But that was all over now. “The story’s been in the papers. The gossips are whispering.” He shrugged. “Nothing to be done.”
He could see Susannah’s overactive brain ticking away behind those soulful eyes.
“Trying to figure out how to save the day? Don’t. You can’t.”
During dinner, Amado charmed and flirted. His earnest and thoughtful conversation, combined with wicked, sensual glances, had Susannah laughing and blushing like a schoolgirl.
She could see what he was doing—toying with her—but she couldn’t seem to help her response.
He slipped out of the room after dessert to talk to Rosa, and she collapsed back in her chair, gasping for air. How did he do this to her?
Whenever she’d tried to guide the conversation in the direction of business, he’d steered it off somewhere else with a twinkle in his eye.
He had a genius for nosing out subjects she loved to talk about—places she’d visited, books she’d read, world affairs—so she was totally unable to resist engaging in heated and passionate conversation with him.
Without getting any work done.
The front door clicked shut as Rosa left. Any minute now, Amado would be back with steaming coffee. Maybe he’d offer to massage her feet? Her pulse picked up in anticipation and she cursed herself for it.
She didn’t have an ounce of self-control where Amado Alvarez was concerned.
And worse, he knew it.
Instead of coffee, he returned carrying a black shawl. “Let’s walk outside.”
“In the dark?”
“There are many stars.” Stars sparkled in his eyes.
He’d donned a dark sweater, clearly intent on going on this walk regardless of her opinion. “This’ll keep you warm.” He held out the fringed shawl.
“Woven from the hair of the finest local llamas?”
“Vicuñas. Their wool is softer.” A smile eased up the corner of his mouth.
“I can hardly say no, then, can I?”
Amado didn’t bother to reply. And why would he? They both knew she could never say no to him.
They slipped through the front door into the thick, inky night. The slight chill in the air was no match for the luscious wool wrapped around her shoulders.
No electric lights pierced the darkness. Even the large winery was invisible. “Where are Clara and Ignacio?” It felt odd that she hadn’t seen them all day. They seemed to have vanished.
“How should I know?” Amado walked straight ahead. “They don’t tell me everything.” His voice thickened. “As you know.”
Susannah clutched the shawl about her. How could the whole family fall apart, decades of love and affection dissolve into nothing, all because of the news she brought?
Even though she knew she wasn’t to blame, her chest ached with guilt and the painful longing to put things right.
The slim sickle of moon gave little light. Amado strode so fast she had to hurry to keep up with him.
“Where are we going?”
“To visit a friend.”
The brusque answer was a stark contrast to his calculated charm at dinner. Susannah got breathless trying to keep up. Her medium heels weren’t ideal for half-running across gravel, and now a rather crooked brick walkway.
She stumbled and almost lost her balance, which caused Amado to turn and frown at her. He glanced down at her feet.
“Yes, I’m wearing heels. I didn’t realize there’d be a midnight trek involved.”
“Usually you wear more sensible shoes.” There was a hint of a question in his voice.
“Not always,” she protested. She didn’t want him to know that she’d bought new shoes especially for the visit. Her feet had remembered the lavish care and attention he’d paid them last time. “Besides, your vineyard is so well maintained, I didn’t even bother to bring boots this time.”
“You should have. What if it rains?”
He held her forearms. Her skin hummed under the firm pressure of his fingers and thumbs.
“Maybe I wasn’t feeling sensible.” Her breasts tingled as the confession slipped out of her.
“It’s important to be sensible on a business trip.” His eyes glinted in the darkness. “And this is a business trip for you, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” She swallowed. All her insecurities bubbled to the surface like scum. “I realize you probably didn’t want to see me again. I understand that. I brought unwelcome news that has changed your life. I didn’t ask to come.”
She wobbled in her new shoes.
Amado held her forearms tighter. “No. I asked for you to come.”
“You did?” Her mouth fell open. “But I thought…Tarrant…”
“Oh, he has his own reasons for your being here, no doubt. But I asked him to send you.”
A shiver of nameless emotion rippled through her. “Why?”
“Because I could.”
He let go of her arms, turned, and marched forward into the velvet darkness.
Susannah stared after him, mouth gaping. Her heart pounded and indignant protests rose to her tongue. She’d cancelled a long-planned trip so that two wealthy men could trade her around like a party favor?
“Come on.”
She heard his voice receding. She turned to assess the distance back to the house, but it was impossible to even see it in the tarry blackness of the night.
High above, the stars winked at her, mocking.
She hurried after him.
Soft light appeared in a doorway. She pulled the shawl tight around her and followed him inside.
A barn. A caged light fixture illuminated a clean wooden floor. She smelled hay, fresh and slightly sweet.
She walked slowly, keeping her heels light on the floor.
“This way.” Amado’s voice drew her around a corner. Rows of horse stalls with elegant wrought iron gratings lined the wide aisle. She could hear animals shifting, feet moving.
He pulled back a sliding door and stepped into a stall. “Come in.”
Susannah walked up to the stall and looked through the bars. A giant brown horse appeared in the gloom. She hesitated. Enormous animals made her uneasy.
Amado was bent over in a far corner of the large stall. The horse lifted its magnificent head and peered down at her with disdain.
She shrank back. “It’s okay, I’ll wait here.”
Amado looked up. “You’re afraid?”
She inhaled and lifted her chin. Amado rose and crossed the stall. “Perhaps I should have started with a formal introduction. Susannah, this is Tierra de Oro’s Andrómeda, known to her friends as Luz. Luz, this is Susannah Clarke.”
Susannah couldn’t help smiling. “What do I do now, shake her hoof?”
Amado made a sound with his tongue and Luz lifted one of her front feet.
She had to laugh. “You’re good with animals.”
“She trusts me.” He flashed a wicked grin, and stroked Luz’s vast neck. “Maybe you should do the same?”
Susannah gulped. Determined not to appear chicken, she squeezed past the door and closed it behind her. Then she noticed the baby, small and gangly with a tuft of white mane, in a gloomy corner of the stall.
“How cute. How old is it?” She glanced nervously up at Luz, then walked around her.
“Luna is three days old.” Amado held his hand out for the tiny foal to sniff. “She’s just getting used to me.”
“Her mother doesn’t mind?”
“Oh, no. She’s known me since she was born. And this is her sixth baby, so she knows the routine.”
Susannah’s stomach tightened with strange force as she saw how gentle he was with the nervous baby. The mother blew out a snort of air that made Susannah jump. Amado didn’t even look up.
“Do you want to come touch her?” He had his arms wrapped around the foal’s slender chest.
“That’s okay, thanks. I’m enjoying watching.”
He didn’t press her any further. She looked sideways at Luz, feel
ing like a wimp. The mother horse ignored her completely.
Amado touched the baby all over, his gaze soft and his touch obviously light. The foal seemed to relax under his hands, and lowered its delicate honey-colored head.
“I try to come out here at least three times a day.” He spoke softly. “So she’ll get to know me and know I mean her no harm.”
“That’s nice.” She had no idea what else to say.
Amado glanced up. Laughed. “Didn’t you grow up in the country?”
“Yes, but I never had anything to do with animals. I helped out with schools, counseling programs, stuff like that.”
“Oh.” His eyes twinkled. “Do you like animals?”
“Sure,” she said uncertainly. She had a feeling this was some kind of test. She wanted very badly to pass it.
Why? What did it matter if Amado thought she was an uptight city girl?
She crossed her arms over her chest. Pretended not to watch as Amado murmured softly to the foal. Tried to ignore the strange fluttery feeling his tender behavior sent to her stomach.
Luz turned and lowered her big head onto Susannah’s shoulder. Startled, she used every ounce of energy she could muster to remain completely still. Luz blew out a breath that warmed her cheek.
Susannah glanced sideways without moving. Luz’s large brown eye regarded her calmly.
“She’s telling you to relax.” Amado didn’t even look up.
“It’s working.” Susannah raised her arm and patted Luz awkwardly on the neck.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amado smile.
A sense of warm satisfaction crept over her.
Amado rose and fondled Luz affectionately before following her out into the aisle and closing the door.
“What will happen to the baby?” Susannah waited until they were out of the horse’s earshot before asking. That was probably laughable in itself.
Amado looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Will you sell her?”
“Probably. We’d have a lot of horses if we kept the foals born every year. My dad…” He cleared his throat. “Ignacio has always bred horses. His father before him. It’s a tradition, I suppose.”
“But you seem so attached to her already. How do you get used to it? Saying goodbye and moving on?”
Amado frowned slightly. “You know all about moving on. It’s part of life.”
“Yes.” Silence thickened in the air, punctuated only by the sound of animals moving. Breathing. “Of course.”
Amado continued along the aisle, past a number of stalls. She’d seen workers riding the horses around the estancia, checking the nets that shielded the grapes from hail and repairing the trellis that held the vines upright.
Horses were quieter and more beautiful than the usually ubiquitous ATVs. Easier on the earth, too.
A strange thought occurred to her. “And the father. Is he here too?”
Amado’s expression darkened. “What do you mean?”
“The sire of Luna.”
“No. He lives a few kilometers away at my friend Diego’s place. We bring him here to cover her.”
“So, he may not even know he’s a father.”
“No, and I don’t suppose he cares either. He had his fun.”
“Like Tarrant Hardcastle.” The words echoed in the cool, clean, dim barn aisle.
Susannah bit her tongue. She could hardly believe she’d said that aloud.
Amado stiffened. “What are you trying to say?”
“That this foal has two fathers. One who gave it life, and another who’ll raise it. And that’s okay. Things will settle down and your life will get back to normal.”
She realized she was trying to convince herself as much as him. Tears pricked her eyelids. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she felt horribly responsible for the state of unrest at Tierra de Oro.
He lifted his eyes and stared at her. A look so fierce it stole her breath.
They stood underneath the single bulb, whose harsh light emphasized the proud planes of his face.
“What business is it of yours? You can go back to your travels and forget all about us. You have no reason to care.”
“But I do care.”
Her high voice rang off the polished wood of the stalls, off the wrought iron and the wood and stone floor.
Her heart squeezed in her chest. Amado’s features were rigid, but emotion churned in the black depths of his eyes. Already he meant too much to her.
Far too much.
It took a tiny fraction of a second for their bodies to collide and their lips to come together. Inevitable.
Eight
Amado took Susannah in his arms with force. Her fingers reached, instinctively, for the solid muscle of his back. The shawl fell to the floor, but his arms were warmer.
They stumbled into some kind of storage room, piled almost to the ceiling with hay on one side. Amado spread a blanket out over a mattress of bales, and eased her onto it, all without removing his arm from around her waist.
The heat of his body excited her, even through his clothes. She slid her hands under his shirt and explored the smooth, powerful surface of his back. He unbuttoned the front of her dress to expose her bra. He paused, blinked, and sighed with pleasure.
His unembarrassed desire made passion unfurl in Susannah’s belly. She found herself writhing against him. Inviting him to go further.
She unbuckled his leather belt and slid his pants down to reveal his fierce arousal. He lifted her skirt and ran his hands over her bare thighs. The rough texture of his palms and fingers sent shivers of awareness darting through her.
Her breath quickened as Amado’s hands explored the silky surface of her panties. She tugged him close until his hardness jutted against her.
“I want you inside me.” She breathed the words in his ear. Urgent.
He lowered her swiftly onto the blanket, and she sank into the hay-cushioned surface. Amado climbed over her, his face taut with passion.
He opened his eyes for a second. Black and filled with emotion, his gaze met hers. Then he pushed up her dress, slid her panties down over her shivering legs, and entered her.
An exclamation slipped from her mouth. Crude relief. He kissed her face, layering hard, passionate kisses over her mouth and cheeks.
“I missed you,” she murmured, unable to stop herself.
“I missed you, too.” His breath was hot on her face, his movements agitated with excitement. She wriggled under him, taking him deeper.
Raw emotion cascaded through her, tightening her muscles and making her cling to him. She’d ached for him. Longed for him.
What did it matter that he knew?
She kissed his face all over, as they moved in rhythmic bliss. Her insides throbbed as he penetrated deeper and deeper, running his hands over her arms and touching her face. Stroking her hair, his breathing unsteady and his eyes closed tight.
I love you, Amado.
The words exploded into her brain in a rush. She managed not to say them but it took every ounce of self-control.
Proof that she still had some left. Somewhere.
Adrenaline crashed through her. Urgent, she switched positions with him, clumsy and needy, until she was on top.
She rode him, fast and hard, trying to get control of the sensations and emotions wringing through her.
His hands on her breasts drove her deeper into a fog of delicious arousal. His thumbs played over her nipples until they were supersensitive and rock hard inside her bra.
She could hear herself moaning, whispering, as her climax approached. She touched his face, his hard, high cheekbones and strong jaw. She felt his thick, soft hair and the roping muscles of his neck.
Oh, Amado. She said it aloud. Or at least she thought she did. The veil between dream and reality was so thin it was hard to tell.
Right when she was about to let go, he took control again. Lifted his back until he sat facing her, cradling her in his lap as he t
hrobbed deep inside her.
Arms and legs intertwined, they kissed. Restrained, slow and sensual. The graze of teeth on a cheek, the lick of hot tongue over closed lips.
Amado held her totally still, unable to move although she was almost ready to explode. Desire pulsed through her, shaking her limbs and squeezing her inner muscles into a state of near-convulsion.
His self-control seemed total as he held them together, moving—slow and deep—inside her.
Tension swelled in the air and in their bodies as the need for release built beyond their ability to endure it. Susannah rocked, just once, then a fiery explosion ripped through her.
Amado’s climax followed, as they clung to each other, face-to-face.
When she opened her eyes, she realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Amado held her close, eyes closed.
How could she not love him?
She loved his passion for his estate and the fine wines it produced. She loved his deep feelings for the people and even the animals around him.
She loved his insight into her character, and that he’d found another side of her that she never knew existed. The hitherto unknown and unexplored territory of Susannah Clarke that was capable of soul-shaking passion.
Here there be dragons.
She’d never dared to tap into her sensual side before. Her upbringing had warned her repeatedly of the treacherous quagmire of lust that could draw you from the world of responsibility and commitment into a realm of licentious and wasteful pleasure.
But Amado had taken her there and she’d found it to be a lush, rich place that felt totally natural and healthy.
Except for the part where she’d slept with her boss’s son. While visiting on business.
She bit her lip.
And the reality that this relationship had no future, because he was here and she was in New York. When she even was in New York.
“You’re thinking again.” Amado’s soft voice penetrated the web of anxiety closing over her.
“How can you tell?” She tried to sound lighthearted.
“You get this tiny wrinkle between your eyebrows.” His dark eyes sparkled.
“Sounds ugly.”
He shook his head. “It’s a beautiful wrinkle.” He leaned forward and kissed between her brows. The touch of his lips was so soft it made her catch her breath. “But you know by now that there’s a time for thinking and a time for just being.”
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