The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal

by Maggie Cox

  Startled and hurt by what he had exclaimed, Briana lay there, her breath laboured, watching him as he suddenly moved further down the bed—as if he wanted to put as much distance as possible between them.

  Dropping his head into his hands, he murmured some words in Spanish she didn’t comprehend.

  ‘Pascual? Pascual, are you all right?’

  Pulling the silk counterpane up to her chest, she moved towards him to lay her hand on the strong broad bank of his shoulder. He flinched as though struck.

  ‘No…I am not all right! It was crazy of me to come here to you. Next time I will try and show a little more restraint!’

  Grabbing up his silk boxers from the end of the bed, he quickly pulled them on and then did the same with his trousers. Sliding his bare feet into his shoes, he reached for the rest of his clothing and then turned solemn-faced to survey her. His expression told her that he was in a dark haunted place where she could not reach him and it made Briana shudder.

  ‘I feel nothing for you…nothing!’ he declared savagely. ‘Do you know that? Your body may still arouse me, but in every other respect you leave me cold. You kept me from my own son and that I can never forgive. Tomorrow I will make arrangements for our return to Buenos Aires, and from then on Adán will have the life he was meant to. As for you…you will just have to learn to make the best of what you find when you get there. It is really no concern of mine whether you will be happy or not when we marry. I will provide every material comfort you could want…but as for companionship and friendship?’ His lips thinned disparagingly, ‘Maybe that is something you will just have to learn to live without…just as I have had to live without it these past five years. I will see you in the morning.’

  As he left, strangely not slamming the door as she’d expected, but closing it as if the temper that had arisen like an electrical storm on a sunny day had suddenly dissipated as abruptly as it had appeared, Briana sank back down on the bed, feeling stunned and cold. Drawing the rich purple counterpane round her now shivering shoulders, she heard Pascual’s heated words echo round and round inside her head once again, bringing home to her just how deeply and irrevocably she had hurt him by keeping Adán from him.

  Up until now she had resisted the whole idea of returning to Buenos Aires and the three of them making a life together there. But even though he had warned her she would have to forgo companionship and friendship as far as he was concerned, Briana wondered if she didn’t owe it to him to give the unconventional arrangement he was demanding a try? There might be genuine fears about not fitting into his world, just as before, but it was her fears which had driven her from Pascual in the first place and brought about the situation with Adán. What had she got to lose? she thought unhappily. Unless she could clear her debt her business was probably going to fold anyway—and what prospects would she have staying in the UK as a single mother, trying to raise her son all on her own and relying far too much on her own mother for help?

  If Adán had his father in his life and grew up feeling safe, secure and well-loved by both parents, what did it signify if Briana had to sacrifice her own longing for love and companionship on the way? She had already spent too many years alone and she should be used to it by now. But tonight—tonight when Pascual had held her once again and for a while responded with all the passionate intensity of the most ardent lover—had rekindled that need inside her to be loved and desired and cared for by this man—a man she would willingly go to the ends of the earth for because she still felt the same way about him.

  Hardly even realising that tears were spilling down her cheeks, she sighed as though her heart would crack, and felt like dying as she recalled Pascual’s recent scathing words. You leave me cold! he had declared. That harsh announcement had made Briana feel as if she was being sliced in two.

  Hardly able to bear thinking about it, she pushed aside the warm counterpane and got determinedly to her feet. Her heart might indeed be breaking, but she still had a job to do and she would do it to the very best of her ability—even if it were for the last time. As for Pascual—she had already made up her mind to tell him in the morning that she would agree to return to Buenos Aires with him. As long as his demands were reasonable and he took her views into consideration then she would not be putting any obstacles in his way.

  He did not sleep well. But then he had hardly expected to after that unfortunate scene in Briana’s bedroom. Sexual frustration made for a most uncomfortable bedfellow, Pascual discovered anew. And after leaving his lover’s warm bed much earlier than he’d anticipated, because his anger and hurt had finally got the better of him, it was his legacy. But the truth was that for a few moments there, when the possibility had arisen for him to become a father for the second time, he had had a heartrending vision of a baby being put into his arms—something that Briana had cruelly denied him with Adán. He had longed for such a scene to become a reality.

  Five years ago she had willingly agreed to become his bride. Now she might not be as willing, but Pascual vowed to harden his heart against that. This marriage of convenience he was determined to go ahead with might not be the romantic idyll he had foolishly once envisaged their partnership would be, but it would ensure that she would not be free to fall in love with someone else—share her body with someone else and desert him and their son.

  It had been the most incredible experience to see Adán for the first time. One glance at the boy and Pascual had known straight away, with the most profound inner certainty, that he would gladly lay down his life to protect him and keep him safe. Fidel had been right about how having a child became the most important concern of a man’s life—driving away all other ambition that had previously seemed so significant. That was why he would take Briana to Buenos Aires and marry her…even if the love between them was gone for ever.

  Rubbing his chest to try and relieve some of the emotion that for a moment made it hard to breathe, he went to the window, drew back the sumptuous lined drapes and gazed out on yet another cold and frosty morning. Contemplating the scene without the pleasure he had experienced during his early-morning walk yesterday, he felt his longing to be back home in warmer climes was suddenly close to overwhelming.

  On their way back to London the following morning, Briana glanced at her so far silent passenger and tightened her hands apprehensively on the steering wheel. Since bidding farewell to her clients as they got into the waiting Rolls-Royce that would take them home to their various destinations, Pascual had only spoken to her when he had absolutely had to. Such as when he had informed her that he was going back with her to ‘sort things out’, and then on to the hotel he was staying at for the duration of his stay in Park Lane.

  Despondent that he was still mad at her, Briana wondered how they would sort anything out if he continued to be furious with her and maintain a sullen silence.

  As they joined the stream of motorway traffic heading for London, a long-suffering sigh escaped her and Pascual’s head immediately snapped round.

  ‘What is wrong?’ he demanded.

  Ruefully shrugging her shoulders, she stole a brief glance sideways at him. ‘Do you want a list?’

  ‘If you expect me to apologise for what happened last night, then—’

  ‘I don’t,’ she cut in, grimacing, ‘I hurt you by not telling you about Adán, and whether you believe me or not I’m truly sorry. I also want you to know that when we get home I’ll be telling him who you really are…that you’re his father and not…not my friend.’

  ‘Good. I see no reason in denying him the truth any longer.’

  ‘And as for going back to Buenos Aires…’ She sensed his brooding gaze suddenly cleave even more intensely to her profile—as she kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead. ‘I’ll agree to go back with you for a while at least, to give us time to come to some arrangement about the future. But I can’t stay away too long because I’ve had a court summons regarding my business debt and I’ll be in serious trouble if I’m not there to answer it.
’

  ‘That is nothing to worry about.’

  ‘To you it might not be, but it certainly is something to worry about as far as I’m concerned!’

  ‘I mean that I will pay the debt on your behalf. Since I am to be your husband, then naturally I will take responsibility for it.’

  ‘Now, wait a minute I—’

  ‘Watch the road!’

  In the blink of an eye Briana suddenly found that they were far too close to the rear bumper of the car in front of her. Guiltily, her stomach turning over in fright, she eased down on her speed. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘As I said…’ Pascual continued, without so much as a hint of warmth or conciliation in his accented voice. ‘I will pay this debt for you and then you can forget about your business.’

  ‘Do you think what I do is so unimportant I can just cast it aside as if it was nothing? Besides…I can hardly forget about it when I have an employee to think of. What will Tina do if she doesn’t work for me?’

  ‘This was the only job you’ve had on your books for some time, so I gather?’

  ‘What are you saying? How did you—?’ Her shoulders hunching in resignation, Briana sighed. ‘Tina. I should have guessed.’

  ‘She has already told me that she temps from time to time in between jobs. She seems a resourceful girl to me…she will be okay. And you will have other important occupations to think of when we go back to Argentina.’

  ‘All right…That aside…if you pay this debt for me—and I will only agree to let you do so because of Adán—then you know I will have to insist on paying you back, Pascual?’

  ‘Now you are being foolish.’

  ‘I won’t accept your help unless you agree to let me pay you back. I mean it!’

  Sighing, as if she was taxing him to the very limits of his patience, the man beside her reluctantly nodded. ‘Okay, okay! Just concentrate on the road, will you? Or we will find ourselves in the hospital instead of at your house!’

  ‘My driving’s not that bad!’

  To Briana’s complete disconcertion he chuckled, and her skin broke out into tingling gooseflesh at the sound. ‘Not as bad as some I know, I will agree.’

  ‘I suppose you’re referring to women in particular?’ Unable to prevent the sharp slash of jealousy that ripped through her at the thought of Pascual with another beautiful model like Claudia, or worse Claudia herself, her mood grew even more despondent.

  ‘Are you jealous, carina?’ he drawled softly.

  ‘Let’s change the subject, shall we?’

  ‘So…today we will put your business affairs in order, and tomorrow I will organise our travel arrangements. I will also ring home and instruct Sofia to make ready a room near us for Adán.’

  ‘Sofia is still with you?’

  The older Spanish woman who was Pascual’s housekeeper had always been so sweet to Briana, and she had never forgotten her kindness. Of all the people she had met when she’d stayed in Palermo, she was the one who had truly accepted her for herself and had never given her the slightest inkling that she disparaged where she came from. She’d been totally happy with Briana because Pascual—whom she revered—loved her.

  ‘Of course!’

  For a moment Pascual sounded nonplussed, as if he could hardly fathom why anyone he employed would even think of leaving him to work for someone else. And of course he was right. As far as Briana had been able to observe he was a fair and generous employer, and Sofia clearly idolised him.

  ‘And you, of course,’ he continued, his magnetic voice lowering, ‘will not need a room of your own—because you will be sharing my quarters.’

  The possessive intent with which he shared this last piece of information made her hair bristle, but she held onto her indignation…just.

  ‘Perhaps in the light of what happened yesterday, it might be best if we kept our relationship purely platonic?’ she ventured.

  ‘I was mad at you yesterday…but my anger at you will not interfere with the physical side of our relationship in future, I promise you.’

  ‘Well, I—’

  ‘There is one thing I assure you our marriage will not be, Briana, and that is platonic!’

  ‘Even though I leave you cold?’ The small nugget of hurt inside her chest was like a sharp stone as she remembered the insult. She sensed his glance intensify again.

  ‘I did not say your body left me cold…far from it!’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Call me arrogant, if you will…but I know that my body does not leave you cold either. If nothing else we can at least take consolation in our mutual desire for each other and in being good parents.’

  Biting her lip on a despondent retort, Briana concentrated all her attention on the road ahead for the rest of the trip. The only time she allowed her thoughts to wander was when she tried to imagine how Adán was going to receive the news that the man she had introduced to him yesterday as a friend was really his father…

  ‘Do you really think this is the right thing to do, Briana?’

  Standing in her daughter’s kitchen, Frances Douglas cupped her hands round her recently made mug of coffee and frowned in concern.

  ‘I honestly don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out, won’t we? I feel so torn, Mum. It was very wrong of me to keep Adán from Pascual…I know that now. And I owe it to him to at least give this marriage he’s suggesting a try. Can you imagine how he’s feeling right now, learning that he’s been a father for the past four years and didn’t even know it?’

  Pushing her hair away from her eyes, Briana leant back against the kitchen worktop and folded her arms.

  ‘He’s in the living room with Adán, down on the floor playing cars, and already they look like they’re crazy about each other! Adán was so pleased to learn Pascual was his dad…His little face lit up as if he could hardly believe it. I didn’t expect that. You know how reticent he can be about meeting new people, don’t you? It’s as though the natural bond between them was just waiting for the chance to be forged. Okay, so there’s the not so small matter of Pascual living in Argentina, but it’s only natural that he wants his son to be with him there. Adán can have a good life there, and we won’t have to struggle any more. There are lots of pluses.’

  ‘Adán can have a good life, you said? What about you, Briana?’ her mother asked thoughtfully. ‘Can you live with a man you’ve already told me can’t possibly love you, who bears resentment towards you because you kept his son from him?’

  ‘Pascual’s not like Dad, Mum. I don’t mean to upset you, but he wouldn’t be deliberately cruel to me…I know that.’

  Frances’s light grey eyes—so like her daughter’s—narrowed . ‘Withholding love from someone has got to be about the cruellest thing there is in my book,’ she said softly, and Briana shivered as though someone had just walked over her grave…

  Buenos Aires…three days later

  The heat was like a sultry tropical kiss as soon as they stepped out of the plane. Even though they were only in the airport terminal, the sense that they were somewhere much more exotic and different from home was palpable immediately. Breathing in the myriad scents and the atmosphere of being back in the city that she had embraced with such excitement and hope when she’d first arrived there five years ago, for a beguiling moment Briana felt her fears and doubts replaced by unexpected optimism.

  A short time later, in the chauffeur-driven Mercedes that had been waiting to pick them up, she had a chance to view their location more closely through discreetly tinted windows, her hands in her lap and her gaze soaking up everything she saw just like a child…just as if she were seeing it all for the very first time. Someone had described the city as the ‘Paris of South America’, and with its sweeping boulevards and grand architecture, she could easily understand why. But Briana also knew that every barrio or district had its own distinct features that reflected the multiplicity of cultures that resided there. Some were not grand at all, but intimate, lively and colou
rful.

  Next to her, Adán had fallen asleep, his curly dark head against Pascual’s suited shoulder, the child’s sweeping long lashes and hair the same intense sable of his father’s. Glancing at them both, she felt her breath catch. That bond they seemed to have instantly forged on sight was growing ever stronger, she intuited, and would continue to deepen the more time they spent together.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ His disturbing gaze touching hers, Pascual raised an enquiring brow.

  ‘Fine. Hardly tired at all after the journey.’

  Having imagined that the trip to Argentina would raise all kinds of challenges and concerns—not least because of the tension between herself and Pascual—Briana had figured without the effortless reassurance of first-class luxury travel. Her husband-to-be had only to click his fingers, it seemed, and the attentive flight staff would bring them anything they desired…from a four-course gourmet meal to champagne on ice.

  Taking Pascual at his word when he had urged her to ‘rest and relax’ while he chatted to their son, to her complete surprise Briana had soon found herself dozing comfortably in her luxurious seat in the blissfully quiet first-class cabin, and in no time at all it seemed they had arrived in Argentina.

  ‘I meant how do you feel about being back in Buenos Aires?’

  Nervous, apprehensive, scared you’ll keep on punishing me and I won’t be able to stand it…Clutching her slender hands tighter in her lap, Briana bravely met Pascual’s penetrating unsmiling glance, then sighed. ‘I can’t tell you that yet. It’s a bit like a dream right now.’

  ‘Not a nightmare?’

  For a startling moment Briana saw a flash of what she thought was genuine apprehension on Pascual’s arresting face, but he seemed to recover quickly and revert to complete control of his emotions—as though that possible moment of doubt and fear had never transpired.

  ‘Not a nightmare…no. I—’

  ‘I have been in touch with Marisa and Diego…remember them?’ he cut in, his tone lighter.