It was humiliating but she had to concede that a very wealthy, drop-dead sexy guy could have his pick of women and, even though she knew what it was like to turn heads, she was certainly not the most beautiful woman in the world.
‘You could have anyone...’ she heard herself say out loud and then blushed furiously at the lapse in concentration.
Rafael slowly smiled and tilted his head to one side. ‘I could...’ he agreed softly, without an ounce of false modesty. ‘But I find that the price tag attached to getting too involved with a woman is one I’m not prepared to pay. My godfather is fully aware of my views on marriage, which is why he never thought twice about the offer he made. You may not want to get to know your father,’ he continued, voice hardening, ‘but, believe me, it would be very much worth your while.’
‘I’m not a pawn on a chessboard to be pushed and manipulated.’ She tilted her chin at a mutinous angle. He was so still, so focused, so beautiful.
It was an effort not to take a few steps closer, just to breathe him in and wallow in the impact on her senses.
It was insane. She had no idea how he had managed to have that effect on her, but he had, and she hated her own weakness, especially now that she was finding out just what he was all about.
‘Proud words,’ Rafael murmured, moving towards her, taking his time, eyes darkening in unwitting appreciation. He was powerfully drawn to her even as his head warned against muddying the waters with unnecessary complications. ‘I admire that, but you should really think about what’s on offer here.’
‘I’ve thought.’
‘No, Sofia, you really haven’t.’ He looked around him, taking in the handsome proportions of the room, and then focused his fabulous eyes on her.
The effect was to render her breathless and confused.
‘You see this as your future?’
‘Of course I don’t! I told you... I’m in the process of doing my accountancy exams...’
‘Which won’t be completed for...how long? Six months? A year? Longer? And in the meantime you remain here, working for some guy who wants to get his hands on you?’
‘I never said anything of the sort!’
‘You didn’t have to.’ He walked away from her, headed towards the window ledge, against which he perched with a magnificent sense of complete authority. ‘Like I told you, I’m an expert when it comes to working out what’s not being told.’
Addled and furious, Sofia thought of James and that way he had of looking at her, undressing her with his eyes. He would never do anything, because he was fearful of consequences, but he certainly didn’t make life comfortable for her...and who knew? A little drink and she might wake one night to find him standing in her room...
‘You could always leave the job,’ Rafael continued thoughtfully. ‘But, without any qualifications, how easy would it be for you to get a well-paid job to replace this? One that allowed you sufficient time to continue your studies? I’ve looked around here and the economy’s good but there’s heavy competition out there...lots of people with degrees pounding on office doors.’ He paused, giving her time for his words to sink in. ‘Your father would like to get to know you. If you had been in any way the sort of woman I thought would hurt him, I would not be standing here having this conversation with you. He...wants to get to know you and I, in turn, want to facilitate that.’
‘Should I be flattered?’ Sofia flung at him. ‘It seems that lots of thought has gone into how my father would benefit from the arrangement, and how you would, but hey, what about me?’
‘Oh, but I feel you should take time out to consider the advantages of accepting what’s on offer, and the greatest of them is your freedom. Freedom from all of this. Think about it, Sofia. No having to do as you’re told, with your free time whittled down to when it suits your employers. Take this deal and I will immediately begin transferring a healthy sum of money into your account. Whatever you want, you will be able to have. Shares in the company would go to me but, as compensation, you would receive a vast amount of money. No more scrimping and saving.’
‘I could never marry you,’ Sofia said weakly. She thought of her cousin, with all his problems, and her aunt who struggled daily to make ends meet. The little she handed over meant so much to them. How much more would she be able to do if money was no object? Expert physiotherapy for Miguel? An operation, perhaps? There were many cutting-edge treatments out there... More than that, she could move them to somewhere nicer, a house with a garden out in the suburbs where her aunt wouldn’t feel scared if she happened to be walking home at night. There was so much she could do and the limitless possibilities hovered over her head, dazzling and seductive. ‘You lied to me. You pretended to be someone you weren’t. How could I ever marry someone I didn’t even like?’
Rafael hesitated but only momentarily. ‘This is a business deal. Marry me and in return you become a wealthy woman. As for the nature of our relationship...you will be free to do your own thing, as I will, within reason and with absolute discretion.’ He lowered his eyes, shielding his expression, guarding his thoughts, doing what came naturally to a man as intensely private as he was.
For some reason, Rafael’s cool, detached logic stung like heck. So he didn’t fancy her and he never had. She’d been mistaken. Was she so full of herself that she’d actually thought that he’d been interested? Giving off all the right signals? Getting under her skin because he lusted after her the way she foolishly lusted after him?
‘So what you’re offering is...’ Her voice was glacial.
‘Yes.’ Rafael met her eyes and held her gaze. ‘The ultimate marriage of convenience.’
CHAPTER FOUR
WITH HIS BACK to the coffee shop, and a paper cup of over-stewed coffee in one hand, Rafael scanned the faces of the people emerging from Customs out into the waiting crowds. A few were optimistically peering to find loved ones. Most looked frazzled and weary.
Under normal circumstances, Rafael would not have been standing there, drinking mediocre coffee and waiting for anyone to arrive. Under normal circumstances, he would have dispatched his driver to do the honours, but these were hardly normal circumstances.
A fortnight ago, he had left Argentina an engaged man. He had presumed that Sofia would leave with him but, she’d informed him, she had things to do.
‘I can’t just up sticks and leave,’ she had told him, sitting upright across from him in the formal sitting room where the details of this marriage of convenience had been discussed with the formality of two heads of state at a summit. ‘I have things to do.’
‘What things?’
‘Things,’ she had said coolly. ‘All the usual things a person has to do just before they travel to another country to marry someone they barely know.’
‘Thereby ensuring themselves a small fortune in the process,’ Rafael had been prompted into saying, edgily. ‘As a token of good faith, I’m prepared to personally transfer a sizeable amount to your bank account online right now, if you give me your account details.’
‘I also,’ Sofia had added, overriding the offer, ‘don’t like the idea of just disappearing and leaving a farewell note behind. I may not be the Walters’ biggest fan,’ she had conceded truthfully, ‘but I’m fond of their children and I would like to say goodbye to them.’
* * *
So that had been that. In the end, it had worked out for the best because Rafael had travelled back solo and had taken the opportunity to explain the situation to David, who was now on the slow and laborious route to recuperation.
It had also given him ample opportunity to crystallise the what happens next? in the scenario.
Not that he hadn’t thought about it while he had been out there. He had. Eventually. When matters had come to a head.
He’d been confronted with a sexy beauty and for a while his libido had misbehaved but, yes, when he had sat her down and
explained the situation, he had known that acting on his libido was not going to do.
This wasn’t going to be one of his transitory affairs. He wasn’t going to be able to walk away after a handful of weeks and bouquet of ‘it’s over’ flowers lovingly chosen by his PA.
No, Sofia Suarez, whose existence he hadn’t been aware of a fortnight previously, was going to be slightly more long-lasting than that.
A year. That was the timeline mutually agreed as they had coolly and objectively discussed the nuts and bolts of their arrangement. A year, during which he would sort out the problem with Freddy and she would build the bonds with her father that would last beyond the inevitable divorce. A year seemed like a reasonable length of time. Having agreed to the deal, not once had she baulked, and he had admired her for that.
It was going to be a mutually beneficial situation for all concerned. For his godfather, who was desperate to meet his flesh-and-blood daughter. For him, because he was not only going to do something for the only human being on the planet he actually had time for but, in the process, would sort out the aggravation of his godfather’s stepson’s interference—and, as no miserly bonus, garner himself a healthy slice of the leisure industry his godfather had made his own. And of course for his bride-to-be, who would suddenly find herself one of the wealthiest women on the continent.
Joy and laughter all round.
But not if he allowed his libido to rule his head.
Rafael had felt the sizzle of attraction between them. He had seen the flare of desire in her feline green eyes and for a short while he had actually contemplated doing something about it. Because the pull towards her, forbidden fruit when he’d started thinking with his head instead of that other, far less reliable part of his body, was the strongest he’d ever experienced.
But this was a business arrangement and he had never been stupid enough to mix business with pleasure.
His solution had been the perfect one. They would maintain their freedom of movement whilst obeying rules of utmost discretion. A year was hardly an eternity in the great scheme of things.
Mind half-playing on the various formalities to be manoeuvred, Rafael spotted her emerging from the airport corridor through which lay Arrivals and Customs. She was walking slowly behind a family and trying hard to control a trolley that seemed determined to explore the opposite direction from the one she was taking.
Her long, dark, curly hair was tied back but travel had unravelled most of it from its restraints. She was dressed in a pair of faded jeans, a loose T-shirt and a scruffy bomber jacket. Her skin was the colour of latte and as smooth as silk and he drew in a sharp breath before briskly walking in her direction.
Just when you figure you’ve got life nicely under control, he thought with grim amusement, you discover that life’s decided to turn the tables and start controlling you.
Just as well he was made of sterner stuff and could handle anything life decided to throw at him.
* * *
Flustered and bug-eyed, because she could count on the fingers of one hand the number of hours she had actually managed to sleep over the past couple of weeks, Sofia was not aware of Rafael’s steady approach.
She was too busy trying not to crash into the three-year-old toddler being pulled along by his mother.
The dark timbre of Rafael’s voice brought her to an abrupt stop, but not for long, because he seamlessly took the trolley from her and ushered her out of the steady stream of traffic looking for familiar faces.
‘Good flight?’ he enquired politely.
Sofia slanted a glance at him. Somehow she had managed to forget just how stunning the guy was. So tall, so powerfully built, so aggressively masculine.
Eyes turned in his direction. Had he noticed? She was sure that he must have and that awareness of his own sexual magnetism would certainly account for some of his overwhelming self-assurance.
‘Fine, thank you,’ she returned, remembering for the record that he might be sex on legs but he was also someone who got what he wanted, whatever the cost and even if it involved lying.
‘That’s all the luggage you have with you?’
‘I travel light.’
‘Sensible. You’re going to have a whole new wardrobe anyway, so the less of your old things you have to dispose of, the better.’
‘How is my...my...how is David doing?’
‘You’re free to call him “Dad” if you like.’
‘He’s not my dad.’
Rafael shrugged but then turned to look down at her, his tone gentling. ‘I understand the situation, Sofia. You’re going to be meeting someone you have no interest in meeting but you’re going to have to control the tendency to be waspish. David is recuperating but the last thing he needs is to be stressed out by surly behaviour.’
‘You have no right to tell me off as though I’m a kid.’ Sofia looked him squarely in the eyes. ‘I didn’t ask to be here.’
‘But here you are, and I could name a million and one reasons why.’ He looked at her wryly, eyebrows raised. ‘Check your bank account and you’ll get my drift.’
Face burning, Sofia looked away. He had sent her three emails. One contained a form, basically preventing her from blabbing to the press about anything. The other contained a complicated legal document involving distribution of shares and cash and she had signed it without reading it to the end.
The third email had detailed practical information. That one she had read thoroughly but now that she was here, so far from home, panic began to set in.
She rested her hand lightly on his arm as they emerged from the airport into cool spring air.
They had left some of the bustling crowds behind. Out here, cars were pulling up and slowly driving off, dropping and collecting passengers.
What have I got myself into? Sofia suddenly thought, terrified in a way she hadn’t been back in the safety of her room at the Walters’ mansion. Yes, she had agreed to something that made sound financial sense. He had assured her that theirs would not be a relationship in any true sense of the word and she had believed him. She was also, underneath the bluster, ever so slightly curious about the man who had fathered her, even though she doubted she could ever feel anything for some rich guy who had disappeared and broken her mother’s heart.
But still...
Here she was, and her mouth was suddenly dry and her pulses racing all over the place.
‘What is it?’
‘I... I...’ Her voice trailed off.
‘The car is over there.’ He nodded to a monstrously big Range Rover. ‘You can get it off your chest once we’re driving.’
‘You sent an email,’ Sofia began once she had climbed into the passenger seat and the car was silently exiting the cavernous car park. ‘I’m afraid I’ve forgotten... I signed the stuff and I know...well...that we’ve given this a year, but was there anything else? And where...where are we going now? I feel I should have asked more questions but...’
‘What did the boss say when you handed in your notice, just out of interest?’
‘James?’
‘I don’t suppose he was happy about that.’
‘It was inconvenient for both of them.’ She flushed and looked away, recalling the angry gleam in James’s eyes. She’d wondered whether he hadn’t planned, at some point, to try to get her into bed, and was annoyed because the opportunity had removed itself from his grasp. He didn’t intimidate her but she was seriously glad that he was no longer her boss.
‘I’ll bet. You’re nervous and wondering whether you’ve done the right thing.’
‘Have I said that?’
Rafael shot her a sideways look. ‘Remember that talent of mine for reading what’s not been said? If you’re having doubts, then remember the boss whose nose was put out of joint when you handed in your notice. I saw that photo. I can recognise a sleaze ball fro
m a mile away. Life would have become increasingly difficult for you there. The guy was probably circling like a shark. So, you asked where we’re going. Right now, we’re going to be staying at one of my houses outside London. Close enough for me to commute, at least on weekends, but far enough for you to find your feet far from prying eyes.’
‘Prying eyes?’
‘I’ve done my utmost to steer clear of paparazzi in both my professional and personal life and am only ever in print in connection with some of the more significant deals I’ve done over the years. On the whole, reporters have little to no interest in my personal life but, that said, the fact that I’m married isn’t something that’s going to pass unnoticed.’ He paused and slanted another sideways glance at her. ‘I thought you might want to adjust to life over here in relative peace and quiet before you’re introduced as my wife. Hence we avoid my London base for a few weeks.’
‘That’s very thoughtful of you,’ Sofia said stiffly.
‘It will also enable you to control the occasions when you meet David. I’ve discussed this with him and he’s happy with the arrangement. He is, believe it or not, as nervous about meeting you as you are of meeting him.’
‘I’m not nervous.’
‘I’ll let that one pass. Have you ever been to this country before?’
‘No.’ She sighed and gazed out of the window at the soulless buzz of the motorway.
‘You’ll familiarise yourself with the place in time.’ He paused. ‘We’re heading out of London at the moment. I’ve arranged a jeweller, who will be coming to my house with a selection of rings. You can take your pick of whatever you like. I’ve also had a timetable of various activities prepared for you, including a shopping trip for...amongst other things...a dress for the big day. You can either go to Harrods or else Harrods will come to you, if you don’t fancy London.’
Sofia thought that this was the reality. The ring. The dress. A ceremony that suited all parties but had no emotional significance. The best that money could buy but without joy, anticipation or love.
Shock Marriage For The Powerful Spaniard (Mills & Boon Modern) (Passion in Paradise, Book 5) Page 6