Martinez's Pregnant Wife

by Rachael Thomas

‘Any more news on Carlos?’ Max changed the subject. This was not the time or the place to have such a talk with his brother, not after he’d told his wife he wanted a divorce.

  ‘He’s resigned from the board. He’s been in my father’s pocket for so long he seriously thought the company would come to him, that he could buy it for a rock-bottom price. I nearly fell for his insistence that I marry Lydia instead of finding you.’

  Max remembered well the evening they’d met and talked through everything that had brought them together. How they’d both been convinced that their father had wanted them to find one another, to run the business together. That was why he’d put the marriage clause in the contract Lydia’s father had signed, knowing full well marriage was the last thing Raul had wanted.

  ‘But you married her anyway,’ Max said, wondering for the first time if it was a marriage that was as real as it looked.

  ‘Only because I realised what a fool I was to let the one woman I loved walk out of my life.’ Raul looked at him then took a glass of champagne. ‘You’ll know what I mean one day, brother.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Max inhaled deeply and looked away from his brother. He didn’t want to see that smug smile of satisfaction on his face.

  ‘You can’t shut it out for ever,’ Raul said as he clapped a hand on his back. ‘Now if you will excuse me, my new wife is in need of a dance partner.’

  Max watched Raul go, watched as he took Lydia’s hand and led her onto the already crowded dance floor. He knew exactly what his brother was referring to but he was wrong. Very wrong. Love wasn’t shut out of his life, it was completely obliterated—for ever. Wiped out by the actions of his father, a man who hadn’t even known the meaning of the word.

  * * *

  Lisa’s attention was captured as Raul, leading Lydia by the hand, made his way to the dance floor. A pang of envy rushed through her and she clutched her elderflower cocktail a little tighter. He was as commanding as Max and she didn’t miss the guarded glances from men and the longing looks sent his way by women. Most of the guests here might not have known of him until the story in the newspapers, but they would certainly remember him now.

  She turned her attention elsewhere, not wanting to intrude on the lovers, and there was no doubt they were in love. Slowly she ambled through the throng of guests, the laughter and excitement of the evening contagious even though it had been the last place she’d wanted to be this evening, especially after Max told her he wanted a divorce. It just made her feel physically sick, but the prospect of going back to her flat and being alone with her mother’s words ringing in her head was far worse.

  Across the other side of the room, she saw Max talking to some of his team players and their partners. They all looked very glamorous. The women looked sassy and exciting in their cocktail dresses and the men handsome in their tuxedos, but Max stood out. Like the lion who led the pride, there was no doubt he was the ultimate alpha male. Maybe that was her problem. He could never allow her into his heart because he kept it so well hidden in his pursuit of complete dominance and superiority.

  ‘Penny for them?’ A cheeky female voice at her side stopped that train of thought dead.

  ‘Angelina.’ Max’s sister had changed since she’d last seen her, over six months ago. She looked at the tall, willowy young woman, whose hair was even darker than Max’s, she realised how much she’d missed her. From the greeting she’d been treated to, it was a mutual feeling. ‘It’s so good to see you. Happy birthday.’

  Angelina held her champagne glass in one hand, and tilted her head to the side, a big smile on her face. ‘So is it true?’

  ‘What?’ Lisa smiled with a frown, wondering what was coming next, because if there was one thing you could guarantee with Angelina it was complete honesty.

  ‘You and Max are back together.’ Before Lisa could say another word, Angelina hugged her with one arm, holding the flute of champagne at a precarious angle. ‘I knew it.’

  ‘We spent Christmas together.’ Lisa sketched around the truth, avoiding the reason that had brought her and Angelina’s brother back together. While Angelina would have to know her brother was going to make her an aunt, it was up to him to tell her. Just as it was up to him to say he was the one who now wanted to go through with the divorce.

  ‘And I hear congratulations are in order. That you are expecting.’ Angelina raised her brows at the elderflower cocktail and stood back, smiling at Lisa, then her expression turned more serious. ‘How’s Max taking it?’

  ‘Max? Taking it?’ Lisa couldn’t work out what Angelina meant, but she was going to find out. ‘What do you mean precisely?’

  ‘You don’t know, do you?’ Shock filled Angelina’s face, the light and fun mood of moments ago slipped away as if they’d walked out of the party, and if Lisa wasn’t mistaken there was pity in her eyes too.

  ‘No, but you are going to tell me right now,’ Lisa demanded. She’d get the truth from Angelina, but would she really want to hear it?

  Angelina finished her champagne, deposited the flute on a nearby table and took Lisa’s arm and guided her away from the fun and laughter of the party. She stopped when they reached a long and very grand corridor. The noise of the party was subdued as the doors closed behind them and Lisa wondered what it was that was coming next that needed such drastic action. She looked at Angelina as nerves took flight in her stomach, bringing back the nausea she’d been struggling to keep at bay since she’d got up this morning.

  ‘My mother, Max’s mother, died when I was two years old,’ Angelina began, but Lisa’s patience was wearing thin.

  ‘I’m aware of that.’

  ‘Has he also told you that she was diagnosed with cancer while she was carrying me and that she delayed treatment, for me?’ Angelina swallowed and Lisa knew this was affecting her far more than she was letting on. That she too hid behind a mask of being the bubbly life and soul of the party to hide her pain and that she was telling her this most guarded secret because it affected Max, affected her.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ She reached out and touched the young woman’s arm and for a moment the two of them were lost in their own world. ‘That must be hard on you.’

  ‘It is, yes. Mostly because it made Max into a dominating brother, always insistent that I do things his way. The arguments he and my father had over everything from what school I should attend to what I should eat or wear were impossible.’

  ‘I have an older stepbrother who doesn’t care one jot for me.’ Lisa couldn’t help confiding in her.

  ‘I’d much rather that.’ Angelina laughed, lightening the mood. ‘Please don’t let on that I told you. I just thought you would already know.’

  ‘I won’t.’ Already the cloud of doubt was hanging over Lisa. Why hadn’t he told her? Was it that he didn’t trust her or didn’t care enough to tell her? Either way, it rocked the foundations of all the good the last few days had created. Now she knew the only option for them was to go their separate ways. They couldn’t hope to remain married, just for the baby. He didn’t trust her and certainly wouldn’t ever love her. It was over.

  ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere.’ Max’s voice was raised over the noise of the party as he pushed open the doors and stood glaring first at his sister, then at her. ‘Are you feeling unwell?’

  ‘She’s fine,’ Angelina injected as she stood a little closer to her. ‘We were just having a catch up.’

  ‘You are required by your guests,’ Max said curtly, and a spark of mutiny slipped over Lisa. What would he do if she just walked out now, dropped the act of togetherness? She was on the verge of doing just than when she thought of Angelina. This was her party. She didn’t want to give Max the satisfaction of making her spoil it, especially after such a heartfelt admission.

  Angelina looked from her to her brother. ‘I shall leave you two to it, then.’

  ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Max watched his sister as she slipped back into the party and Lisa bristled
with indignation. He didn’t trust her and was trying to control her just as he’d done with his sister. From the things Angelina had just said, Lisa guessed that she wasn’t the only person Max couldn’t open up to. Not that it made any difference. They were finished. She might have felt love for him, but it had only ever been lust in his world and lust would not hold them together any longer.

  ‘She was only congratulating me.’ Lisa glared up at him and when he turned and frowned at her, that annoyance increased. Had he dismissed his child from his thoughts already? ‘The baby.’

  * * *

  The baby. Those two words dripped through him, heightening his anger, his irritation. He hadn’t given any thought to the fact that Angelina might want to be involved in his child’s life. Of course she would. As always, she would want to do anything she could to annoy him, anything that he didn’t want her to do.

  He looked at his little sister and the ever-present guilt rushed forward like a runaway train. He hadn’t ever been able to open his heart to her, hadn’t been able to love her, just as he hadn’t been able to love Lisa. How the hell was he going to be a father, a proper father, one who loved his child unconditionally? Getting a divorce was the right thing to do. Lisa and the baby would be better off with him out of their lives and overhearing her conversation with her mother had been just the spur he’d needed to come to that decision.

  ‘You can talk more later but right now I wish to dance with my wife.’ It was the last thing he wanted to do. Just the thought of holding Lisa close, of feeling her body against his as they moved to the slow sultry music now playing, had a bad effect on his senses—his body. One he couldn’t listen to, couldn’t act on.

  Before Lisa could back out he took her hand and began to lead her to the dance floor, but didn’t miss the look his sister flung his way. Irritation at having to deal with impending fatherhood in such a public way, brought about by the headlines regarding his brother, Raul, was beginning to take its toll on him. It was as if an unknown force were pushing him backward into his past and everything he’d thought locked safely away, forcing him to drag it all out and own it.

  ‘You could have been a bit kinder.’ Lisa’s reproach as he took her in his arms and began to move slowly, going through the motions in an obligatory way, only added to his guilt.

  ‘She likes to test me.’ The curtness of his words wasn’t what he intended and he ignored Lisa’s movement as she looked up at him, knowing that if he looked down into her beautiful face he would want to act on the desire building within him. Desire that was totally at odds with the anger and irritation of their situation, with the knowledge that she wouldn’t be his wife for much longer.

  ‘I know how she feels,’ she said softly, so softly it was hard to hear her above the music that filled the room.

  ‘Because you like to do the same?’ He clenched his back teeth together, determined to calm his irrational anger and regain control. This was so unlike him. Only two women had ever done this to him. Angelina and now Lisa.

  She stopped dancing and glared up at him. ‘Because my older stepbrother hated me too.’

  She thought he hated Angelina? ‘I do not hate her,’ he ground out.

  ‘Well, you didn’t sound like a loving big brother,’ she said as she pulled away from him, trying to slip from his hold. ‘But silly me, that would never happen. You aren’t capable of love, are you, Max?’

  He tightened his embrace. ‘Don’t do this, Lisa. Not here. Not on Angelina’s birthday.’

  ‘Don’t do what, Max? Say the truth?’

  ‘You have no idea what my relationship with Angelina is like.’ He looked down at her, aware now they were attracting attention. Every other couple on the dance floor seemed happy and in love and here they were, spitting fire at one another.

  ‘That just proves how little we know about each other and how unsuited we are.’

  Before he could respond to her angry tirade she freed herself from his arms and, chin held high, marched through the other couples toward the door. If she wanted to play those games she would be sorely disappointed. He never went after a woman.

  But it’s not just a woman, it’s your wife and your child.

  * * *

  Lisa was so angry she could hardly walk in her strappy black heels as she left the party in full swing. There was no way she was staying there just to make life easier for Max, not after Angelina’s revelations, which had come hot on the heels of that word she’d never wanted to form part of her life. Divorce. She’d failed. She was no better than her mother.

  ‘Lisa, what’s the matter?’ Lydia grabbed her arm and Lisa looked at her aghast. She hadn’t even noticed her.

  She took a deep calming breath. ‘Men.’

  ‘In general or one in particular?’ Lydia jested, but there was no mistaking the concern on her new friend’s face.

  Lisa sighed wearily. She had to talk to someone. She couldn’t do this alone. ‘One in particular, not that I’m sure you haven’t already guessed.’

  ‘And you think running away will help?’ The mock conjecture in Lydia’s voice made it impossible for Lisa not to smile. ‘So, come back to the party, tell me what’s upsetting you and give that man something to think about.’

  ‘I guess you have already tamed one Valdez brother, not that Max will admit to being such a thing.’

  Lydia laughed, then became more serious. ‘Anyone can see he loves you, Lisa, just as it’s obvious you love him. You’re made for each other, for goodness’ sake. Just as he has to accept he is a Valdez, he has to accept love.’

  Those words hung in her mind as she returned to the party with Lydia, instantly spotting Max, pleased to see he looked casually and briefly their way, then looked again, hardly able to believe she’d had the nerve to return after running out on him so publicly.

  ‘See,’ said Lydia as she got them both fresh drinks. ‘He can’t take his eyes off you.’

  ‘He wants to get a divorce.’ The words slipped icily from Lisa as she turned her back on Max, trying to ignore the heat of his glare as it bored into her back.

  ‘No, he doesn’t. If he’s anything like his brother he knows exactly what he wants, he just doesn’t believe he can have it. He doesn’t believe he can love anyone.’

  Lisa looked at Lydia. ‘You and Raul?’

  ‘Yes, me and Raul. That’s why I was rushing out of the restaurant that day they first met. As far as I was concerned it was over. He didn’t love me, didn’t want my love and that was that.’

  ‘What changed?’

  ‘For Raul I guess it was meeting Max. It allowed him to put to rest the ghosts of his past.’

  ‘May I interrupt?’ Max’s voice sounded from behind her, making her visibly jump. How much of that conversation had he heard?

  She whirled round. ‘You shouldn’t keep sneaking up on people. You might hear things you don’t want to hear.’

  His brows rose in that sexy way that always melted her heart and buckled her knees and this time was no different, even if he was in a dark mood. ‘Perhaps it’s the only way to discover what someone really thinks about me. Shall we dance?’

  Dance? Was he insane? After all they’d said to one another, all the public humiliation, and he wanted to dance. Raul joined them at that point, whisking his wife away in a gesture that spoke volumes of the love they shared but also left her alone with Max.

  ‘You don’t really want to dance.’

  ‘Yes, I do. We need to set a few things straight and there’s less chance of you running off if I have my arms around you, only this time I will be holding you tightly.’

  Before she could say anything else, he’d taken her drink from her hand and pulled her into his embrace, dancing their way into the couples already on the floor. He held her so tightly it was dangerously intimate. At least that was how it felt to her, but to him it was all about achieving what he wanted, preventing her from showing him up, from letting the guests see what was really between them. Nothing.

 
‘So, what is it you wanted to set straight?’ The haughty tone of her voice made his eyes glitter, but at least it was some sort of reaction.

  ‘I want to ensure you are going to honour your part of the deal.’

  ‘Deal?’

  ‘To attend the New Year’s Eve party with me, to act the part of my wife until the clock strikes in a new year.’

  ‘Why should I do that?’

  ‘It was part of our deal.’

  ‘Why when it’s obvious we don’t work?’

  ‘Raul and Lydia have made honeymoon arrangements around the party. They have put off their plans to be here on New Year’s Eve with us and I do not want any questions asked about your absence.’

  ‘Tell them I’m unwell.’

  ‘No,’ he snapped and she looked at him as his face darkened, becoming as black as heavy thunderclouds. ‘I want you there.’

  ‘So that you don’t have to admit your failings to your brother or yourself? Or maybe it’s to Angelina.’

  ‘What has Angelina got to do with this?’

  ‘She’s part of your past too, Max, and if you trusted me enough you’d tell me, share everything as I did with you, maybe then we could work.’ She fought back the surge of tears, trying to keep the anger in front of the despair.

  ‘And you are part of my present. Those damned headlines have made me the centre of something I have no wish for and until Raul and I have sorted that you will remain my wife and that means being seen with me on New Year’s Eve.’

  ‘And if I don’t want to?’

  ‘This is not negotiable. You will be there—with me.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  MAX STOOD IN the grandeur of the hotel’s foyer and waited for Lisa as the New Year’s Eve party guests started to arrive. He was as mad as hell and couldn’t stand still. Pacing the marble floor was the only thing he could do as he watched several sleek black cars arrive. Guests spilled out, full of happiness and laughter. Was he the only damn person here tonight who wasn’t happy?

  As yet more guests made their way past him he stood tall, trying not to think again of the moment he’d returned to his apartment after Angelina’s party to find Lisa had gone. She’d left before him claiming a headache and hadn’t even waited to tell him. She’d just left a note on the bed—the bed they’d shared such pleasure in.