‘I think it might have something to do with your skill too,’ she suggested dryly, growing in confidence because Ruiz was so relaxed.
Her heart bounced as he stared intently at her. ‘Are you attempting to flatter me, Señorita Valiant?’
‘Maybe, Señor Acosta,’ she agreed. To have Ruiz teasing her again in that warm, husky voice was alarming and yet strangely reassuring too. It was as though nothing had changed between them, as though they were still close, and had always been close, and only she had imagined the yawning gulf growing between them.
‘Come on,’ he said, taking hold of her arm.
‘Where are you taking me?’
‘Does it matter?’
Ruiz’s gaze was dark and disturbing, and she had to remind herself that this was a research trip. ‘Not one bit,’ she said. ‘Your driver told me you and your brothers own some of the top ponies in the world …’ Not the best conversational opening gambit she had ever come up with, but she had to try something to distract her wandering and highly erotic thoughts.
‘Have you ever wondered why there isn’t a polo world series?’ Ruiz demanded, staring down at her.
She looked into the dark, compelling gaze. ‘I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’
‘Argentina would clean up every time. We have the best ponies in the world. And the best players.’
‘The most modest too,’ Holly observed dryly.
‘You’re right,’ Ruiz agreed, his eyes dancing with shared laughter. ‘We’re just about perfect.’
She hadn’t imagined it would be so easy to relax with him. But she mustn’t read too much into it, Holly warned herself. Tensions had never existed between them for long and she was Ruiz’s guest in Argentina.
‘I notice you’re not taking notes?’ Ruiz observed, adopting an expression that made her smile even more.
‘What notes?’ she said, frowning. And then she laughed again, knowing her reputation for work.
‘I was led to understand that the only reason you agreed to accept my invitation to come to Argentina was because your boss at ROCK! told you it would be a good idea to write a polo feature for the magazine.’
‘Correct,’ she said. That was the only reason.
‘And there was no other reason?’ Ruiz probed in his deep, husky voice.
‘Should there be?’ If she couldn’t fool herself, what hope was there of fooling Ruiz?
‘You tell me,’ he said.
‘This is my family home,’ Ruiz told her as they approached a grand old house.
The building had an air of permanence and was much loved, Holly decided, noticing it was immaculately maintained. When they went through the impressive entrance she found herself in a large hall crammed with people. ‘Too many people for proper introductions,’ Ruiz determined, leading her towards an impressive sweeping staircase. ‘You should have some privacy now so you can rest up and take a bath before you meet everyone. You might even like a sleep to recover from the journey?’
‘I’ll be fine. I’m far too excited,’ Holly admitted, which drew a sharp glance from Ruiz. ‘If you can just give me half an hour or so to take a shower and change my clothes …?’
‘But no face masks,’ he said dryly.
‘Promise,’ she said, trying hard to curb a smile.
‘I need to freshen up too,’ Ruiz pointed out, breaking what had turned into a long moment of mutual inspection and assessment. ‘Then I’m going to take a tour of the stables to check on the ponies.’
‘Can I come with you?’
‘If you promise not to bring your phone or your notepad.’
‘I haven’t even switched it on yet.’ And only now remembered her oversight.
‘Then do so,’ Ruiz prompted. ‘You should let people know you’re safe. Though your working hours at the estancia will be between one and four in the afternoon while I’m taking a siesta.’
She laughed. ‘So I work while you rest?’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Ruiz observed with another heart-stopping flash of humour.
‘And what am I supposed to do for the rest of the time?’
‘Live a little?’ Ruiz suggested.
I will, she thought as he turned to go.
She had so much research material already and she’d only been here five minutes, Holly reflected as she leaned back against the heavy wooden door in her bedroom. Decorated in shades of palest coral and cream the room Ruiz had chosen for her was light and sunny, and beautifully feminine in a way Holly had never had the luxury of enjoying before. There was lace on the bed and silver on the dressing table, with a clutch of satin cushions on the elegant chaise longue positioned to take in the view over the ponies in the paddocks beyond the formal gardens.
The scent of beeswax tickled her senses as she waited for the data to upload on her phone. It was then that she noticed the family photographs arranged on the antique chest of drawers. There was a shot of the brothers as teenagers with their much younger sister, all of them smiling and instantly recognisable—dangerously handsome even then. She might only have been here five minutes, Holly reflected as her heartbeat increased, but it was long enough to know she would write about sexy polo players in general, because some things were better kept private. She couldn’t bear the thought of everyone laughing at her if she admitted how hopelessly in love she was with one polo player in particular.
Having made the necessary calls, she took a shower in the old fashioned, but immaculate and beautifully maintained bathroom, before sorting out her clothes on top of the high, intricately carved four-poster bed with its dressing of crisp white linen and lace. When she was ready she went to find Ruiz and her heart juddered when she bumped into him on the landing. Like her, he was just going downstairs. ‘Do you have everything you need?’ he asked.
She looked at him and thought not. ‘My room is lovely. Thank you.’ And then the question uppermost in her mind had to be asked. ‘Why did you invite me here, Ruiz?’ It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
The dark eyes gave nothing away. ‘Your editor’s pleased you’re here, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, of course he is.’ But that didn’t answer her question and Holly’s shoulders slumped as she watched Ruiz walk ahead of her down the stairs. Her heart yearned for him, but her head said, Don’t set yourself up for another disaster.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Another column I only hope makes more sense to you, the reader, than it does to me right now. My head is full of one man: the playboy. He’s so hot and sexy with a torso that would eclipse the centre-fold on any magazine you care to mention. To see him control a horse, effortlessly and completely, is the biggest turn-on of all. The polo match was spectacular. He was spectacular—
Am I getting a little selfish here? If I am, this is for you: the quotient of thighs like smooth, muscular tree trunks, and forearms like hairy steel bars was totally off the scale—
But the playboy is the only man I’m interested in. To seem him in full battle mode cracking the ball down the field at a gallop was so thrilling I would have fallen in love with him on the spot if I weren’t in love with him already.
Yes. You can safely say I am a lost cause. I don’t seem to have any sense of reality when it comes to men. I can’t find a safe man with carpet slippers and a newspaper. I can’t even find a slightly risky man with a set of golf clubs and a year’s subscription to the local squash club. All I can find is a Playboy with a capital P and a stonking great mallet.
RUIZ was in the kitchen drinking coffee, with a housekeeper bustling at the stove. He put his cup down when Holly came into the room and got up immediately. ‘I want you to see something,’ he said, leading her back towards the door she had just entered.
His touch on her arm was so familiar … so achingly familiar. She liked it. A great deal too much.
Ruiz took her across the baronial hall with its burnished wooded floor and muted, jewel-coloured hangings to another passageway leading off the grand entrance hall. Opening t
he door onto a room with a very different personality, he followed her in. Leaning back against the door, he said, ‘Well? What do you think?’
She was finding it hard to concentrate right now.
‘Take a look around,’ he said. ‘I think you’ll find everything you need here …’
It was an office, she realised. Ruiz had brought her into a very modern office. All teak and cream furnishings, and sunlight slid through crisp white blinds to create the perfect working environment.
‘I thought you would appreciate having a room of your own to work in quietly,’ he said. ‘Somewhere away from the rest of the house and the hubbub of polo and family life. This is where I come when I want to get away, and where I do some of my best thinking. Let’s hope the same vibes work for you. Consider this your room for the duration of your stay, Holly. No one will disturb you here.’
It was a beautiful room. So why did she feel so flat? Maybe because Ruiz wasn’t part of the package? ‘Thank you.’ No one had ever been so thoughtful before. Her family home had been small and cramped with parents at war, so the local library or the coffee shop down the road had been her office. A room of her own, even for her brief stay here, was luxury indeed. There was only one thing missing, Holly realised as Ruiz turned to go.
‘Don’t spend all your time in here,’ was his parting shot.
‘I won’t.’ She was determined to keep it light. ‘I won’t have anything to write about if I do!’
But he’d already gone. The door had shut behind Ruiz, leaving Holly to her own devices in his fabulous office. Great. She was here to work, so this was brilliant.
Well, get on with it, then …
Nothing. Her mind was empty. There wasn’t a single idea in her head. There was just a keyboard, a blank screen, and the sound of confident footsteps walking away.
There were times when you had to cast your net into the water rather than wait on the bank doing nothing, Holly reflected when the longest ten minutes of her life had passed. There was everything here in this office, except for the one thing she needed. Picking up the internal phone, she dialled the kitchen. Ruiz picked up immediately. ‘Problem?’ he demanded.
‘I need something to write about.’
‘I’ll be right up.’
There was nothing in his tone to suggest that this was going to be anything more than a courtesy call, but Holly’s heart turned over at the sound of a knock on the door. ‘Well?’ Ruiz demanded, walking in.
Her brain seized up. Right now she just wanted to look at him. There’d been a Ruiz-drought in her life and now she just wanted to drink him in. Big, refreshing gulps! Propping one lean thigh against the desk, he stared down at her, frowning. ‘I hope you haven’t brought me up here for nothing?’
‘No …’ Her senses were full of him. She loved it when he glowered, and Ruiz was close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body and smell the soap he’d used in the shower.
‘Why aren’t you working?’ he asked, straightening up.
‘I am,’ she protested.
‘Well, work faster,’ Ruiz prompted, ‘and remember that when you leave this room your work stays here. Agreed?’
She loved it when his lips firmed. ‘Agreed,’ she said faintly.
‘Louder, Holly.’
‘Agreed.’
‘That’s better,’ Ruiz murmured. ‘Now come here. We haven’t said hello to each other properly yet.’
She stood. Taking a couple of small, prudent paces forward, she stretched out her hand to shake his.
Ruiz took hold of her and dragged her close. ‘Hello, Holly,’ he murmured, laughing down into her eyes.
She stared into the dark, amused eyes, and then at the firm, sexy mouth only a whisper from hers. ‘I thought you said this room was to work in,’ she protested without much force.
‘It is,’ Ruiz agreed. ‘Here’s your next headline.’
His kiss took her breath away. It was both fierce and tender. Two dams had burst at once, she thought as Ruiz swung her into his arms. ‘You can’t do this in the office.’
Shh you crazy woman, and savour the moment!
‘I can do anything I want, anywhere I want,’ Ruiz assured her. ‘Just so long as you want it too …’
‘All I want is you,’ she said softly, opening her heart when caution couldn’t save it.
‘If you’re sure?’ He held her above the sofa. ‘I can always leave you here to work.’
‘You dare,’ she said, feeling excitement spring inside her. ‘And you know what they say about too much work.’
‘I know what I say,’ Ruiz commented under his breath.
‘Where are we going?’ she said as he carried her towards the door.
‘To bed,’ Ruiz said bluntly. ‘This might take some time and I’m not confident the sofa springs will hold up.’
She could hardly breathe for anticipation as he strode down the landing with her in his arms. Opening a door at the end, he walked into a spacious room and kicked the door shut behind them. He carried her straight over to the bed and she barely had time to register that this was a very different room again: elegantly furnished in the Italian style rather than in the heavy traditional manner of the rest of the house. ‘I like a man who knows what he wants.’
‘And a woman who knows how to give it to him.’
She wouldn’t argue with that, Holly thought as her breathing quickened. Ruiz’s bed was big and firm, and had been recently dressed in crisp white linen. She was sure she could smell sunshine coming off the sheets. Lowering her onto the bed, he joined her and then, cupping her face, he kissed her. ‘You’re in a rush,’ she said, fighting to catch her breath when he released her.
‘Would you have me any other way?’
‘Absolutely not,’ she admitted. And then, because she was a glutton for punishment, she added, ‘How about me?’
‘Stop hiding behind the column,’ Ruiz said frankly.
‘And live a little?’ Holly suggested.
‘No.’ He paused. ‘Live a lot.’
Her body responded urgently as Ruiz kissed her again. She loved the feel of his arms around her and the touch of him beneath her hands. She loved the taste of him and the smell of him, warm, clean and musky with rampant maleness. ‘I’m so glad you invited me.’
‘Don’t play prim with me.’ His lips tugged in a grin. ‘I know what you want.’
‘Seriously, Ruiz.’
‘Seriously?’ he queried, stopping her with a kiss. ‘I know what you want. And you should know by now that I’ll call you any way I have to, as loudly as I have to, from as far away as I must.’
She wasn’t used to this feeling, this safe, sure, happy feeling. Maybe Ruiz was right and this was living. It was certainly risking everything for one man. And it was better this way. She stared into the dark amused eyes and knew then that for her this was the only way.
‘Now stop trying to kid yourself and me,’ Ruiz told her in a husky voice. ‘We both know you’re a very bad girl. So, what’s holding you back, Holly?’
‘Nothing,’ she said, moving down the bed.
She took her time tracing the lines of Ruiz’s muscular thighs. Then, pulling up his top, she traced the band of muscles across his belly. As her fingers trailed lower she had the satisfaction of hearing him suck in a fast breath. ‘Was the belt really necessary,’ she murmured. Cupping the arrogant swell of Ruiz’s erection over the fabric of his jeans, she directed a teasing stare into his face. ‘Is all this for me? You shouldn’t have.’
Holly gasped out as Ruiz swung her underneath him. ‘But I have and I will,’ he promised as he began unbuttoning her shirt. ‘And if you can’t give me a very good reason for keeping me waiting for this, I shall just have to pleasure it out of you.’
‘Oh, no. Please don’t do that,’ she murmured, watching as Ruiz reached back to tug his top over his head. Tracing the formidable muscles on his chest, she turned her attention to his jeans. ‘You are massively overdressed,’ she complained, wrestling
them off him. And massively erect, she discovered with excitement.
‘And you are as forward as I remember.’ Ruiz paid her back by whipping her top off and tossing it away.
‘Lie on that bed, Señor,’ she warned, stripping down to bra and pants. ‘There is some unfinished business requiring my immediate attention, and it cannot wait.’
‘Go easy, señorita,’ Ruiz growled. ‘I’ve been waiting a long time for this.’
‘Are you saying the renowned playboy has lost his self-control?’ she taunted, kneeling over him.
‘I’m saying that with you it might be impossible to hold on.’
‘Don’t touch,’ she warned when Ruiz reached for her breasts. Currently threatening to spill over her bra, her nipples were deep rose pink and erect.
‘Do your worst,’ Ruiz encouraged in a husky Latin whisper.
‘Don’t worry, I will,’ she promised, slipping her fingertips beneath the waistband of his boxers. It was Holly’s turn to suck in a fast, excited breath when she had removed them. Ruiz was magnificent in every department and most especially in this. She dipped her head to take him in her mouth, relishing his smoothness and the sheer size of him as she traced the veined surface with her tongue. She tasted and suckled gently, before licking him while cupping him with her hands. She wanted to hold him now, to feel the promise of pleasure beneath her hands. She needed both her hands.
‘That’s enough,’ he exclaimed suddenly, swinging her beneath him.
‘Can’t you hold on?’ she challenged him.
Ruiz’s eyes were equally wicked. ‘Let’s find out, shall we?’ he teased.
‘Oh, yes. Let’s,’ she agreed with enthusiasm as Ruiz lost no time removing her remaining clothes. Nudging her legs apart with one powerful thigh, he tested and positioned her, using a pillow to raise her hips to an even more receptive level. After protecting them, he eased inside her with infinite care.
‘That feels so good.’ She breathed out a shuddering sigh as Ruiz lifted her.
‘And now you can see,’ he said.
She hummed, pretending that didn’t matter to her. But it did. And now Ruiz had started to move his hips from side to side, so skilfully massaging he stole the breath from her lungs. Would it ever be possible to breathe normally again, she wondered, while Ruiz was inside her and stretching her so incredibly?
The Shameless Life of Ruiz Acosta Page 13