Shock Marriage For The Powerful Spaniard

‘I resent that figure of speech!’

‘You’re very attractive but I don’t suppose I’m telling you anything you don’t already know.’

‘That doesn’t mean...it doesn’t mean...’ She was breathless and had to breathe in deeply to stop herself from shaking. ‘That there’s a significant anyone lurking in the background, and even if there was I fail to see what business it might be of yours!’

Rafael didn’t say anything for a few seconds and she found the silence oppressive, like a dense weight pushing down on her, making her want to justify herself.

She thought of her experiences with the opposite sex, the hungry eyes and groping hands that she had always had to bat away. She thought of being the object of a bet, mortified and humiliated at a time when she had been so open to handing over her heart to someone.

Was it any wonder that she felt safest when she was buried behind books, studying and dreaming about an uncomplicated future?

Other girls her age dreamt of guys, dating, engagements and getting married.

She dreamt of being able to take care of herself. When she thought about men, she vaguely had in her head someone unthreatening—dull, even. Someone who would be able to see past the sexy image that was so unlike the girl she was inside and appreciate her for the qualities that weren’t on show.

‘So no boyfriend?’

‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘Not that it’s any of your business.’ She abruptly got to her feet and made a beeline for the folder she had been given with all the detailed instructions for the gardener whom had been foisted upon the Walters.

‘And what about the master of the house?’ Rafael quizzed softly, feeling her out.

Sofia stiffened. It was barely noticeable but he noticed it.

‘What,’ Sofia asked coldly, ‘are you implying?’

‘Sometimes masters of the house can have expectations beyond the call of duty. Sometimes those expectations are met...’

Sofia clenched her fists and took a deep, steadying breath, which didn’t do the trick. He was being provocative. She had no idea why but it wasn’t going to get her anywhere if she allowed her temper to get the better of her. Letting your emotions get the better of you never paid off. Her mother had let her emotions get the better of her. First when she had fallen for a guy who had dumped her, and afterwards when she had let her heart rule her head, always looking for salvation in someone else, always thinking that she could escape disappointment by throwing herself headlong into relationships that had never gone anywhere.

Sofia had adored her fallible mother but had seen the failings and had determined never to be afflicted in the same way.

Letting this complete stranger get to her wasn’t going to work.

‘Not in this case,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘I didn’t think so,’ Rafael murmured honestly. ‘But there’s something there, isn’t there? What?’

‘Let’s get something straight.’ Sofia was holding on to her temper with difficulty and he wasn’t making it any easier by that all-knowing look on his face, a look which implied that he could read her mind, which of course he couldn’t.

‘What’s that?’

‘You’re here to do a job. I have stuff to do and I won’t be fraternising with you.’

‘Because I ask too many questions?’

‘My personal life is none of your business. Now, I’ll show you to the door. Take the instructions. You might want to read them over before you go to bed. There will be a lot to busy yourself with until James and Elizabeth get back. They’ll expect you to have done everything laid out, right down to pulling up the very last weed in the flower beds.’ She thrust the paper into his hand, and he glanced at it as though only really mildly curious as to the content.

‘Later.’

‘Later? Later?’

Rafael rose to his feet unhurriedly. ‘I’ll be settling in before I start doing any work in someone’s garden.’

‘Settling in?’ she parroted, staggered and still seething at his outrageous implications. For all that, though, she was furiously aware of the keen beating of her heart and the way, for the first time in living memory, she felt alive to someone else, all her senses heightened, her pulses racing, her skin tingling.

Rafael burst out laughing. ‘Oh yes,’ he said in a low, velvety undertone, moving towards the door and dumping the unopened pages of instructions on the kitchen counter en route. ‘I intend to familiarise myself with the place before I go anywhere near a bottle of weed killer or a lawn mower.’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘Will you be trying to stop me?’

‘James... Mr Walters...he can be very short-tempered.’

‘Really?’

Sofia nodded, but she was mesmerised by the arrogant lack of interest in Rafael’s dark gaze.

‘Interesting.’

‘What is?’ she breathed, hovering, unable to keep still.

‘Interesting how incredibly unadventurous you are for someone of your age. Why is that? No, I can guess why. Your mother dragged you from pillar to post and your response was to batten down the hatches and pray for a time when the storm would pass.’

‘Stop,’ Sofia hissed, shaken. ‘Stop making assumptions about my personal life!’

Rafael didn’t say anything for a few seconds but he looked at her, a long, leisurely look that made her breath hitch in her throat.

‘A little adventure can go a long way,’ Rafael murmured.

‘Maybe for you,’ she was stung into responding, ‘but not for me. So maybe you’re right—maybe a life of never quite staying anywhere long enough to put down real roots has made me a bit wary when it comes to all that nonsense about adventure. But I don’t need a complete stranger to start lecturing to me on my life choices.’

‘Who better than a complete stranger to lecture on life choices? Isn’t that how therapy works?’

‘You’re a gardener, not a therapist, so I’m not seeing the relevance.’

Rafael adroitly swerved around the interruption. ‘Life is meant to be lived,’ he mused, eyes pinned to her face, noting every change of expression, every fleeting shadow, the flare of her nostrils, the dilation of her pupils, the way her breathing was shallow and breathless. ‘Sometimes, things happen that can’t be predicted...’ He shrugged and grinned. ‘All I’m saying is that I won’t be spending every hour of the day obeying what’s on those pieces of paper el señor de la casa has thoughtfully printed for me.’

Adventure...

Never before had one word dangled before her eyes, beckoning with the seductive allure of a banquet spread before a starving person.

She had made all the right noises about adventure being the last thing she wanted in her life. She’d meant every word of it! It was an ideology long ingrained inside her.

And yet...he stood there and the urge to be swept away by that low, sexy voice was overwhelming. She physically had to take a step back but her heart was beating like a sledgehammer inside her.

‘I intend to see a bit of this beautiful place, Sofia, and you’re going to be my guide,’ he murmured. ‘While the cat’s away the mouse, I’m suggesting, should definitely play...’

CHAPTER THREE (#u29463852-34f6-5881-96e9-7da7e5cef3ba)