With a deep sigh Anna slumped onto the table. Even though her aim had been to put the brakes on whatever might or might not be simmering between Leo and her, she still couldn’t help feeling that she’d blown it. Not just ending the new accord between them, but reverting to type. Sensible Anna didn’t sail away with handsome pirates, sensible Anna didn’t leave chores undone, sensible Anna didn’t swim in cold seas. Sensible Anna didn’t get hurt; she didn’t have much fun either, but that was the trade-off she made. That was what kept her safe.
Somehow the knowledge didn’t give her the same satisfaction it usually did. Safe was a book unwritten, a father who couldn’t even order his own shopping, a mother content to leave Anna to sort out her problems for her, a sister she didn’t see or speak to. A sister who would never waste an afternoon on a boat with a handsome man checking emails and worrying about the future.
What would it be like when Rosa finally turned up? Anna could already see the amused scorn in Rosa’s face, how she would love the knowledge that Anna had spent so much time with a gorgeous, occasionally charming man and spent it doing chores. How satisfying would it be if she and Leo were on friendly terms when Rosa did deign to rock up?
By the time they got back the light would be almost gone; they wouldn’t be able to do any more work today. So why not extend the trip for a few hours? Continue with careful spontaneity. Yes to a sail and a meal, both civilised activities. No to the intimacy of swimming, no to reacting to his every light touch, no to lingering glances.
Just because Leo discombobulated Anna, just because he made her want things she knew weren’t good for her to want, made her feel fusty and stuffy and dull, just because every quirk of his mouth dared her to take risks she had no intention of taking didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends.
Besides, it still stung that he thought she was the kind of person who would stand on her dignity, that she would consider a maid’s daughter her inferior. What they needed was a new start. She would be her most charming through dinner and Leo di Marquez y Correa would have no choice but to see that there was more to her than notebooks and efficiency.
* * *
Pushing back his chair, Leo stretched and glanced at his watch. Two hours had disappeared in a flow of emails and reports and he had barely made a dent. Over the last week he’d neglected his business and his out-of-control inbox reflected it. There were still far too many decisions to be made, reports to read, to be commissioned, to be acted upon. Funny to think he’d once got such a thrill from moving such huge sums of money around, from creating wealth, bestowing it. Now it just seemed nebulous, more like playing a video game than work. Not like painting and repairing. Maybe he should give it all up and become a full-time groundskeeper? He smiled wryly. Would his father consider that a step up or a step down from a professional playboy and gambler? He suspected a step down.
He glanced at his watch again; another hour until the restaurant opened. They’d moored at the little seashore village’s small wooden harbour earlier that afternoon, but Anna had turned down Leo’s offer of a walk, preferring her emails and making even more of her interminable lists. She’d erected another layer of protection around herself while he swam, the laughing girl who’d driven his boat once more replaced with the cool, organised woman with a large keep out sign stapled to her forehead.
A sign he had every intention of respecting.
‘Leo, I’ve just realised all I have is what I’m standing up in...oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy. I didn’t mean to disturb you.’ Leo was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn’t hear the door open. Anna peered around it, staring at his three computer screens with unabashed curiosity. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
She stepped into the room, still transfixed by the screens. Leo shot them a brief glance, checking nothing incriminating or confidential was on display; one showed the day’s open stock markets, another the report he was currently working on, the third his emails. Innocuous if peculiar for a man who supposedly did nothing but cruise the seas and party. ‘Nada importante,’ he said quickly.
‘No? It looks important. You were a hundred miles away. You didn’t even hear me call you.’ She stepped closer. ‘I wondered why you had three computers in here.’
Turning on his best lazy smile, Leo moved slightly, blocking his email. ‘It’s important to know what’s going on when sailing. I’m just checking the weather forecast.’
The lift of her eyebrows showed just how far short he was of convincing her. ‘Funny, that looks far more like the FTSE than the Met to me.’
He turned up the wattage on his smile, adding a hint of roguish for good measure. ‘Gambling takes more than one form, you know.’
‘True, but stocks and shares are for some reason seen as a lot more respectable than the roulette wheel. Is that what you’re doing? Trading? And what’s that?’ She nodded at the report.
Leo had hidden behind a faceless company name for so long, hidden behind a false image of a partying gambler for so long, he sometimes forgot why the charade had started. It was second instinct to keep pretending. Hiding. But the curiosity in Anna’s sharp gaze tugged at him and he knew he wanted to see the change in her face when he told her exactly what he was doing, to see that faint, unconscious superiority she employed turn to respect. Hardly anyone beyond his employees, faceless anonymous employees working in virtual offices all around the globe, knew what he did. It would be nice for someone he respected to know.
‘Leo?’ She sounded concerned now. ‘I’m sorry, am I intruding? I was only joking. It doesn’t matter. My question can wait...’
‘It’s not the FTSE, it’s the Dow Jones,’ he said abruptly and watched the blue eyes widen.
‘So you do gamble with stocks as well as at casinos?’
‘No, I invest.’
‘In shares?’
‘At first, but now I invest in companies. Preferably in start-ups, although sometimes in companies who want to expand, or are in trouble and need to turn around. The term is angel, I believe. I put money in, usually with conditions, although that depends on the company, and then they pay me back with interest or I retain a share of the company.’
‘But...how? Nothing I read said that you were interested in investments.’
‘That’s because nobody knows. It doesn’t quite fit the image, does it? My company itself is the investor. I’m not publicly listed as the owner. Any investigator would have to look hard to find my connection to it—and why would they? We don’t invest in controversial projects. We’re an ethical investor. There’s nothing to spark their interest.’
Anna’s mouth was open, but no words were coming out, which, Leo suspected, was a first. She pulled out a chair and sat down heavily, staring at the rapidly changing screen displaying all the stock movements of the day. ‘You are telling me that you are a playboy gambler with a secret identity? Like Batman? Do you have a cape as well? Does this boat turn into a plane?’ She shook her head, her hair, once more respectably confined into a ponytail, swinging with the movement. ‘I’ve heard of secret gamblers, but not the other way round.’
‘No cape, no fighting villains, just investing. And despite the title I’m no angel. I do it all for profit.’
That wasn’t entirely true, not any more. Sometimes he invested because a young company had such vision, such passion, he wanted to be part of it in some way. In the hope that passion, that belief would somehow rub off on him. He was still waiting.
Anna regarded him keenly, curiosity brightening her clear, blue eyes. ‘Is this how you make a living? Not in casinos?’
‘I’ve never gambled a penny I wasn’t prepared to lose.’ Leo shifted, her scrutiny making him uncomfortable. ‘You had a question when you burst in here. What is it?’
‘A question? Right. The trouble with spontaneity...’ Anna tugged at her paint-splattered shorts and grimaced ‘...is the lack of planning. I
have nothing suitable for a restaurant at all. I can’t turn up in these and a dirty T-shirt. Maybe we should head home after all.’
‘There are clothes in the spare bedroom.’ He scanned her slim figure, trying not to let his gaze linger on the curve of her breasts. ‘Valentina sometimes joins me here when she is in between jobs. I think you’re not too dissimilar a size. Help yourself to anything. There’s plenty of hot water if you want a shower.’
‘Thank you.’ She got to her feet, headed for the door then turned. ‘Leo, why is it such a secret? Investing in start-ups is a great way to make a living. Why let the world think you’re nothing but a party-going playboy when there’s so much more to you?’
So much more? He might not make his living the way the world thought, but he wasn’t sure that meant that he was worth anything. Anna might be intelligent, but she had missed the mark this time.
He pushed out of his chair, wanting, needing to shut the conversation down. ‘Come on, I’ll show you the clothes and how the shower works.’
Anna followed him out of the study, across the narrow corridor and into the guest cabin at the very front of the boat. The bed was made up. Leo tried not to look at the crisp white sheets, tried to push the thought of how Anna would look entangled in them from his mind.
He’d invited Anna for a sail on a whim, purely because he enjoyed discombobulating her. What he hadn’t taken into consideration was how she might affect him. He was so used to always having the upper hand, it hadn’t occurred to him that a smart, curious woman like Anna was more than capable of seeing through him, seeing into him.
She liked facts, knowledge and solving problems. She had a keen intellect. And when that scrutiny was turned on him, it was like a compulsion. He’d been more honest with Anna Gray than he had been with any other human being for a very long time, including himself.
‘Wardrobe’s there,’ he said brusquely. ‘And the shower is in here.’
Anna opened the folding doors and peered in at the tiny but tidy en-suite bathroom. ‘Very nice, not that I’ve come to expect anything else from this boat.’
‘Press that button to activate the water. You can adjust the heat and power with those handles. Towels are in the wardrobe, and I believe Valentina has left toiletries in the bathroom cabinet. You should have everything you need.’ Rattling off the instructions made him feel a little like Anna must with her lists, like restoring order to a suddenly disordered world. And her world was disordered for all her calm exterior; a mother who needed her, a sister she didn’t speak to. No wonder she tried to restore order wherever she saw it. As long as she didn’t try to restore him...
‘Thank you. This is incredible.’
‘Right.’ He most certainly wasn’t going to hang around, to imagine Anna pulling off her shirt, untying her bikini-top strings, slipping her shorts down her strong, toned legs, stepping into that shower. Get a grip, Leo told himself fiercely. This enforced abstinence wasn’t good for him. He needed one of his no-strings, no-effort, short-term affairs and soon. Good thing there was a wedding coming up. They were usually good for a quick, fun fling. ‘I’ll leave you to...’
Leo stepped back and, at the same moment, Anna stepped back, straight into him, her warm body colliding hard with his. Instinctively Leo reached out, grabbing onto her, his arms pulling her close as she struggled to regain her balance. For one long second she relaxed against him, every slim curve snuggled into him, the scent of her enfolding him even as his body enfolded her.
Lust rushed through him, hard, fast, intense and all-consuming, his blood hammering through his veins, thundering in his ears. Want. Need. Have. His body was issuing demands, demands he wanted more than anything to accede to and Leo’s arms tightened around her body, holding her closer for one incendiary moment.
Did she feel it too? Was lust shivering through her? Were her nerves humming with desire? Were her eyes dark, her mouth dry, every atom of her attuned to his? Leo didn’t know what would be worse—if she did or if she didn’t. If this lust was one-sided that would be humiliating enough, but if it burnt through them both then how much worse would it be when she discovered just how hollow he was? Leo spent a great deal of time making sure no one got close enough to reject him, making sure he was the first to walk away.
Letting her go, stepping back, finding the right, unconcerned smile, felt like a Herculean task and yet somehow he did. ‘Careful,’ he said in a voice that didn’t sound like his, aware of the slight tremor as he spoke.
Anna’s eyelashes fluttered down, shielding her eyes, allowing him to think he might have imagined the flicker of hurt, of disappointment in her eyes. But her voice was completely unconcerned, as matter of fact as ever. ‘If I’m this clumsy when we’re moored imagine what I’d be like in the middle of the ocean. I’d say a pirate’s life is not for me.’
On these last words she turned, flashed him a quick smile, and disappeared into the bathroom leaving Leo standing in the cabin. Alone. The way he chose to be. The way he preferred to be. At least, that was what he told himself. One day he might even believe it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ANOTHER LONG SILENCE fell over the table. Anna cast around for something to say and, in desperation, fell on platitudes. ‘This is beautiful!’
It was a warm night and they’d been seated on the restaurant terrace overlooking the sea. The sun had already set, leaving just a few purple and grey traces in the star-strewn sky. A soft glow fell across the terrace from the tiny lanterns hanging from the flower-twined beams that connected the terrace to the building, candles illuminating the table. Blankets hung on the backs of their chairs in case the night chilled.
‘Really beautiful,’ she added. Leo had been practically monosyllabic since that moment in the cabin, the moment when their bodies had collided, when he had broken her fall. She’d never felt anything like the explosive attraction, as if his light clasp on her waist had ignited a fuse burning straight through her. Neither of them had moved for a long, sizzling second, their bodies perfectly melded together, their pulses beating in perfect harmony. If she’d turned would he have kissed her? All she knew was that she would have kissed him back. Only he had let go, stepped away, and since then had kept his distance physically and emotionally. Which was for the best—hadn’t she decided to go for a cordial friendship, not heat-filled passion? After all, passion never ended well for her.
She couldn’t help replaying that moment over and over though, and in the replay it never ended with Leo stepping away.
No, she wasn’t going to think about that now, not when they were alone on this candlelit terrace, the sea serenading them. Summoning her best bright, friendly smile, Anna looked at Leo, only to find his eyes on her, not the view. ‘Yes,’ he said softly. ‘Very beautiful.’
Heat flushed her cheeks and she glanced down at her empty plate, wishing for food, anything to occupy her hands. Truth was she felt beautiful tonight. Unlike herself. Valentina had left the kind of luxurious creams and cosmetics Anna didn’t usually look at, let alone buy, in the small cabin and by the time she had washed her hair and applied a little make-up she already felt like the ‘after’ photo in a makeover.
Choosing an outfit had been a little harder. Valentina’s tastes ran to skimpy and barely there, none of which fitted the friendly and cordial brief. In the end Anna had selected a silky slip dress, pleased with the way the deep, shimmering red gave a warm glow to her skin.
‘Thank you for letting me pilfer Valentina’s wardrobe,’ she said, pulling at the gold, filmy scarf she had flung over her almost bare shoulders with nervous fingers. ‘The clothes in that small wardrobe probably cost more than everything I have ever bought added together. Are you sure Valentina won’t mind me wearing this?’
‘She’s probably forgotten she even owns it. She never wears the same outfit twice anyway, you know.’
Anna tried to imagine discarding clothes after just one we
ar and failed. She still had tops she’d bought while at school. ‘Never? Wow. I live in the same clothes day in, day out. I can’t imagine wearing something this lovely just the once.’
‘She gets paid to wear them, or sent them for free.’ Leo nodded at the menu. ‘Have you decided what you would like to order?’
‘I’m going to go with the fish of the day.’ Anna put the simple, handwritten menu down onto the table and propped her elbows on it, resting her chin in her hands as she studied the man opposite. Today, she couldn’t help feeling that she’d learned more about him than he usually let slip to anyone, but there were still unanswered questions nagging at her. And keeping up a flow of conversation would mean less time for meaningful glances, less time for traitorous thoughts. ‘Leo?’
‘Sí?’
‘What are you really doing spending so much time on La Isla Marina?’ She glanced down at his tanned, capable-looking hands, noting the scratch he’d received from an overenthusiastic chisel. ‘Why spend a whole month getting your hands dirty?’
‘For my sister,’ he said.
There was something here she simply wasn’t grasping. Anna frowned. ‘Did you know her when you were little? How on earth does the son of a conde and...?’
‘The illegitimate daughter of the same conde.’
Of course. Now it all made sense...
‘She really is your sister? I assumed it was an honorary term.’
‘No, there’s nothing honourable about our relationship. My father seduced her mother with lies and promises he had no intention of keeping—and then when he found out she was pregnant he sacked her. She spent her winters juggling as many jobs as she could, her summers cleaning and waitressing and counting on tips to get her through the leaner months. As soon as Valentina was old enough to help she was working too. That’s why I have given up a month to give her a dream wedding. I couldn’t help her then, but I can and will help her now. No matter what I have to do.’
Baby Surprise for the Spanish Billionaire Page 7