The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal

‘I want to know the things they have not revealed in their bid to buy my horses. You know the kind of information I am getting at? It is important that my ponies go to the very best homes. As I am sure you are aware, I do not make these transactions just for money.’

‘All their credentials are first class, but if you want to ask me about specifics fire away. I can assure you that I’ve done my homework in that regard.’

‘Really? But you clearly did not know that it was me that was the VIP guest this weekend, did you? Is that not somewhat remiss of you?’

A scarlet brand seared even hotter colour into her cheeks. ‘It wasn’t a mistake I would ever make normally, I can assure you! It’s just that I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, and I—’

‘Your personal concerns should never impinge on your ability to do your job well.’

‘In a perfect world that might be so, but in case you hadn’t noticed this world isn’t perfect, and from time to time people do have worries that cannot help but disturb them.’

‘What kind of worries do you have nowadays, Briana?’ Pascual shot back, no small amount of bitterness edging his tone. ‘I thought you must be perfectly happy and content. After all…you escaped from a man and a marriage you clearly did not want, did you not? I imagined that you must have got exactly what you wanted when you walked out on me.’

‘Can we not do this? It’s painful enough that we should meet up again like this without us sniping at each other. We’re both here for more important reasons than what’s between us personally. I know we need to talk, but this is hardly the right time.’

Wanting to, but hardly able to refute her argument right then, Pascual took another sip of his coffee, then placed the cup and saucer back on the tray. ‘Give me five minutes and then I will meet you downstairs,’ he responded tersely. ‘No doubt we will indeed have an opportunity to discuss our personal issues over the weekend. If it looks like we will not—then we will have to make sure we create an opportunity. I can assure you of one thing: you are not leaving this establishment until I hear the full account of why you ran away from our marriage. And even then I will not let you go until I am satisfied that you have told me the truth!’

After her encounter with Pascual, Briana was still inwardly shaking as she attempted to chat to Tina in the lobby, and she knew her colleague saw that she was unusually distracted. Priding herself on her ability to remain unflappable in most situations—especially when it came to her work—she feared she was going to have to dig deep for resources she wasn’t even sure she had to get her through the rest of this weekend.

When Pascual descended the thickly carpeted staircase, only moments later, her breath all but got locked inside her throat. If he’d meant to make a statement that there was no question it was he who was the VIP guest this weekend, then he had more than succeeded. He had teamed the most exquisite bespoke black jacket with beautifully tailored trousers and a deep blue shirt, and Briana’s knees almost gave way beneath her at the sight of him. He had always looked amazing in a suit—elegant in a way that most very masculine men couldn’t attempt to carry off, as well as effortlessly stylish, fit, and sexy enough to make a woman forget what she was thinking about the second she clapped eyes on him. No matter what her age or marital status!

It was no surprise when Tina leaned over to her and whispered, ‘My God! He’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. How lucky are we that he’s the VIP client!’

Lucky? That wasn’t exactly how Briana would describe what she was feeling as Pascual turned his disdainful dark gaze her way and silently warned her that he was not finished with her yet…not by a long chalk.

‘Señor—Mr Dominguez…your meeting is this way. Please come with me.’

As she led him into the elegant drawing room where the three businessmen were waiting to meet him, they rose in unison from their pin-tucked armchairs round the fireplace. Her voice had a slight tremor in it as she made the formal introductions. There was no doubt in her mind that the men were relieved that Pascual had finally appeared, and straight away she sensed how deferential they were towards him. Her ex-fiancé had always seemed to elicit that kind of response from other people. There was something almost aristocratic about him that, along with his sensational looks, guaranteed he commanded instant attention wherever he went.

After five years of not seeing him the impact he made when he walked into a room had not lessened one iota, Briana discovered, and she wondered what Tina would say if she ever found out that this ‘gorgeous man’, a wealthy Argentinian, was the father of her little boy Adán. Surveying him now, she could hardly believe it herself. Their whirlwind romance seemed such a long time ago. A long, lonely time ago, she thought with a sudden profound ache in her heart.

‘Can we get some more coffee in here—and maybe some brandy, sweetheart?’ Steve Nichols, MD of an advertising agency in Soho and lately coowner with his two colleagues of highly desirable stables in Windsor, took Briana aside.

Glancing into his pale blue eyes and looking at his slightly shiny pallor, she couldn’t help shivering with distaste. Unfortunately she knew his type. He might be on a business trip, but he would consider any reasonably attractive female between the ages of sixteen and forty fair game. Briana knew she would have to keep her wits about her around him. His business credentials might be impeccable, but that didn’t mean his manners or his behaviour towards women followed suit.

To Pascual—a fellow entrepreneur, with a commodity to sell that he very much desired—he would be sycophantic and deferential to a tee. But to her and Tina he could potentially be a nuisance.

‘Of course…Was there anything else?’ Glancing deliberately over at the other men she waited until they all agreed that coffee and brandy was just perfect for now.

As she turned to leave Steve Nichols leaned over to her and whispered conspiratorially, ‘Hurry back, sweetheart,’ and winked. At that very moment she sensed Pascual’s deeply disapproving gaze come to rest on her, and then on the man beside her. Briana’s face flamed again. She hoped to God he didn’t think she was encouraging him!

The meeting went on for at least three hours, and by then it was nearly dinnertime. The hosts had requested that dinner be provided and catered for by a local well-known Michelin-starred restaurant, and while Briana and Tina dealt with the staff from there, who had arrived with their supplies and were currently ensconced in the house’s ample kitchen, the three businessmen retired to their respective rooms to get ready.

To be honest, Briana was glad of the breathing space in which to busy herself with the practicalities of her job and stem the tide of anxiety and emotion that had swept over her since she’d seen Pascual again. But she knew she couldn’t avoid him for ever. Sooner or later he would confront her about the events of the past and the unexpected and abrupt manner in which she had left Argentina.

He would demand a fuller account of why she had left.

The plain fact of the matter was that her reasons for leaving had not become any easier to come to terms with over the years. In fact, some days she worried that they would be with her, spoiling her chance of happiness with a man, for ever…Not that she even wanted any other man. After all that had happened, Pascual’s trust in her was obviously going to be in very short supply. Would he even believe her when she did finally explain things?

About halfway through the evening Tina emerged from the private dining room that overlooked the beautiful gardens which now, as darkness fell, were hidden from view by the heavy velvet drapes at the windows. Briana rose up from the padded love-seat in the lobby and asked, ‘How’s it going in there? Everybody happy?’

‘The food looks amazing! Everyone is tucking in, but our gorgeous Argentinian looks bored, frankly—as if he’d much rather be somewhere else than here.’

Briana’s stomach sank. Their personal business was one thing, but if Pascual was looking bored then the businessmen who had hired her company’s services would not be so thrilled, and she felt responsible for that. Somehow she had to rescue the situation.

‘I was thinking everyone might like to go out somewhere afterwards. There’s a private members’ club with a casino in town. I’ve already been on the phone to them and they would be more than happy to have our party visit.’

‘Great idea! Why don’t you go in and tell them?’ Tina replied, with a wink of her plum-coloured eyelid. ‘They’ll probably appreciate the suggestion more coming from you…I’ve noticed how they’ve all hardly been able to take their eyes off of you—especially the heavenly Mr Dominguez!’

‘You’re imagining things.’

‘All I know is if I had even half the sex appeal you’ve got, Briana Douglas, then I’d be milking it for all I was worth! Every one of those men in that dining room is a multimillionaire, and Mr Dominguez—who’s by far the yummiest of the lot—is apparently a billionaire! Haven’t you ever fantasised about some outrageously rich and gorgeous man sweeping you off your feet and marrying you?’

Briana would have laughed out loud if the irony of her colleague’s words hadn’t been quite so acutely painful. Touching her fingers briefly to her burning cheek, she dismissed the younger girl’s comments with a deliberately distracted air, and gave the black velvet waistcoat she wore over a white silk blouse a little tug to bring it better into alignment with the waistband of her matching fitted skirt.

‘I’ll go in and talk to them…In the meantime, Tina, could you get me a cup of coffee and a sandwich from the kitchen? I don’t think I could face a meal tonight. Do you mind?’

‘You’re mad, turning down the chance to try some of that fantastic food that’s been brought in! They brought enough for us with them, you know.’

‘Then why don’t you have my share?’

Heading down the rich maroon carpet of the hallway that led to the dining room, Briana thought she’d be hard pressed even to eat the sandwich she’d requested, let alone a full meal. Her stomach was deluged with butterflies at just the thought of having a private conversation with Pascual, as she knew she must. She felt doubly unsettled when she thought about her little son…the child he had no idea that he’d fathered when she’d left Argentina in such an unseemly hurry. Following on from that came the realisation that someone with the wealth and status he had at his fingertips could all too easily take Adán from her if he had a mind and a will to…

‘A casino? What an inspired idea—if you don’t mind my saying so, Miss Douglas!’ Steve Nichols leant back in the rather grand Tudor dining chair he occupied as his colleagues readily concurred, and gave Briana another one of his irritating winks.

Compressing her lips in mild irritation, she quickly glanced round the rest of the table and endeavoured to engage the other diners with her pleased smile. But the gesture faded prematurely when her anxious gaze inevitably collided with Pascual’s. He did not simply look bored, as Tina had suggested. Quite clearly he was more annoyed than anything else! Was that because she had walked in and soured his mood?

Once upon a time his face had lit up whenever she came into a room where he happened to be, and again Briana’s heart couldn’t help but yearn for those happier times. To be young and in love with the man of her dreams, living in a vibrant and amazing city like Buenos Aires, had been more than incredible! Sometimes she had to pinch herself to remember that it had ever happened at all…Perhaps it was something she’d dreamt up, because of her loneliness now? But she only had to glance at her son’s sweet dark-eyed face to see the startling resemblance to his charismatic father, and she told herself to simply count her blessings. Having Adán reminded her that she hadn’t lost everything, after all. She had her precious child.

‘What about you Mr Dominguez?’ she forced herself to ask. ‘Would you like to go the casino?’

‘Only if you will agree to accompany me, Miss Douglas,’ he answered smoothly, with an arch of his eyebrow. ‘I always like to have a beautiful girl on my arm when I go to a casino…for luck, you understand…’

‘I…I’m afraid I have work to do.’

All eyes were upon her, and Briana wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. What was Pascual playing at, inviting her to go with them? He must know it was completely inappropriate and would put her in a most awkward position.

‘Come, come, Miss Douglas,’ coaxed Mike Daniels, one of the other businessmen. ‘Mr Dominguez is our guest tonight. He’s come all the way from Argentina for our meeting—the least we can do is grant him this one request, don’t you think? Think of it as one of the perks of the job. Myself and my colleagues will gladly foot the bill.’

Still doubtful, Briana easily guessed that Pascual was taking the utmost pleasure in her obvious discomfort and embarrassment. She wanted to tell Mike Daniels that acting as escort to his VIP guest on a visit to a casino was definitely not part of the services her company provided. But she sensed her ex-fiancé’s potential to make life very difficult all round for everyone if she refused.

Her grey eyes beseeching, she gazed back into the compellingly handsome face that still lazily studied her, and disturbingly saw that a small mocking smile was playing around his lips.

‘I haven’t brought anything suitable with me to wear to a casino.’

‘What you have on is absolutely fine.’ Her tormentor’s smile widened, and his dark eyes lit with mischief as he deliberately swept his gaze up and down her figure, letting it linger in particular on the lush curve of her breasts outlined by the snug black velvet waistcoat.

His aim was obviously to embarrass and belittle her as much as he could, Briana saw, and she would have had no bones about demonstrating her fury with his behaviour if only they had been alone. As things stood, she couldn’t do that. Not without making a scene and besmirching her hard-won reputation as a professional businesswoman.