Claiming his Secret Baby & Blackmailed by The Spaniard

by Connelly, Clare

  He’d sworn when she’d come to the island that he would control this – that he’d show her how over her he was. Last night had been an aberration; a mistake. One he wouldn’t and couldn’t make again…

  9

  ADDIE WAS A BUCKET of nerves. How could she be anything but? She’d hardly slept. Their fight kept chasing itself around and around her head, and in the end, she’d given up on sleeping altogether. Only being awake didn’t mean she didn’t think about Guy. It just meant she thought about him with more clarity and precision.

  She had to talk to him – to insist he listen to her explanations. She couldn’t tell him about her mother – she would never betray that confidence – but she could explain about her father and Greg. She could make him see what she’d been running from on the night she met Guy.

  And she had the perfect way to get through to him.

  They were going to look at the pirates’ caves. Surely that would leave them alone, secluded, and he would have no choice but to listen to her. Because deep down, surely he wanted to know the truth? Surely he wanted her to find a way to make him understand, so that he could get past the fact she’d lied to him?

  She’d lied about her name! Her job! But everything else she’d told Guy had been the truth.

  She gnawed on her lower lip as her own brain dismissed that. No, she’d lied about a lot of things. Little tiny fibs that hid the truth of her heartbreak, because she hadn’t wanted it to colour what they shared.

  Guy was the first purely-good thing she’d ever known. Was it wrong that she’d wanted to revel in that pleasure? To simply enjoy the happiness of what they were without the complications of her loss?

  Addie dressed with care, pairing a bikini with a simple cotton t-shirt and a pair of white shorts that just barely covered her bottom, and slid her feet into elegant, gold sandals. Her hair she pulled into a loose braid. Other than a little sunscreen on her nose and gloss on her lips, she didn’t bother with makeup.

  Butterflies were dancing inside of her stomach as she made her way through the yacht, in search of Guy. He wasn’t in his room, or the large lounge area that had panoramic views of the island.

  With a small frown, she took the stairs, moving onto the deck.

  And almost bumped right into Guy! He swore in his own tongue, a curt word, as he reached a hand out to steady Addie. Her eyes flew to his, panic in them, her heart in knots.

  “Guy.” It was just a croaky sound of acknowledgment. “I was just coming to look for you.”

  “You appear to have found me,” he said cynically, dropping his grip on her arm and moving backwards, allowing her the space to move properly onto the deck.

  Her smile was tight. “I wasn’t sure what time you wanted to leave. I wanted to tell you that I’m ready when you are.”

  Guy frowned. “Ready?”

  “For the pirates’ caves?”

  He pulled a face of surprise. “You aren’t serious?”

  Addie lifted her face, skimming his expression. “What do you mean?”

  “I have no intention of scampering around like your personal tour guide, Ava.”

  “But last night, you said…”

  “I was acting, Ava! Playing a part, just like we discussed. What was I meant to do? Tell my mother I didn’t want to spend any more time with you than I absolutely have to?” He drew his thick, dark brows closer together. “You know why you are here. To fool my family. That’s it. I want nothing from you beyond that, particularly not to go running around the island with you, as though any of this is real.”

  Addie’s heart cracked wide open, pain flooding in. Disappointment engulfed her, making it hard to breathe suddenly. “But Guy…”

  “What?” A sharp hiss, and then, a movement over his shoulder caught Addie’s attention. A golf buggy, drawing up along the sand.

  Only Guy had his back to the beach, and so couldn’t have known that they were on the brink of having company. Addie opened her mouth to point the fact out, but he spoke first.

  “I should have thought you’d recognize my sentiment.”

  “Sentiment?” She repeated, her eyes darting nervously to the beach. Was that Santiago, stepping out of the golf buggy?

  “Acting. Pretending. Faking.” He brought his mouth closer to hers. “I was faking, just like you.”

  “I told you,” she whispered back urgently, as Santiago approached the deck. “Nothing about this is fake for me.”

  He whipped his head up and she saw anger in every line of his body. “Lying to me is going to get you nowhere. I learned my lesson about women like you a long time ago, and you have certainly given me a refresher course. I suppose I should thank you…”

  “Thank me later,” she snapped. “Your grandfather is here.”

  For a moment, there was a look of complete surprise on Guy’s face and then, she thought, fleetingly, guilt. But it was all gone again within a nano-second. Guy turned away from her, moving towards the entrance to the yacht, his back ramrod straight.

  Addie didn’t immediately follow him. She needed a moment to regroup, to regain control of her senses before plastering on a façade of happiness she was far from feeling. She caught their voices without being able to distinguish any words.

  Balling up all her grief and ramming it deep inside of her, she stuck a smile on her face and made her way along the boat, towards the two men. Seeing them standing side by side, she felt for herself how similar they were.

  “Santiago,” she smiled at the older man, unable to look in Guy’s direction. She felt his gaze on her though, and her skin pricked all over.

  “Ah, bella dama,” he grinned. “I hope you will not resent an old man crashing your day?”

  “Of course not,” Addie said, frankly relieved at the idea of company. Was it wrong that she felt that way? To know that in the presence of his grandfather, Guy would be charming and kind, and her heart would be – temporarily – safe?

  “Luciana has begun,” he said with a grimace. Addie risked a glance at Guy. He was silently watchful, his expression unreadable, his eyes not meeting hers.

  “What does that mean?” Addie asked.

  “She is setting up for the party. There are people everywhere! The marquee goes up, the caterers have taken over the kitchen, the garden is being transformed – an ice statue is being sculpted – I cannot think for the noise.”

  “I see,” Addie said sympathetically.

  “And it’s been so long since I’ve been to the caves myself,” he said with a grin, “that I thought I would hitch along with you two.”

  Addie’s eyes flew to Guy’s face now, in time to catch a hint of impatience in them.

  “I’m sure it’s not what my grandson had in mind,” Santiago winked. “But I am allowed to be selfish at eighty five, am I not?”

  “Eighty four,” Addie corrected with a wry smile. “And we’re thrilled you’re here, aren’t we, Guy?”

  “Of course,” he nodded. His eyes were cold though, when they met Addie’s, his smile a very poor imitation. “I’ll get the ball rolling.”

  It took only twenty minutes. Staff from the island withdrew the moorings, casting the boat away, and Guy took the helm himself, steering the yacht expertly while Addie sat with Santiago, sipping on an ice-cold lemonade.

  Santiago was excellent company. Interesting, funny and undemanding, but a portion of her brain was ticking over the depth of Guy’s hatred for her. The way he made it obvious, at every opportunity he got, that he resented her being there.

  So why had he asked her to come? Surely he could have paid an actual actress, someone who would have played the part and then disappeared into her bedroom once they were back on the yacht? Why Addie, whom he would obviously never forgive?

  Unless, deep down, he couldn’t forget what they’d shared? Unless there was a part of him that wanted to rekindle their affair? A small part, if his behavior was anything to go on, but was that enough?

  It was sex and lies. His statement, his condemnation, se
nt a shiver down her spine.

  “Are you okay?” Santiago, as attentive and observant as his grandson, turned to face her.

  “Someone must have walked over my grave,” she said with a shrug, as though it didn’t matter. As though Guy’s coldness hadn’t chilled her to the bone.

  Except, it wasn’t coldness.

  Guy was motivated by passion. A deep, searing passion that was full of fire and flame. There was nothing cold about his anger.

  “You make him happy?”

  She noted that it was a question, rather than an observation. Addie needed to bring her acting A-game, but she was rattled. Understandably so. The argument with Guy had stretched overnight and she had no idea what to do next. The foolish hopes she’d had for this week lay in tatters about her.

  “I hope so,” she said, shifting a little, pulling her sunglasses down so at least her expressive eyes wouldn’t give her away.

  “He’s a good man, my grandson. But he is useless with his heart,” Santiago sighed heavily. “I suspect you know this, though.”

  Addie’s own heart was rabbiting so loudly against her ribcage that she felt like Santiago must surely be able to hear it.

  “The business with Maria hurt him, you know?”

  Confusion held her silent.

  “It was very hard for him to trust. For many years I thought he would never let another woman get close to him,” he sighed heavily. “It is a pleasure to discover I was wrong.”

  Who was Maria? And what had she done to Guy?

  She tried to cast back through her memory for snatches of conversation that might shed a little light – and she drew a blank. Guy had never spoken of anyone named Maria.

  “He doesn’t know I know,” Santiago said, after another minute. “I understand why that is. He had to keep the relationship a secret. His mother would have a heart attack.” Santiago lifted his brows heavenward, and more questions fired inside of Addie.

  “How did you find out?” She prompted, really just to buy for time.

  “It’s impossible to keep any secrets from me.” He laughed, a crackly sound that boomed across the ocean. The boat was moving, but not at high speed, allowing for a leisurely inspection of the island as they went.

  “I’m sure,” Addie nodded with the appearance of calm, but anxiety was spreading along her spine, forming a bundle of nerves at the base of her neck. She had no trouble believing Santiago would be a tough nut to fool and yet they were doing just that, weren’t they?

  “There could have been a scandal,” he said after a moment. “I made sure there wasn’t.”

  Addie frowned. She couldn’t imagine Guy needing anyone to clean up his mess – whatever mess that was.

  “Anyway, it was a long time ago,” Santiago smiled, his eyes appraising Addie’s face – or what he could see of it beneath the sunglasses. “I haven’t seen him happy with a woman in many years. Perhaps not ever. And I like you.”

  Warmth spread through Addie and for the briefest, most illicit moment, she allowed herself to imagine this was real. To imagine that she was meeting Santiago as a genuine girlfriend. As she’d been six months ago.

  Her heart stuttered at the very idea.

  “I like you, too,” she murmured thickly.

  She bit down on her lip, her eyes scanning the horizon. She needed to speak to Guy, only now, the backlog of questions she had seemed to be tying her up in knots, so that she couldn’t see the forest for the trees. How could she force him to speak to her, to explain to her, what she needed to know? How could she get him to listen?

  * * *

  “We have to swim the rest of the way,” Guy said the words with every appearance of contentment, but Addie heard the undercurrent. The resentment.

  “Great,” she beamed, her smile overly bright for Santiago’s benefit. “But what about you?” She turned to the older man, her expression dubious.

  “No, no. It is enough to see the caves from here,” he said with a sage nod. “Besides, someone has to keep the yacht safe from pirates, eh?”

  “Or their ghosts,” Addie agreed with a nod and a somber expression.

  Guy was impatient, though. “Can you dive?”

  She looked at him, and then towards the water. It was crystal clear, she could see all the way to the bottom. “Of course.” She nodded, lifting her shirt over her head and tossing it onto a sun lounger. “You sure you don’t want to join us?” She teased Santiago.

  But he was reclining, his eyes on the caves of the island, apparently miles away.

  “Come on,” Guy said, pulling his own shirt off, and stripping down to his shorts.

  She did the same, so that she was in just a bikini, and without any further prompting, she climbed over the railing so she was standing on the wrong side of the ledge, and leaped into the air, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, bombing herself right into the ocean with a laugh. Water splashed in all directions, and both Santiago and Guy wore their fair share of it.

  She caught a hint of Guy’s expression – the challenge she’d laid one he was tempted to accept – before seeing the smile spread across Santiago’s aged face. She duck-dove under the water, breast-stroking her way towards the island, lifting up only to take a breath. She felt the water shift as Guy reached her, his own powerful stroke changing the currents that ran around her. His fingertips brushed against her side and when she came up for her next breath, she faced him, her eyes meeting his.

  She trod water – it was still too deep to stand – and cast a look back towards the boat. They were far enough from it to speak without fear of being overheard, and yet she was silent. Nervous.

  She turned to the caves once more – doubt filling her. “They just look like little holes,” she said with a lift of her shoulders.

  “Yes,” he nodded, grimly, apparently willing to continue their feud even now.

  He pulled away, stroking easily through the water. She followed after him.

  Once they were close enough to touch the rock wall that seemed to rise out of the ocean, Guy turned to face Addie. “After you.”

  She lifted a brow. “How do I know you’re not planning to do away with me in there?” It was a joke. He didn’t laugh.

  “Santiago is watching us like a hawk. You should smile, and laugh, and then swim your lovely little lying body straight into the cave.”

  She glared at him, and anger exploded inside of her. Anger at his unfairness and cruelty, anger at life. “Or I could do this.” She closed the distance between them, wrapping her legs around his waist under water to hold him tight to her, and she kissed him, a kiss that he obviously wasn’t expecting. A kiss that stole their breath and enflamed their hearts.

  “Ava,” he ripped his head away but kept their bodies close. Beneath the water, she could feel his desire stirring and an ancient, feminine heat made her proud, and made her need. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t know, Guy. Am I fooling your grandfather? Lying to him, like you asked me to? Or am I kissing you because I want to, because I love being with you? Because I couldn’t sleep for needing you all over again?” She rolled her hips over his arousal, having the satisfaction of seeing his eyes flash with something like heated awareness, as his hands found the naked flesh at her back and ran over it.

  “You said sex was a silver lining to having me here. So?”

  His eyes flared wide. “You can’t seriously be suggesting…”

  “That you take me into this pirate cave and have your wicked way with me? That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Her heart stood still. Fear and doubts mingled inside of her, but she knew how badly she needed this. She needed the satisfaction that came from being with Guy, but also the clarity. The certainty that this was what made sense. And she could only hope he felt the same.

  “This is absurd,” he said with a shake of his head, but he kicked through the water, moving them towards the tiny, rounded entrance. Addie held her breath as they swum under it, her legs still wrapped around
Guy’s waist, her eyes locked to his face, studying every single flicker of emotion she saw there. But then, the light changed. It was much darker in the cave, but high above them, there was a hint of sun streaming in.

  “There are small holes that lead to the sky,” he said. “Openings that the pirates carved to allow air in. To weaken the rock. They were terrified of drowning in here – of being boarded up by the authorities if they were discovered, so they made sure they had an escape route.”

  His hands ran along her spine, finding the clasp of her bikini top and unpinning it without stalling his speech. “There used to be a thick rope that dropped from the ceiling. I imagine they’d use it for climbing.”

  Addie could hardly concentrate on what he was saying. Her breasts bobbed on top of the water, between them, her bikini top held balled in his hand, against her back. He swam easily through the water, until suddenly, his feet found purchase on the bottom of the ocean and he was walking, Addie still wrapped around his waist. At first, it had been hard to see, but as her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that there were little patches of ground. The caves here were covered it scratches. Drawings? Writing?

  “Ancient graffiti,” he said, his smile genuine. It did funny things to her pulse, seeing a glimpse of the old Guy. But it brought a sense of fear, too, because Addie didn’t want him to stop being this version of himself. He was Dr Jekyll and Mr Heartbreak, and that duality was robbing her of any certainty.

  He lay her down on the ground; it was cold and damp beneath her back. She didn’t care.

  There was such a sense of magic in the caves, in the air around them, that Addie felt it run across her flesh, causing her veins to sparkle with something that felt a lot like power. Determination and strength.

  “Guy,” she murmured, staring up at him.

  He waited, poised above her, his eyes holding hers without showing her a hint of his soul.

  “This isn’t a lie.” And she pushed up, her elbows digging into the coarse sand, so that her mouth could claim his.