The Blackmailed Bride (14 page)

‘Very beautiful,' Javier agreed softly, putting the flowers back into her trembling hands.

Kate's lashes lifted as, lips parted slightly, she looked directly into his eyes—major mistake! Even knowing his performance was for Sarah's sake, she couldn't halt the rippling progress of the spasm that contracted all the fine muscles across her abdomen. She snatched her eyes away, her breathing all askew.

Oh, help!
she thought, trying to smother the prickles of sexual excitement that coursed through her sensitised body as she saw the church door swing open.
I can't do this!

 

Against all expectation a sense of deep calm descended on Kate as she entered the tiny church. Perhaps she was affected by the atmosphere of cool and quiet? Perhaps she had accepted her fate? But whatever the reason, when the time came she made her responses in a clear composed voice interrupted only by the fretful whimpers of Raul. Kate was hardly aware of the off stage distractions so totally focused was she on the ceremony and the man beside her. If anything it was Javier who looked unexpectedly tense, perhaps he was worried that she'd wimp out at the last minute?

She'd expected to feel as if she was taking part in trav
esty, a cruel parody of what should be one of the most important events in a woman's life, but when Javier lifted her veil it felt natural and
right
to kiss him back.

Back out in the sunshine, on the arm of her husband—
husband!
—the reality of her situation kicked in and her head literally spun.

She found it almost impossible to concentrate when an embarrassed Sarah apologised profusely for Raul. ‘He needs to be fed, don't you darling?' she cooed, taking the baby from her husband. ‘Does anyone mind if I find a quiet corner…?'

Her husband looked at her anxiously. ‘You can manage,
mi esposa?
' he asked.

‘You can do many things quite beautifully, darling, but produce milk isn't one of them.'

At any other time the sight of big beefy Serge blushing would have afforded Kate considerable amusement, but at that moment all her efforts were concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. The physical and emotional demands of the last two days were finally catching up with her.

‘I think I need to sit down!' she gasped faintly.

Javier took one look at her ghostly pallor and immediately scooped her up into his arms as if she were a child.
‘Por Dios!'
he exclaimed as Kate's head fell limply against his shoulder.

Javier cursed quietly under his breath. A man famed for his legendary cool, he wasn't accustomed to finding his wits flying out the window in moments of crisis, but for several seconds his mind was a total blank. What if this was some sort of delayed reaction to the head injury…? Much more likely it was a reaction to being forced into a marriage that was repugnant to her, he thought grimly.

‘This is so stupid.'

Javier watched as her blue-veined eyelids fluttered, as if it took all her effort to lift them.

‘Perhaps I should have eaten breakfast,' she murmured vaguely.

‘There's no
perhaps
about it!' he thundered, relieved that the blue tinge around her lips had lessened. ‘I hope you are not one those foolish women who starve themselves,' he added suspiciously.

Lifting her head from its resting place on his shoulder took all her effort. ‘Do I look like one?' she asked, gloomily contrasting her own generous proportions with Sarah's delicate ethereal build.

‘You look…' he began in a goaded voice, only to break off abruptly, his expression that of a man who'd just suffered a body blow. ‘Like a ghost,' he finished hoarsely.

‘Take her to the house, Javier. A lie-down in the cool will help. Sarah has prepared a small supper; we thought you might like…'

‘I'm not sure, but thank you, Serge. If only I'd tried to get the car all the way up here.'

‘Leave her with me, Javier, while you get the car,' Serge urged after thoughtfully scrutinising his friend's tense, strained expression.

Javier was extremely reluctant, but he was finally persuaded to relinquish his burden who by now was proclaiming herself quite capable of walking to the car under her own steam.

‘You will stay with her, Serge?'

‘I won't let her out of my sight for a second,' his friend soothed.

‘This is silly!' Kate protested as she was placed beside Serge on the stone bench. ‘I was light-headed for a minute, that's all.'

‘You will do as I ask!' Javier announced imperiously.

‘Dream on,'
Kate muttered under her breath.

His brows arched. ‘You said something,
querida?
'

‘Nothing you'd like.'

‘I never doubted it,' he gritted back with a glittering smile before he strode off. Kate watched until he disappeared from view; when he did a long tremulous sigh escaped her lips.

‘You care for him…?'

Kate jumped at the amazed accusation voiced by the man beside her. ‘Pardon?'

Serge calmly repeated his observation.

Kate, furiously ducking and diving from the truth, found it hard to meet his level dark gaze. ‘I don't know him; how can I care for him?' She laughed at the absurdity of the notion. ‘Javier married me so that he can take control of the company. And if you didn't know that, I'm in big trouble. He'll probably accuse me of industrial espionage, this time!' she predicted wryly.

‘Is that what he told you…? That he was worried about his inheritance.' Serge shook his head and looked amused. ‘I take it you've never met Felipe.'

‘We don't exactly move in the same circles.' Kate was puzzled by Serge's peculiar reaction to her shocking explanation.

‘If you'd ever seen Felipe with Javier you would know that he'd
never
disinherit him; it just isn't an option,' he stated positively.

‘They've argued,' Kate explained. ‘He wants Javier to marry some girl…'

Serge dismissed this with a shrug. ‘Sure, they clash occasionally, it's inevitable. They are both strong-willed, but Felipe adores Javier. Did you know he brought him up after his mother's death?'

Something in his tone caught Kate's attention; she was good at picking up the things people
didn't
say. ‘How did she die?'

‘She took an overdose, Javier was only ten at the time, he found her.'

‘How awful!' Kate gasped, sickened by the horrifying thought of a ten-year-old child carrying that image around in his head for the rest of his life. Her tender heart ached; poor Javier. ‘Is his father dead, too?'

Serge shook his head. ‘No. He was overcome with guilt after his wife's death; she adored him you see, but…he was a womaniser and not a very discreet one. He drifted for some years. I believe he lives on a ranch the family owns in Venezuela these days, but he keeps a very low profile. He left Javier with Felipe; to all intents and purposes Felipe is the only father he remembers.'

‘But I don't u-understand…' Kate stammered, absorbing the implications of Javier's tragic family history. ‘Why would he marry me if what you say is true? If he knows his grandfather won't disinherit him?'

‘I'm sure he had his reasons.'

This clearly was enough for him, but not for Kate, whose head was spinning.

‘He lied to me!' she wailed.

‘Maybe, but I think he…cares for you.'

Good God, the man had clearly been infected by his wife's terminal sentimentality. ‘Cares for me? Are you mad? You know how we met—all of forty-eight hours ago. He doesn't even like me!' she cried.

Serge responded with an infuriatingly enigmatic smile. ‘I loved Sarah the moment I saw her.'

‘So did Javier, and much good it did him!' Kate retorted recklessly. ‘Oh, God!' she gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. ‘I didn't mean…I'm s-so sorry…' she stammered.

‘It's all right, you are not telling me anything I didn't already know.'

Good God, had they discussed it? Now that was a mind-boggling proposition.

‘And you don't mind…?'

This man had to be a very unusual Spanish male if he didn't mind another man lusting after his wife, and to Kate he appeared to have the full complement of possessive traits.

‘It doesn't worry you?' No matter how much you trusted a friend, wouldn't there always be a nagging doubt?

‘What should I worry about, Kate?'

Kate shook her head; she could hardly ask him if he wasn't worried that, despite his lofty ideals, one day Javier might succumb to temptation and make a move; having experienced Javier's skills on the kissing front, Kate could imagine that even a happily married woman might be hard put to resist.

‘Sarah has always been unaware of the strength of Javier's feelings and I'd like to stay that way. I know he will never mention it to her…' He looked at Kate expectantly.

‘I won't say a word,' she promised.

‘Good. Let me tell you a story, and perhaps you'll understand why Javier will always be welcome in my house. When Sarah was young she contracted a disease, a pelvic inflammatory condition she contracted from a lover.'

‘Chlamydia.'

‘You have heard of it; I hadn't when she told me,' he admitted. ‘It left her unable to conceive naturally, you see, and she was afraid that I would reject her,' he recalled with an incredulous smile that wrung Kate's heart. To her way of thinking, Sarah was an extremely fortunate individual to inspire that sort of love—in not just one man but two!

‘I am not a wealthy man,' Serge continued.

Which begged the question of how he became a close friend of Javier.

‘And IVF treatment is not cheap. We scraped together enough money,' he explained. ‘But our expectations were frankly unrealistic and when we were not successful it hit Sarah hard; she became very depressed.' Kate could see that thinking of these dark days clearly affected him deeply.

‘But you have Raul now.'

His dark eyes flashed. ‘Yes, we have Raul—
thanks to Javier.
'

Kate swallowed her impatience and a desire to shake the information out of him as he lapsed once more into a reflective silence.

Finally she was unable to contain her curiosity.

‘Javier helped somehow…?' she prompted.

He nodded. ‘Javier arranged for us to spend some time with her family in England, and after Sarah was feeling better he arranged for us to see one of the leading infertility experts in England. The doctor was frank about our chances. Because of Sarah's previous eating disorder as well, the odds were not on our side. After much soul-searching we decided to go ahead with the treatment; it helped enormously that Sarah had the support of her family this time, and Raul was the result.'

Kate was stunned by this extraordinary tale of altruism, made all the more so by the fact that if Javier had wanted Sarah all he'd needed to do was stand by and do nothing while her marriage had disintegrated under the strain.

God, what a frustratingly complex person he was. Clearly there was a hell of a lot more to Javier Montero than your average macho male. Knowing all this didn't alter the fact that her main qualification as a prospective wife had been the fact she didn't love him! It was something she had better remember the next time she felt inclined to argue with him.

 

It was just as well there was very little traffic because Javier had effectively blocked the road with his car, Kate was in
the middle of pointing out the inconsiderate nature of such behaviour when Sarah appeared breathlessly at their side.

‘Oh, Kate, are you all right?' she cried.

‘I'm totally fine,' Kate responded. ‘Don't let the fact I'm being hauled about like a sack of potatoes fool you; Javier wouldn't let me walk,' she explained, treating him to an exasperated scowl.

‘Are you sure? Serge said you fainted.' A flash of inspiration flickered across her face. ‘Gosh, you're not pregnant, are you?'

‘P-pregnant…?
No,
I'm definitely not!' she returned, not daring to look at Javier.

The petite blonde's face fell. ‘That's a pity. It would be nice if there wasn't too big a gap between Raul and your first baby.'

Kate could hardly believe it when Javier added in a provocative husky undertone that made her tummy muscles quiver, ‘Not yet, anyway, but she did take a drink from the spring on the way here, didn't you,
querida
?'

Kate shot him a look that she hoped made clear he'd better quit all that sexy
querida
nonsense, or else. ‘It was hot and dusty,' she defended.

Sarah looked sympathetic. ‘Don't tease, Javier, can't you see you're embarrassing the girl?' she remonstrated. ‘I hope I haven't offended you, Kate,' she worried. ‘It was just you had the quiet ceremony, and I thought maybe…?'

‘We
had
to get married?' Kate responded bluntly. ‘Well, we didn't, but…' No matter how hard she racked her brains she couldn't think of a single halfway plausible explanation for the hole in a corner nature of the ceremony.

Unexpectedly Javier came to her rescue.

‘My grandfather is not well, Sarah. It wouldn't have been fair to put him through the strain of an elaborate wedding, but we couldn't wait,' he explained, giving a very authentic
impression of an eager lover. ‘Could we,
querida
?' he purred.

On the receiving end of a caressing look that reduced her to a quivering wreck, Kate nodded numbly.

‘Oh I'm so sorry about your grandfather, Javier. I didn't know.'

Javier brushed aside her embarrassed apologies. ‘I'm sorry Kate's not well enough to come to supper…a rain check?'