A Spanish Engagement (13 page)

She supposed when their fake engagement broke up he’d be equally smooth at putting all the blame for their failed relationship onto her as well.

Maybe it was time to sow a few little seeds of doubt in Carmel’s and Bob’s minds about how wonderful Max really was. At least then it wouldn’t come as a total shock to them when they heard the engagement was over…and they wouldn’t automatically assume it was all her fault!

‘I don’t think you are being exactly fair, Max.’ She spoke impulsively, without heeding any little warning voices, and pulled away from his arm. ‘The reason we haven’t set a date for the wedding isn’t entirely my fault. You are equally to blame. You are so caught up with your work and worried about the vineyard that you’ve been putting off setting a date as well.’ She glared at him. ‘And you know it.’

There was a small silence. Bob and Carmel looked around at her in concern.

‘He’s making out that I’m the career-driven girl who is hesitating about making a commitment,’ she told them,
her voice shaking. ‘And I won’t have it because it’s not true.’ Carrie was surprised to find that the emotions raging inside her felt very real. She was still glaring at Max.

It was hard to tell what he made of her outburst. His dark features were impassive, his eyes serious and intense on her face.

As quickly as the anger had risen inside her it was diminishing again. What on earth was she doing? she wondered nervously. ‘Anyway,’ she said hurriedly, ‘I just wanted you to know, Carmel and Bob, that it’s not all my fault that we haven’t set a date. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to take Molly back to the house.’

‘Carrie, wait.’ Max reached and caught hold of her arm as she made to turn away. ‘You’re right,’ he said suddenly.

‘I…I am?’ Carrie looked up at him warily, wondering what on earth he was going to say.

‘Of course you are. I have been worried about work and about the vineyard.’

‘Yes, well, it doesn’t matter now.’ Hastily she tried to stop the conversation dead.

‘Of course it matters.’ He pulled her closer, his voice gentle, his eyes boring into hers. ‘We’ll set a date for the wedding this very week.’

Carrie’s eyes widened in shocked surprise, and she was only vaguely aware of Carmel and Bob applauding wildly in the background.

‘Do you know what you are saying?’ Her voice rose unsteadily as she tried to warn him to back down before they were another step deeper into the jumble of lies. ‘Now, Max, have you thought about this?’

He smiled. ‘I’ve thought of nothing else since the day we met.’

C
ARRIE
swam backwards and forwards down the length of the pool with forcefully energetic strokes. She couldn’t believe how Max had turned the tables on her like that. What had he been thinking? The only explanation she could come up with was that he was determined he wasn’t going to look like the bad guy when their relationship broke up.

Meanwhile they were now stuck with having to set a phoney date for a phoney wedding.

Carrie was so annoyed she had hardly been able to speak to him for the rest of the afternoon. And it hadn’t helped when each time their eyes had met he had smiled as if everything were wonderful. This was all one big joke to him, she thought. Well, wait until she got him on his own. She was going to tell him exactly what she thought about his determination to seem like Mr Perfect.

Carrie stopped by the side of the pool and looked over the edge for her towelling wrap. The sun was very low now, and the encroaching darkness plus water in her eyes made it hard to see. She searched blindly with one hand, hoping to come into contact with the material, but it didn’t seem to be there.

‘Looking for this?’ Max’s voice took her by surprise.

She hoisted herself up a little to look across the patio. He was sitting at the table and he had her robe in his hands.

‘Yes, I am. Will you bring it across for me, please?’ Her voice was cool.

‘Why don’t you come and get it?’

The teasing question caused a violent stirring of disquiet inside her. What was he playing at? she wondered.

‘Don’t play games, Max,’ she said crisply.

‘You were the one playing games this afternoon,’ he said quietly. ‘Marvellous bit of acting, by the way. Congratulations.’

‘Shh!’ Carrie glanced towards the house. Carmel had volunteered to bath Molly and was upstairs with her now, and Bob was watching TV in the lounge, but even so voices could travel surprisingly far in the still quietness of the evening air.

‘It’s okay, the patio doors are closed.’ He stood up and walked over towards her, but stopped a few steps away and held her robe out for her. ‘It’s safe to come out,’ he said teasingly. ‘I’ve already checked your body out several times with my laser eye and I assure you it’s in wonderful shape.’

‘You are outrageous!’ she said angrily, and started to hoist herself out of the pool. ‘And that stunt you played this afternoon was shameful.’

‘You were the one who pulled the stunt.’ He grinned. ‘And pretty amazing it was too. A lovers’ tiff…brilliant strategy. I think it gave a whole new feeling of reality to our relationship.’

‘It wasn’t a strategy,’ she said through clenched teeth.

As she started to walk towards him the automatic lights came on around the side of the patio; they weren’t bright but they were enough to make her feel as if she were suddenly standing under a spotlight.

She noticed the way his eyes raked over her figure in a way that was purely male and wholly admiring. His gaze moved slowly and thoroughly from the length of her legs, over the small span of her waist to the curve of her breasts
in the yellow bikini. And disturbingly she felt an answering thrust of desire stir deep inside her.

‘So if it wasn’t a strategy, what was it?’ he asked as she drew level with him.

She didn’t answer him, but reached for her wrap instead. Infuriatingly he held it just out of her reach.

‘Max, will you give me my robe?’ she asked edgily.

‘Not until you tell me exactly what was running through your mind this afternoon.’

‘I think you know.’ She glared at him. ‘I was attempting to redress the balance between us. You realise, don’t you, that the more you play the part of Mr Wonderful, the harder it will be for me when I have to tell Carmel and Bob that we have broken up? They are going to spend the future reminding me of how I let the most wonderful catch of the century slip through my fingers.’

‘Are they?’ He grinned. ‘Well, that is gratifying to know.’

‘You can take that smug look off your face, Max Santos,’ she said crossly. ‘Because I know the truth… remember…you are nothing but a fraud.’

‘Did anyone ever tell you that you are even more beautiful when you are angry?’ he said with a teasing grin.

‘Don’t try and change the subject, Max,’ she said, trying desperately to hold on to all the sensible thoughts that should occupy her mind. ‘Due to your sweeping remark this afternoon we are now going to have to make up some fake date for a fake wedding to satisfy Carmel and Bob.’

‘We can do that,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘It’s no problem.’

‘It’s a problem for me. You should have been a gentleman and taken the blame for a delayed wedding. Now Carmel and Bob are still going to be annoyed with me when I tell them a date that is a long way off.’

‘Whatever date we choose to tell them they will just have to accept it.’ He reached out and touched her face, tipping her chin up so that she was forced to look at him. ‘So stop worrying.’

Desperately Carrie tried to hold on to the angry feelings that had fired her all afternoon. When she was angry with him it was easier to ignore the traitorous way her body seemed to respond to him.

‘I don’t think any of this is right,’ she said shakily. ‘You are a consummate liar, Max Santos. Just like my ex-husband—’

‘Hey!’ He cut across her swiftly. ‘Before you get on your moral high horse, just remember that you are the one who started the lies. I bailed you out…remember?’

The reminder sat heavily inside her. ‘Yes, but I didn’t mean for things to go this far. And I was going to own up to Carmel when I bumped into you at the hotel.’

‘But you didn’t,’ he said softly. ‘What is that old saying…“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.”’

‘But my intention was to own up,’ Carrie maintained firmly. ‘You are just getting us deeper and deeper into this mess. You’ve even got Carmel and Bob believing that we can’t keep our hands off each other, that there is a deep physical attraction between us…’ She tilted her chin up and met his eyes defiantly, hoping that if she voiced the words decisively she could dismiss them. ‘But that’s just not true either.’

‘Isn’t it…?’ Max’s tone was seductively speculative. And then his eyes moved slowly down over her body again in a blatantly sensual appraisal.

Carrie felt as if he could see every inch of her skin in the wet swimsuit. She felt naked and vulnerable and yet
in that instant more turned on than she had ever been in her life.

‘Come on, Carrie, that’s one thing we can’t really lie about,’ he murmured. ‘There is a sexual chemistry between us and you know it.’

She felt her skin prickle with awareness as he leaned closer.

And before she realised his intention his lips captured hers. Softly provocative, they stirred feelings inside her that were smouldering with intensity.

Without thinking she moved closer and wrapped her arms up around his neck, her wet body pressed against his jeans and T-shirt.

When he pulled away from her she was shaking. Immediately he wrapped her robe around her shoulders.

‘You’re cold.’ He rubbed the towelling material against her skin, his movements brisk to try and stop her shaking.

But she wasn’t cold; she was shivering with pure need. She wanted him to touch her, to kiss her. The desire was eating her away and the contact of his hands moving briskly over her shoulders and her back was pure torture.

She couldn’t take it any more, and moved closer again of her own volition.

‘Maybe there is a sexual chemistry,’ she admitted huskily. ‘But that’s all it is. Just sex. If we were to go to bed together the need would burn itself out. The feeling would die.’

‘Do you want to put that to the test?’ The question lingered, softly tormenting in the night air. ‘Shall we make love and see where it leads us?’

Carrie’s heart slammed against her ribs. She wanted to say yes so badly it hurt.

But before she could answer the patio doors slid open and she broke away from him hastily.

‘Sorry to disturb you two lovebirds…’ Carmel smiled ‘…but Molly wants you to tuck her into bed, Carrie.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Carrie moved swiftly away from Max, fervently glad of the excuse not to have to answer that question.

Tying the belt around her gown, she hurried into the house. What would she have said if Carmel hadn’t interrupted them?

The feelings of desire had been so strong that there was a real possibility that she might have agreed.

It took ages to settle Molly down. She wanted Max to come and read her another story.

‘Not tonight, Molly. You’ll have to make do with me,’ Carrie said firmly.

The little girl looked glum and folded her arms in front of her. ‘I won’t go to sleep,’ she said. Then suddenly she said angrily, ‘And I want my daddy.’

Carrie instantly put down the book and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. ‘I know you do, darling.’ She put her arms around her and drew her in close. ‘I know.’

Suddenly she understood why Molly liked being around Max so much. Yes, he was good with her, but also Molly missed that male presence in her life. Her dad had worked from home; she was used to him always being around. She didn’t remember her mother at all. It was Tony who had read to her, Tony who had played and joked with her. He’d been both mum and dad.

‘Everything will be okay, Molly,’ she said softly, stroking her curls back from her face. ‘And we are going to a party tomorrow,’ she said cheerfully. ‘There will be lots of other children there; that will be fun, won’t it?’

Molly nodded, and then she leaned back against the pillows. ‘Will you read “The Owl and the Pussycat”?’

Carrie smiled at her. ‘I’ll read it twice…maybe three times if you settle down and try to go to sleep.’

In fact, Carrie had worn out ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and moved on to several backup stories before the little girl finally fell into an exhausted sleep. For a while she sat next to the bed, watching the sleeping child, wishing she could make things better for her. It broke her heart when Molly asked for her daddy…there was no easy way of dealing with it.

She looked over towards the chair where Max had sat earlier today. For some reason things seemed better when he was around.

Carrie remembered the way they had kissed by the pool, the heat of their passion, the need that had burnt so hungrily inside her.

‘Shall we make love and see where it leads us?’

The question seared through her mind like a hot branding iron. Would it be so wrong to say yes?

A flash of light lit the room from the window. Carrie got up and went to look outside.

There was a storm brewing; she could see flashes of lightning far in the distance, illuminating the sky and the jagged outline of the mountains. Carrie pulled the curtains across, then walked back through to her own room.

She would have a shower and dress for dinner and she wouldn’t think about what she should do; she would just take life a step at a time, she decided forcefully. Because all the planning in the world didn’t seem to make much difference; events seemed to be carrying her along these days anyway.

Carrie had brought a pale buttercup-gold dress to wear for dinner. It was plain yet stylish and had narrow shoestring straps that crossed over on her back, making it deliciously cool to wear. Something she was now very
thankful for, because the heat of the night seemed clammy and intense due to the approaching storm.

She swept her hair up, away from her face, and secured it with some clips. Then, without bothering to analyse her appearance in the mirror, she headed out of the door. Her appearance wasn’t important, she told herself as she went downstairs. This was just dinner…like any other meal she had shared with Max, and they weren’t even alone. Carmel and Bob were here. There was nothing to be apprehensive about.

Yet as she turned towards the lounge and heard Max’s voice she could feel her heart starting to beat its familiar rapid tattoo.

‘Did Molly settle down?’ Carmel asked her as she entered the room.

‘Yes, eventually.’ She smiled, wishing she weren’t acutely conscious of Max’s eyes on her. ‘I hope I haven’t kept you all waiting for dinner?’

‘No, we were just having a pre-dinner drink,’ Max said easily. ‘What can I get you, Carrie?’

‘Just a glass of wine, thank you,’ she said, noticing the bottle of white open on the coffee-table.

She watched as he went across to pour her a glass. He was wearing grey trousers and a silver-grey shirt, and as always there was that effortless ease to his good looks, as if looking stylish just came naturally to him.

A bright flash of light outside made her look over towards the windows.

‘Looks like there’s an electrical storm heading our way,’ Max remarked, following her gaze and watching as the sky lit up several times with jagged light. ‘We get some spectacular storms sometimes.’

‘I didn’t think it would rain much around here at all,’ Bob said as he got up from his chair to look outside.

‘It doesn’t, but when it does it can be violently tropical.’

There was a low rumble of thunder suddenly and it made Carrie jump.

‘You’re quite safe. It’s miles away yet.’ Max handed her the glass of wine and as their hands touched briefly she felt a force that was much more worrying than any storm outside.

The housekeeper came in to tell them that dinner was ready and she was pleased at the opportunity to turn away from Max. She didn’t want him to see how the slightest look, the slightest touch, affected her. Maybe he was arrogantly used to women falling at his feet, but she didn’t want to be just another one of his conquests. She had her pride.

The dining room looked magnificent. Four places were laid facing each other across the highly polished candlelit table and the doors out onto the terrace were open, giving a view of the floodlit pool and the storm that was playing dramatically over the mountains.

Max took the seat opposite her, and as she looked across at him he smiled. ‘You look very beautiful tonight,
querida
,’ he said softly.

‘Thank you.’ She smiled and tried not to look as if the compliment meant very much. But it did…and it wasn’t just the words…it was the way he
said
them. The way he seemed to be able to look so deep into her eyes—into her soul.