Mrs Carter, who must have been in her early fifties, wore a flattering shift dress with wide shoulders and her hair was so coiffed it looked as though every strand had been sprayed separately into place. Mr Carter, who looked to be of a similar age, was just as polished in a dark grey double-breasted suit and blindingly white shirt to match his blindingly white teeth.
Caleb took the lead by holding out his hand for them to shake and introducing Elena as his girlfriend—which only added to the fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach—then gesturing for them all to take a seat.
The atmosphere was a little awkward at first; Mr Carter appeared to be on the defensive, as if waiting for Caleb to become angry about the fact he was considering walking away from the partnership they’d been discussing, but after a few minutes of attentive questions from Caleb about how he and his wife liked Barcelona and being given a few pointers on the places they must visit whilst here, he appeared to relax a little.
The waiter came over and they ordered a bottle of local wine and a selection of food for the table on Caleb’s recommendation and the conversation turned to business.
At first Elena sat back, drinking her wine a little too fast and watching Caleb lead the discussion with something close to awe. She found his clear handle on the market and technical, as well as fiscal, knowledge truly breathtaking and he seemed to be impressing Carter too, because the man was actually sitting back in his seat now and had taken his hand off his wife’s lap, where they’d been holding hands.
Putting down her glass, Elena gave the woman a smile and was rewarded with a genuinely warm grin back.
‘So how long have you two been together?’ Brie Carter asked her with an inquisitive glint in her eye as the two men expounded on the state of the rechargeable battery market in the States.
Elena’s stomach lurched. ‘Er...well, we’ve known each other since we met at Cambridge. Caleb was doing an Erasmus exchange year and we became good friends.’
‘And that turned into more, I see,’ Brie said with a hint of a plea for some juicy gossip to break up the work talk.
Elena glanced at Caleb to check whether he was listening, but he seemed to be deep in conversation with Jonathan Carter. Taking another large gulp of her wine and feeling its warming effect steady her nerves, she leant forward in her chair and said, ‘To be honest, it was a love-hate relationship for a long while, but we met again recently and worked things out and we’re a strong couple now.’
‘I guess that’s what makes powerful men so exciting to be with,’ Brie said with a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. ‘The unpredictability of them.’
Elena smiled. ‘Yes, I’ve always had trouble working Caleb out. He keeps his emotions close to his chest and can come across as a bit of a prickly character, but he’s actually an intensely kind, passionate and caring man.’
It wasn’t just the alcohol warming her veins now, but also the recognition of the truth in her words. She’d never met anyone else like Caleb and she suspected she never would again. He was one of a kind.
‘That’s good to hear,’ Brie said with a thoughtful nod.
Sensing an advantage in convincing Carter’s wife about Caleb’s suitability for a working relationship with her husband, she took the opportunity to endorse him some more.
‘He’s the most brilliant, focused and hard-working person I’ve ever met and he’ll be the best business partner your husband’s ever had,’ she said, throwing the older woman a conspiratorial smile. ‘He never fails to excite and inspire me, both in a business sense and on a personal level. Always has.’
She felt Caleb shift next to her as he slid his arm across her back to rest gently on her shoulders. She nearly jumped out of her seat as she felt his fingers brush against the exposed skin of her upper arm, sending little electric currents rushing across her nerve endings. Turning her head, she saw he was looking at her with that dark intensity in his gaze again and her cheeks flooded with heat as panic rose in her chest. Had he heard what she’d just said about him?
If so, did he realise she was telling the truth and not just putting on an act for the Americans?
But his expression gave nothing away, his attention seemingly focused on the complex business discussion he was involved in as he asked her to qualify an answer to something about the market for rechargeable batteries in the UK. She forced herself to relax her rigid posture and answer as clearly and succinctly as possible while her pulse raced and her palms grew hot with worry that he’d overheard her gushing admiration of him.
But when she’d finished he nodded his thanks, removed his arm and turned back to Carter, as if he’d not noticed a thing.
It seemed he hadn’t heard what she’d said about him and he was just playing the part of attentive boyfriend.
Thank goodness.
It could put them both in a really difficult position if he knew how she really felt about him, especially as their relationship was such a tangled mess. Her stomach lurched as she allowed herself to consider how it might feel to pursue a real relationship with him. It was a disconcerting yet also unnervingly exciting idea, but she’d be a fool to even entertain it. She’d come to Barcelona in the hopes of being his partner in business only—which, of course, she’d thoroughly messed up—and to hope, even for a second, that anything of a romantic nature might develop with Caleb now, when he couldn’t remember what had happened between them, was completely reprehensible.
Pushing the notion to the back of her mind, she made sure to keep the conversation focused on Brie after that and they spent the rest of the meal chatting happily about her daughters and the wedding that she was helping to plan, which was taking place in Boston that August.
Elena tried her best to concentrate on what Brie was saying but she couldn’t help but tune in to what Caleb and Jonathan were discussing, especially when their voices became more animated. Thankfully, it seemed it was just friendly rivalry, and the two men became more and more relaxed with each other as more wine was consumed and the evening wore on.
Despite her worry about Caleb struggling due to his head injury, he’d coped admirably with the questions that Carter fired at him. It seemed he’d done it; he’d kept his cool and turned the American’s opinion of him around. In fact, to Elena’s delight and relief, he appeared to have returned to the man she remembered knowing all those years ago at university.
The idea of it made her heart flutter.
She’d become increasingly aware of him sitting only inches away from her throughout the end of the meal, his heady, clean scent in her nose and the heat from his body warming her side, so it was something of a relief to her addled senses when Jonathan pronounced it time for them to go back to their hotel.
The four of them stood and the two men shook hands firmly, Carter’s initial wariness nowhere to be seen now as he clapped Caleb jovially on the back.
‘Good to meet you, Caleb. I’ll get my team to contact you about moving forward with this partnership as soon as we get back to the States.’
Brie leaned in to give Elena an elegant air-kiss near each cheek, then drew her close on the pretext of giving her a hug to whisper in her ear. ‘It’s wonderful to see how Caleb inspires such genuine loyalty in you. I can tell by the way you look at him how much you care about him.’
She drew back to look Elena in the eye. ‘It’s heartening to see, especially after the rumours we’ve heard about what a hard character he is to get on with,’ she murmured. ‘But, after meeting the two of you tonight, I sincerely think my husband’s going to find working with him a positive experience.’
Jonathan Carter turned from listening to Caleb’s assurances he’d be primed for the next point of contact to give Elena a dazzling smile. ‘It was wonderful to meet you too, Elena. Caleb here’s a lucky man.’ He slapped Caleb on the back again and Elena had to hide her frown of concern when she notic
ed him wincing in pain from his injured rib.
‘Thank you for preventing my wife from dying of boredom with all our business talk,’ Carter went on, not seeming to notice Caleb’s physical discomfort. ‘It looked like the two of you had a lot in common, no doubt swapping tales about the two of us!’ he boomed, gesturing between himself and Caleb, then sliding his arm around his wife’s waist and giving her a hard squeeze which made her gasp and slap him gently on the chest in retaliation.
Elena’s breath caught in her throat as she felt Caleb slide his arm around her waist and pull her closer to him, as if wanting to mirror the American’s loving behaviour.
As part of the act, Elena reminded herself fuzzily.
Heart thumping in her throat, she watched the couple as they weaved away through the tables towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, then carefully extricated herself from Caleb’s hold on the pretence of grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair.
‘Well, that went well, I think,’ she said, looking up into Caleb’s face to find him frowning, as if perplexed about something.
Because she’d moved away from him so deliberately?
Probably.
She felt pretty sure he wasn’t used to women rejecting his touch.
It made her wonder again whether he’d heard her gushing praise of him.
‘You did a great job, Caleb; it sounds like a partnership is in the bag,’ she said, shrugging her jacket on awkwardly. She couldn’t quite look him in the eye now. Not after she’d seen the way he was looking at her a moment ago.
As much as she wanted him to know she was sorry for the way she’d treated him in the past and wanted to make amends, she also didn’t want to give him the wrong impression here tonight.
She needed to be more careful.
‘Yes, he seemed to be on board,’ Caleb said, his voice a low, seductive rumble that sent a shiver of unwelcome longing down her spine.
‘Shall we go?’ she asked, her voice sounding prim and strained as she overcompensated for her body’s inappropriate reaction.
‘Sure. Lead the way,’ he said, gesturing for her to leave first, with a somewhat unnerving glint in his eyes.
* * *
As they walked away from the Gothic quarter, Caleb finally allowed himself to think about what he’d overheard Elena saying to Carter’s wife about him.
She could have just been playing the game of being his lover, of course, but there had been something in the way she’d said it that had made his breath catch in his throat. Clearly she’d thought he wasn’t listening because when he’d turned to catch her eye she’d looked almost—shifty.
So there was something more than friendship between them, just as he’d suspected. But if that was the case, why was she pretending that there wasn’t?
He had no idea.
What he did know was that he was going to make sure to find out before she left for England and do everything in his power to smooth things over with her.
The kiss they’d shared before Carter and his wife had arrived had made his body hum with tension all evening. When he’d seen the look of concern on her face he’d wanted to do something to reassure her he was going to do whatever it took to win the Americans over, but as soon as his mouth had met hers he’d been lost in a great surge of hunger for her. The sounds and sights of the restaurant had faded away until all he was aware of was the gentle sway and press of Elena’s body against his and the sweet, exotic fragrance of her. Her mouth had felt so good against his it had taken a monumental effort to drag himself away from her and not grab her hand and run with her out of the restaurant and jump into the next cab to take them home.
After that, watching her charming Carter’s wife and dazzling the couple with her wit, intelligence and profound beauty—he’d found it almost impossible to keep his mind solely on the business conversation.
Throughout the entire evening he’d been intensely aware of the connection between them, taut and alive, as if it was a tangible thing drawing them ever closer together.
He wanted to know more about what was going on between them—had to know, for the sake of his sanity.
Yes, he assured himself, he wasn’t going to let her go until he’d got the full measure of Elena Jones.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE CAR PICKED them up a couple of streets away from the restaurant and took them straight home to Caleb’s apartment, the two of them sitting in a buzzing, tension-filled silence as they looked out at the wide city streets flashing by.
‘You were great tonight,’ Caleb said after his driver had pulled up outside his building and he’d helped Elena out of the car, feeling her cool, small hand in his and marvelling at how good it felt to have it there. ‘Carter’s wife really seemed to like you.’
She flashed him an equable smile as she straightened up. ‘I liked her; she was a really lovely woman, very focused on her family.’
‘Well, I owe you big for what you did for me tonight.’
There was a loaded moment where they stood and looked at each other, the gentle, far-off sounds of the city at night making him feel as though they were trapped in a bubble together. Caleb broke the strange energy by smiling and saying, ‘Anyway, thanks, Elena. I really appreciate your help.’
She shuffled a little on the spot and nodded, her bright eyes gleaming in the light thrown out from the streetlight above them.
‘It was my pleasure. Anything for a friend.’
The emphasis she put on the word ‘friend’ made him bristle.
It suddenly struck him that by tomorrow her forty-eight hours of observation of him would be up and she might well leave and return to England.
And he found he really didn’t want her to go.
He wondered where this intense need to keep her here longer had sprung from. Okay, he found her really attractive and was impressed with her business acumen and how smart and savvy she was, but he never normally felt this sort of draw to a woman.
There was something different about her, something compulsive.
He had to explore what this thing was between them, or it would haunt him for ever.
Turning back to look into her hooded eyes, he was intrigued to see she seemed to be having her own non-verbal debate with herself. Was she only holding back because she thought he was still incapacitated? Weak? Frustration surged through him. Well, he wasn’t. He was completely in his right mind and he knew damn well what he wanted—her, and now.
Pulling his key card out of his pocket, he let them into his building and they stepped into the lift that would take them up to his apartment, Elena swaying gently in her heels beside him.
Being around her felt right, dammit—as if she were a missing link in his life.
And he was going to do whatever it took to have her back in it.
‘Elena?’ he said, turning to face her once the lift had begun its smooth ascent.
‘I know what happened between us at university. I know we were more than just friends. And I know we didn’t act on it because of Jimmy.’
* * *
Elena swallowed hard as blood rushed to her head and her stomach did a backflip.
His memory had finally returned.
‘You remember?’ she whispered through lips that would barely form the words.
He nodded, his beautiful mouth curving into another of its wolfish, dangerous smiles.
The lift came to an abrupt stop, making her stomach do an extra flip for good measure. She could barely breathe with worry about what he was going to say now he remembered what had happened all those years ago. Would he be angry with her? Shout and swear at her, or just be coldly dismissive again?
Her pulse throbbed in her head. She really hoped he wouldn’t go ballistic and chuck her out on the street now, not after what they’d just bee
n through together. Not now she’d finally met the real Caleb again. She couldn’t bear it.
The door of the lift swished open and he strode out and straight over to his door without another word, slipping the key into the lock then holding the door open for her to walk through it.
She strode into his apartment with her head held resolutely high, determined to keep her cool, to restate her case and hopefully prove to him once and for all that she was sorry about how their relationship had ended.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched him shrug off his jacket and hang it up before finally turning back to face her.
His expression was impassive as his dark gaze bored into hers.
‘We’ve wasted a lot of time leading our separate lives and I think it’s time to remedy that.’
She stared at him in shock. Had she misheard? It sounded as though he was talking about pursuing more than friendship with her. ‘I’m sorry?’ she stuttered, aware that her hands had begun to shake at her sides.
‘What happened was a long time ago, and we’re both free and single now,’ he continued, apparently oblivious to her befuddlement. ‘Without anything standing in our way. No partners, no memory loss—’
‘Do you remember everything that happened between us?’ she asked, her voice sounding shaky with anticipation and hope.
There was a flash of something in his eyes, remembered pain perhaps, but it quickly disappeared. ‘Yes.’
‘And you forgive me for it?’
He took a deliberate pace towards her and raised his hand to touch her face, smoothing the backs of his long fingers gently over her cheek.
‘I’m not going to let some stupid argument from the past get in the way of what we have here—right now. We’re good together, you and I. We fit.’
‘Caleb—are you sure?’ Her voice came out as a low breath of air as sensation rushed over her skin at his touch. Had she really done it? Made up for the hurt she’d caused him in the past? Her spirits soared as the heavy weight of guilt began to lift and she finally felt as though she could breathe properly again.
The Unforgettable Spanish Tycoon Page 9