Spanish Escape: The Playboy of Puerto Banús / A Game of Vows / For the Sake of Their Son

‘I won’t be there.’

He didn’t look in the least deterred.

‘Raúl, my brother would never believe me.’

‘I will come with you and speak to him.’

‘Oh, and he’ll believe you? He’ll believe we met yesterday and fell madly in love? He’ll have me certified insane before he lets me fly off with a stranger—’

‘We met last year.’ Raúl interrupted her tirade. It was clear he had thought it all through. ‘When you were in Spain. It was then that we fell madly in love, but of course with your brother’s accident it was not the time to say so, or to make plans to move, so we put it down to a holiday romance. We met again a few weeks ago and this time around I had no intention of letting you go.’

‘I don’t want to lie to him.’

‘You are always truthful?’ Raúl checked. ‘Does he know about Gordon, then? Does he know—?’

‘Okay,’ she interrupted. Because of course there were things her brother didn’t know. She was actually considering it—so much so that she turned to him with a question. ‘Would your family believe it?’

‘Before I found out about my father’s other life I chose to let him think I was serious about someone I used to date. It was not you I had in mind, but they do not know that.’

It could work.

The frown that was on her brow was smoothed, the impossibility of it all was fading, and Raúl knew it was time to leave.

‘Sleep on it,’ Raúl said. ‘Naturally there is more that I have to tell you, but I am not prepared to discuss certain things until after the marriage.’

‘What sort of things?’

‘Nothing that impacts on you now—just things that a loving wife would know all about. It is something I would not reveal to anyone I did not trust or love.’

‘Or pay for?’

‘Yes.’ He placed the cheque on the coffee table and handed her two business cards.

‘That is the hotel my lawyer will be staying at. I have booked an office there. The other card contains my contact details—for now.’

‘For now?’

‘I am changing my phone number tomorrow,’ Raúl said. ‘One other thing…’ He ran a finger along her cheek, looked at the full mouth he had so enjoyed kissing last night. ‘There will be no one else for the duration of our contract…’

‘It’s not going to happen.’

‘Well, in case you change your mind—’ he handed her an envelope ‘—you might need this.’

She opened it, stared at the photo that had been taken last night. His arm was on the chair behind her, she was laughing, and there was Raúl—smiling, absolutely beautiful, his eyes on her, staring at her as if he was entranced.

He must have known the photographer was on his way, Estelle realised. He had been considering this even last night.

Raúl had rearranged the seating—she was certain of it now.

She realised then the lengths he would go to to get his way.

‘Did you arrange for Gordon to be called away?’

‘Of course.’

‘You don’t even try to deny it?’

He heard her anger.

‘You’d prefer that I lie?’ Raúl checked.

She looked to the mantelpiece, to the photo of her brother and Amanda holding a tiny, frail Cecelia. She was so tired of struggling. But she could not believe that she was considering his offer. She had considered Gordon’s, though, Estelle told herself. Tomorrow she had been going to tell her brother she was deferring her studies and moving in with them.

She had already made the decision to up-end her life.

This would certainly up-end it—but in a rather more spectacular way.

She went into the kitchen with the excuse of making coffee, but really it was to gather her thoughts.

Bought by Raúl.

Estelle closed her eyes. It was against everything she believed in, yet it wasn’t just the money that tempted her. It was something more base than that.

A man as beautiful as Raúl, for her first lover. The thought of sharing his bed, his life—even for a little while—was as tempting as the cheque he had written. Estelle blew out a breath, her skin on fire, aroused just at the thought of lying beside him. Yet she knew that if Raúl knew she was a virgin the deal would be off.

‘Not for me.’

He was standing at the kitchen door, watching as she spooned instant coffee into two mugs.

‘I’ll leave you to think about it. If you do not arrive at the appointment then I will accept your decision and stop the cheque. As I said, tomorrow my phone number will be changing. It will be too late to change your mind.’

It really was, Estelle knew, a once-in-a-lifetime offer.

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ue4fb7f4b-f225-5bd8-ad39-f5f44306e235)

‘I WILL FLY your family out for the wedding…’

They were sitting in Raúl’s lawyer’s office, going over details that made Estelle burn, but it was all being dealt with in a cool, precise manner.

‘I will speak with your parents and brother.’

‘My parents are both deceased.’ Estelle said it in a matter-­of-fact way. She was not after sympathy from Raúl and this was not a tender conversation. ‘And my brother and his wife won’t be able to attend—Cecelia is too sick to travel.’

‘You should have someone there for you.’

‘Won’t your family believe us otherwise?’ There was a slight sneer to her voice, which she fought to check. She had chosen to be here, after all. It was just the mention of her parents, of Cecelia, that had her throat tightening—the realisation that everything in this marriage bar love would be real and she would be going through it all alone.

‘It has nothing to do with that,’ Raúl said. ‘It is your wedding day. You might find it overwhelming to be alone.’