by Maggie Cox
‘What shall I do, señor?’ Looking a little distressed, Sofia waited for instructions.
‘Show them into the downstairs drawing room and get them some drinks,’ he answered curtly. Then, deliberately softening his tone, he said, ‘Tell them we will be down in a few minutes. Gracias, Sofia.’
‘Sí, señor.’
Abruptly the housekeeper turned and went back the way she’d come.
The tension in the room was as taut as the atmosphere in an aeroplane after take-off had been inexplicably delayed. Immediately Pascual met Briana’s large grey eyes, and saw the worry and strain reflected there.
‘It will be okay,’ he said lightly, privately knowing that nothing was ever that simple or clear-cut when it came to his passionate-natured mother, and wishing again that he could have delayed this meeting until tomorrow at least.
‘Will it?’ She was rising to her feet, and with her hand on top of their son’s curly dark head she sighed. ‘I don’t mind so much for myself if accusations are going to be leveled,’ she told him, raising her chin, ‘but I do mind that Adán might be upset in any way.’
She was as protective and fierce as any feral creature around her cub, Pascual saw, and an unexpected bolt of admiration jolted through him at the knowledge.
‘You’ll see she’s done a good job in raising him,’ Briana’s mother had asserted, and already he was finding that to be perfectly true.
Considering his visitors downstairs, he reflected that it was fortunate his father was there tonight—because if anyone could get Paloma Dominguez to see sense and calm down then it was Iago. He had been far less judgemental of Briana, he recalled, regret shooting through him that he had not addressed the matter of his parents’ less than warm reception of his bride-to-be before.
‘I will simply introduce him to my parents and then ask Sofia to take him up to bed. I promise you I will not tolerate any upset caused to him either.’
He saw her slender shoulders relax a little before she leaned down towards Adán, helping him out of the large dining chair that left his little legs dangling several inches from the floor.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured. Reaching for a starched linen napkin, she cleaned the chocolate ice cream stains from around his mouth, then kissed the top of his head. ‘There, poppet…now you’re fit to be seen by the Queen of England herself!’
‘We had better go down, then.’
Gesturing towards the door, Pascual waited for them to precede him into the long, high-ceilinged corridor, with its six suspended crystal chandeliers, and privately vowed that if his mother caused any distress to either of them then he would not hesitate to tell her in no uncertain terms to leave his house and not come back until she could learn to be more civil…
CHAPTER NINE
AS BRIANA and Pascual entered the room, with Adán between them, the three adults who had been waiting for them stood up in unison from the luxurious armchairs they’d been occupying. Immediately the sight filled Briana’s heart with apprehension and dread. They must despise her for what she’d done to their son. A reunion hardly boded well under the circumstances…how could it?
But just then Pascual gently touched his hand to the back of her waist, and, intuiting that he was giving her his support, she felt a surge of deep gratitude ripple through her. Her determination not to be intimidated renewed, she lifted her chin and made her lips form a smile.
‘Holà!’ His resonant voice impinging on the tension-filled silence, Pascual walked forward to embrace his parents and cousin in turn, before returning to Briana’s side.
The frighteningly elegant and slim Paloma Dominguez—with her slanted feline eyes, faultless make-up and classically beautiful haute-couture clothing—was a formidable sight at the best of times, and she was not one to be slow in vocalising her opinion on anything. But everyone appeared to lapse into a stunned silence as they glanced in Briana’s direction, and she was acutely aware that their attention was focused on the little boy holding her hand, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
In English, and with pride in his voice, Pascual smiled and announced clearly, ‘This is my son—Adán.’
It was Iago Dominguez—his father—who moved first. A little broader of girth these days, than Briana remembered, he was still an extremely imposing and attractive man for his age. Now, with no trouble at all, he dropped down easily to the same level as Adán and, his brown eyes clearly emotional, in wonderment reached out to stroke the tips of his fingers across Adán’s baby-soft cheek. ‘Holà, Adán. Soy su abuelo…I am your grandfather…Did you know that you look just like your papà did when he was your age?’
Adán was shaking his head in reply and his small hand gripped Briana’s a little tighter.
‘Well, little one…you do. The likeness is incredible!’ Standing up to his full height again, Iago now surveyed Briana with an emotional glance. ‘He is a fine boy,’ he declared a little gruffly. ‘But you were wrong to walk out on my son and cause him such distress…also to keep from us all the fact that you had had his child! What can have possessed you to do such a thing?’
Before Briana could get past the dryness in her mouth to speak, Pascual stepped in, his hand reassuringly at her back again. ‘Have you ever thought that you and rest of the family might have played your part in driving Briana away, Father?’ he suggested. ‘Think how hard it was for her to come and live amongst us—to leave her home, her family, her friends, and then not to feel exactly welcomed by my own family?’
‘We did not know her very well back then. She was unknown to us…all but a stranger…and it takes time to get to know someone, does it not?’
‘You did not act as if you wanted to get to know her at all! You kept her at a distance, and I fooled myself that it was not happening instead of telling you that your behaviour was unacceptable.’
It warmed Briana beyond measure that Pascual was standing up for her. It gave her the courage to speak out as she had never spoken out to his parents before.
‘I wanted you to like me…to accept me—at least for Pascual’s sake, if not my own. My own father rejected me, and when I saw that it might be the same again for me, living here in Buenos Aires amongst people who treated me in a similar manner…well, it brought back some of those unhappy feelings I’d had as a child and I was naturally apprehensive.’
Behind Iago—who was suddenly looking thoughtful—his wife Paloma moved towards them with an expression that was completely bereft of the new consideration reflected in her husband’s. Her cool gaze seemed as distant as it had always been to Briana as it haughtily scanned her features.
‘Why did you keep my son’s child from him?’ she demanded without preamble.
Even Iago looked uncomfortable at her outburst. Her heart thudding heavily inside her chest, Briana resolved to just be herself when answering the blunt question. No more hiding behind a mask of politeness or not feeling good enough, she vowed, or she might inadvertently cause Adán to believe he wasn’t good enough either.
‘I made a mistake,’ she answered quietly, brushing her hair from the side of her face and sensing Pascual’s hand behind her back, stroking her. ‘No doubt I made lots of mistakes when Pascual and I were together. But we both should have been more open and not kept our fears and worries to ourselves. I can see that now. It was wrong of me to keep Adán from him and I honestly regret it.’
‘My son is a good man. Even if you did not feel that we accepted you, you should have stayed with him regardless. Not run away!’
Feeling torn, Briana bit down anxiously on her lip. But then Pascual was sliding his arm completely round her waist, giving her a brief smile before addressing the woman who stood before them.
‘Unfortunately Briana witnessed something between myself and Claudia the night of the party that made her believe I would not stay faithful to her in our marriage. That was what forced her decision to leave.’
‘Something happened between you and Claudia?’ Iago asked in surprise, his dark gaze probing
his son’s.
‘It was nothing. She had had too much to drink, that’s all. But to Briana it looked like I was encouraging her foolish attentions when I categorically was not!’
Her cheeks flushing a little, Paloma Dominguez added her own comment—and it was not what Briana expected at all.
‘My husband is right…Adán does look very much like Pascual as a child.’
As if the annoyance she had previously emitted had ebbed away beneath the infiltration of a much stronger, more powerful emotion, the older woman bent down to the little boy and kissed him soundly on both cheeks. With tears in her eyes she impelled his small body into her arms and threaded long slim fingers with an array of dazzling jewelled rings affectionately through his mass of dark curls.
Amazingly, Adán did not struggle or put up a protest. Hardly able to believe what she was seeing, Briana was all but lost for words.
‘I am starting to feel left out!’ Grinning, Pascual’s handsome cousin Rafa suddenly appeared before her and enfolded her in a friendly hug. ‘Holà, Briana. You are even more bewitching than I remember!’
Unable to help herself, Briana wondered if he was still going out with Claudia, Pascual’s ex. Her pulse raced a little at the memory of that night five years ago, when Rafa had arrived with her at the party and the evening had ended so disastrously with her seeing the beautiful blonde model kissing her husband-to-be.
‘You’re looking well yourself Rafa.’ She smiled, and suddenly her pulse was racing again, because Pascual had drawn her even nearer to him, and the sensation of his warm, hard body next to hers made her knees feel suddenly and alarmingly weak.
‘He was hoping you would say that,’ he teased, but there was a distinct warning in his glance as he rested it briefly on his cousin, Briana noticed. A warning that said Do not overstep the mark because she is mine. It made her insides flutter.
‘Mummy, I’m tired!’
Feeling a tug on the hem of her dress, she saw a wan-faced Adán, gazing hopefully up at her.
‘I should take him to bed.’ Turning towards the man at her side, she waited until he nodded in agreement.
Without preamble he scooped his son up into his arms and surveyed the assembled company. ‘He has had a very long day,’ he told them. ‘Enjoy your drinks, and Briana and I will be back shortly.’
They all kissed the bemused and by now very sleepy child goodnight, and before she knew it she and Pascual were climbing the impossibly grand winding staircase with its opulent tread up to the little boy’s bedroom.
‘You are very quiet tonight.’
Leaving the dressing room that was adjacent to the master bedroom, Pascual found Briana seated on the bed. The sleeves of her cotton knee-length pink robe were rolled up to the elbows and she was smoothing lotion onto her pale exposed forearms. With the light application of make-up she usually wore cleaned away, and her dark hair swept up behind her head with wisps of escaped tendrils framing her face and neck, he thought she had never looked more lovely…or more alluring.
As had been the case from almost the very first moment he had ever set eyes on her, desire followed swiftly and intensely on the heels of that captivating thought, like a waterfall plunging down over a cliff-face.
‘I was miles away, actually.’
Shyly surveying him, her ethereal grey eyes were like twin beams of silver starlight in the softly lamplit room, and Pascual sensed the heat in him move fiercely through his body like a sirocco wind threatening a previously calm desert.
‘What were you thinking about?’ Dropping down next to her, clad only in black silk pyjama bottoms, he realized even the minimum of clothing was too hot against his skin at the mere sight of this woman. Quizzically, he smiled at her.
‘I was thinking about seeing your parents and Rafa again,’ she replied, continuing to rub the lotion into her skin, seemingly oblivious to the effect she was having on him. ‘I am glad that we all seemed to let down our guard a little. Perhaps in future my relationship with them can be a little better than I imagined it ever could? I hope so, anyway.’
‘I should have listened to you before—when we were first together. If I had spoken to my family then perhaps our own relationship would have had a proper chance…hmm?’ Pascual reflected, becoming more and more fascinated by the rhythmic movements of her small hand with its lilac-painted fingernails back and forth across her arm.
Sliding his fingers beneath her chin, he made her turn to face him. Her enchanting lips in their naked beauty quivered a little. Immediately he wanted to plunder them and wet them, make them look beestung, as he remembered they had whenever they’d made love in the past…
‘But you stood up for me tonight…that makes all the difference in the world.’
‘I wish I had done it before…I am well aware that my mother in particular can be a little aloof sometimes, and with people who do not know her well that may easily be misinterpreted. But I want you to know that underneath that difficult exterior she only wants the best for her family. I hope that in time you will discover that for yourself, Briana. Building good relationships will take time for all of us. But you and I are back together, after a long time apart, and feelings on all sides are bound to be tender. Can we not just put any hurts aside…for tonight at least?’
‘We can. At least your parents were happy to meet Adán.’
‘They were completely overjoyed at the realisation that they have a beautiful grandson. How could anyone not love him on sight? He is perfect…just perfect.’
‘Already he seems to be comfortable with you and your family…It’s extraordinary, really. He’s only had just my mum and me for so long, and now we’ve come all this way to Argentina and he’s totally taken everything in his stride. Sleeping in a huge bedroom on his own on his first night here is a really big deal for a small boy, do you know that? If he wakes in the night and is fearful you don’t mind him coming in with us, do you?’
‘Of course not. I want my son to be happy, not frightened.’
‘Good. The fact is, he’ll probably be missing my mum too.’
He thought of Frances Douglas, and the way she had taken him aside the day he had collected Briana and Adán to drive them to the airport—the beseeching, yet steely look in her eyes when she’d ordered him to, ‘Take good care of them both, won’t you? They mean everything in the world to me.’
Pascual suddenly knew a surprising need to reassure the woman by his side. ‘She is welcome to come and stay whenever she wants to. I will organise the flights and pay for everything. As you can see…there is plenty of room for guests here.’
‘Thanks…I appreciate that. I expect she’s missing Adán too, even though we’ve only just left. They’re naturally very close.’ Stifling a yawn, Briana capped the tube of lotion and laid it down on the silk coverlet beside her. Her glance was apologetic. ‘Sorry. All of a sudden I feel immensely tired. Must be all the travelling today.’
‘Here.’ Picking up the discarded lotion, Pascual flipped opened the top again. ‘Let me apply some for you.’
‘I’m done, Pascual. I don’t need you to—’
‘It smells of peaches…a peach for a peach…’ He smiled, squeezing some of the cream into his hand. ‘Turn round and loosen your robe. I will massage your shoulders for you.’
‘It’s all right. I don’t really—’
‘You do not like me touching you?’
The idea made him freeze. Already he was having immense trouble keeping his hands off her heavenly body, just sitting near her. The idea that Briana might not welcome his touch after all was akin to ice water being poured down his back, and the memory of her rejection of him as her prospective husband five years ago still had the power to wound him greatly.
‘I—I didn’t say I didn’t like you touching me. It’s just that it’s late, and…’
It came to him that she was suddenly somehow shy with him. He wondered if what had happened the last time they were in bed together was on her mind. With all his hea
rt he wanted to erase the unfortunate scene from her memory and replace it with a far happier one. So, with a slow, teasing smile, utilising his free hand, he undid the belt of her robe and eased the material down over her shoulders. Conveniently, the thin satin cerise nightgown she wore underneath had narrow spaghetti straps. Silently speculating if she had worn it especially for his benefit, Pascual saw how easy it would be to do as he’d suggested.
‘Turn round, Briana. This will make you feel good…I promise.’
He had the magical touch of a healer, Briana thought in delight, with a heartfelt inner sigh. And not only did those amazing hands heal as they massaged her already overheated skin, they stirred the passion slumbering inside her into a restless wild sea that engulfed her. So much so that it was almost impossible for her to sit still on that magnificent opulent bed with the heat of Pascual’s semi-naked tautmuscled body behind her, goading her imagination to ever more stimulating heights.
When he eased her robe off completely, in an orchestrated sensual manoeuvre that couldn’t help but elicit a startled response from her, then slipped the thin straps of her nightgown down so low over her arms that her breasts were suddenly exposed to the warm scented night air, she sucked in a shaky breath that seemed to echo round the entire room.
‘Amante…you are so beautiful you make my very soul ache for wanting you!’
His hot mouth suckled her bare shoulder as his hands circled her ribcage to massage and cup her breasts, his thumbs and forefingers stroking, then squeezing the rigid nipples, until Briana cried out and tipped back her head against his chest to allow him even greater access.
This time Pascual kissed her in the sensitive hollow between her neck and shoulder, his hands moving hungrily down to her hips, moulding them seductively in his palms. Kneeling on the bed behind her, he pressed himself against her, so that she felt the hard silk contours of his amazing body, smelled the masculine scent that had always had the power to drive her crazy. She ached so hard for his possession that she thought she might lose her mind if she couldn’t have what she so desperately craved…