deal with a man who was leagues ahead of her in the sophistication stakes. She’d idiotically thought that she’d learnt all the lessons she needed to learn from the experiences of her mother and was therefore well equipped to withstand anything.
Now here she was, hoping that some of what she felt might eventually be returned in kind, while the clock ticked, time passed and the year they had set began to ebb away, like sand sifting through an hourglass.
When that year was up, she could of course tell him that she wasn’t ready to quit the marriage but she cringed to think that by then he might be ready to quit what they’d started, having accomplished what he had set out to achieve. Her relationship with David was thawing by the day, as she came to realise just how much he had loved her mother and just how keen he was to get to know her. And as for Freddy... That business would surely be sorted one way or another and, if not, if it was just destined to be an ongoing problem on which Rafael would have to permanently keep an eye, then it was still a pretty good trade-off for all the bits of the company that had been signed over to him and for the happiness David derived from knowing that the problem was being dealt with.
By the time their year was up, he would probably have packed her cases and changed the lock on the door.
‘I’m just curious,’ she said eventually. ‘David has talked so much about how he started with the hotel business and I guess, yes, it’s another facet to him that I’m keen to learn about. I’m not about to wade in and try sorting out the accounts department, so no need to worry about that!’
‘Why would that be a worry for me?’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Sofia said lightly. ‘Maybe because I get the feeling that my role is to commute between London and the countryside and do not much of anything because I don’t have to?’
‘Have I ever said that?’
‘No, but...’
‘You’re free to do whatever you want, Sofia. I don’t own you, despite what you might think.’ His dark gaze slid to her face, a fleeting glance. ‘I certainly have no inclination to tell you what to do.’
Sofia bit down the impulse to take him up on that and run with it. He was just so stubbornly accustomed to dominance, to rejecting without preamble anything he wasn’t interested in pursuing—such as an awkward conversation. And yet, he was the first to insist that she always finish what she started. In his own infuriating, endearing way, he was very happy to tell her what to do.
‘I’m carrying on with my accountancy work, as well you know,’ she confessed, ‘but it’s not as important as it once was. The money. The no longer having to work at it. Maybe part of me wants to get into an office environment to test the waters—see whether I’m still energised at the prospect of having a career.’
Rafael’s dark eyes glanced across at her. ‘That’s the problem with money, though, isn’t it? It’s a blessing but it can also be a curse. Feel free to breathe in the heady fumes of my godfather’s offices. At any rate, they’re the height of luxury, so perhaps not quite representative of the average office environment. I can’t picture you burying yourself behind books and ledgers once this year is up, actually.’
Once this year is up... A tight knot of tension balled in her chest.
‘You might be right.’ Her voice was non-committal. ‘What is happening about Freddy? David doesn’t really mention that side of things.’
‘I think,’ Rafael said, brows knitted as he gave it some thought, ‘there might be an element of guilt that things were allowed to slip away from him when he was preoccupied with all his health worries.’
‘I never thought of that, but you might be right.’
‘I’m always right.’ He shot her a sideways glance, full of laughter, and she relaxed. This light-hearted banter was what she knew. It was sexy and lazy and, for her at any rate, warmly intimate.
‘Except when you’re not.’ She smiled.
By the time they reached her father’s imposing office in West London, she had swept past her unease about where her relationship with her husband was going.
The building was impressive because, Rafael told her, it was a redevelopment of an old government building, the outside of which had been kept true to its period, solid red brick with a certain prison-like appearance that belied the complete modernisation on the inside.
‘You’re right,’ she breathed, taking in the marble and the giant plants and the banks of lifts to one side. ‘Nothing like the average office block.’
‘Want me to show you around?’
‘You have things to do.’
‘I’ll get Paula to do the honours. David’s PA left when he retired and since then there have been a string of young girls. Paula is the latest in line. I have to stop a deal Freddy has been trying to consolidate before we kiss goodbye to yet more capital. I’ll meet you here in an hour and a half.’
She could see that his mind was already on what he had to do, but she didn’t have to wait long before Paula came to fetch her. She was five-foot-nothing and as pretty as a doll, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were friendly and cautious at the same time.
She was a good guide, yet there was a caginess there that Sofia couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she was too busy breathing in the place to pay much attention to that.
One entire section was devoted to the rise of her father’s boutique hotel business, with colourful photos of his first hotel all the way through to his last, with Argentina featuring somewhere in the middle. She was peering at an album, recognising one or two places, when she heard a voice behind her.
‘Wondered when you would make an appearance, my dear stepsister... Is that what you are? Hmm...difficult with your being off the scene for such a long time. Hard to know what to call you. Somehow, sis feels all wrong.’
Sofia turned round to find that Freddy had stolen into the room and shut the door behind him without her having heard him.
He was impeccably dressed and groomed to within an inch of his blond locks, but there was a cruelty in his eyes that she had clocked the very first time she had set eyes on him.
‘Freddy.’ She offered a stiff smile and remained where she was. Her nerves had kicked in and they went into overdrive as he moved towards her before pausing and then circling her, eyes roving up and down in the process.
‘So.’ He completed the circle and then stood in front of her. ‘David’s long-lost daughter. Touching. Can’t tell you how surprised we all were.’
‘We?’
‘Of course!’ His eyebrows shot up. ‘You didn’t think that you could make a grand entrance—fille prodigue, no less—without raising a few questions, did you? And no sooner are you here than the big, bad wolf, your newly acquired husband, is rushing along playing trouble shooter. Hmm...now, let me think...perhaps we is an overstatement. You’re not visible enough to raise any eyebrows. I have to admit that you’ve given award-winning performances whenever you’ve been out in the public domain. But, my dear sis, you don’t fool me.’ He sighed elaborately. ‘That story of love at first sight...whirlwind romance with Mr Eligible Bachelor dispatched to bring you back to your dear papa... Call me sceptical, but it doesn’t wash with me...’
‘I think I’ve seen all there is to see in this room,’ Sofia countered politely. ‘Paula’s waiting for me to carry on with the tour.’
‘Sadly, Paula has had to deal with other business. It’s just the two of us and, before that nosy, over-zealous so-called husband of yours begins wondering where you are, I should tell you that it’s not going to work.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Nosy? Over-zealous? Because he was trying to get a grip on this man’s