‘So you learnt Spanish and formed a business because of that night?’ Guilt rushed at him.
‘I have worked hard to prove myself, to be my own person, and I was not about to allow my father, or you, to take that from me. As far as I was concerned his debts would be paid by the properties he’d hidden in my name and not my business. Of course now I know it would never have been enough.’
‘And what if marriage had become necessary? What if you hadn’t located my brother?’
‘Then I would have married you, if it meant saving the one thing I’d worked hard for. My life. My independence.’
‘So was this weekend a practice for the honeymoon?’
Fury leapt to her eyes; the smile that had lingered seductively on her lips disappeared. ‘This weekend was a mistake. A very big mistake. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to pack and book a flight to London.’
‘I have planned that we will go on my jet tomorrow.’
‘You are, but I’m going now—alone.’
THE GREY RAIN-FILLED sky of London matched Raul’s mood as he glared out of his hotel window at the skyline, impressive even in this weather. All last night he’d tossed and turned, haunted by the memory of one weekend with a woman who had changed his life far more than he cared to admit. Just as he refused to acknowledge that he missed her, that he hadn’t wanted to let her go.
Yesterday, he’d watched Lydia march off through the park not realising how serious she was about leaving Madrid until they’d returned in silence to his apartment where she’d promptly booked a flight. The temptation to stop her, to try and make her stay, had been almost too much for him—until he’d reminded himself that such ideas were a sign of total weakness. Not only did he not indulge in such emotions, but she was the woman who had kept secrets from him, secrets that had not been hers to keep.
She’d packed, left and within an hour he had been alone. Silence had hung heavy around him as he’d brooded over their weekend, his rational thoughts accepting it had been exactly as she’d claimed. A mistake. For both of them. He’d allowed her to get close, expose depths of his emotions he’d never intended to be shown, only to find she was as manipulative and cold as him. Hell, what else had she lied about? Had all that talk of her family, her childhood been to lull him into a false sense of security whilst she dug deeper into his past?
With an angry growl he turned away from the view of London, feeling more like a caged animal. Coffee and distraction were what he needed right now. He had to focus his mind, put Lydia totally out of it. He had to forget her. Especially today. He was to meet his brother, the son his father had truly wanted. With a feral oath slipping from him, he left the luxurious hotel suite, intent on seeking the company of unknown businessmen at breakfast and the normality that had left his life the moment Lydia had entered it.
The aroma of strong coffee focused his mind as he sat at breakfast, although food was the last thing he wanted. The bitterness of the black liquid spiked his senses, bringing the controlled man he’d become back into play. Exactly what he needed to be, today of all days. He couldn’t allow himself to dwell on the events of the weekend, not now at least.
In a bid for distraction he picked up one of the newspapers, but it wasn’t the headline that caught his attention, it was the photo of Lydia looking every bit the socialite on a night out. Suspicion and a spark of lust slammed into him hard as he gritted his teeth firmly and looked at the image. A growl of Spanish slipped from him as he read the headline.
Blackmailed into an engagement by Spanish
billionaire looking for unknown half-brother!
The paper shook as he held it, his fingers tightening on the offending pages until they hurt. She’d sold him out. Lydia had gone from his bed straight to the press. Was that why she’d been so keen to leave Madrid, to leave him? Before the headlines broke?
He shouldn’t read it, shouldn’t give it even the smallest bit of his attention, but his eyes began quickly to scan the words even though his emotions, and maybe even his heart, warned against it.
London heiress Lydia Carter-Wilson has been unable to keep the dark family secrets of Spanish business mogul Raul Peréz Valdez.
‘Raul was shocked to discover he had an older brother,’ a reliable source informed.
The only heir to his father’s estate has just discovered the existence of a brother, who will now share the inheritance of his father’s company, Banco de Torrez. The blackmailed bride-to-be is honouring a contract her father had signed with the late Maximiliano Valdez in order to pay off family debts.
Legitimate son, Raul, seems more than happy to marry instead of sharing his inheritance with his half-brother.
A curse left his lips without any thought for those around him. She’d even shamed her father. What kind of a woman did that? A mercenary one who only thought of herself.
Right at this moment he was trapped in a bubble of anger. He’d trusted Lydia, allowed her into his family and, if he was brutally honest, his emotions. She’d got to him on a level he’d never known—and then she’d done this.
He pulled out his phone and with savage satisfaction pressed Lydia’s number. Infuriatingly, she didn’t answer and as the message system kicked in he almost cut the connection, but sense prevailed. The sooner she realised he knew what she’d been up to, the better, but first there was time for a little of her own medicine. Deceit.
‘Lydia. There are papers to sign for your father’s debt. I will see you at twelve forty-five, before I meet Max at one.’
With a satisfied smile he ended the call. He had no doubt she would be there. Just as he had no doubt she would try and deny all knowledge of the article. After all, hadn’t she kept Max’s whereabouts from him for several days before enlightening him—only then she’d made seduction the main game plan? What would her plan be today?
It seemed Miss Carter-Wilson was as cold and calculating as he was and would do anything to extract herself from the debt her father had tied her to—but this time she’d gone too far. This time she’d played with the wrong man and for that she would pay.
* * *
Lydia’s heart sank as she entered the smart hotel, the large Christmas tree mocking her as it sparkled. With Christmas a week away, carols filled the hotel with joy and happiness. She was far from feeling anything like that, knowing this meeting with Raul would be so much more difficult than that first one almost three weeks ago. She hung up her coat in the cloakroom and walked over to the mirror, where, feeling the need for more armour, she reapplied her lipstick then looked at her reflection.
She’d changed in the last three weeks. She might not look any different from the woman who had first met Raul, but she was. She’d had her heart broken—exactly what she’d spent all her adult life trying to avoid. Now, thanks to her father’s bad business dealings and one impulsive weekend with Raul Valdez, she felt totally out of control even though she looked far from it. She took in a deep breath and smoothed her hands down the bold red skirt of the suit she’d spent time selecting this morning. Just as she had done on their first meeting, she’d dressed with care, wanting to exude a confidence she was far from feeling, and now she’d seen the headlines in today’s papers she needed every bit of help she could get.
Had Raul seen them too?
He couldn’t have seen it. He’d never have calmly left a message to meet her just to sign papers if he had. Would he?
He is capable of anything.
That thought echoed round in her mind as her heels tapped out a solitary beat across the elegant lobby towards the restaurant where Raul would soon meet his brother. The fact that he’d arranged to meet her so close to that meeting must surely mean all he wanted was