A Spanish Engagement (12 page)

‘But I don’t want to take my dress off…or my shoes.’ Molly was firmly against the idea.

‘You can leave the dress if you must…but the shoes have to come off. A princess doesn’t wear her sandals in bed. How silly would that be?’

Max smiled. He liked the way Carrie was so gentle with Molly…liked her understanding tone and the way she
made the little girl laugh even when she was getting obstreperous.

He moved away from the window and went to stand in the open doorway through to the child’s room. ‘There is an air-conditioning switch by the door if you want to put it on, Carrie,’ he told her. ‘Or you can use the overhead fan.’

‘I’ll flick the fan on. I don’t like air-conditioning—reminds me too much of the weather back in England.’

Max grinned at that.

Molly was climbing into bed now, and she pulled the covers up to her chin and then looked over the top of them mischievously. ‘Will you read me a story?’ she asked him.

‘I’m going to read to you. Uncle Max is busy, Molly,’ Carrie said.

‘I’m not that busy,’ Max contradicted her gently. ‘Of course I’ll read you a story, Molly.’

Molly gave a cheer. ‘Can it be “The Owl and the Pussycat”?’

‘I don’t know. Have we got “The Owl and the Pussycat”?’ Max asked Carrie.

She nodded, moved by the fact that he would bother to read to Molly. ‘Yes, I’ve come prepared. But really, Max, you don’t have to read, I’ll do it—’

‘Hey, I’m looking forward to “The Owl and the Pussycat”,’ Max said, a gleam of good humour in his dark eyes. She turned away and busied herself getting the books out of her handbag. There was a part of her that wished he would be useless around Molly, cool and aloof as José had been. Because the fact that he genuinely seemed to like Molly and was so good with her attracted Carrie to him all the more.

She handed the book across to him as he came to sit
in the chair at the other side of the bed. And then she moved to draw the curtains so that the sunlight was shut out of the room.

Max started to read as she made her way back to the bed. Molly listened with rapt attention. This was her favourite book. She asked for it to be read every day without fail. It was a wonder she didn’t know it backwards by now, Carrie thought with a smile as she sat back down at the other side of the single bed.

She liked the way Max read the story, putting emphasis on certain words and making Molly smile. He had a wonderfully attractive voice, she thought. Her eyes moved over his face, taking the opportunity of studying him intently while he was otherwise occupied. His features were strongly handsome; there was a lot of power in the determined jut of his jaw. A lot of gentle humour in the dark eyes that from time to time glanced up at Molly. Her eyes moved to his lips. And suddenly she found herself thinking about how sensual they were…how wonderfully well they were able to ignite passion inside her.

I could fall for him in a big way, she thought suddenly. The notion hit her out of nowhere and with shocking intensity, and immediately she shied away from it. It was rubbish. How could she possibly fall in love with him? She had only just met him, for heaven’s sake, and he was arrogant and forceful…look how he had threatened not to sign the advertising contract…that was a cold-blooded thing to do.

But the more she tried to deny the fact, the more the little voice inside her insisted that it was true.

He looked up and caught her watching him, and she realised suddenly that the story was finished.

‘Again…again,’ Molly demanded.

Max smiled at Carrie. It was a smile that seemed to
reach inside her and take hold of her heart to twist it slowly and unmercifully. And it made all those arguments about him being cold-blooded start to collapse…

‘Read it again…’ Molly said, trying to get their attention.

With difficulty Carrie broke the eye contact with Max. ‘It’s time for sleep,’ she said softly to Molly.

‘Just one more time,’ Molly pleaded. ‘Please.’

Max started to read the book again. Carrie tried not to look over at him; instead she watched Molly and told herself very forcefully that she was imagining things. Okay, she fancied him…she admitted the fact under extreme duress, but that was as far as it went. The idea that she was in love with him was just an illusion. It was all this play-acting, pretending to be a couple; it must have got into her psyche, and the fact that he was so good around Molly wasn’t helping. That was all it was, just a case of getting carried away with an illusion.

Molly was obviously fighting sleep. Her dark lashes kept closing and then opening again as she tried to force herself to stay awake to listen to the story.

By the time Max had reached the middle pages the child was fast asleep.

‘I think you can stop now,’ Carrie whispered.

He looked over at Molly and smiled. ‘She was very tired; obviously she’s had a busy morning.’

‘She was excited about coming here. So she went to bed later than usual last night.’

‘How long do you think she’ll sleep for?’

‘She usually has about an hour.’

Max put the book down on the bedside table. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked her suddenly.

‘Yes, I’m fine. Why?’ She glanced over at him warily. She’d die if he had guessed what she had been thinking
earlier. He’d probably be very amused…he was far too arrogantly confident to start with and she had her pride.

‘You just looked a bit pale for a moment.’

‘I’m fine,’ Carrie reiterated, but her voice sounded false even to her own ears. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’

Together they crept out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

Once they were out of the darkened room and on the bright landing Carrie started to feel a little better. Maybe the intimacy of the bedroom had added to her delusional thoughts, she told herself. ‘Thanks for reading that story to her,’ she said briskly as they went downstairs. ‘You are very patient with her.’

‘I like children,’ he admitted with a rueful grin. ‘I suppose if I’m honest I’d like a little daughter of my own one day…’

Carrie glanced over at him, surprised by the revelation. Max had a lot of hidden depths, but that didn’t change the fact that this was just a business arrangement. She was going to have to be very careful, she reminded herself firmly. Getting carried away by pretence would be stupid and extremely embarrassing.

Carmel and Bob appeared above them on the galleried landing. ‘Where’s Molly?’ Carmel asked.

‘Having a siesta.’ Max was the one to answer. ‘Come on down and we will have a drink out on the terrace.’

The sunlight reflecting on the turquoise water of the pool was dazzling as they stepped outside into the heat of the day. Carmel and Bob walked across the terrazzo patio and stood admiring the view. Carrie sat down under the shade of one of the huge parasols. ‘Is it all right if I have a swim in the pool later today?’ she asked Max as he took the chair opposite.

‘Of course. You don’t need to ask that, Carrie. I want
you to make yourself completely at home here.’ He lowered his tone huskily. ‘After all, we are to announce our engagement tomorrow.’

Carrie took a deep breath, trying not to think about that.

Max’s housekeeper came out to ask them what they would like to drink. And Carmel and Bob came back to the table to join them.

The time seemed to fly by after that. Conversation was light and trivial and Carrie started to relax again. By the time lunch was served she was starting to think that really she was perfectly in control of this situation and that of course she could handle it.

‘I must go and check on Molly,’ she said, glancing at her watch. ‘She’ll be hungry when she wakes up.’

‘It will be wonderful for Molly growing up here,’ Carmel said suddenly before she got to her feet. ‘Tony would be very pleased, Carrie. This would be everything he would have wished for her.’

Immediately Carrie’s relaxed state disappeared, replaced by the heaviness of guilt. ‘Yes, I suppose he would.’ She carefully avoided Max’s eyes across the table. And luckily Carmel and Bob didn’t seem to notice her discomfiture.

‘I remember he used to talk sometimes about how difficult his childhood was…and yours…and he always said that he would make sure that Molly never felt the way you did, that she would always have stability.’

‘Yes, he did.’ Carrie swallowed hard on a sudden knot in her throat.

‘What are you going to do about your job when you and Max get married?’ Carmel continued idly. ‘Living here, you are too far away to commute into Barcelona every day, surely?’

‘Well, I…’ Carrie struggled to know what to say. She
could feel everyone’s eyes resting on her, waiting for an answer.

‘Carrie is thinking of taking a sabbatical from work for a short time.’ Max came to her rescue. ‘And then if she feels she wants to go back she might look for work nearer to home. There is a town about half an hour away from here that has a thriving business community. Maybe Carrie will set up her own advertising agency. She could install staff and come and go as she pleases.’

Carrie stared at him across the table. She had always thought that one day she might run her own business…hearing Max expounding such an idea felt really strange. But it was a fake description of a fake future together, she reminded herself quickly. And Max had to be a consummate liar to think it up with such impromptu ease. The accusation rested uneasily inside her; she hated it. And it was about then that she realised she’d rather believe the lies than think that about him.

‘That’s a good idea.’ Carmel sounded pleased. ‘And I suppose you will want children of your own before too long?’

Carrie didn’t know how much more of this she could stand. She glanced over at Max and he smiled at her with the same warmth that he had upstairs over the bedtime story. ‘That is a very real consideration, isn’t it,
querida
?’ he said softly. ‘But I think we will wait until Molly is completely settled before we think about that.’

He seemed so genuine, so truthful… Carrie felt her grip on reality start to slip even further. There was definitely a part of her that was starting to wish that this weren’t some hoax engagement, that this man was for real. She wanted to believe the gentleness of his smile, the tenderness of his kiss.

Hurriedly she scraped her chair back from the table. ‘Excuse me,’ she said hastily. ‘I must check on Molly.’

It was a relief to get away from the questions. Carrie practically ran up the stairs towards Molly’s bedroom.

Her niece was still asleep. But Carrie sat down on the chair next to the bed to wait until she woke up.

Max wasn’t the wonderful dream man that Carmel and Bob thought, she reminded herself forcefully. This was a charade. He was going to lie to his parents. All right, his motives were altruistic, but even so. It was still a lie.

Martin had been good at lying, she reminded herself suddenly. She remembered some of the elaborate tales he had spun, remembered how naively she had believed him. It was starting to look as if Max was the same type; he could certainly lie with the same effortless ease.

Molly stirred suddenly and opened her eyes. ‘Hello, darling, did you have a good sleep?’

The child nodded and stretched.

‘Are you ready for something to eat?’

‘Where’s Uncle Max?’ Molly asked suddenly.

‘He’s downstairs. Come on, let’s get you washed and changed and we can go down and see him.’

Having Molly around made the rest of the afternoon marginally easier. Carrie was able to keep busy helping her to eat some lunch and then watching over her as she ran and played beside the pool.

As the sun started to lower in the sky and the intense heat of the day lifted Max gave them all a tour of the vineyard.

‘The soil around here is good,’ he explained to Bob. ‘And there is excellent drainage which means the roots at the vines push deep down to find the nutrients they need. Deep roots are important,’ he added softly. ‘It’s the way the vines stay strong and healthy.’

‘It’s a bit like families…deep roots help keep them together and happy,’ Carmel said with a grin.

‘Exactly.’ Max grinned back.

Carrie watched as he bent down and took a handful of the fertile soil before letting it slip through his fingers. Then he glanced up at her and their eyes connected for a moment.

‘Deep roots are important…’ The words played in her mind.

She watched Molly skipping ahead of them through the vineyard. The little girl seemed happier than she had in ages.

‘When are you thinking of going back home to Australia?’ Max asked them casually as he turned to lead them up towards the courtyard so he could give them a tour of the cellars.

Immediately Carrie wondered if he was asking so he could put a time limit on their phoney engagement.

Carmel shrugged. ‘I don’t know. We were thinking of just staying a few weeks. But of course if you were to set a date for the wedding that wasn’t too far away we might consider staying longer. We have really nothing to rush back for.’

The words caused instant alarm inside Carrie. ‘Oh, I don’t think we will be rushing into anything, Carmel…I thought we already told you that.’

Carmel smiled. ‘I know what you said, but it’s very obvious that you two can’t keep your hands or your eyes off each other. So why wait?’

The blatantly sensual words caused Carrie to miss her step and she stumbled slightly. Immediately Max put a hand out to steady her, but instead of letting her go he put the arm further around her and drew her in close against his body as they walked.

‘That’s very true, Carmel,’ he said easily. ‘Maybe we should think about setting a date; what do you think,
querida
?’ He held her very tightly against him so that she couldn’t pull away.

‘I think we are not ready for that yet,’ she said, her voice tight with anger that he was allowing this subject to continue.

‘See what I’m up against, Carmel?’ Max said, his voice lightly bantering. ‘This girl’s not easy to tie down.’

Carmel and Bob both laughed.

But Carrie wasn’t laughing; she was furious at how easily Max was fooling everyone, and now he was making out that he was Mr Wonderful and she was the one dragging her feet over getting married…it was too much.