The Argentinian's Solace

by Susan Stephens

  ‘He can’t keep me here,’ Maxie said gently.

  ‘Don’t you want to stay?’

  Lucia looked so crushed that Maxie gave her a hug. ‘Of course I do, but life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. That doesn’t mean that you and I can’t be friends.’

  Lucia’s warmth was something she couldn’t bear to think of losing, any more than she could bear to think about leaving the only man she would ever feel she belonged with and this wild and beautiful land Diego called home.

  ‘I think we should all do our best to change your mind,’ Lucia said stubbornly, making a signal to her brothers that it was time for them to come in and eat supper. ‘After all, you can work anywhere in the world, can’t you?’

  ‘Well, yes, as long as I’m free to travel. But—’

  ‘No buts,’ Lucia insisted. ‘Don’t you love Diego?’

  Maxie paused. How could she possibly express her feelings for Diego? ‘If only life could be more straightforward,’ she said.

  ‘It can be if you want it to be,’ Lucia insisted. ‘You have to fight for what you want, Maxie.’

  Everything was black and white for Lucia, Maxie realised as the men cantered past and she exchanged a quick glance with Diego. She only wished she could share Lucia’s innocent belief in the rightness of love and natural justice in life, but unlike her whimsical friend she was just too much the realist.

  ‘With you at the helm, Holly’s wedding is going to be a fabulous success,’ Lucia enthused as they walked back to the house. ‘I can’t tell you how much we’re all looking forward to it.’

  ‘With your family in attendance, how can it be anything but a success?’

  ‘Isla del Fuego is one of the most romantic places on earth,’ Lucia said thoughtfully, ‘but I would never get married anywhere but here on the estancia in Argentina.’ Squeezing Maxie’s arm again, she whispered in her ear, ‘So I hope you’re taking notes, my friend. Because I don’t want anyone but you to arrange my wedding.’

  Maxie laughed, glad at the change of subject. ‘Do you have anyone in mind?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Lucia protested.

  But something in Lucia’s eyes said yes, so Maxie probed a little deeper. ‘Tell me about the opposing polo team …’

  ‘What do you want to know?’ Lucia said defensively. ‘Nero Caracas and his team are called The Assassins,’ Lucia explained, but then her eyes narrowed and she drifted off into her own thoughts.

  ‘Do you know the team well?’ Maxie asked innocently.

  Lucia’s lips pressed down as she thought about it. ‘Nero’s gorgeous, of course, but he’s off the market. He only got married recently, and he has a beautiful wife called Bella, as well as the most adorable baby girl called Natalia—Tally for short. I only know the rest of the team through my brothers—’ Lucia stopped.

  ‘And?’ Maxie prompted, suspecting Lucia was holding something back.

  ‘And they’re all gorgeous, as well as the most amazing fun—except for one,’ Lucia said frowning.

  ‘And he is …?’

  ‘Luke Forster—he flew over especially from America to play for Nero’s Assassins. Don’t know why they’ve asked him when there are so many perfectly good homegrown players here in Argentina.’

  ‘Perhaps this Luke is better?’ Maxie suggested tactfully.

  Lucia huffed. ‘He’s supposed to be the best there is outside Argentina.’

  ‘Well, there you are,’ Maxie said soothingly. ‘And I expect you’ll tolerate his company somehow?’

  ‘I suppose I’ll have to,’ Lucia agreed. ‘But right now I’m more interested in you and Diego. You’ve done so much for him, Maxie. You can’t walk out on him now.’

  ‘I’ve no intention of walking out on him. Your brother has done more for me than you’ll ever know.’ He had allowed her to shake off the past and look forward to the future with confidence, Maxie mused as she stared at Diego, who was checking his pony’s legs. Her heart rolled over when he glanced up. She had always known this affair must end, and that she and Diego led very different lives, but that didn’t make it any easier. So enjoy it while you can …

  ‘I can’t tell you what it means to Diego, having you here,’ Lucia said, giving Maxie’s arm a shake to bring her back from the daydream. ‘And what you’ve done for our charity—what you’ve achieved in so short a time—is incredible. Especially when you’ve been finishing up Holly’s wedding arrangements too.’ Lucia shook her head as she waved her arm around to encompass all the colourful stalls decorated with bunting and flags, as well as the various groups of entertainers Maxie had imported from Buenos Aires in readiness for the great day. ‘You’re a marvel, Maxie.’

  ‘As long as you and the family are happy with what I’ve arranged.’

  ‘Happy?’ Lucia squeezed Maxie’s arm. ‘I think you must know that’s an understatement.’

  It was one of those golden moments when she should feel nothing but happiness, Maxie realised, but instead she found herself wondering if she had ever been more on the outside looking in. For this world of staunch family loyalties and unshakeable togetherness was one she could never truly be part of.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LIFE was a game of snakes and ladders, Diego reflected as he showered after training. Even in his blackest and most despairing mood he had clung to that. When the doctors had told him he might never regain full use of his leg he had dared to believe he would play again. Then fate had brought him Maxie Parrish—a girl he’d be tempted to share everything with had it not been for all her secrets. What about his?

  He had never told anyone outside the family about Oresto. The shame he felt at having introduced his best friend to a low-life swindler had never left him. The consequences for Oresto had been catastrophic, and even now Diego realised, when he heard the three girls laughing uproariously in the kitchen, the shadow of Oresto’s death could still fill him with niggling unease.

  ‘Is everything ready for the match?’ Maxie asked him brightly when he walked into the kitchen, her eyes sparkling as she came up to him.

  Ruffling his hair, he dragged her into his arms and kissed her. That was his answer. It was the only answer that made any sense to him.

  His impulse garnered lovestruck glances from both Holly and his sister, who quickly looked away. He saw them exchange knowing glances when he and Maxie pulled apart.

  Would he ever get enough of her? Probably not, he thought as two of his brothers barged noisily into the kitchen. Maxie flashed an intimate glance at him before going over to them to discuss the arrangements she’d made for accommodating the stable lads who were flying to London with ponies they were exchanging with another breeder. He watched as she chatted easily with men whom most found intimidating. There was no denying she fitted right in.

  The Acostas were a strong team, who supported each other through thick and thin. The fighter in him said that whatever secrets Maxie was hiding they could sort them out together. He had grown to care about her, and all that mattered to him was Maxie’s happiness. She was unique. She was loyal. She got on with everyone. She made things run smoothly for the family. He could tell his brothers were as pleasantly surprised as he had been that on top of all her other responsibilities Maxie had managed to schedule the transportation of the ponies with the minimum of fuss and disruption on the day of the match.

  ‘You’re a fantastic organiser, Maxie,’ observed his brother Kruz, who wasn’t noted for giving out praise lightly.

  ‘The addition of women into our wolves’ den is a big plus, don’t you think?’ his brother Ruiz demanded, clapping Diego on the shoulder.

  ‘At least I have some support, now Holly and Maxie are on my team,’ Lucia put in.

  ‘And at least we don’t have to suffer Nacho’s cooking,’ Kruz added wryly.

  ‘You cook if you don’t like it,’ his sister Lucia taunted, tossing a pack of steaks at Kruz, which he caught with a grin before heading outdoors to start the barbecue.

&nbs
p; ‘What’s all this?’ Nacho growled, kicking his boots off at the door.

  ‘We were just saying how much we love your cooking,’ Lucia told him, with a wink in Maxie’s direction.

  Diego was content to soak all this in. He didn’t know when he had ever seen the family so happy, or the dynamics of the group working so well. And a lot of that was due to Maxie, he realised as he pulled her into his arms. Maxie brought everyone together.

  ‘This woman is very special to me,’ he announced, never taking his gaze from Maxie’s face.

  ‘Like we don’t know that,’ Lucia exclaimed, hugging them both.

  Did she dare to hope that this could last? Closing her eyes, Maxie wished she could stop time right here, right now. But time marched inexorably on.

  The day of the match dawned bright and clear. The sense of excitement at the estancia was electric. Maxie had really pulled the stops out with the carnival, and the big house with its massive courtyard and formal gardens provided a perfect backdrop for the funfair in the field, the colourful stalls lined up in the home paddock, and the musicians warming up. The various bands were trying to outdo each other, but no one cared because this was fiesta, this was carnival. Everyone had made the effort to travel deep into the pampas—by jet, by helicopter, or by battered truck and motorbike. Some of the families arrived in horse-drawn carts piled high with their belongings for several nights’ stay, and Maxie had organised the best of facilities for all of them to ensure that nothing could go wrong today.

  He thought of Oresto a lot on the morning of a match. He always did. He wanted to tell Maxie how he thought about his friend each time he played, and how he felt guilty for enjoying the youth and life Oresto had lost. He wanted to tell her all of it before he cantered onto the field, because playing polo at this level was dangerous and he never knew what might happen—horses could suffer serious injury and riders had been killed. Did he want Maxie to find out about Oresto from anyone but him? What sort of a coward would that make him?

  He brooded darkly on this as he went to make one last check on the ponies, but when Maxie waved to him on her way to the stands, arm in arm with his sister and Holly, he knew he couldn’t mar her happiness with his memories. It was enough that she was here for him, on this the most important playing day of his life—his first day back after injury—the day when he must prove himself or withdraw from the game completely, for he would never let his brothers down.

  He would speak to Maxie after the match, Diego determined. There were a lot of things he needed to straighten out with her. Working out a way for them to be together was top of his list. Maxie could continue her career anywhere in the world, so there was no reason why they couldn’t be together. Smiling, he caught sight of her huddled in a giggling group with his sister and Holly, and it only confirmed his decision to can the last of his doubts and brush aside the black cloud of grief that always lodged over him before fire flashed through his veins when the match began. He couldn’t interrupt the girls when he’d never seen Maxie so happy and relaxed.

  Dios! The opposing team was on fire. Diego urged his mount into an even faster gallop. Nero Caracas in particular, along with his wing man, the American number one Luke Forster, were burning up the field. Their horses might as well have wings—they could turn a one-eighty in a heartbeat.

  And Nero had his new wife to impress, Diego remembered, checking out Maxie in the stands as he galloped back to change his horse at the end of the second chukka. Just seeing her face reassured him that he had something important to fight for too.

  I can’t, Maxie had been about to say. But how could she say that? How could she even think it?

  ‘Of course I’ll leave immediately,’ she confirmed, remembering the jet was fuelled and ready on the airstrip, waiting to take the exchange ponies to England. Fate could be kind sometimes, and at other times incredibly cruel. It was playing some hideous trick on her today by offering to be both.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Lucia demanded, sensing trouble.

  ‘I have to leave immediately,’ Maxie explained, texting furiously to make sure the flight didn’t leave without her.

  ‘You can’t leave now!’ Lucia exclaimed, grabbing her arm. ‘Diego needs you here. They’re losing the match, which means his chance to play again at international level is at risk. You can’t walk out on him …’

  Maxie saw her new friend’s incredulity slowly turn to anger.

  ‘I can’t believe you’d do this to Diego,’ Lucia said coldly.

  She had to go. Maxie’s father had suddenly taken a turn for the worst. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, a private investigator had been snooping round. Nothing else on earth could make her leave.

  ‘Lucia, I must.’

  ‘Must you?’ Lucia said flatly, turning away.

  All the warmth Maxie had felt at being welcomed into the heart of such a wonderful family turned to cold that invaded every part of her. So much so that when she stood to leave the stands—to leave Diego and the estancia. Argentina and the Acostas, without so much as a word of explanation to any of them—she was shivering violently beneath the fierce sun.

  ‘Please tell Diego I love him …’

  ‘Shouldn’t you tell him that yourself?’ Lucia demanded coldly.

  ‘Please, Lucia.’

  ‘Maxie, I’m struggling to understand this.’

  ‘I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to.’ Sinking down in her seat again, conscious of precious seconds ticking by, she gripped Lucia’s arm. ‘Please don’t think I’d do this if there was any other way.’

  At first Lucia wouldn’t look at her, but finally she relented. ‘Can I do anything to help?’

  Closing her eyes, Maxie tried not let emotion get the better of her. Lucia’s big-hearted gesture was so typical of the whole Acosta family. ‘I only wish you could, but this is something I have to do myself.’ Embracing Diego’s sister fiercely, she dashed away her tears and left the stand.

  The first half had ended miserably for the Acostas. The team was down ten two. Diego was pacing impatiently, waiting for the grooms to bring up his next pony, when the call came through. It was his PI. For a moment he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t think.

  Maxie was Peter Parrish’s daughter?

  The PI was at pains to explain that Maxie couldn’t have been involved in the scam as she’d been too young.

  His head was still reeling when he grabbed hold of a groom. ‘Tell them to hold the second half.’ The man looked at him as if he’d gone mad. ‘Tell them to wait for me,’ he repeated as he sprinted for the stands.

  Why hadn’t she told him?

  Fury coiled in his stomach like a venomous snake. He had brought Maxie into his family. He had trusted her. His could see the similarities now in the curve of her mouth and in a certain cadence in her voice. Peter Parrish had been a mesmerising charmer.

  ‘Diego!’

  He almost ran her over as she ran from the stands. He blocked her path so she had nowhere to go. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. She could see everything on his face.

  ‘Diego, what is it? Did Lucia call you? Did she tell you I was leaving?’

  ‘Leaving?’ His phone buzzed imperatively. He ignored it. ‘No one told me you were leaving. I had no idea.’ He said this in the same chilling tone as his world disintegrated in front of his eyes. ‘I came to see you—to speak to you—but now I find you’re leaving in the middle of the match. Where are you going, Maxie?’

  ‘To England. I have to—’

  She was agitated and glanced at her watch, reminding him there was a flight to the UK waiting on the airstrip.

  ‘I didn’t want it to be like this, Diego.’

  ‘How should it be?’ he asked her in the same quiet voice. ‘Were you just going to sneak away?’

  ‘I need time to explain, Diego, and there is no time.’ She glanced round, as if seeking the freedom he was denying her.

  ‘This is one last chance for you to be honest with me.’ His voice had hardened
.

  ‘What do you mean?’ she said defensively. Her normally steady grey gaze was restless and distracted.

  ‘Why are you leaving?’ he demanded. ‘What is so important it can’t even wait until the end of the match? Who are you going to see, Maxie?’

  Each second she remained silent marked a year since he had introduced his friend Oresto Fernandez to an unscrupulous crook named Peter Parrish. They had been young bloods in London, trying to prove themselves independently of their families. Diego’s stake in what had turned out to be a scam had been small, just a trial to see how things worked out. He hadn’t realised Oresto was gambling with family money. They had lost everything, and the friend he had grown up with and loved like a brother had hung himself in despair.

  ‘Why are you looking at me like that, Diego?’ she asked him fearfully.

  As if he hated her? As if he hated everything surrounding Peter Parrish and anyone connected to him?

  When tears of panic and bewilderment clouded Maxie’s eyes he felt nothing. The crowd was already seated, waiting for the second half. A posse of grooms had just rounded the corner, searching for him.

  ‘You have a decision to make,’ he told Maxie coldly, turning away.

  Diego’s face was dark with fury. Maxie had chosen her father. The pilot of the jet had just called to confirm that she was safely on board. His brothers, seeing his expression, had begged him not to play.

  ‘The match is going badly and the Acostas don’t lose,’ he told them. ‘We do not play our greatest rivals at a charity match and canter off in front of our home crowd defeated and disgraced. That doesn’t happen. It has never happened. And it won’t happen today.’

  ‘There are substitutes who can take your place,’ his brother Nacho pointed out, pulling him away to clap a reassuring hand on Diego’s shoulder.

  ‘And risk my place in the national team?’ Diego shook his head. ‘You can rely on me, Nacho.’ And for once even his formidable brother didn’t argue with him.

  He played like a man possessed. He took on the great Nero Caracas and nearly unseated him. It was said that when Diego Acosta played at his fiercest and most intimidating best the devil rode on his shoulder. Today he was the devil.