A Spanish Engagement (11 page)

‘Just what I said. You’ll meet my family and spend the weekend with me at the vineyard.’

‘The weekend? You want me to spend the whole weekend with you?’

‘Is that a problem?’ Max asked calmly.

The lift doors opened, letting in a blast of hot air. But it was nothing compared to the heat inside Carrie. A problem! she thought feverishly. Spending an entire weekend in Max’s company trying to pretend that she wasn’t overwhelmingly attracted to him would be a complete nightmare.

‘I can’t, Max,’ she said swiftly. ‘I can’t leave Molly for so long.’ That at least was true.

‘I don’t expect you to leave Molly; you must bring her with you. She’ll enjoy the party on Sunday. Belle and Emilio are only a little older than her and there will be lots of other children there.’

They stepped out onto the street, but Carrie was barely aware of the busy roads, the intense sunlight. All her concentration was on how to escape from this situation. But nothing presented itself to her; her brain seemed to be paralysed when it came to excuses for not spending time with him.

‘Where will we sleep?’ She asked the first question that came into her head and he smiled.

‘My house has five bedrooms, Carrie,’ he said. ‘There is plenty of room.’

He took hold of her arm as they reached a busy intersection of the road. ‘You can ask Carmel and Bob to accompany you, if you like. They said they’d like to see the vineyard.’

Carrie wasn’t sure if that would make things better or worse. So she didn’t answer straight away. Luckily Max’s attention was taken up with crossing the road, and by the time they got to the other side he had moved the conversation on. ‘So we need to sit down and just go over a few ground rules.’

‘Yes, we do,’ Carrie agreed fervently. Could one of the ground rules be that he didn’t touch her? she wondered.
Not even lightly, as now, because her whole body responded far too strongly to any contact. But if she said something like that he’d probably guess how strongly she was attracted to him. Maybe he already knew, because she certainly hadn’t acted with any restraint when they had kissed. The thought was mortifying. Max Santos was arrogant enough.

They went into a small tapas bar on the corner of the junction. It was charmingly traditional. Parma ham hung from hooks above a highly polished walnut counter, where an array of tempting dishes was laid out for people to select what they wanted. Because it was still a little early for the lunchtime rush there was only one other couple in the place, and they were sitting on high stools at the bar, leaning towards each other with rapt attention, a bottle of wine on the counter between them.

Max led the way across the marble floor to a table directly beneath an overhead fan.

‘So what would you like?’ he asked, looking around for the barman.

An escape clause, plus a little something to make me immune to you, Carrie thought as he glanced around and fixed her with dark, intensely sexy eyes. ‘Just…just a coffee.’

‘The food looks good in here,’ he said. ‘Have something else.’

‘Max, I don’t want anything.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I shouldn’t even be here. I need to get on with my work.’

‘It’s no wonder you are so thin,’ Max murmured as the barman came over to take their order.

Did he think she was too thin? Carrie wondered, and then found herself speculating about what his real girlfriends looked like. What Natasha had looked like. Very curvaceous, probably, with legs all the way up to her arm
pits. She found herself wondering again what had happened between them to split them up. Maybe Max had indulged in an affair and been caught out? Maybe he even regretted it. Hence the wistful look in his eye and Estelle saying he had never really got over Natasha. Not that she cared, Carrie told herself sternly. It was none of her business.

‘So, about these ground rules,’ she prompted him in a no-nonsense tone as he fixed his attention back on her. ‘I think you are right—we do need to decide exactly how we want to proceed. First I think we should set a time limit as to how long we are going to keep this charade up.’ Carrie started to feel better as she talked about the situation in practical terms. ‘Now, I’m not sure when Carmel and Bob are going home. They had a one-way ticket. I meant to ask them about it this morning, but another problem cropped up and it went out of my mind—’

‘What kind of problem?’ Max interrupted curiously.

‘Molly’s nanny gave in her notice; she wants to leave in two weeks.’ She met Max’s dark sympathetic gaze. ‘It’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ll just ring the agency and start interviewing straight away. But it has caused me concern; it’s another change in Molly’s life and she is so vulnerable at the moment.’

Max nodded. ‘It’s a difficult situation. Molly does need the reassurance of familiar faces and routine.’

‘Yes.’ His understanding made her forget their practical conversation about time limits and strategy. ‘It crossed my mind this morning that I should take a sabbatical from work. Just until I have another nanny on board and I’m sure that Molly is happy.’

‘Would José give you time off?’

‘I don’t know.’ Carrie shrugged. ‘I’ve already had my
allocation for this year, plus some extra time when my brother died.’

The barman arrived with their coffee, bringing Carrie’s mind sharply back into focus. ‘Anyway, you don’t want to hear about that. That’s my problem and I’ll sort it out,’ she said swiftly. ‘What we need to decide now is how long we want to keep up this pretence of being a couple.’

Max shrugged. ‘I don’t think we should tie ourselves down to time just yet. What’s more important is that we present a united front. I suggest we announce our engagement at the party on Sunday.’

The suggestion made Carrie’s heart start to race as if she were in a marathon. ‘Isn’t it a little soon?’

He smiled. ‘On the contrary, I think it’s long overdue. After all, Carmel and Bob have known of your intention to marry me since the first day we met.’

Something about the teasing quality of his voice made her blush. ‘That was different. I was backed into a corner and I never actually announced it in an official way.’

‘Even so—’ he shrugged ‘—why should we wait? All my family will be present on Sunday; it will be the perfect time.’

Carrie felt she was wading in quicksand. She swallowed hard. ‘I have to tell you, Max, that I’m not feeling happy about all this. I’m sure they will suss us out. I mean, I’m probably not even your usual type.’

‘Maybe that’s just as well,’ Max grated.

She noticed the glint of dry humour in his eyes and it irritated her intensely. She supposed by that he meant that he usually dated a more alluring ‘eye candy’ type of woman. Max Santos was so damn sure of himself that it was exasperating.

‘For what it’s worth, you’re not my type either,’ she found herself saying defensively.

‘So who is your type, then?’ One dark eyebrow rose sardonically. ‘José?’

‘José is a very attractive man.’ For some reason she felt compelled to defend her boss; she supposed it was pride. Max Santos was too damned sure of himself.

‘Just a pity he doesn’t like children,’ Max drawled scornfully.

Her face flushed with colour at that. She wished she had remained silent on the subject of José now. Of course Max was right. José was a bad example of her taste in men—but then Martin wasn’t any better.

‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,’ Max said as he saw her eyes darken with pain.

She looked away from him. ‘So are you going to sign that contract?’ she asked, bringing the subject swiftly back to business.

Max noticed how she immediately hid behind her work. ‘I don’t know. Are you going to try and back out of our arrangement?’ he countered.

Her eyes narrowed on his face. ‘Are you trying to blackmail me into carrying on with this pretence?’

All colour drained from her face when he didn’t answer her immediately. ‘You are, aren’t you?’ Her voice shook with angry disbelief. ‘That’s what you meant in the office when you told me I could back out but you’d have to rethink a few things.’

‘Blackmail is a bit of a strong word, Carrie.’ He shrugged. ‘But you can’t blame me for protecting my interests. After all, I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain, but it seems to me that you keep trying to wriggle out of your side of things.’

‘I’m not trying to wriggle out of things. I’m just genuinely concerned that what we are doing is wrong…’

‘From where I’m sitting that just looks like you are
trying to wriggle out of the agreement,’ Max maintained calmly. ‘You are either with me on this or we call the whole thing off. There can’t be any half-measures.’

Carrie looked at the contract, then back at him. She was furious that he was stooping to this. ‘You’re bluffing, Max. You need that advertising; it will be invaluable to the vineyard—’

‘Save me the sales pitch, Carrie,’ he cut across her calmly. ‘There are other advertising agencies.’

She sent him a fulminating glare from ice-blue eyes.

‘So what is it to be?’ he asked, totally unperturbed.

‘You really are cold and calculating, aren’t you, Max?’ she spluttered indignantly.

He shrugged. ‘Stop wasting time, Carrie. Are you in or out of the deal?’

She gritted her teeth. ‘I’ve already said that I’m in.’

‘Sorry, I can’t hear you?’

‘I said I’m in.’ She knew damn well that he had heard her. The man was downright infuriating. ‘Now, are you going to sign that contract?’

‘Yes.’ He picked it up. ‘I’ll sign it on Wednesday, when I take you out to dinner.’

‘Wednesday?’ She was livid. ‘I want you to sign it right now.’

‘Patience,
querida
.’ He reached across and tipped her chin upwards, studying her face with a cool intensity. ‘We will go out to dinner on Wednesday and gaze longingly into each other’s eyes. And you will assure me once again of your dedication to our little arrangement. Then I will sign your contract.’

Carrie wrenched herself away from the touch of his hands, her heart thundering against her ribs. ‘You are totally infuriating.’

‘And you are even more beautiful when you are angry.’ He smiled.

‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m going back to work.’ She stood up from the table.

‘See you Wednesday, seven-thirty as usual.’

She was going to leave without answering, but he caught hold of her wrist. ‘Carrie?’ He looked up at her with forceful intent.

‘Yes…see you Wednesday.’

He let her go, a small triumphant smile curving his lips as he watched her walk away.

H
OW
had she had got herself into this situation? Carrie wondered as she drove Carmel, Bob and Molly up to the vineyard on Saturday morning.

She hadn’t intended to ask Molly’s grandparents to come with them. In fact she had firmly decided it was a very bad idea and would just cause further complications. It was Max who had issued the invitation. He’d rung them directly at the hotel. And the first Carrie had known about it was when Carmel had rung her at the apartment, gushing with excitement about the trip.

‘You shouldn’t have invited them,’ Carrie had complained sternly to Max when they had met for dinner on Wednesday night. ‘I’d decided not to. It’s just an added strain. Now we are going to have to keep up our pretence all the time, not just at your niece and nephew’s party.’

Max had shrugged and been completely unconcerned. ‘If you remember, one of the first things they asked me when we met was if they could come up to the vineyard and I said yes. I’m a man of my word, Carrie. I’m keeping my side of our bargain.’

Carrie’s hands clenched on the steering wheel as she remembered those words. The man had an arrogant nerve to talk to her about honouring his side of the bargain, when he had practically resorted to blackmail to get her to carry on with the arrangement.

At least on Wednesday night he had finally signed the advertising contract, she tried to pacify herself, which was
one less worry. But he should never have invited Carmel and Bob to his home.

She could see all kinds of difficulties in the situation. Introducing Carmel and Bob to Max’s mum and dad, for instance. That would be another step deeper into the quagmire of lies. She wondered suddenly if that was the reason Max had invited Molly’s grandparents, as a kind of insurance policy. He knew with them around she had to maintain the lies perfectly.

She glanced into the rear-view mirror. Carmel was sitting in the back with Molly. She was singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round,’ and Molly was giggling happily.

Everyone seemed happy; even Bob, sitting next to her in the passenger seat, kept smiling. He caught her glancing over at him. ‘This is great, Carrie. The scenery is terrific out here.’

‘Yes, it’s pretty, isn’t it?’ Carrie glanced back at the road ahead. Guilt licked its way through her. Carmel and Bob were good people; she felt such a fraud. And Max’s parents were probably equally nice.

How had she got herself into this? she asked herself for what seemed the millionth time. It was as if she had walked into a gentle breeze only to discover it was really a tumultuous whirlwind that had carried her away. She felt everything was out of her control and she was just being carried deeper and deeper into the epicentre of a storm.

She turned the car in through the gates to the vineyard.

‘That’s Max’s house up ahead,’ she said as the driveway curved and the white villa came into sight. It seemed to shimmer in the sunshine and the gardens around it were jewel-bright in the clear morning air.

It was as beautiful as she remembered, Carrie thought
as she brought the car to a halt by the front door. Hard to believe that it was just over a week since she had come out here for the first time; so much seemed to have happened since then.

The front door opened as they climbed out into the heat of the day and Max appeared. They hadn’t seen each other since having dinner together on Wednesday, and her senses seemed to do a strange little leap as their eyes met.

Not that she was pleased to see him. How could she be pleased to see someone who was so coolly calculating? She remembered how they had parted on Wednesday night, how once again he had insisted on walking her up to her front door. How he had leaned closer to her as he whispered goodnight and she had closed her eyes, her senses in chaos. He had just kissed her casually on each cheek before pulling back. And strangely she had been disappointed. That had worried her…worried her enough to make this trip seem even more alarming.

Carrie wished she hadn’t remembered that now as he came to greet her. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. It was the first time she had seen him dressed so casually and it suited him, made him look younger, more boyishly handsome.

‘Hello,
querida
.’ She knew the husky endearment and the warm way he gazed deep into her eyes was for Carmel and Bob’s benefit, but it still managed to make her emotions flutter with a dangerous energy. She felt shyly unsure as he put his hand on her shoulder and her adrenalin pumped wildly as she realised he was going to kiss her. This time it was no light kiss on the cheek; his lips touched hers with a firm possessiveness that made her senses spin. Then he was turning to welcome Carmel and Bob.

‘Good to see you,’ he said, shaking Bob’s hand and
kissing Carmel on each cheek. ‘Come on inside and make yourselves at home.’

As Molly came over towards him he crouched down to speak to her. ‘Hello, young lady,’ he said with a grin. ‘How’s Mojo today?’

Molly held the dog out for him to see.

‘Is he looking forward to his weekend away?’

Molly nodded. ‘He says he’d like ice cream for tea.’

‘I shall put the order into the kitchen and you both shall have ice cream,’ Max said seriously, and then grinned. ‘Maybe even a double portion. But first do you want to see where you are going to sleep tonight?’

Molly nodded. ‘Has it got a big bed?’ she asked suddenly. ‘I don’t sleep in my cot any more.’

‘It’s got a bed fit for a princess,’ Max said. ‘You just wait and see.’

He was very good with her, Carrie thought as she busied herself getting their overnight bags out of the boot of the car.

Max came over to give her a hand. ‘It’s okay, I can manage,’ she said, putting her lightweight bag over her shoulder.

‘Always so independent,’ he murmured, and then reached to take it from her anyway, and lifted Carmel and Bob’s case up as well.

‘Come on, let’s get you all settled in and then we can have a drink,’ he said resolutely.

Carrie watched the way Molly ran to keep up with him as they went into the house. She seemed fascinated by him. Even reached to take his free hand as they started to climb the stairs. She was surprised by the move; Molly was usually very shy around strangers and she had only met Max once before. Obviously Max’s charms worked on old and young alike, she thought.

He showed Carmel and Bob to their room first. It was delightfully furnished with antiques, and the colour scheme of pale blue and white was restful and cool. ‘This is lovely,’ Carmel said appreciatively.

‘There is a bathroom through here,’ Max said, opening the door through to a luxurious modern bathroom that was cleverly and unobtrusively incorporated behind a row of fitted wardrobes.

‘Anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll leave you to settle in.’ Max put their case down on the ottoman at the end of the bed.

Molly tugged on his sleeve. ‘Is this my room?’ she asked.

‘No, yours is further down the hall.’ Max smiled and took hold of her hand again. ‘Come on, let’s find it and see what you think.’

Molly’s room had a plain white décor, but the bed was covered with a duvet featuring colourful cartoon characters. And toys and books lined the bedside tables.

Molly ran to investigate. She grinned at Carrie happily as she took one of the teddies down to look at.

‘My sister gave me a few of the twins’ belongings to make the room feel more homely for Molly,’ Max explained as Carrie looked over at him.

‘You’ve gone to a lot of trouble for one weekend.’ She was touched by the thoughtful gesture. ‘Thank you.’

‘It was no trouble.’ He moved to open a door that Carrie had assumed led into a bathroom, but instead it led through to an adjoining bedroom.

‘This is my bedroom, Carrie,’ he said. ‘I thought it a good idea to put you in here because it has the adjoining room where Molly can sleep. That way if she wakes in the night you will hear her.’

Carrie followed him and stood in the doorway to the
room. It had polished wooden floors and a massive wooden four-poster bed with barley twist posts draped with white muslin curtains. This was Max’s bedroom. The words seemed to echo inside her, and looking at the bed made butterflies dance in her stomach as if they were doing a wild flamenco. ‘But where will you sleep?’

Max heard the hesitation in her tone. He turned and looked at her, a mocking smile on his face. ‘What’s the matter—frightened I might want to take our pretence a little too far?’

‘No…of course not.’ She felt her face starting to heat up. ‘I…I just don’t like the idea that you’ve had to get out of your room. That’s all.’

‘Well, if you feel too badly about it, I can always stay,’ he drawled teasingly. ‘I’m not averse to the idea. In fact, for appearances’ sake we should be sharing this room.’

She knew she was colouring even more now; in fact she felt as if her whole body were on fire.

He grinned. ‘Do you know? You look extremely sexy when you get embarrassed. Your cheekbones glow and your blue eyes seem to change to a deep midnight colour.’

‘I’m not embarrassed,’ she said quickly, trying to ignore the way his husky tone caused ripples of desire inside her. What on earth was wrong with her? she wondered angrily. Why was this man able to affect her so easily? ‘I know you are only joking.’

‘I’m not joking; people will expect us to be sharing a room. These are modern times…we are supposed to be engaged.’

‘Well, I don’t think Carmel and Bob are that modern,’ she contradicted him heatedly.

‘I think they are,’ Max said firmly. ‘We will have to at least pretend to be spending the night together…otherwise it will look odd.’

‘Max, I—’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they see me leaving your room first thing in the morning. That should suffice.’

‘I wasn’t worried,’ she said, trying desperately to sound completely at ease. ‘I think it’s completely unnecessary.’

‘Well, we don’t want to cast doubt in Carmel’s and Bob’s minds about our relationship, do we?’ Max said with a shrug. ‘Attention to detail is important. After all, I’m a red-blooded male—you are my very attractive fiancée…’

She tried to ignore his teasing tone as she stepped over the threshold into his bedroom; she also tried to ignore a little voice that was asking her what it would be like to share this room with him, to lie in that double bed and be held in his arms.

The picture this conjured up in her mind caused her blood pressure to soar. To counteract it she tried to concentrate on the room and pretend he wasn’t here…pretend that this was just a hotel bedroom.

There was little in the way of personal effects, she noticed. A few framed photographs on a desk against the wall were obviously of family members, and in the white
en suite
bathroom she could see there was some shaving gear and cologne on a shelf.

He put her bag down and sat down on the edge of the bed. ‘We will have to run through a few details ready for the party tomorrow, whenever you are ready.’

‘What kind of details?’ she asked warily, wishing he wouldn’t sit on the bed…wishing she weren’t intensely tempted to sit beside him.

Maybe if she slept with him it would get rid of this burning curiosity and attraction she felt towards him? The idea crept into her mind, unwelcome and definitely unwanted.

She was so shocked by it that she hardly heard what he was saying next. Something about getting their stories straight.

Sleeping with Max Santos would be a mistake, she told herself forcefully. Okay, he was overwhelmingly attractive, and he could be extremely charming. But this was strictly a business arrangement, and she had witnessed at first hand how ruthless Max could be when it suited him. If she strayed from that reality into fantasy it could have very disastrous consequences. She had Molly to think about.

She crossed over towards the window and pretended to study the view. It looked out over a small grove of lemon and orange trees, and beyond that over the patchwork fields of the vineyard towards the distant purple mountains.

‘They are bound to ask us questions about how we met. So we have to bear in mind what we have already told Carmel and Bob and stick as closely to the truth as possible,’ Max continued. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think the truth is looking more and more like a very distant and alien planet,’ she said unhappily.

Max got up from the bed and went to stand behind her.

He put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn around and look at him. ‘Everything will be okay,’ he said softly.

The gentleness of his tone didn’t help to still the wild voices of desire that flared inside her just at the touch of his hand.

‘I hope so.’ She stepped abruptly away from him.

There was a strained atmosphere between them for a moment. Part of Carrie wanted to lean forward and put her arms around his neck, press her lips against his; she
was shocked by the desire…horrified that she actively had to fight the temptation.

It was a relief when Molly came running in, a doll tucked under one arm and Mojo in the other. ‘Auntie Carrie, can I keep this doll?’ she asked very seriously, as if it were one of the most important questions of her life.

‘You’ve got hundreds of dolls at home,’ Carrie said with a smile. ‘You don’t need any more.’

‘But I like this doll…’ Molly’s bottom lip started to wobble and Carrie suddenly realised she was overtired. She glanced at her watch. It was nearing midday…a little early for her siesta; usually Molly had a lie-down after her lunch. But Carrie was learning to recognise the signs, and she knew when she saw Molly rubbing at her eyes and looking fretful that if she didn’t put her down for a sleep now she would have a very cross little girl on her hands in a few minutes. ‘We’ll talk about it after you’ve had a little sleep,’ she said, moving away from Max. She picked the little girl up to give her a kiss. ‘How’s that?’

Molly hesitated and then nodded. ‘Can I take the doll to bed with me?’ she asked tremulously.

‘Of course you can.’

Max watched as Carrie moved through to the other room and sat down with her on the bed. Listened as she gently persuaded her that her sandals had to come off before she could get into bed.