A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid

by Susan Stephens

  A man who never lost his temper came as close as he ever had, because this celebration was not for him, but for his sister. ‘How can a head chef leave the kitchen on a night such as this?’ Silverware and crystal rattled at his bellow. The hapless maître d’ seemed lost for words. Not so, the woman who emerged from the kitchen. The woman who had refused to speak to him last night. On closer inspection she was even more beautiful, and not in a conventional way; it was the honesty shining from her eyes and the firmness of her jaw that attracted him.

  ‘Don Alegon,’ she said in the warmest of tones, ‘welcome to El Gato Feroz. How nice to see you—’

  ‘At last?’ he bit out.

  Ignoring his ill temper, she smiled. ‘It’s very good of you to drop by early to check on everything. I would do exactly the same.’

  ‘Would you?’ he challenged sharply.

  ‘I’m sorry. I haven’t introduced myself,’ she said, not the least bit put off by his frosty manner. ‘Chef Sadie Montgomery, at your service tonight. But, please, call me Sadie.’

  ‘Alejandro Alegon...’

  Ignoring his invitation to drop the professional barrier between them to the extent that she would call him by his first name, she held out her hand for him to shake, and said coolly, ‘A pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face, Don Alegon.’

  Remembering the previous night’s snub, he gave her a hard stare. She smiled pleasantly. He grasped her hand briefly, but it was long enough to register a great deal about the young chef. Her hand was cool and dry, and her handshake firm and no-nonsense. It was the grip of a woman in charge. Was he wrong about the fire beneath her contained exterior? For once he doubted his initial verdict. He couldn’t imagine this woman ever losing control.

  ‘Allow me to reassure you,’ she continued, ‘that, in spite of Chef Sorollo’s absence tonight, the menu remains unchanged, and the food will be as delicious as always at El Gato Feroz.’

  ‘With you in charge?’ He was at a loss as to how to deal with such straightforward charm and felt bound to take her to task.

  ‘Yes,’ she stated firmly, holding his stare without flinching.

  Her eyes were violet, he saw now, and she used them to good effect, staring directly at him with nothing more in her expression than the desire to please, and a calm determination to soothe him now that it was glaringly obvious he wouldn’t be getting the top chef he’d paid for tonight.

  ‘I hope you’re pleased with what we’ve done,’ she said as she led the way deeper into the restaurant. ‘The team has worked really hard to make sure everything is perfect for your sister’s party.’

  Glancing around, he had to admit that the restaurant did look at its best. He’d requested exotic, fiery blooms to match his sister’s vibrant personality, and florists had certainly worked their magic.

  ‘We’ll light the candles soon.’ He stared down at the young woman at his side. ‘And then you’ll see how the crystal and silverware sparkles like something out of Aladdin’s cave,’ she added, staring into the middle distance as if picturing the scene.

  So, there was a softer side to Sadie. Interesting, he thought, though she snapped out of the reverie almost immediately. As they continued the tour, she remained every inch the professional, from the crown of her chef’s hat to the toes of her ugly, though sensible, shoes. It was when they accidentally brushed against each other when they moved as one to open a door that his body responded with surprising enthusiasm. He was tired of pushovers, he supposed as he took in the line of Sadie’s resolute jaw.

  ‘You have nothing to worry about, Don Alegon,’ she assured him. ‘We’re always meticulous with planning and preparations at El Gato Feroz, and I’m confident the team has thought of everything.’

  She took no praise for herself, he noticed. ‘I’m not worried,’ he said, and with a casual gesture he added, ‘I expect the best, and I’m sure that you and your team will deliver exactly that.’ Strangely, he did have confidence in Sadie.

  ‘Thank you for putting your trust in us,’ she said, seeming pleased. ‘Would you like a cocktail while you wait for the guests to arrive?’

  She gestured towards the famous mirrored bar with its line of deeply upholstered stools in midnight-blue velvet. ‘No, thank you,’ he said crisply, thinking how cold he sounded. This was the effect the city always had on him. It seemed to turn his default setting to tense, and when his sister was added to the mix, his desire for excellence was off the scale.

  ‘Can’t I tempt you with a glass of champagne?’

  She could tempt him with many things, he thought as she stared into his eyes, but not champagne. He wanted a clear head tonight. His doubts on the wisdom of Annalisa’s choice of husband remained, and he needed to keep a watchful eye on the Prince and his friends. They might have grand titles, but a thorough investigation by his security team had proved they didn’t have the money to fund their extravagant lifestyles, and when his sister was in one of her reckless moods, she might not see trouble looming on the horizon as he did.

  ‘Champagne? No, thank you,’ he told Sadie.

  ‘Beer, then?’ she suggested with the hint of a mocking light in her eyes.

  She was not afraid to tease and test him, which was another point in her favour. ‘A beer would be good. But only if you join me.’

  Her polite smile didn’t falter as she told him, ‘I never drink on duty.’

  They stared at each other with renewed interest until she said, ‘I believe your sister’s arriving, so I’ll have one of the waiters bring you your beer.’

  Before he could say another word, she had gone. Once again, eluding him, he thought, grinding his jaw. Before he had chance to dwell on this, the fleet of stretch limos he’d ordered to accommodate Annalisa and her friends drew up outside the restaurant. He’d be too busy for the rest of the evening to talk to Sadie, but she’d thrown down a gauntlet he wouldn’t forget.

  CHAPTER TWO

  IT WOULD BE a late night before she climbed into bed in the tiny attic above the restaurant, but there was nothing she wouldn’t do for Chef Sorollo, and Sadie was enjoying every moment of being in charge of the kitchen. It was the first time she had been put to the test, and she was determined to shine for her mentor.

  ‘Service!’ she called out for the umpteenth time, remembering back to when the great man had asked her if she had anywhere to live. From the off Chef Sorollo had shown piercing intuition, understanding so much without her having to say a single word. ‘I have a room,’ he’d said. ‘It’s not much, but it’s somewhere to lay your head.’

  Sadie smiled to think she’d lived there ever since. The simple bedsit with its view over the rooftops of Madrid was spotlessly clean and extremely comfortable, and, best of all, it was quiet. There was no shouting, no china crashing to the floor and no violence. There was just the hum of purposeful activity in the restaurant kitchen far below. Some might have thought it a comedown after the brash opulence of her parents’ home, but Sadie had always felt like a clumsy intruder in the huge, echoing mansion, with its screening room, swim-up bar, and regular shouting matches.

  ‘Everyone loves it, Sadie,’ one of the waiters exclaimed as he swept past her as if on oiled wheels. ‘Your party’s a huge success.’

  ‘Our party,’ she called after him, smiling.

  With a little gentle prompting by Chef Sorollo, her story had come out. The great man had insisted on taking charge of her education, sending her to night school, where she’d formally trained to be a chef. When she was qualified, he’d taken her under his wing and had completed her training, saying that a loyal and loving family stayed close and looked after each other. That was why work consumed her now, and why there had never been a more important night for Sadie—because this was her way of thanking a man who had turned out to be her saviour.

  Excellence was paramount tonight. With so many celebrated guests present, the papers woul
d report Annalisa Alegon’s party, and there would be photographs of everyone present. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of one guest in particular. She’d had chance to read up on Don Alejandro de Alegon and had learned something of his colourful history. He was descended from a long line of aristocrats on his father’s side, while his late mother had been a Spanish gypsy princess. Both his parents had been killed in a tragic accident, leaving Alejandro to raise his younger sister. Everyone thought it a great honour that he’d chosen El Gato Feroz as the venue for his sister’s engagement party. Sadie guessed he made all the choices; even on the briefest sighting, he’d struck her as that type of man. He played out his life on the world stage while she was content in the kitchen, and she would never belong in his world any more than she had belonged in her parents’ world. Bottom line: the Don commanded while she was happy to serve.

  Serve him?

  Certainly not! Sadie concluded with a short laugh as she served up a fresh batch of delicious entrées. The thought that there was no buffer between Sadie and Don Alegon in the comforting form of Chef Sorollo might make her tense, but she would allow nothing to get in the way of making tonight the success her mentor and his team deserved. It would be business as usual tonight at El Gato Feroz.

  * * *

  For the rest of the night he was aware of Sadie somewhere close by, and he looked for her constantly. No other woman had ever affected him this way, and he couldn’t explain the feeling. It took his sister linking arms with him to return his attention to where it should have been all along.

  ‘I can’t thank you enough for tonight,’ Annalisa said as she snuggled into his side. ‘It’s more than I deserve—’

  ‘A lot more,’ he agreed dryly.

  They laughed together. Annalisa was the one person in the world who could shake him out of his city tension. There were so many plates to keep spinning he could barely spare her a moment when he was in Madrid, but Annalisa had always gone where angels feared to tread, and tonight was a special occasion.

  ‘Are you happy? Are you sure about the Prince?’ he asked with concern as his glance swept over the man in question and his party, who were doing their best to drain the last bottle of wine in the cellar of El Gato Feroz.

  ‘I know I love you,’ his sister told him fervently as she stared up into his eyes. ‘You do know that, don’t you, Alejandro? You’re so stern, I wonder sometimes if you realise how much I appreciate all you do for me. I just hope the day will come when I can do something for you.’

  ‘Behave yourself,’ he said mock sternly. ‘That’s what I want you to do. And don’t worry about me.’

  ‘But I do worry about you,’ Annalisa insisted. ‘You should be thinking about your life going forward, not mine. What would it take to make you happy, Alejandro?’

  ‘Whatever it takes for you to have a good life,’ he said, glancing with concern at Annalisa’s husband-to-be, who seemed more interested in talking to the pretty woman at his side than looking after his sister. ‘You will tell me if anything goes wrong, won’t you?’

  ‘I know you’re always there for me,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about you. It’s time you did something for yourself, instead of always for other people. You deserve happiness too.’

  ‘Nobody deserves anything,’ he stated firmly. ‘You just concentrate on your upcoming new life as a princess.’ As he said this, he wondered how much of Annalisa’s latest romance was based on the idea of becoming a princess, rather than the reality of marrying such a weak man. His sister wasn’t a fool, but she was a dreamer. It wasn’t up to him to live Annalisa’s life for her, he reminded himself, though living up to that wasn’t easy. ‘Happiness is fleeting,’ he warned as he held her gaze. ‘Grab it while you can.’

  ‘That’s a lesson for you too,’ his sister told him. ‘I know you’re thinking about our parents when you say things like this, and I also know they’d want you to be happy. Grab some happiness while you can, Alejandro, and hug it tight.’

  He smiled. ‘You’re a lovely young woman and I’m very proud of you. You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘If I don’t,’ his sister assured him with one of her sideways looks, ‘I’m sure I can rely on you to tell me.’

  They laughed together, and for a few moments everything was simple and warm, as it had always been before the Prince came on the scene. ‘Just make sure you tell me if the Prince lets you down,’ he said, turning serious.

  ‘You’ll be the first to know—your cast-iron security team will make sure of it,’ Annalisa added with a cheeky glance as she turned away to her friends.

  He watched the young women in their huddle at the table, wondering what they were discussing so avidly. He soon found out.

  ‘We want the chef to step out so we can thank her for the most marvellous evening,’ Annalisa came to tell him.

  ‘Annalisa!’ he exclaimed as she bolted away. Too late. She’d already attracted the attention of the maître d’.

  A few minutes later, his sister returned with a slightly pinker version of Sadie, who emerged from the kitchen to a storm of applause. In spite of Chef Sorello’s absence, the food had been absolutely delicious and everything had gone without a hitch. He surprised himself by leading the applause, and even offering a personal vote of thanks. When their eyes met, Sadie held his stare with that same mix of professional cool and not quite hidden glint of something more. It was a combination that made his senses roar.

  It was the early hours before the guests began to leave. As the restaurant emptied, he stepped outside to find a hint of dawn tinting the night sky lavender. It was a particular light that reminded him of daybreak in the mountains he loved, because it was there, in the wild, dramatic land of his mother’s people, where he felt most at ease. His mother and father’s very different personalities would always war inside him, he supposed. Striving to be the best of both of them was his life’s work. His mother had bequeathed vision and passion, while his father had instilled in him a stern sense of responsibility that insisted his life in the city must always take precedence, because it was here that he cared for his sister and ran a business upon which countless families depended for their livelihood. This thought was only underlined when he noticed Annalisa’s fiancé, the Prince, ignoring the wait staff as he strode out of the restaurant, surrounded by his cronies.

  ‘Where is he going?’ he asked Annalisa as she stared after the Prince with concern.

  ‘To a club, I think...to celebrate our engagement,’ she added quickly when he stared at her, frowning.

  ‘The very least the staff deserve after such a marvellous evening is a word of thanks. And shouldn’t you have a lift home? Don’t worry, I’ll take you,’ he said, seeing Annalisa’s crestfallen expression. Why such a generous-hearted woman should attract such selfish men was utterly beyond him.

  He made up for the Prince’s oversight by giving the staff the recognition they deserved, and he enjoyed talking to each of them in turn to thank them personally for making the evening so special for his sister. His only irritation was that when it came to showing his appreciation to the woman who’d saved the night, Sadie was nowhere to be found.

  * * *

  Resting back on her narrow bed in the attic room above the restaurant, Sadie sighed with relief and contentment...marred with just a little bit of racing heartbeat, thanks to a pair of dangerous dark eyes that kept flashing back and forth inside her mind. At least she could report to Chef Sorollo that everything had gone well. And now that she was back in her safe place, she was confident she would never need anything more than this.

  Except relief from images of the Duque de Alegon, Sadie concluded with an impatient huff as she punched her pillows into submission. Turning over repeatedly also failed to banish the all too vivid picture of Alejandro de Alegon. It was ridiculous. She’d probably never see him again. Which would be far better for all con
cerned, Sadie concluded. He stirred such turbulent feelings inside her, and she’d learned as a small child that passion was a destructive force that led to nowhere but anger and violence. Witnessing her parents’ unhappy relationship had more than proved that.

  Closing her eyes, she turned her thoughts determinedly to what had been an astonishing evening. What a setting! What a night! The team had really proved their worth. And then there were the looks she’d shared with Don Alegon...she’d remember those for ever.

  So much for blotting him out of her mind!

  Alejandro...

  She murmured his name out loud, for the pleasure of tasting it on her tongue. Imagining his firm lips on hers, and his lean, bronzed hands leading her towards the type of pleasure she couldn’t even imagine, was inevitable.

  And that’s enough! she told herself firmly. However wonderful the evening had been, she would wake up in a few hours, shower and change, ready to prepare lunch.

  * * *

  Service in the restaurant at lunchtime the next day didn’t go as smoothly as Sadie had anticipated. It seemed incredible that, yet again, a crisis had stopped everyone in their tracks.

  ‘Oh, my God, no!’ Sadie exclaimed, incapable of hiding her feelings when she heard the news. Gripping the stainless-steel countertop to steady herself, she tried to take in the newsflash on a colleague’s phone. Complete with lurid pictures, it showed a car crash, and the text underneath read that Alejandro, the Duque de Alegon, and his sister, Annalisa, had been innocent victims of a pile-up on their way home from a party last night at El Gato Feroz.

  Seeing Annalisa so happy only hours before, and Alejandro so vital and strong, she hardly dared to ask the question. ‘Are they badly hurt?’

  One of her fellow chefs was quick to reassure her. ‘They were relatively unscathed, it says in a later bulletin,’ he explained, showing her the screen on his phone. ‘It’s a miracle, some are saying, especially as Don Alegon risked his life, saving his sister from the smoke-filled car. They’re keeping them in hospital as a precautionary measure only, it says here.’