by Abby Green
Footsteps approached and she realised she was clasping her hands like a schoolteacher. She unclasped them just before the door opened.
Leonora only saw Gabriel, filling the doorway as if this massive house had been built around him.
Her mother said redundantly, ‘Leo, Mr Torres is here.’
Leonora moved forward, shaky in high heels. For a ridiculous moment she wasn’t sure if she should put out her hand to shake his, but then he reached for her, taking her shoulders in his hands and bending down to kiss her on each cheek.
His scent caught her unawares, hurtling her back in time to the other evening. She put her hands up to his arms—in a bid to stay standing as much as anything else.
‘Señorita de la Vega. Thank you for agreeing to come and have dinner with me.’
There was a tone in his voice that made her look at him. Intimate. Complicit. It sent a flash of heat between her legs.
He straightened up and let her go. ‘Shall we?’
Leonora gave her mother a quick kiss and walked out ahead of Gabriel while he exchanged a few parting words with her mother. He came out and opened the passenger door of the car, waiting until she got in. She tried to gather herself as he came around the car and got in.
He sat behind the wheel. But instead of starting the car he looked at her and said, ‘Leo?’
It took her a second to understand his meaning. ‘Matías called me Leo when he was small. It kind of stuck...in spite of my father’s distaste for shortening names.’
Leonora couldn’t look away from those mesmerising gold-flecked eyes. His jaw was clean-shaven, but she could still remember the way her skin had felt so tender after kissing him. It had burned. Like she burned now...deep inside.
‘Leo...’ he said. Slowly. Testing it out. And then, ‘I like it. It suits you. Makes me think of a lioness.’
His mouth curved into a small smile and then he turned the ignition on and drove down the drive and out of the property.
Leonora was breathless. So much for trying to regain her composure. She’d never thought driving a car could be considered sexy, but watching the way Gabriel drove, with nonchalant confidence, was undeniably compelling.
She was able to study him as he drove, taking in the thick hair swept back off his forehead. The long aquiline nose, more than hinting at his exclusive lineage. The hard jaw and that sensual mouth, made for sin. And that powerful body. Hard and honed. Not an ounce of spare muscle.
A warrior’s body in the guise of a very modern man. All in all, an intoxicating package.
He glanced at her and she looked away, face burning. She realised her thigh was bared in the slit of the dress and hurriedly pulled it together, holding it with her hand.
‘I’ve seen your thigh, Leonora.’
Her face burned hotter. She didn’t know how to handle this...this flirting.
She blurted out, ‘The other night... It wasn’t... I don’t usually behave like that.’
Something shifted in the atmosphere as Gabriel pulled up smoothly to a red traffic light. She risked a look at him and saw he was staring straight ahead, hands on the wheel.
‘I thought as much,’ he said after a moment, the car moving forward again.
Now she felt even more exposed. Clearly her inexperience had been woefully obvious. But hopefully not the full extent of it.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’
Leonora felt the blood drain from her face. From hot to cold in seconds. ‘How did you know?’ she asked through bloodless lips.
Thankfully Gabriel needed to focus on the traffic, so he was looking ahead and not at her.
‘Because I’ve never slept with a virgin before.’
Leonora wanted to slip down in the seat and disappear altogether, drowning in a pool of humiliation. But she forced herself to sit straight.
‘Why did you ask me out this evening if you know I’m such a novice? I’m sure there are many women who can provide more experienced entertainment.’
She felt him glance at her but she stared straight ahead.
‘You misunderstand me, Leonora. I did not say this was a negative thing.’ He waited a moment and then he said, in a low voice that rubbed along every nerve-ending, ‘In fact it was the most erotic experience of my life.’
That made Leonora even more rigid. ‘If you’ve asked me out because I’m some kind of novelty to you—’ Her flow of words halted when Gabriel swung abruptly into a layby and he came to a stop.
She looked at him and he turned to face her, the car idling. He looked stern and she swallowed.
‘I did not ask you out because you’re a novelty. I asked you out because I desire you very much.’
His gaze dropped to her mouth and he muttered something unintelligible to himself. Then, before she knew what was happening, he closed the distance between them, snaked a hand under her hair to the back of her neck and his mouth was on hers, possessing her so thoroughly that by the time he broke the kiss she was pressed against him, hands clutching at his jacket.
She was gasping, dizzy. After mere seconds. Her mouth throbbed. His kiss had been swift and explicitly sexual.
He raised a brow. ‘That is no novelty. That is the kind of chemistry and desire that comes along very rarely. Trust me. And I want much more than one night with you, Leonora—much more.’
Leonora couldn’t speak as Gabriel pulled back out into the traffic as if nothing had happened, his enigmatic comment reverberating in her head.
I want much more than one night...
What was he proposing? An affair? For her to become his mistress?
Everything in her balked at that because she knew she was not mistress material. She was a world away from the sophisticated women of the world he would know, in spite of her privileged upbringing. Until they’d lost all that privilege.
But then maybe he was only talking in terms of days...weeks. Gabriel Torres didn’t flaunt his affairs. He was discretion personified—which was largely how he’d built up such a mythical reputation. And a man like him wouldn’t be satisfied with one woman for long.
It was only when she saw that they were veering away from the city centre that she asked, ‘Where are we going?’
He glanced at her and she felt it like a searing brand. Dios.
‘We’re going to my home. My family home.’
‘Castillo Torres?’
Leonora was immediately intimidated. She’d visited the estate a few times in her lifetime, for social events with her parents. That long-ago polo match. Fundraisers. Galas. She hadn’t been in a long time, but she remembered it as being a huge and intimidatingly grand place.
In comparison, it made her own family castillo look like a cosy country cottage.
‘Yes. I trust that is okay?’
Leonora nodded. ‘Of course.’
The truth was that even if he’d taken her to a busy restaurant full of people it wouldn’t have lessened his intensity, or his power to intimidate. Maybe this was how he flew under the radar? He kept his liaisons confined to his elegant apartment or the castillo. Well out of the public eye.
Leonora didn’t like to think that she was the latest in a long line of women who had been invited back to the castillo, but she told herself she was being ridiculous. There was a long line of women before her and there would undoubtedly be a long line after her. She didn’t see a man like Gabriel Torres settling down to a life of domesticity any time soon.
She couldn’t even imagine him in such a milieu.
He was turning off the main road now, onto a smaller road which led to a huge set of iron gates that opened automatically as soon as they drove up to them. Gabriel lowered his window and saluted the security guard in the box on the other side of the gate.
Leonora’s family used to have security at their castillo—not any more. There was n
othing of value left.
They drove in and Leonora tried not to let her jaw drop at the verdant splendour of the grounds. Tall trees lined the drive and beyond she could see lush landscaped lawns and blooming bougainvillea.
The winding drive opened into a massive courtyard with a fountain in the middle, behind which the castillo rose majestically. Not unlike Leonora’s home, but on a far grander scale, it had a distinctly Moorish shape. And she noticed immediately that it was in pristine condition, which made her heart ache as she acknowledged how far her family had fallen.
Gabriel stopped the car at the bottom of the steps leading up to the main door. He got out and came around the bonnet, opening Leonora’s door and helping her out.
A young man materialised seemingly out of nowhere and Gabriel tossed him the keys, asking him at the same time how his exams had gone.
The young man grinned and said, ‘Passed them all, boss!’
Gabriel responded, ‘Good for you,’ and the young man jumped into the car and drove it around to the back of the castillo—presumably to a garage similar to the one under Gabriel’s apartment, filled with expensive sports cars.
Keeping her hand in his, Gabriel led her up the steps. The door opened as they approached, as if by magic, and a uniformed butler bowed to them as she stepped over the threshold.
Gabriel said, ‘Ernesto I’d like you to meet Leonora Flores de la Vega. Leonora, this is Ernesto, the only person holding this whole place together.’
‘Not true, sir, but thank you. Señorita de la Vega, pleased to meet you.’
He bowed again and Leonora was charmed. She smiled shyly, ‘Lovely to meet you too.’
She liked the way Gabriel acknowledged his staff. She was ashamed to remember how her parents had treated their own as very much beneath them. And now they had none. Karma?
Her hand was still in Gabriel’s as he led her through a vast stone hall and out to an inner courtyard with a pool filled with colourful fish and lotus flowers. Stone pillars around the edges led up to a balcony running around the space.
Then they walked through to the other side and back into the main building, where another reception area led off to more rooms and a grand staircase up to the first level.
‘This is...beautiful. I was here before, but only in the grounds.’
Gabriel stopped walking and grimaced as he looked around them. ‘I’ve been working on bringing it into the modern era. For years it was dark and dank, full of useless antiques and mouldering paintings of long-dead relatives.’
Leonora couldn’t help a small wry smile. ‘That sounds like my family home.’
She caught Gabriel’s eye and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Suddenly he looked...hungry. Leonora’s heart thumped. Was he going to kiss her right here? Now? She wasn’t ready—
But then the look on his face passed and he kept walking, saying, ‘It’s a painstaking and expensive process. I’ve been working on this for the last decade and we’re not nearly finished.’
Leonora stayed silent, following where he led her, through a confusing labyrinth of corridors. She could see now why he might like his very sparse and elegant city apartment. It was a direct contrast to what he’d grown up with. That was why she’d liked it.
A sense of affinity struck her again...disconcerting.
They were approaching the end of the corridor now, and Gabriel pushed open a door which led into a massive drawing room, full of light and huge windows that looked out over the back of the castillo. All she could see was acres of lush green, trees, and what looked like an orchard in the distance.
‘We grow lemons and olives here. Sell them to an organic company. Part of my restoration is an attempt to make the castillo and its grounds as self-sufficient and environmentally friendly as possible.’
He let her hand go and went over to a drinks cabinet.
Leonora said wistfully, ‘That’s what I’d love to do too. The day when these kinds of buildings can justify themselves by merely existing has surely ended.’
He cast her a look over his shoulder. ‘Exactly.’
He came back then, with a glass of what looked like champagne in one hand and water in the other.
He handed her the tall elegant flute and said, ‘Dinner will be ready in a short while, but first I have a proposal to put to you.’
Leonora took a sip of champagne and it fizzed down her throat. She swallowed, genuinely intrigued. ‘A proposal?’
He looked at her carefully. ‘Yes, Leonora. A proposal. Of marriage.’
CHAPTER FIVE
A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE. If Leonora had still had some of the champagne in her mouth or her throat she would have choked or spat it out. The shock of his words thumped her in the gut. She felt winded.
He was just looking at her. Assessing. As if he hadn’t just said the most audacious thing she’d ever heard. A sliver of ice went down her back when she thought of the possibility that she might have hallucinated briefly.
‘Did you just say—?’
He cut in smoothly. ‘That I’m proposing marriage? Yes, I did.’
Leonora clutched the glass as if it was a lifeline. Her brain wouldn’t seem to work. It felt sluggish.
‘Do you...? Why?’
‘For many reasons—chief of which is because I think we’d be a good match. I’ve known for some time now that I need to settle down, but it’s always been an unpalatable prospect...until we met and connected.’
Connected.
Leonora’s head was suddenly filled with X-rated images of them in bed, limbs entangled, his powerful body thrusting in and out of hers, transporting her to heights of ecstasy she’d dreamed about every night since.
Something else struck her and she felt slightly sick. ‘Is this just because I was a...a virgin? Maybe you’re old-fashioned and that kind of thing—’
He held a hand up, eyes sparking. ‘Stop right there. This has nothing to do with your sexual innocence.’ He lowered his hand. ‘Although I have to admit that knowing I was your first lover is incredibly satisfying in a way that I never would have thought possible.’
Leonora’s insides clenched. She had to admit that losing her innocence under the expert tutelage of Gabriel hadn’t exactly been unsatisfying. Far from it. But...marriage? And yet why should it be such an alien concept when she’d agreed to marry someone else only recently?
She struggled to understand Gabriel’s motivation. ‘But I’m not remotely suitable.’
He frowned. ‘You couldn’t be more suitable for my requirements.’
Requirements.
A cold weight lodged in her chest. And it mocked her. Because she realised that for a moment she’d fantasised that this might be a proposal stemming from emotion. Feelings. When she’d never even considered that with Lazaro Sanchez.
But you didn’t sleep with him, reminded a small voice.
Leonora lifted her chin. ‘Do I need to remind you that my family are considered pariahs in society? We haven’t been invited to an event in years. I don’t see you sullying the Cruz y Torres name by association with us.’
In answer he pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket and after a few seconds handed it to her, ‘Have you seen this?’
‘This’ was a grainy paparazzi picture of her getting into his car that night outside the hotel. She looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights and he was staring directly down the lens of the camera, defiantly.
She handed it back, feeling sick. ‘I tend to avoid looking at those websites or their headlines, considering my family were their sole fodder at one time.’
‘I’m showing it to you to illustrate my point that I really don’t care what anyone thinks of us getting together.’
Leonora looked at him. ‘What would your parents think?’
Gabriel’s expression hardened. ‘My parents are not remotely involved in the r
unning of my life and haven’t been since before I came of age. If anything, I run their lives. My father spends most of his time in his city townhouse and at this point in time I’m not even sure where my mother is—she usually has the decency to conduct her illicit liaisons in discreet locations. They have no jurisdiction over me.’
Leonora shivered slightly, recalling how serious he’d been at twenty-one. No wonder, if he’d been running a massive business on his own.
‘Don’t you have a sister? Younger than you?’
His expression immediately softened. The cold weight in Leonora’s chest warmed slightly.
‘Yes. Estella. The bane of my existence.’
And yet clearly she wasn’t, if that softened look was anything to go by.
Intrigued, Leonora asked, ‘Where is she?’
‘She’s in New York, working as a model. She went through a rough patch a few years ago. Fell in with the wrong people. But she’s doing really well now.’
The pride in his voice was evident. Then his focus came back to Leonora.
He said, ‘Your family might have fallen from grace due to your father’s actions, but whose grace? And who else hasn’t? I despise that hypocrisy.’
At that moment there was a discreet knock on the door and Leonora looked around to see Ernesto enter. ‘Dinner is ready, Señor Torres.’
‘Thank you, we’ll be right there.’
Leonora turned back to Gabriel, still feeling slightly winded, absorbing his words. She would never have expected him not to care about his family’s reputation, but conceded cynically that he had that luxury because they were so powerful.
He said, ‘I know you weren’t expecting this when I brought you here, but I don’t believe in playing games, Leonora. Life is too short. You’re the first woman I’ve ever brought to the castillo. And you’re the first woman I’ve ever proposed to.’
* * *
Gabriel was not used to being unable to read a woman easily. Usually they were so unsubtle. But Leonora was like the Sphinx. All cool and serene. He’d put a marriage proposal to her and she’d recovered quickly after her initial shock.