by Lynne Graham
Yolanda listened with keen interest, but demonstrated not the slightest sympathy for Cindy’s plight. ‘I still don’t see why you should be taking the heat for her.’
‘Cindy didn’t plan it that way.’
‘But she’s anything but sorry that it’s turned out that way!’ Yolanda scanned Lucy’s troubled face and shook her head in apparent wonderment. ‘You’re just too nice to fight your own corner. You let everybody walk all over you.’
‘No, I don’t—’
‘What am I doing right now? You didn’t even shout at me for going through your handbag!’
Lucy gave her a rueful smile, thinking that for all her sophistication and self-confidence the other woman could occasionally sound very naive. ‘I’ve got more important things to worry about.’
‘No, you just need a fast-track escape from Joaquin and I can give it to you,’ Yolanda announced.
Incredulity at that announcement blossomed in Lucy’s eyes.
Her beautiful companion reddened. ‘Well, what’s the use of you staying on here? You can’t sign that agreement and you can’t leave without help.’
‘But you’re Joaquin’s sister,’ Lucy heard herself mutter helplessly.
‘Half-sister,’ Yolanda qualified, tossing her head, her full mouth compressing. ‘I’m not being disloyal; I’m just suiting myself. Big Bro will be on your sister’s tracks no matter what happens, and there’s nothing you can do about that.’
There was an awful truth to that assurance and it made Lucy shiver. She could only hope that that bank transfer of cash which her twin had mentioned would be sufficient to put Joaquin Del Castillo in a more reasonable frame of mind where Fidelio Paez was concerned. But she still could not understand why Yolanda should be offering to help her.
‘How would it suit you to help me to leave?’ Lucy asked with wide eyes.
‘That’s my affair. But you have only a few hours to make up your mind. Joaquin’s leaving for a business meeting in New York later this afternoon, but he’ll back by tomorrow night. I certainly couldn’t help you to vanish while he’s still around!’
Joaquin’s half-sister rose and glided with fluid steps back to the door. ‘So it’s up to you, Lucy. Seems to me you haven’t got many options, because if you don’t decide to go I will probably feel that I have to tell Joaquin that he’s got the nice twin instead of the nasty one!’
Lucy’s tummy clenched at that unashamed threat. She hurried to the door, but Yolanda was already heading back upstairs. It was clear that as far as the brunette was concerned the interview was at an end. So what was Lucy going to do?
Not knowing whether she was on her head or her heels, she wandered back down to the office. As the staff were taking the long lunch break favoured in hot climates, it was empty. She sat down at her workstation and drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. If she didn’t sign that repayment agreement Joaquin would get really, really furious, and Lucy felt that she had already made enough of a fool of herself without being forced to hang around where she most definitely was not wanted.
At the same time, however, if she performed a vanishing act without signing she might well bring down Joaquin on Cindy’s head before the wedding. But wasn’t Roger safe in Germany right now? If she left a letter behind promising that bank transfer her twin had mentioned, wouldn’t that satisfy Joaquin for a week or two at least? He was a hugely important and busy guy. How likely was it that he would drop everything and race over to London immediately?
The door opened. Joaquin stilled on the threshold.
Lucy collided with his spectacular eyes, watched them narrow and veil. It hurt, it really hurt her to see the cold distance in his gaze. And right at that minute, when she herself was aware of him with every fibre of her being, the pain felt just about unbearable.
‘What are you doing in here?’ Joaquin demanded with sardonic bite.
‘I didn’t feel like lunch—’
‘Por Dios…you would put up with anything sooner than agree to strip yourself of your ill-gotten gains!’ Joaquin condemned with slashing contempt. ‘However, if you’re determined to play this charade out to the bitter end, you might as well make yourself useful.’
‘Useful?’
Joaquin settled a sheet of paper down on the desk beside her. ‘Turn up that file and print it out for me.’
Her teeth plucking at her lower lip as she struggled to utilise what she had learnt earlier and perform the task, Lucy found herself wondering why she was bothering. Who was she trying to impress? Where was her pride? He was behaving like an absolute louse. She was rigid with the force of her pent-up emotions. She shifted on the seat, reminded by the intimate ache of her body that Joaquin had enjoyed a most thorough acquaintance with it before developing convenient but very belated regrets.
‘Are you planning to take all day over this one minor request for output?’ Joaquin demanded icily.
Her hands suddenly lifted off the keyboard and balled into fists which she slammed back down on the keyboard again. ‘Stop talking to me like that!’ she practically shrieked at him as she jumped out of her seat, temper erupting from the emotional turmoil she had been fighting to contain. ‘I’ve got the message…OK?’
‘You’ll have got the message when you sign that agreement,’ Joaquin countered, with a cool that she would have found formidable had she been in a calmer frame of mind.
‘For goodness’ sake—’
‘Once you sign, I may…I just may consider calling on you the next time I’m over in London,’ Joaquin imparted flatly.
Totally disconcerted by that assurance, Lucy blinked. ‘I don’t understand—’
‘Don’t you?’ Joaquin vented a cynical laugh, his lean strong features hardening. ‘You appeal to the very worst side of my nature, querida. If I can contrive to withstand temptation, you won’t ever see me again.’
Lucy’s soft mouth opened and closed again in slow motion.
Joaquin’s jewelled eyes wandered in a leisurely appraisal over her slight slender frame, lingering on the firm swell of her small breasts and the highly feminine curve of waist and hip so well defined by the deceptively simple shift dress she wore. By the time he had completed that increasingly bold evaluation of what they both knew he had an infinitely more intimate acquaintance with, Lucy’s cheeks were scarlet and her hands were knotted into defensive fists.
But at that moment it was herself she was fighting rather than him. His potent magnetism was firing the atmosphere between them. That suggestion that he might see her again in London had thrown her, leaving her in no fit state to muster her defences. Her mouth was dry and her heartbeat had accelerated.
Spiky ebony lashes semi-screened his slumbrous green gaze, his beautiful mouth taking on a sensual curve which was all too familiar to her. ‘On the other hand,’ Joaquin mused in a husky undertone roughened by all-male satisfaction, ‘I’m single and I can afford you. Why should I deny myself the occasional indulgence?’
An indulgence? Lucy thought of chocolate as an indulgence, but she had never thought of herself in that line. I can afford you. She could not credit that she had sunk low enough to be faced with such an offensive statement. That Joaquin even felt confident enough to say that to her appalled her. Then she met those brilliant knowing eyes of his and she paled to the colour of parchment and finally understood. Joaquin Del Castillo was supremely well aware of his power over her. It was the final humiliation and it chilled her physical response to his presence.
‘You think I…you think I care about you,’ she said unsteadily.
Joaquin spread fluidly expressive hands in a gesture that was anything but an indication of humility.
‘And you are ready to use that to make me do what you want?’ she framed, in quivering disbelief that any male could be that cruelly manipulative.
Joaquin gave her a measured nod of confirmation.
Lucy folded her arms in a jerky motion. She thought of the way she had behaved the previous night. She was no a
ctress, and had had no idea of playing it cool. She had probably betrayed herself a hundred times over in the way she’d looked at him and what she had both said and done. At the very least, he knew that she was keen. No longer could she meet his eyes. She was deeply shaken by the degrading proposition he was outlining to her.
‘I do understand your shocked sense of injustice, querida,’ Joaquin murmured silkily. ‘How many times have you run rings round men crazy for you? But this time around it’s going to be different.’
Lucy stepped out from behind the workstation separating them, two coins of high colour adorning her taut cheekbones. ‘If you think for one moment that I’d be stupid enough to let you reduce me to the level of some tramp you spend the night with whenever you feel like it—’
‘Such emotive words,’ Joaquin sliced in, smooth as glass. ‘Yet you set no boundaries last night. You wanted me too much to be sensible or calculating and it paid dividends, es verdad? For what I am now offering you is an arrangement to which you are uniquely well suited—’
‘No, I’m not!’ Lucy gasped in stricken outrage.
Shrugging a wide muscular shoulder in a very Latin dismissal of that protest, Joaquin continued to rest his incisive green eyes on her angry face. ‘In this life we all end up settling for the best we can get. So choose between me and the money you conned out of Fidelio. You can have one but not both. And if you choose me, it will be only on my terms.’
‘I just can’t believe you’re talking like this to me!’ Lucy confessed with raw honesty.
‘Isn’t it marvellous that you should still possess that endearing little streak of almost child-like innocence when things don’t pan out quite the way you planned them?’ A grim smile flashed across his devastatingly handsome features as he paused by the door. ‘No man in his right mind would keep you in an office, querida. When you punched the keyboard you crashed the whole system. I’ll have to contact my head office in London to get those figures now.’
In a daze, Lucy focused on the monitor, which had gone all blurry and now bore a large error message. The other two computer monitors bore similar messages as well. Momentarily she closed her eyes to get a grip on her seething emotions. But Joaquin had knocked her sideways. He had a head office of some kind in London? How often was he in London? Dismayed by thoughts that should have no place in her head, she experienced a burst of self-loathing. Even if Joaquin Del Castillo was in London every blasted week she would never willingly set eyes on him again! He was so sure of himself, so certain he had her where he wanted her. Well, he would soon find out that she learnt from her mistakes!
Lucy went off in search of Yolanda, and with the assistance of a maid eventually ran her to earth in a custom-built gym where the gorgeous brunette was doing what appeared to be graceful ballet exercises at a bar.
‘I’ve thought over what you’ve said,’ Lucy proclaimed, coming to a breathless halt several feet away. ‘I’ll take your help…I want to go home!’
As that last phrase emerged, more in the nature of an over-emotional wail, Yolanda stilled to stare at Lucy. ‘So Joaquin’s been spreading his special variety of joy and happiness in your direction as well.’
‘This has got nothing to do with your wretched brother!’ Lucy snapped, rather foolishly in the circumstances.
Yolanda’s attention had already strayed. Her lustrous brown eyes glowed with satisfaction. ‘I’d love to see Joaquin’s face when he realises that we’ve both done a vanishing act!’
CHAPTER EIGHT
BY LATE evening of the same day, Lucy had learnt just how hard and embarrassing it could be to perform a vanishing act in which Yolanda Del Castillo played a leading role.
Noting with relief that the volatile girl was now asleep, Lucy subsided back into her own comfortable seat on the plane. Just an hour into a flight to London, Lucy was counting the cost: her nerves were in shreds and she was exhausted. Yet Yolanda had engineered their departure from Hacienda De Oro with remarkable efficiency.
While Lucy had sweated blood over the writing of an explanatory letter to Joaquin concerning the cash transfer which Cindy had promised for Fidelio, Yolanda’s maid had packed for Lucy and whisked away her suitcase. She had then been shown down to a rear exit. Outside had sat a four-wheel drive with Yolanda in the back seat.
‘Lucy, hurry up and drive off before we’re seen!’ she had urged.
That was when Lucy had discovered why she had been so essential to Yolanda’s plans. Yolanda had seen Lucy’s driving licence in her handbag.
‘Of course I do not drive myself,’ the brunette had responded when Lucy had voiced her surprise. ‘I am always driven, but if I ask one of the staff to take me to the airport Joaquin will find out long before I get there!’
Lucy had found that long drive a nightmare. She had never driven such a huge car before, nor had she had prior experience of driving on a different side of the road. Then there had been the horrors of the busy traffic in Guatemala city, the wrong turns she had made, the cars that had hooted furiously at her. Lucy had been a nervous wreck by the time they’d finally reached the airport. But there had been worse to come…
Even two hours after the event, Lucy just cringed at the memory of the dreadful scene Yolanda had thrown when she’d been told there were no seats left on the flight she wanted to board. She had proclaimed that she was Yolanda Del Castillo at the top of her voice. She had ranted and raved until she’d got what she wanted. She had also insisted that Lucy’s economy class ticket be upgraded.
‘Joaquin is held in huge regard in my country. They will bump other passengers off the flight for my benefit,’ Yolanda had forecast smugly. ‘After all, it is a great honour that I, a Del Castillo, should travel on their airline!’
That forecast had proved correct. Then Yolanda had thrown another tantrum on boarding, to ensure that they secured the most spacious front seats in the first class section. Two middle-aged businessmen had scuttled into other seats like mice. Worst of all, Lucy had received censorious glances from other passengers, as if they somehow imagined she ought to be cooling Yolanda’s outrageous behaviour.
No longer was Lucy surprised that Joaquin had been playing the heavy big brother with his demanding sister. Yolanda was immature—outright uncontrollable if she was crossed—and terrifyingly unscrupulous. More like a nightmare teenager than an adult, Lucy conceded inwardly. Had great wealth and too much indulgence made Yolanda that way? Had Joaquin been trying hard to straighten his sister out?
‘I really like you, Lucy,’ Yolanda had confided before she’d gone to sleep. ‘When I’ve set up my own apartment in London you can come and visit me if you want.’
Lucy just couldn’t understand why she was feeling so responsible for Yolanda all of a sudden, but it seemed to her that in spite of her stunning looks and seeming sophistication Yolanda was woefully unsuited to the independence and freedom she craved.
With every airborne mile that carried her further from Guatemala and Joaquin, Lucy got more and more miserable. How would Cindy feel about her coming home without having sorted out her twin’s problems in the way she had hoped and expected? Joaquin would be even more furious that Lucy had vanished along with his temperamental sister. It just seemed that no matter what she did, she did it wrong…
‘I’ll call you when I have time,’ Yolanda promised as her cases were loaded into the cab which Lucy had procured for her outside Heathrow. ‘Don’t expect to hear from me too soon, though. Socially, I shall be very much in demand.’
Lucy went straight to her sister’s apartment. Cindy was stunned to find her on the doorstep, but her first reaction after she overcame her astonishment was to give Lucy a relieved hug. ‘Thank goodness you’re home! Did you get everything settled?’
‘Not quite—’
‘You didn’t sign that agreement, did you?’
Lucy shook her head and explained the situation she had left behind. While engaged in making a welcome cup of tea for her twin, Cindy listened anxiously and then bega
n to look perplexed.
‘Why do you keep on saying his name that way?’
‘Whose name?’
‘Joaquin…’
Lucy flushed. ‘I’m not saying it any way. He was just pretty central to events, that’s all.’
Her twin refused to be sidetracked. ‘Are you telling me that you went and fell for the guy who’s trying to wreck my life?’
‘With a little bit of luck it won’t come to that if you settle this business with Mario’s father once and for all.’
‘I will. I saw a solicitor yesterday and he’ll handle it. But right now it’s you I’m more interested in.’
‘I just want to forget I ever went to Guatemala,’ Lucy muttered truthfully.
Silence lay for a second or two.
Then Cindy shrugged. ‘Well, if Del Castillo comes here looking to cause more trouble, he won’t find me. I’ve been hired by a film unit that starts shooting in Scotland this weekend and I have to be at the studios in another hour!’
‘Sounds like fun…’ Lucy concealed her disappointment that her twin was leaving almost as soon as she herself arrived.
‘But it means I won’t be here to help you get your flat packed up. The buyer wants possession as soon as possible. And the sooner he gets in, the sooner Fidelio gets his cash,’ Cindy pointed out. ‘I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to tell Roger.’
‘You know…I thought you’d be furious with me for just coming home.’
Cindy grimaced, her colour heightening. ‘Yolanda fairly put me in my box with what she said on the phone. Why should you take the heat for me? I’m sorry that I got you into this mess in the first place,’ she admitted ruefully. ‘My sins have come back to haunt me and I’ll just have to handle the fall-out as best I can.’
With that one brief and effective little speech, Lucy felt the difference between her twin and her more impressionable and anxious self. Cindy might have panicked when she’d first learnt about Fidelio’s predicament and Joaquin’s demands, but ultimately Cindy rolled with the punches and took each day as it came.