’
‘That maybe you are not the spoilt little rich girl you want people to believe you are.’ Now he had her attention. Her eyes blazed a furious challenge at him and who was he to refuse?
‘Which means?’
‘Which means, Lydia, I know you have no other choice. That at least was very clear from what he told my legal representative. Even so, we have a deal, one you will honour with either marriage or success in finding my half-brother.’ He paused, letting the information sink in whilst he pushed his suspicion that there was something else, some other reason for her compliance, to the back of his mind.
‘For now, that means acting as if we are preparing to unite in marriage, that we at least like each other. I have no wish for the board to pick up on any reluctance from either of us. They must not question that the debt will be settled in full, however that might be.’
‘All this to save your business.’ She shook her head in disbelief and it grated on him that she thought his motives for demanding the marriage appear to take place were purely selfish.
‘And to save your father from ruin as well as safeguard our much-wanted state of being single.’
‘Do you really expect me to believe that?’
‘Sí, querida, I do.’ The words he’d just spoken weren’t lost on him. They were words he’d no intention of saying to any woman.
* * *
Lydia looked at Raul as he sat quietly, their little spat over. Around them the noise of the evening increased and a party atmosphere prevailed. The night was still young but she didn’t have time to think of parties and fun. She had to find his brother and the turn of conversation, however fiery, had showed just how she could do that.
‘I need to talk to your mother. She must know something.’ That got his attention.
His dark eyes held hers and he looked up at her, then back out to the now busy plaza, ablaze with Christmas lights. Around them the place was full of laughter and voices, the sounds echoing up around them, making everything seem surreal. She looked at the firm set of his jaw, the fierce profile, and knew she’d touched a nerve. A very raw nerve.
‘I have no wish to involve my mother in this.’ Finally, he turned back to face her and she could see the coldness in his eyes. ‘She knows nothing of the terms of the will and that is exactly how it will stay.’
‘It may be that she has the initial lead which will help with this. After all, she was married to your father. She must know something of what happened.’
‘Why do you say that?’ His icy voice was full of disdain but she pushed on regardless. She had no intention of ending up married to this man in three weeks’ time. By Christmas she’d be back in London and if it meant upsetting him and his mother was the only way out of it then that was exactly what she would do.
‘Women usually know. I have also worked out, from the small amount of information you have given me, that you and your brother must have been born within months of each other.’ She ploughed on, regardless of the deepening anger on his face. This wasn’t a time for sentimental feelings of guilt. This was a time to save herself from a marriage she had no wish to make.
‘Which is exactly why I have no wish to drag her into it. Imagine how it must have felt to be a new mother and know your husband was sleeping with another woman, that you’d provided the much-needed heir and were now surplus to requirements.’
Her temper boiled at the thought of the man who’d done that to his wife, Raul’s mother, and then a flash of sympathy for Raul himself. Had he too grown up knowing he was merely the heir required and not the son much wanted? Was that why he was so hard, so cold and unreachable?
She pushed it aside. ‘We have no other option, Raul, so when you have decided which way to proceed, perhaps you will be good enough to let me know.’ She stood up and began to walk away, aware of him behind her, tossing notes onto their table and following her.
She didn’t wait. She walked into the plaza, wanting only to get away from him.
‘I am not accustomed to women walking away from me,’ he stated harshly as he caught up with her. Did he expect her to bend to his wishes, do his bidding exactly as he wanted? No, she would never do that. She’d seen her own mother do it and then seen her leave, unable to tolerate the bullying regime any longer; she hadn’t even cared that she was leaving behind her daughter. It had been her grandmother who’d looked after her from then on.
She stopped to look up at Raul, an uncomfortable thought settling over her. For the first time in her life she wondered if she too should have been the required heir or even the much-sought-after son. Had she been a disappointment and let-down to both her parents when she’d arrived? A daughter neither of them had wanted?
Suddenly
