‘I see.’ Marcus dragged his pop-eyed stare from Sebastian’s steely silver eyes and grinned down at Rosie. ‘So that’s the way the wind blows—I had wondered!’ He harrumphed gruffly.
‘Go to it, my boy! I’ll make myself scarce. I’ll be with the morning papers, should you need me.’
‘How could you?’ Rosie was on her feet, quivering with outrage as soon as her father was safely out of earshot. ‘You’ve just made huge fools out of us both. Nobody does that ridiculous formal stuff!’
Straddle-legged, he thrust his hands into his trouser pockets, his left eyebrow arching upwards, his slight smile as sultry as his voice. ‘I got him on my side, didn’t I?’
‘So? What good will that do you? I’ve already turned you down.’
‘Why?’ He advanced a pace. Rosie retreated. The palms of her hands itched to slap him.
‘Marry me, Rosie. You know you want to.’ A long stride forward.
He was really close now. She could touch him if she wanted to.
She didn’t. Or only with a heavy brick!
Frozen to the spot by his sheer audacity, she could only fling her head back on her slender neck and treat him to her fiercest glare, impressing, finally, she hoped, her, ‘No!’
‘Why?’
Persistent devil! Those lancet-silver eyes were boring holes right through her. Outrage flowed away as suddenly as it had arisen, leaving her feeling horribly empty. She knew, to her abiding shame, that if he took her in his arms, held her, he would have won. She would take him on any terms at all because life without him would be unbearable.
But she was made of sterner stuff, wasn’t she? Besides, he made no move to touch her, which the weaker part of her regretted very much indeed. But at least it meant she could still fight her corner, give him the answer he was seeking, the reason why any woman on the planet would turn down the catch of the decade!
‘You proposed marriage only because Terrina told you you should. I might fancy you rotten—well, you know that, or should do,’ she mumbled, lowering her head because she was suddenly overcome with shame over how sordid it all seemed.
‘But I won’t marry you just because you think my father will disinherit you and leave everything to me.’
She risked a quick upward glance. His dark brows were knotted irately. Because his true motivations had been pushed under his nose?
Her battered heart twisted violently inside her with pity. How dreadful to be so hooked on money you had to scheme and play dirty to get even more of the stuff. I wouldn’t worry about it too much,’ she offered in wobbly-voiced consolation. ‘Marcus has known and loved you all of your life. He’s only known of my existence for a day and a bit. Besides,’ she added earnestly, because that frown showed no sign of lightening, ‘I’ve already told him I want nothing from him except the right to call him my father.’
‘Rosie—’ A muscle jerked at the side of his tough jawline. His hands shot out to pinion her narrow shoulders. ‘You’ve been talking to Terrina.’
‘A bit,’ she admitted sadly. How strange; she didn’t hate him, after all. She felt so sorry for him she could feel the tears of sympathy well up behind her eyes. Being found out must be hard for a proud man to swallow. ‘She did ask me to get you away from here because she was afraid you were trying to split her and Marcus up. If they married, she said, her husband’s property would go to her and not to you. Though, personally, I think it’s pretty sordid to think of things like that when you’re in love with someone and planning a wedding.’
Groaning something in his own language, Sebastian gave her a melting smile. ‘Querida, you are something else! Not a mean or sneaky bone in that beautiful body or a nasty thought in that lovely head. That was what made me fall in love with you.’
Rosie’s eyes glazed over and her heart bumped around inside her chest. She said sorrowfully, ‘You don’t have to use the “love” word.’ She would have given anything to believe that he meant it, but she couldn’t fool herself. She didn’t want to hurt his pride any more than it already was, but it had to be said.
‘There’s more. I overheard your conversation the night before she left. You told her she had to go. I think you were giving her money. It sounded as if you were blackmailing her. And I heard her telling you to put a ring on my finger to make sure you didn’t lose out on your inheritance. And then you said that was what you intended to do. And I think that’s just horrible!’
‘Ah.’ A speaking silence and then a whirl of activity as he swung a chair round from the table, sat down, and pulled her on to his knee. ‘I had to get rid of her. Not on my account. Marcus is a wealthy man, but my family could buy him out many times over. Besides, I’d far rather have him around than receive anything he might or might not leave in his will! But the Terrinas of this world don’t think like that. She obviously translated her own greedy motives on to me. As far as I was concerned, she could have had everything if she could have made him happy.’
Staunchly fighting the impulse to cuddle closer, lie against him in the haven of the strong arms that were just lightly enclosing her, Rosie demanded, ‘How do you know she wouldn’t have made him happy’?’
A long finger traced the quivering outline of her mouth. Rosie’s insides quivered in sympathy as she quelled the desire to take that same ravaging finger between her lips.
‘Because she lied to him,’ Sebastian spelt out heavily. ‘She wheedled her way into his affections—I had to watch it happen. Telling lies about her desire to have a family when I know for a gold-plated fact that she can never have children.’ His voice roughened in disgust. It’s a small world, Rosie, uncomfortably small sometimes. Terrina was trawling the circuit—doing the rounds of all the “in” places,’ he added by way of explanation, ‘long before she met Marcus on the golf course. A few years ago, a friend of mine had the misfortune to get tangled up with her. He wasn’t husband material—not nearly rich or important enough—but he was useful to take her to places where she could hopefully cast her net to catch bigger fish. She got pregnant. Much to my friend’s distress she went for an abortion. As I’ve said, if he’d been loaded she’d have had the baby, used it as a bargaining chip. But he wasn’t, so the baby had to go. Something went wrong. It left her unable to have children.’
He closed his eyes, and the look that crossed his face wasn’t what Rosie would call comfortable. She touched his face with the cool length of her fingers, her darkened eyes understanding as he turned his head and put a kiss in her palm. I’m not proud of what I had to do. Pay her off. Unfortunately for her, I was one of the few people who knew the truth. I couldn’t stand by and let Marcus be led by the nose. She’d got him believing that she was dying to present him with a nursery full of babies. He might not have loved her, but he did become fond of her because she flattered him and gave him the belief that he had a second chance to have a family of his own.’
‘You did the right thing!’ Rosie was horrified to think how badly that dreadful woman could have hurt and disappointed her father. ‘But,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘she must be a very unhappy woman, so we mustn’t blame her too much.’ She framed his face with loving hands, consoling him. ‘Your mother said Marcus wasn’t upset. He was more relieved than anything when Terrina left him. So you mustn’t worry about having to blackmail her. And maybe she’ll have learned her lesson and one day she’ll meet someone she can love for himself. And if they want children, they could adopt, couldn’t they?’ she queried brightly, already dreaming up a happier future for the woman who could have hurt her father so badly.
Silver eyes narrowed. ‘I can understand you being sorry for Terrina—you’re that sort of woman. But you’re sorry for me, too!’ He sounded as if that happening was utterly outrageous.
‘Yes, of course I am.’ Rosie tilted her blonde head on one side and gave him a small, sorrowful smile. ‘You might be wildly handsome, and huge in the wealth department, but you are only human. And human beings have consciences, and yours is probably uncomfortable
right now, so—’
Silencing whatever she might be coming out with next with a blistering string of Spanish oaths, Sebastian shot to his feet, planting her firmly down in front of him. Then, after a withering silence, he gave her an unreadable look.
He released his breath slowly. ‘Do you pity me enough to marry me and put me out of my misery? Would the kindness of your heart extend that far?’
There was a tight line around his sensual mouth that suggested all kinds of devastating reactions if she gave the wrong answer.
Her soft mouth prim, she regarded him levelly. She now knew that the role of blackmailer didn’t fit him easily, that he’d gritted his teeth and got on with it for the sake of his godfather.
And as for wanting to marry her for whatever she might inherit in the future, well, that didn’t seem likely, either. As he’d explained, that was the way Terrina’s mind worked, not his.
‘No,’ she answered, figuring honesty was the best policy. ‘No, I wouldn’t. I would only marry you if I knew you really loved me.’
She gulped round the lump in her throat.
Her heart trembled, then picked up speed as he reached for her hands and pressed ardent kisses in both small palms. ‘Love you? I adore you!’
‘Really?’
Ecstatic happiness stirred inside her and exploded into a starburst of joy as he crushed her in his arms, murmuring against her hair, ‘I swear on my life I will love you forever. I wanted you from the minute I saw you. Querida, I was slow on the uptake. I didn’t recognise love until I worked out my reasons for needing to keep you with me. We could have done that simple pregnancy test—I’d already decided I’d take my responsibilities seriously and marry you if you were carrying my child—there was no real reason for keeping you under my eye until nature took its course. The real reason, of course, was that I couldn’t bear to let you out of my sight, out of my life.’
That made the most glorious sense, she recognised. They’d both been fighting what they felt for each other for far too long.
I love you so much!’ She angled her head so that she could look up into his precious face and saw sudden radiance flare in his beautiful eyes.
‘And you will marry me.’
More a statement than a question, but she answered anyway.
‘Yes.’
The kiss that sealed their commitment left them both breathless. Sebastian slid his fingers through her hair, positioning his mouth above hers again, and stressed, ‘To clear up any lingering doubts, cara mia, when you dropped that bombshell about who you were, it pushed us in another direction. I’d been on the point of asking you to be my wife. Not as a future heiress, but as the cleaning lady with scarcely a rag to her back and barely a bean in her purse! I love you for what you are—utterly adorable, loving, open-hearted, sexy, the most radiantly beautiful—’
Rosie kissed him to stem the flow of compliments because they were making her ears burn. They couldn’t possibly be true, or only to him, and surely that was all that mattered. And just as surely she was going to make certain he thought that way for the rest of his life.
Two months later, on a balmy day in May, they were married from Troone Manor. As Rosie swept down the aisle on her proud father’s arm, wearing a dream of a dress in pale cream-coloured wild silk, she knew she was about to burst with happiness. The immaculately suited groom turned to watch her, and there was so much love in his silver eyes she just melted and had to hang on to her father’s arm for dear life to stop herself from swooning clean away. This morning’s test had proved positive! She would give Sebastian the good tidings while they drove back to the Manor for the lavish reception.
After she’d agreed to marry him there had been so many toings and froings her head had been permanently spinning. Back here to England, then back to Cadiz to Sebastian’s home—a beautiful place to have conceived his child—then back to Troone to plan the wedding, culminating in this special occasion, the joining of two loving souls.
Their eyes meshed as she took her place beside him. The glow of love in his made her heart swell in delight. She sought his hand, their fingers entwining.
‘I will never stop loving you,’ Sebastian whispered, and knew he’d never said a truer word.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Spaniard's Woman Page 15