Valdez's Bartered Bride

‘Don’t assume you know me.’ Her eyes sparked angrily at him.

‘I don’t assume anything other than you will come to Madrid, trace the person I am looking for and settle your debt. Unless you wish to be married before Christmas?’

‘I will not go to Madrid on your whim.’ She pulled back her hand before he could shake on the deal and he had to suppress the urge to smile. He liked the anger that sparked in her eyes brighter than the Christmas lights of London. He liked the way her lips parted in almost total contrast to that anger. What he didn’t find so appealing was his questionable urge to kiss those lips until desire replaced the anger in her eyes.

‘Then there is only one alternative open to us.’ He let his words hang heavily between them and for the briefest of seconds it was only the two of them. The noise of the other diners slipped away and all he could hear was the rhythmic thump of his heart. He couldn’t let her walk away now. He had to find Max as discreetly as possible—and quickly.

‘Which is?’ The brittle words snapped from her and he became aware of everyone around them once more.

She scowled at him, suspicion in those sexy green eyes, and he decided perhaps it wouldn’t be so very bad to be bound in marriage to such a fiery beauty. Two years living as her husband would at least be entertaining.

‘You or your father must settle the debts—in full. By the end of the year.’

‘By the end of the year? That’s little over a month away.’

‘The debt must be settled, Lydia, by either full payment or marriage.’

‘Believe me, Mr Valdez, if I could make the payment I would, but I can’t.’

A spark of fury rose in her voice and a smile pulled at his lips. Instantly her mouth pressed into a firm line of annoyance, which only made the urge to smile at her greater.

‘Then you have no alternative but to come back to Madrid and either find the person I am looking for, quickly and discreetly, or announce our engagement. The terms of my father’s will state there is a financial reward for finding that person. Enough to cover the debt.’

She shook her head in denial, her soft dark hair bouncing invitingly on her shoulders, snagging his attention all too easily. ‘No, I won’t leave London now. I can’t.’

‘A lover?’

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but no.’

‘Then you will become my wife and settle your father’s debts—unless your claim is true.’

He wouldn’t enlighten her yet to the fact that they would have to be seen as a couple, seen to be preparing for their nuptials. Carlos had insisted that would be the only way to satisfy the board of directors that he was calling in the debt, that his bride was willing.

‘If I am not about to waltz off to Madrid with you, I am hardly likely to agree to a marriage, whatever the conditions attached to the deal my father signed.’

He watched as her eyes narrowed with anger and her lips pressed together and as much as he wanted to kiss those lips until they softened he knew he never could. That would be indulging a side of him he had no wish to explore, be it playboy or something more emotionally involved.

However, her father’s debt was to be settled, she was well and truly off-limits and he certainly didn’t need the complication of having to resist an ill-timed attraction. He needed the board off his back, to know the debt would be settled. Then he could resume his search for Max, which now seemed much more hopeful if Lydia Carter-Wilson did really have a passion for family history. But what would she make of his family, of the tangled web of deceit that had corrupted recent generations?

More to the point, could he trust her? If this got out it could undo all the good work he’d done to prove to the business world he was a man of morals and high values. A man to be trusted.

‘I can of course call in the debt right now.’ He could almost feel the angry vibe coming across the table at him and wondered what her reaction would be if they hadn’t been having this conversation in such a public place. Would she have given vent to her anger or would she have been as controlled as he was?

‘You wouldn’t dare.’ The whispered words had a hiss of anger in them and his body responded wickedly, the earlier urges to kiss her returned in full force. Only the desire to be different from his father had made him accept the somewhat desperate bargain Lydia had made. It would be a high price, but one worth paying if it avoided the messy tangle of marriage.

‘Don’t underestimate me, Lydia.’ He knew he sounded hard, more of a snarl, but he had to instil such aggression. He needed to make this deal, because he had never expected to be filled with lustful need for the woman he might well have to make his temporary wife.

‘It is you who underestimates me, Mr Valdez.’ Despite the anger that still simmered in her eyes he detected a hint of compliance in her voice.

‘I never underestimate anyone I do business with and you are certainly no different.’ He wouldn’t tell her that he’d done his homework on her, found out all he needed to know about the woman who could become his wife. ‘Whatever deal we strike, it is for business and nothing more.’

‘Nothing at all?’

‘No, nothing. It will be a marriage in name only and will end in exactly two years.’

‘Before I commit myself, I think you had better tell me exactly who it is I am locating for you.’ The frivolous tone of her voice belied the inner turmoil he could see playing out in those expressive eyes. He doubted she could hide anything from him and he certainly hadn’t missed that spark of attraction that had briefly showed through all the irritation he’d witnessed in their depths. Her pretty face was so expressive he could read every emotion that crossed it, including the attraction that had sprung as instantly to life as when they’d first met.

Whatever it was sizzling between them, she was as aware of it as he was.

‘I am not sure I can trust you yet.’ He veered towards caution. She could take the secret he’d uncovered, which would blow his family wide open, and sell it to the press for a huge amount. Maybe not enough to clear her father’s debts, but it would still damage his business and his father’s, which was precariously positioned with share prices falling since his sudden death. He would not allow it to happen—whatever the cost. He was more than prepared to sacrifice his bachelor status—temporarily—to calm the nerves of the board.

‘Then you have wasted my time and yours.’ The crispness of each word jarred his senses and he quickly tried to rationalise the situation.

With one call to the press she could destroy his family and his business, but it would ultimately drag her father into the limelight. She appeared to have as little desire for an arranged marriage as he did and even professed to have the skills and knowledge he needed to trace his half-brother. But would she be discreet?

His father had been manipulative to the end. If Lydia successfully found Max, the half-brother he’d never known anything about, then he could claim the money, clear her debts and release them both from the need to marry. His father had excelled himself this time, but had his plan been to force him to marry or bring his unknown half-brother into the business?

‘Your father has a debt to pay, Lydia, and I am collecting it—from you. If you can indeed trace the person I am looking for, make contact without arousing the suspicion or interest of the media, then your father’s debt will be cleared immediately. Marriage in any form will not be necessary.’

‘If you are so against the idea of marriage too, why don’t you just pay it off now?’ That was exactly the question he’d put to Carlos and his legal team and even now he could feel the cold fear sink through him as he recalled Carlos’s reply.

‘Such an action will invalidate the will and your father’s business will no longer be yours. Failure of any kind to clear the debt will result in the business being sold.’

He had to convince Lydia. There was no way he was letting anyone get his hands on a company he’d painstakingly expanded. ‘When I find the person I am looking for it unlocks funds, more than enough to clear your father’s debts.’

‘So this is all about money? Silly me, I thought you had sentimental reasons for wanting to find this person.’ The accusation in her eyes was clear, but she could think what she liked. He’d never have to see her again after this.

‘Yes, it’s about money—as all business is.’

‘So, who is this person? Is it a love child you abandoned and now want to bring out into the open?’

Such an accusation made it clear she’d researched him too and believed him to be as much of a playboy as his father had been. Maybe that was for the best. She didn’t seem the type to enter into brief affairs merely to satisfy a sexual attraction. This was a woman who would demand so much more from a lover, whatever her earlier protestations had been.

‘It is a love child, yes.’ He flaunted the truth before her, aware of the conclusions she was making.

‘I hate men like you.’ She snapped the words at him and he smiled lazily. He hadn’t fathered any children. That was something he’d been extremely careful of, but he enjoyed seeing the anger mix with contempt, filling her eyes, again letting him know exactly what she was thinking.

‘Not as much as I dislike women who jump to conclusions.’ He sat and watched the questions race across her face. ‘It is not my child.’

‘So if it’s not your love child, whose is it?’ Her fine brows rose elegantly in question and the satisfaction that danced in her eyes told him she thought he was lying.

‘As I have said, it is not mine.’ He wasn’t ready to give her the secret that had stayed hidden for so many years. All the times he’d tried to be the son his father had wanted had been in vain and now, with the discovery of Max, his half-brother, it had all become perfectly clear why.

‘You are going to have to tell me, if I am to trace this person.’ A haughty note had entered her voice. She thought she’d got him on the run, thought she now held the power. Never. But he’d allow her to think that. For a while at least.

‘It is my father’s son I wish to find.’

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