It was a problem Brynne had been trying to find an answer to since the moment she had realized that Alejandro intended going to Australia on his own.
‘The truth,’ she snapped. ‘That you’ve had to suddenly go away on business. I’m sure that it will be something that Michael will have to get used to in future!’ she added disgustedly.
Alejandro sighed his impatience with her deliberate barb. ‘Would you rather I didn’t go, Brynne? That we continued where we left off?’ he added scornfully.
Her cheeks burnt with colour. ‘On the contrary,’ she bit out hardly, ‘I can’t wait for you to go.’
His mouth thinned. ‘Then on that we are at least agreed.’
‘That has to be a first!’ Brynne returned challengingly, determined, absolutely determined, that she was not going to break down in front of Alejandro.
That could come later, once she was alone. Alone with only the memories of their time together to haunt her. To taunt her.
Her mouth tightened. ‘What do you want me to tell Antonia if she should call at the villa or telephone?’ she deliberately mocked him with the woman who should have shared his bed tonight.
‘She will not,’ Alejandro dismissed harshly.
‘But she might.’ Brynne grimaced just at the thought of having to deal with Antonia after the intimacies she and Alejandro had shared such a short time ago.
‘Neither Antonia nor her father will call or telephone the villa, Brynne,’ Alejandro assured her with such finality the statement couldn’t be doubted.
Because, of course, Alejandro would call Antonia himself once he reached Australia, possibly even before that …
‘Fine.’ She nodded abruptly. ‘You’d better go, then, hadn’t you?’ she added abruptly.
Brynne desperately needed Alejandro to go now, before the tears that threatened started falling down her cheeks and totally embarrassed her!
‘Brynne …?’Alejandro’s gaze was guardedly searching as he looked down at her.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, will you just go, Alejandro?’ she snapped impatiently, her hands clenched so tightly she could feel her nails digging into her palms.
Because if he didn’t soon leave she really was going to make a fool of herself!
Now that the time had come to leave her he did not want to go, Alejandro recognized frustratedly.
Which was ridiculous when minutes ago it was what he had wanted more than anything. To get away from her, and the memories of their lovemaking. To try, with many miles separating them, to make sense of what had happened tonight in regard to the relationship—that of father and aunt to Michael—they would have in future.
‘Very well,’ he bit out grimly. ‘Maria knows my telephone number in Australia if you should need to contact me,’ he paused to add huskily.
‘I doubt the situation will arise,’ Brynne dismissed without so much as a glance at him, her expression stony as she obviously couldn’t wait for him to leave.
Alejandro gave her one last frowning glance before slamming out of the villa without so much as another glance in her direction, knowing that to do so could be his undoing, that to look at Brynne again, to remember their lovemaking, would result in him gathering her up in his arms and completely forgetting his resolve to put distance between the two of them until he could make sense of what had happened.
What was still happening, from the way his body had stirred with renewed desire when he was just looking at Brynne!
Brynne didn’t move after Alejandro left.
Couldn’t move.
Because with Alejandro’s abrupt departure, she had made a mind-numbing realization.
She had fallen in love—desperately, completely, recklessly—with Alejandro Santiago …
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘DADDY wants to talk to you, Aunty Bry!’ Michael called excitedly even as she heard him running up the stairs to her bedroom.
Brynne straightened abruptly from where she had been packing a bag in readiness for them to go down onto the beach, intending to spend the morning there, already wearing a thigh-length blue cotton shirt over her bikini.
There had been many such telephone calls from Alejandro in the four days since he had flown to Australia so abruptly. One each morning, another each evening, his primary reason for calling to reassure Michael of course, although he always asked to speak to Brynne before ending the call. They were only stilted conversations on Brynne’s part though, as she kept to telling Alejandro of the things Michael had done that day.
‘Can you tell him I’m too busy at the moment to come to the telephone, please, Michael?’ she dismissed lightly, shoving a towel into her bag as she did so, just knowing that Alejandro was on the telephone enough to rattle her nerves.
‘Why not tell me that yourself …?’ Alejandro spoke huskily from just behind her.
Brynne spun round with a gasp, her eyes wide as she looked at Alejandro standing so tall and powerful in her bedroom doorway.
The last four days had been difficult ones for her as she had tried to come to terms with the love she had realized she felt for this man.
The complete love that had drawn her to him, to his bed, four nights ago …!
But if those four days had been difficult ones for her, one look at the strain etched into that arrogantly assured face showed that—for totally different reasons, of course—they had been just as difficult for Alejandro.
Her heart was beating erratically, loudly, so much so that she felt Alejandro must hear it too. ‘Why didn’t you warn—er—tell us you were coming back today?’ she said awkwardly as she put her hands behind her back so that he shouldn’t see they were trembling slightly.
Alejandro’s mouth tightened as he heard that correction in her question. Or rather—accusation … Because one look at Brynne’s slightly defensive expression, the wariness in her deep blue eyes, was enough to tell him she was not pleased to see him again.
Which was a pity—more than a pity!—when he had wanted nothing else but to see her again the last four days!
He had known almost as soon as he had boarded the plane at Palma airport four days ago that he had made a mistake by leaving Brynne in the way that he had. But to have turned around and come back would have been a mistake too when he had still been uncertain of what he wanted from Brynne. Of what she wanted from him.
So he had flown to Australia as planned, where he and Roberto had dealt successfully with the attempted takeover. Once assured of that, Alejandro had wasted no time in returning to Majorca, needing to reassure Michael by his presence, of course, but personally needing to see Brynne even more.
A sentiment she obviously didn’t reciprocate if her guarded expression was anything to go by!
His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘It was a sudden decision.’ He shrugged. ‘I thought to surprise you.’
Oh, he had done that all right, Brynne acknowledged, still breathless from turning to find him standing in her bedroom doorway rather than on the end of the telephone line as she had thought him to be.
‘I was surprised, Daddy,’ Michael assured him as he beamed up at him, obviously pleased to see his father again.
Brynne was pleased to see Alejandro again, too—she just didn’t quite know how she was supposed to behave towards him!
They had become lovers four days ago. But it was something that Alejandro had shown, by his abrupt departure, by his coldness towards her before he had left, that he regretted. She had no reason to suppose that these four days apart had changed that regret …
‘Have you come back to stay?’ she queried lightly. ‘Or is this to be just a flying visit?’
His grey eyes glittered. ‘Which would you like it to be?’ Alejandro prompted softly.
Brynne felt herself tremble slightly as she recognized the expression of challenge in his eyes. Whichever way she answered that particular question was going to be wrong! If she said the latter, then it would look as if she didn’t want him here. And if she said the former, then it mad
e her look desperate for his company.
As Alejandro had been correct in his claim that she would not hear from Antonia Roig or her father while he was away, it had become obvious to Brynne that her assumption he would contact the other woman himself had also been the correct one …
She shrugged. ‘I don’t think what I want enters into it.’
He smiled without humour. ‘Very diplomatic, Brynne,’ he taunted. ‘Michael tells me the two of you were on your way to the beach …?’ He looked pointedly at the cotton shirt she wore over her bikini.
‘Yes,’ she confirmed huskily.
Alejandro nodded abruptly. ‘If you wait five minutes I will come with you.’
‘Oh, but—’ She broke off her protest as Alejandro raised dark, mocking brows. ‘Don’t you have—calls to make and—and things you need to do, after being away so long?’ she said awkwardly, knowing that the morning on the beach would be far from relaxed if she had to share it with Alejandro.
His mouth thinned. ‘No,’ he answered flatly, that grey gaze narrowed.
Brynne’s heart was still pounding, her palms damp.
She simply had no idea how she was supposed to behave with the man who had become her lover. She didn’t know the protocol and just found being with Alejandro again like this totally embarrassing. And the last thing she wanted was to be alone with Alejandro down on the beach, while Michael was snorkelling, and so give Alejandro the opportunity to actually bring up the subject of their time together four days ago …!
‘Why don’t just you and Michael go to the beach?’ she suggested brightly. ‘It will give you a chance to spend some time together, and I’m sure I can find plenty of things to do here.’
‘Such as …?’ Alejandro prompted softly.
Brynne frowned at him in frustration, knowing by his challenging expression that he was fully aware of her reluctance to spend time alone with him—and that he wasn’t in any way going to help her to achieve that wish.
She grimaced. ‘Well, I could—’
‘Never mind, Brynne,’ Alejandro rasped. ‘Whatever they are I am sure they can wait.’
So was she—she just felt totally panicked at the thought of being with Alejandro again.
Alejandro had no idea what he had thought Brynne’s reaction to seeing him again would be, but it certainly had not been this obvious wish to avoid even his company!
Especially when just being near her again like this was enough to tell him that all he wanted to do was take her back to his bed and make love with her once again. As he had ached to do the whole of the time he was away.
A feeling she obviously had not reciprocated!
‘You would like Brynne to come to the beach too, would you not, Michael?’ he prompted huskily—and then instantly felt guilty for using his son’s affection for Brynne, and her affection for Michael—as Michael enthusiastically agreed that he would.
What did Brynne want him to do—beg for her company? Alejandro wondered frustratedly. Perhaps he might even be willing to do that if it would achieve the desired result …
‘Then of course I’ll come,’ she agreed softly. ‘I’ll meet you both downstairs in five minutes,’ she added dismissively, avoiding even looking at Alejandro as she turned to finish packing her bag.
Alejandro looked at her frustratedly. Wanting to shake her. Kiss her. Caress her. Anything that would bring a return of that warmly responsive woman of four nights ago.
Instead he turned abruptly on his heel and walked down the hallway to his own bedroom. Not that it offered any respite from these wild imaginings of Brynne, the four-poster bed a stark reminder of the time they had spent together there, his only consolation—if it could be called that—that Brynne did not seem to realize how deeply he regretted leaving her so suddenly that night. Brynne’s own regret for what had happened between them was more than obvious by her lack of enthusiasm for his company.
Finding herself on the beach ten minutes later, Michael already off snorkelling in the shallow water, Alejandro lying on the sand beside her wearing only a pair of brief black swimming trunks that only added to the sheer male power he exuded, did not allay Brynne’s feelings of panic in the slightest.
If just looking at him could send her pulse racing, and the heat coursing through her body, what chance did she have of spending the whole morning with him dressed—or, rather, undressed!—like this?
‘You seem a little—distracted, this morning?’ he prompted huskily as he picked up a handful of sand and watched as the grains fell softly through his fingers.
Distracted?
No, just totally aware of Alejandro …
She shrugged. ‘I’m still a little surprised you didn’t tell us you were returning, that’s all.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I told you on the telephone yesterday that the attempted takeover had been successfully blocked.’
Yes, he had, it just hadn’t occurred to Brynne that success would mean Alejandro returning to Majorca quite as soon as this. She had thought she still had days before his return.
Not that it really made any difference when he returned—the first meeting between the two of them had been sure to be embarrassing whenever it was!
‘You must be pleased that everything went so well,’ she said noncommittally.
‘Of course.’ Alejandro gave an abrupt inclination of his head.
Brynne gave a tight smile. ‘I expect you’ll need to return to Spain to finalize everything?’
Alejandro’s smile was no more humorous. ‘You seem very anxious to get rid of me …?’
‘Of course not—’
‘Do not lie, Brynne,’ he rasped coldly. ‘You have made no effort to hide the displeasure you feel at my return.’
But that was only because—
Because she loved this man so much she actually ached with the emotion, her joy in seeing him again marred by the danger that he might realize how she felt about him!
Something she would find just too humiliating.
‘Don’t be silly, Alejandro,’ she dismissed lightly.
‘This is your villa, after all, and Michael is your son. You were bound to return some time,’ she added practically.
‘Your enthusiasm is overwhelming!’ he drawled hardly.
Brynne turned away, breathing deeply. This was unbearable. This whole situation was unbearable.
‘Brynne—’
‘If you’re going to talk about the other night—then please don’t!’ She turned to say shakily. ‘I have no idea what happened—why it happened. It just did, okay!’ she ended forcefully. ‘And I really would prefer not to have a post-mortem on the subject!’
Alejandro looked at her searchingly. She looked so beautiful this morning, with her eyes sparkling, a blush to her cheeks and her mouth trembling slightly, that all he wanted to do was lay her down in the sand right now and make love with her.
Again and again …
She had been so responsive the other night, so shyly uninhibited, that he had found himself thinking of her often during the long hours he had sat in business meetings while in Australia.
From feeling irritated at having this woman foisted on him for a month, from not knowing four days ago what he wanted from their new relationship, he now knew that the thought of Brynne simply walking out of his life in a few weeks’ time had become totally unacceptable to him!
‘As of this morning,’ she continued tightly, her gaze not quite meeting his, ‘I can safely assure you there will be no unwanted repercussions, either!’
Unwanted?
He had pondered the question of Brynne being pregnant with his child while he was away too. True, in Michael he already had one child who had been conceived out of marriage, and he would not willingly allow that to happen again. But if it had turned out that Brynne was pregnant it would have meant that she could not just walk out of his life …
‘You must feel relieved,’ he said softly.
‘Of course,’ Brynne dismissed lightly. ‘As, I�
�m sure, are you,’ she added derisively.
Was he? He was a man who usually had no doubts how he felt about anything, especially when it came to emotional complications, but Brynne Sullivan had slowly eroded all of that certainty over the last ten days, to the point that he was no longer sure of anything except that he wanted her!
‘Of course,’ he echoed, his mouth tight. ‘Michael seems to have coped well since I’ve been away …?’ He glanced over to where his son was now playing in a rock-pool.
Michael had coped with the separation from his father extremely well, Brynne agreed—she was the one who hadn’t found it so easy!
Of course the memory of that time in Alejandro’s bed wasn’t exactly conducive to an easy mind—or emotions—but it was the realization of her love for this man that had caused her the most heartache.
How was she going to feel when she had to leave here? Had to leave Alejandro and Michael?
She nodded, also looking at Michael. ‘We were talking about when you expect to return to Spain …?’
‘You were talking of it,’ he corrected harshly. ‘But, yes, I think it is time that Michael was introduced to the rest of his family.’
Brynne swallowed hard. ‘When do you expect to leave?’ she prompted brittlely.
‘Tomorrow,’ he came back dismissively.
Tomorrow? So soon? Alejandro would be taking Michael and effectively flying out of her life tomorrow?
He shrugged. ‘I have a few calls and business dealings to conclude, but I expect to have them completed by this evening, leaving us free to leave tomorrow morning.’
He certainly didn’t intend wasting too much time here, did he?
Her mouth twisted ruefully. ‘I’m sure that Miss Roig will be pleased to see you again this evening, even if you are leaving again so soon.’
Alejandro looked at her between narrowed lids. In any other woman he would have seen such a remark as possible jealousy, but in Brynne he saw it was merely a statement of fact.
He sighed. ‘It is not my intention to see Antonia before I leave tomorrow.’
Brynne’s eyes widened. ‘It isn’t …?’
‘No,’ he confirmed harshly, still angry with Antonia for having come here to the villa while he had been out and talking to Brynne in the way that she had.
Mistress to the Mediterranean Male (Mills & Boon By Request) Page 12