The Ultimate Persuasion: A Tempestuous Temptation / The Notorious Gabriel Diaz / The Truth Behind his Touch

Deafening silence greeted this remark. She hadn’t planned on saying that, but out it had come, and she could have kicked herself. Thankfully she was spared the agony of his contempt by the door being pulled open and they were ushered inside by a short, jolly woman in her sixties who beamed at them as though they were much expected long-lost friends, even though it was nearly ten and she had probably been sound asleep.

Of course there was room for them! Business was never good in winter…just the one room let to a long-standing resident who worked nearby during the week…not that there was any likelihood that he would be leaving for his home in Yorkshire at the weekend…not in this snow…had they seen anything like it…?

The jovial patter kept Aggie’s turbulent thoughts temporarily at bay. Regrettably, one of the en suite rooms was occupied by the long-standing resident who wouldn’t be able to return to Yorkshire at the weekend. As she looked brightly between them to see who would opt for the remaining en suite bedroom, Aggie smiled innocently at Luiz until he was forced to do the expected and concede to sharing a bathroom.

She could feel him simmering next to her as they were proudly shown the sitting room, where there was ‘a wide assortment of channels on the telly because they had recently had cable fitted’. And the small breakfast room where they could have the best breakfast in the village, and also dinner if they would like, although because of the hour she could only run to sandwiches just now…

Aggie branched off into her own, generously proportioned and charming bedroom and nodded blandly when Luiz informed her that he would see her in the sitting room in ten minutes. They both needed something to eat.

There was just time to wash her face, no time at all to unpack or have a bath and get into fresh clothes. Downstairs, Luiz was waiting for her. She heard the rumble of his voice and low laughter as he talked to the landlady. Getting closer, she could make out that he was explaining that they were on their way to visit relatives, that the snow had temporarily cut short their journey. That, yes, public transport would have been more sensible but for the fact that the trains had responded to the bad weather by going on strike. However, what a blessing in disguise, because how else would they have discovered this charming part of the world? And perhaps she could bring them a bottle of wine with their sandwiches…whatever she had to hand would do as long as it was cold…

‘So…’ Luiz drawled as soon as they had the sitting room to themselves. ‘The truth is now all coming out in the wash. Were you ever going to tell me about your background or were you intending to keep that little titbit to yourself until it no longer mattered who knew?’

‘I didn’t think it was relevant.’

‘Do me a favour, Aggie.’

‘I’m not ashamed of…’ She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. It was cosy in here and beautifully warm, with an open fire at one end. He had removed his jumper and rolled his sleeves up and her eyes strayed to his arms, sprinkled with dark hair. He had an athlete’s body and she had to curb the itch to stare at him. She didn’t know where that urge was coming from. Or had it been there from the start?

Wine was brought to them and she felt like she needed some. One really big glass to help her through this conversation…

‘You’re not ashamed of…? Concealing the truth?’

‘I didn’t think of it as concealing the truth.’

‘Well, forgive me, but it seems a glaring omission.’

‘It’s not something I talk about.’

‘Why not?’

‘Why do you think?’ She glared at him, realised that the big glass of wine had somehow disappeared in record time and didn’t refuse when her wine glass was topped up.

Luiz flushed darkly. It wouldn’t do to forget that this was not a date. He wasn’t politely delving down conversational avenues as a prelude to sex. Omissions like this mattered, given the circumstances. But those huge blue eyes staring at him with a mixture of uncertainty and accusation were getting to him.

‘You tell me.’

‘People can be judgemental,’ Aggie muttered defensively. ‘As soon as you say that you grew up in a children’s home, people switch off. You wouldn’t understand. How could you? You’ve always led the kind of life people like us dreamt about. A life of luxury, with family all around you. Even if your sisters were bossy and told you what to do when you were growing up. It’s a different world.’

‘I’m not without imagination,’ Luiz said gruffly.

‘But this is just something else that you can hold against us…just another nail in the coffin.’

Yes, it was! But he was still curious to find out about that shady background she had kept to herself. He barely noticed when a platter of sandwiches was placed in front of them, accompanied by an enormous salad, along with another bottle of excellent wine.

‘You went to a boarding school. I went to the local comprehensive where people sniggered because I was one of those kids from a children’s home. Sports days were a nightmare. Everyone else would have their family there, shouting and yelling them on. I just ran and ran and ran and pretended that there were people there cheering me on. Sometimes Gordon or Betsy—the couple who ran the home—would try and come but it was difficult. I could deal with all of that but Mark was always a lot more sensitive.’

‘Which is why you’re so close now. You said that your parents were dead.’

‘They are.’ She helped herself to a bit more wine, even though she was unaccustomed to alcohol and was dimly aware that she would probably have a crashing headache the following morning. ‘Sort of.’

‘Sort of? Don’t go coy on me, Aggie. How can people be sort of dead?’

Stripped bare of all the half-truths that had somehow been told to him over a period of time, Aggie resigned herself to telling him the unvarnished truth now about their background. He could do whatever he liked with the information, she thought recklessly. He could try to buy them off, could shake his head in disgust at being in the company of someone so far removed from himself. She should never have let her brother and Maria talk her into painting a picture that wasn’t completely accurate.

A lot of that had stemmed from her instinctive need to protect Mark, to do what was best for him. She had let herself be swayed by her brother being in love for the first time, by Maria’s tactful downplaying of just how protective her family was and why…And she also couldn’t deny that Luiz had rubbed her up the wrong way from the very beginning. It hadn’t been hard to swerve round the truth, pulling out pieces of it here and there, making sure to nimbly skip over the rest. He was so arrogant. He almost deserved it!

‘We never knew our father,’ she now admitted grudgingly. ‘He disappeared after I was born, and continued showing up off and on, but he finally did a runner when Mum became pregnant with Mark.’

‘He did a runner…’

‘I’ll bet you haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, Luiz.’

‘It’s hard for me to get my head around the concept of a father abandoning his family,’ Luiz admitted.

‘You’re lucky,’ Aggie told him bluntly and Luiz looked at her with dry amusement.

‘My life was prescribed,’ he found himself saying. ‘Often it was not altogether ideal. Carry on.’

Aggie wanted to ask him to expand, to tell her what he meant by a ‘prescribed life’. From the outside looking in, all she could see was perfection for him: a united, large family, exempt from all the usual financial headaches, with everyone able to do exactly what they wanted in the knowledge that if they failed there would always be a safety net to catch them.

‘What else is there to say? I was nine when Mum died.’ She looked away and stared off at the open fire. The past was not a place she revisited with people but she found that she was past resenting what he knew about her. He would never change his mind about the sort of person he imagined she was, but that didn’t mean that she had to accept all his accusations without a fight.

‘How did she die?’

‘Do you care?’ Aggie asked, although half-heartedly. ‘She was killed in an accident returning from work. She had a job at the local supermarket and she was walking home when she was hit by a drunk-driver. There were no relatives, no one to take us in, and we were placed in a children’s home. A wonderful place with a wonderful couple running it who saw us both through our bad times; we couldn’t have hoped for a happier upbringing, given the circumstances. So please don’t feel sorry for either of us.’ The sandwiches were delicious but her appetite had nosedived.

‘I’m sorry about your mother.’

‘Are you?’ But she was instantly ashamed of the bitterness in her voice. ‘Thank you. It was a long time ago.’ She gave a dry, self-deprecating laugh. ‘I expect all this information is academic because you’ve already made your mind up about us. But you can see why it wouldn’t have made for a great opening conversation…especially when I knew from the start that the only reason you’d bothered to ask Maria out with us was so that you could check my brother out.’

Normally, Luiz cared very little about what other people thought of him. It was what made him so straightforward in his approach to tackling difficult situations. He never wasted time beating about the bush. Now, he felt an unaccustomed dart of shame when he thought back to how unapologetic he had been on every occasion he had met them, how direct his questions had been. He had made no attempt to conceal the reason for his sudden interest in his niece. He hadn’t been overtly hostile but Aggie, certainly, was sharp enough to have known exactly what his motives were. So could he really blame her if she hadn’t launched into a sob story about her deprived background?

Strangely, he felt a tug of admiration for the way she had managed to forge a path for herself through difficult circumstances. It certainly demonstrated the sort of strength of personality he had rarely glimpsed in the opposite sex. He grimaced when he thought of the women he dated. Chloe might be beautiful but she was also colourless and unambitious…just another cover girl born with a silver spoon in her mouth, biding her time at a fairly pointless part-time job until a rich man rescued her from the need to pretend to work at all.

‘So where was this home?’

‘Lake District,’ Aggie replied with a little shrug. She looked into those deep, deep, dark eyes and her mouth went dry.

‘Hence you said that they went somewhere that had sentimental meaning for you.’

‘Do you remember everything that people say to you?’ Aggie asked irritably and he shot her one of those amazing, slow smiles that did strange things to her heart rate.

‘It’s a blessing and a curse. You blush easily. Do you know that?’

‘That’s probably because I feel awkward here with you,’ Aggie retorted, but on cue she could feel her face going red.

‘No idea why.’ Luiz pushed himself away from the table and stretched out his legs to one side. He noticed that they had managed to work their way through nearly two bottles of wine. ‘We’re having a perfectly civilised conversation. Tell me why you decided to move to London.’