Brynne felt a shiver down her spine at the cold anger in Alejandro’s voice, knowing by the way Antonia Roig had paled that she was as aware of the implacability of his tone as Brynne was.
But there was only a momentary pause and then Antonia Roig’s chin rose challengingly, her expression arrogantly contemptuous as she looked at them both. ‘You are a fool, Alejandro,’ she told him sneeringly. ‘With my father’s business connections, and the money I will eventually inherit as his only child, you and I could have been a formidable pair. And instead you choose to consort with this—this—’
‘Careful, Antonia,’ Alejandro warned softly. ‘You are talking of a woman I hold in high regard, a woman of integrity and honesty. Attributes that are obviously completely alien to you!’ he added coldly.
Brynne could only stare up at Alejandro in wonder as, after one last sneering glance in Brynne’s direction, the other woman turned on her heel and walked briskly away.
Alejandro held her in high regard…? Believed her to be a woman of integrity and honesty…?
Even more confusing, why had he felt a need to make her a witness to all of those things he said to Antonia Roig…?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BRYNNE continued to watch Alejandro as he started to pace the terrace, his expression making her hesitate to ask any of the things that hovered on the tip of her tongue.
What if Alejandro had just wanted her to know that, as Michael’s father, he was the man of honour he had always claimed to be? That his motives for making her a witness to that conversation with Antonia Roig were that simple? What if—?
‘What are you thinking now, Brynne?’ Alejandro paused to look at her, his tone rueful. ‘Do you still remain unconvinced as to the innocence of my relationship with Antonia?’
Brynne shook her head. ‘What I am puzzled about is why you think I needed to hear that…?’
Alejandro looked at her searchingly, wanting to see some sign in her demeanour that his lack of any intimate relationship with Antonia actually meant something to Brynne. But he could read nothing from her expression except that mild curiosity.
But he had gone too far now, was too aware of the danger of Brynne leaving to go back to England tomorrow, to draw back from the decision he had made earlier as he had sat on the terrace waiting for Brynne to join him. He could not let her go without at least telling her something of how he felt. What happened after he had done that was completely up to Brynne.
He was a man used to making decisions, and then acting on them, and it was not a pleasant position to find himself in…
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘We need to go back to the beginning again for me to be able to explain that. To my relationship with Joanna,’ he said as Brynne continued to look puzzled.
She stiffened. ‘Haven’t we already discussed that enough—?’
‘No!’ Alejandro rasped. ‘The relationship, yes. Joanna’s feelings about that relationship, also yes. But my own motivation behind the relationship? The reason that I was married to another woman only three months after that relationship? No.’ He shook his head, his expression grim. ‘I do not think we have discussed those at all.’
No, they hadn’t—and Brynne wasn’t sure she wanted to hear them now, either. Besides, what possible bearing could they have on the here and now…?
Alejandro gave a humourless smile. ‘You would prefer to continue thinking of me as a man who uses and discards women, I think,’ he muttered huskily.
She felt the warmth in her cheeks. ‘I have never said that.’
‘Your face has said that,’ he assured her dryly.
‘The fact that you also believe that I intend to discard you in that way also says that,’ he added grimly.
Brynne swallowed hard as she saw his concerned expression. A concern that he quickly masked as that arrogant pride fell into place once more.
He continued. ‘As you have no doubt guessed, I was already engaged to Francesca when Joanna and I met seven years ago. It was an arranged marriage, not a love match. Our parents had decided on it while we were still children. It was to be the marriage of two powerful, rich families rather than Francesca and I.’ He shook his head. ‘I met Joanna in Australia, at a time when I was trying to decide how best to extricate myself from a situation, an engagement, I no longer wanted.’
‘Alejandro—’
‘You will do me the courtesy of letting me tell you these things, Brynne!’ he rasped. ‘You will have plenty of opportunity when I have finished to criticize and chastise!’ he added derisively.
What he had already told her was enough to make her revise some of the opinions she had formed before accompanying him and Michael to Majorca.
‘Joanna knew of my engagement to Francesca. She and I—talked about it. Joanna could not even begin to imagine marrying someone she did not love. As no longer could I.’ He sighed. ‘Joanna and I were not in love with each other, either, but she helped me to understand that I had to talk to Francesca, to see if she would release me from the engagement. But before I could do so I received an urgent call from Spain. My father had had a heart attack. To even contemplate causing such a scandal when he was so seriously ill was unthinkable. Can you understand that?’ he asked.
Of course she could understand. She knew how binding these arranged engagements could be, that they were usually arranged for the advancement of the family rather than the individuals who ended up married to each other.
‘You married Francesca knowing that the two of you didn’t love each other.’ She nodded. ‘I—have to agree with Joanna, I can’t imagine anything worse!’
He nodded abruptly. ‘It was an unhappy marriage from the first. We both tried—Francesca wanted to be a dutiful daughter, you understand?’
‘As you wanted to be a dutiful son,’ Brynne acknowledged, unable to stop the slight anger she felt towards the parents who had forced them into such a marriage.
‘As I wanted to be a dutiful son.’ Alejandro gave an inclination of his head. ‘As I tried to be a dutiful husband. Whether you believe it or not, Brynne, I was a faithful husband,’ he added.
She grimaced. ‘Why shouldn’t I believe you, Alejandro?’
‘Many reasons,’ he sighed. ‘I was unfaithful during my engagement when I had my brief relationship with Joanna. I have had many relationships since my marriage ended.’
He wasn’t going to spare himself—or her!—any of the hurtful details, was he? Brynne acknowledged ruefully. Although the fact that he was telling her at all, when she knew he wasn’t a man who ever opened up about himself, was starting to make her wonder if there wasn’t some purpose behind the explanation…
‘Unfortunately, Francesca was not a dutiful wife.’ He gave a slight shrug. ‘Who could blame her? Nineteen years of age, and married to a man she did not even know, let alone love! Within a year of our marriage she had taken a lover. It is not so unusual in such marriages, although it is normal to wait until after the first son is born,’ he added. ‘To ensure that the husband knows that at least the heir is his!’
‘What happened to Francesca, Alejandro?’ she prompted huskily.
He looked grim. ‘She died while giving birth to her lover’s child. The child died, too.’
Brynne gave a pained gasp.
‘Are you not going to ask me how I knew the child belonged to her lover?’ Alejandro looked down at her.
A pose Brynne was now beginning to realize was as much a defence as anything else. Alejandro might not have loved his wife, but now that Brynne had come to know him better she didn’t doubt that once married to Francesca he would have honoured the marriage.
She gave him an encouraging smile. ‘Because you weren’t her lover…?’
Alejandro felt some of the tension leave him, realizing as he did so just how tense he actually was. But this was important to him. That Brynne believed him was important to him. Much more important than anything else ever had been…
‘Because I was not her lover,’ he echoed. ‘We
were lovers—if it can be called that—for only the first three months of our marriage. I do not believe it was something that either of us particularly enjoyed,’ he said ruefully, remembering those months when they’d tried to force a feeling of love for each other, an emotion that had never happened. ‘Whereas making love with you four nights ago—’
‘Alejandro—’
‘I was wrong to leave you in the way that I did,’ he told her forcefully. ‘My only excuse—and it is perhaps not an acceptable one—is that I thought it for the best. I did not understand what was happening between us. But these four days away from you—I have thought of nothing but you, of our time together. Would you like to know why, Brynne?’
Brynne looked at him questioningly, not sure yet what he wanted from her. But she had no doubts that he was being honest; didn’t she at least owe him the same?
‘Yes,’ she answered huskily. ‘Yes, Alejandro, I want to know why you have thought of me the last four days.’
‘Because our time together was beautiful,’ he told her gruffly. ‘Making love with you was more beautiful than anything else I have ever experienced.’
Brynne felt a lump form in her throat, hot tears clouding her vision. Because making love with Alejandro had been beautiful for her too.
Alejandro moved to clasp her hands in his as he looked down at her intently. ‘It stunned me to learn of your inexperience.’ He put up a hand to smooth her hair back from her face as he looked down at her. ‘Beautiful, beautiful lovemaking,’ he groaned huskily. ‘I swore after my disastrous marriage that I would never become involved in that way with anyone ever again. But having got to know you—I am not proud of the way I behaved when I left you so abruptly. My only excuse is that I feared what you made me feel. But please believe me, Brynne, when I tell you I have thought of nothing else but you these last four days, of being in your arms again,’ he admitted.
She looked up at him. ‘I thought—you seemed so—angry, before you left…?’
He shook his head. ‘Not anger, Brynne. Never anger. You had given me a precious gift that night, and I—ungracious swine that I am—did not know how to accept it!’
Brynne hadn’t thought of it as a gift at the time, had only wanted to be with Alejandro. To be with the man she loved.
Alejandro’s arms tightened about her. ‘Brynne, I do not want you to leave me tomorrow.’
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him, at the emotion in those softened dove-grey eyes, an emotion she thought she recognized, but found incredible in this man.
‘I suppose I could come with you and Michael to Spain for a couple of weeks—’
‘That is not what I mean, Brynne.’ His voice hardened. ‘I—even now this is difficult for me!’ He released her to move away, running a hand through the dark thickness of his hair. ‘Try to understand, Brynne, I have never been in love with anyone, was determined that I never would be after my marriage was so painfully unsuccessful—’
‘I haven’t asked you for love, Alejandro—’
‘You do not need to ask!’ He turned to her. ‘Because the last four days away from you have shown me that I do love you, Brynne. More than life itself. More than anything and anyone,’ he said shakily. ‘The thought of you leaving me tomorrow, of you ever leaving me, is not something I can even contemplate!’
Brynne stared at him, at the assured, aloof man that she loved with all her heart, at the man who was no longer aloof at all, let alone assured.
Warmth began to course through her, to wipe away all the dread she had felt at the thought of parting from him.
Alejandro loved her.
Alejandro Miguel Diego Santiago loved her.
After the way he had left her four days ago she had never thought—had never even begun to hope—that he could return the feelings she had for him, hadn’t understood at the time that what she had seen as his desertion he had seen as a sense of self-protection.
Only to come back today and tell her that he did love her. More than anything or anyone. Challengingly. Defensively. As if he feared the pain she could inflict on him if she chose to do so.
She moved to stand in front of him, their bodies almost touching as she looked up into his face. ‘I love you too, Alejandro,’ she breathed huskily. ‘I love you so much that the thought of leaving you has been impossible for me to contemplate, either—’ She got no further as Alejandro swept her up into his arms, her body held against the hardness of his as his mouth claimed and captured hers in a kiss full of the hunger he had felt for the four days of their parting.
It was a need Brynne felt too, holding nothing back as she returned the heat of his kiss, her arms up over his shoulders as her fingers became entangled in the dark thickness of his hair.
Alejandro wanted to devour her, to have her take him so deep inside her body that it would be impossible to tell where Brynne ended and he began.
Brynne was his flame. White-hot. Burning. That heat cleaving him to her side for all time.
He was breathing deeply when at last he raised his head to look down into her flushed face. ‘You do love me…’ he said in wonder, knowing that it was true, that his honest Brynne could never be anything but truthful with him, in her emotions as well as her words.
She smiled up at him. ‘Of course I love you, Alejandro.’ Her fingers moved lightly down the clenched line of his jaw. ‘You are everything—everything I could ever want in the man I love. You’re a wonderful son. An affectionate and caring father. A man of honour in all things, including your relationships—’
‘And you, Brynne?’ he cut in searchingly. ‘What am I to you, Brynne?’
‘That’s easy.’ She smiled tremulously. ‘You’re the man I will love all my life.’
His breath caught in his throat at the simple statement that meant everything to him.
He had decided long ago that love and marriage were not for him, that Francesca had married him but had not loved him. The women he had known before her and since her had taken him, and all the things he could give them, but had not given him love.
Brynne gave him love, all her love, without asking for anything in return except that he love her too.
And he wanted to give her so much more than that! Everything that he was. Everything that he would be.
‘Will you marry me, Brynne?’ he prompted huskily, his arms tightening about her instinctively as she stiffened to look up at him dazedly. ‘What did you think, querida? That I would tell you I love you, would listen while you tell me you feel the same way, and that I would then dishonour such a love with less than I offered to a woman who did not love me as I did not love her?’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t think anything. I never thought, never dreamt, that you would ever love me…’
He frowned darkly. ‘If I had never known you, Brynne, I would never have known what it is to love and be loved. Do you honestly think I could ever let such a love escape me by offering you less than marriage, less than everything that I am, that I have to give?’
Brynne hadn’t known what to expect after admitting that she returned the love Alejandro told her he felt for her. Perhaps a brief relationship, a brief, beautiful relationship that would have to sustain her for the rest of her life. Marriage was something that she had never dreamt Alejandro would ever offer to any woman again…
She swallowed hard. ‘But marriage, Alejandro.’ She shook her head. ‘You told me you would never marry again.’
‘To a woman who did not love me, no!’ Alejandro assured her with some of his old arrogance, his arms like steel bands about her. ‘But you are different, Brynne. In the short time I have known you you have become the air I breathe, the perfume that warms my pillow, the very essence of my life. I will allow nothing, and no one, to come between us ever again.’
He was talking of Antonia Roig, and other women like her, women who only wanted to take and to use him, not to love him as he so deserved to be loved. As Brynne loved him…
‘If you
do not agree to marry me for love then I will have to try to tempt you into a marriage with me for Michael’s sake.’ He raised his eyebrows as he looked down at her.
But Brynne could see the humour lurking in his grey eyes, the self-derision mixed with a determination that told her he would resort to such methods if all else failed.
‘A marriage of convenience, you mean?’ she drawled teasingly.
‘A marriage that will give me the right to hold you, to love you, to come to your bed every night for the rest of our lives!’ he corrected softly.
‘Oh, no, Alejandro—’
‘Oh, yes, Brynne,’ he said firmly.
She shook her head. ‘It will give us both the right to hold each other, to love each other, to come to our bed every night for the rest of our lives,’ she corrected pointedly. ‘If I have one condition to marrying you, Alejandro, then it’s that we have a huge four-poster bed to share wherever we might be!’
He tilted his head teasingly. ‘That is your only condition…?’
She laughed huskily. ‘No conditions, Alejandro!’ she assured him happily. ‘I would marry you, will always love you, even if I have to live in a shack on the edge of a beach for the rest of my life!’ She threw her arms about his neck. ‘I love you, Alejandro Miguel Diego Santiago! I love you. I love you!’
Alejandro gathered her even closer into his arms, moulding her against him, knowing her to be the other half of him, the woman who completed him, who made him whole. ‘I will love you for our lifetime and beyond, Brynne,’ he whispered.
‘As I will love you, Alejandro,’ she vowed.
‘Juanna Mercedes Santiago and Roberta Magdalena Santiago,’ Brynne murmured emotionally as she looked up from gazing down at her newly born daughters into the face of the man she loved beyond words or expression.
Alejandro.
Her husband. Her lover. Her best friend. And now, almost a year to the day after their marriage, the father of their twin daughters.
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