The Acostas Box Set: The Shameless Life of Ruiz Acosta / The Argentinian's Solace / A Taste of the Untamed / The Man From her Wayward Past / Taming the Last Acosta / Christmas Nights with the Polo Pla

‘Take the money. I can afford to pay you the going rate,’ Holly reminded her best friend. And didn’t that feel good. ‘You look pretty fabulous for a change,’ she added wryly, staring with renewed interest at her beautiful friend. ‘What’s the special occasion, Lucia?’

‘Only pretty fabulous?’ Lucia said worriedly, examining her back view in the same mirror.

‘You know you look as gorgeous as you always do,’ Holly volunteered. ‘But you still haven’t told me what the special occasion is …’

‘Why does it have to be special? It’s just a family party.’

‘And you are making a very special effort,’ Holly noted as Lucia checked her make-up in the mirror.

‘Okay, so I hear Nero Caracas is bringing his polo team as well as his new wife and baby tonight,’ Lucia explained off-handedly. ‘Which means Luke Forster, that American polo player, will be at the party. Don’t look like that, Holly. Luke’s far too stern and serious for me. And he’s about ten feet tall.’

‘Poor man,’ Holly murmured, remembering she had seen the good-looking American commanding the field of play quite a few times during the game.

‘But I might enjoy teasing him,’ Lucia added thoughtfully as she arranged her ample breasts in the low-cut dress.

‘Excellent news for Luke,’ Holly agreed tongue in cheek. ‘So are you ready to spring our surprise?’

* * *

Ruiz, meanwhile, was pacing up and down his bedroom with the phone gripped so tightly in his hand it was threatening to break apart. ‘What do you mean you couldn’t arrange it? I told you well in advance what I wanted. Plus there’s an agreement between our two countries so there shouldn’t have been a problem. What has happened to the vet? How can he have left on another flight when I booked him? I booked the jet, damn it!’ Ruiz thundered. ‘Who the hell countermanded my order?’ Ruiz whirled around as one of his brothers poked his head round the door. He waved him away. Business was all-important, and when it was business concerning Holly nothing came before that.

‘Are you coming to the party, Ruiz?’ his brother Diego asked him, refusing to be so easily dismissed.

‘When I’m ready,’ he snapped.

‘Would you like me to look after Holly for you?’

His answer to that was to lob a polo ball at the door, which his brother dodged. ‘Only asking,’ Diego murmured, closing the door.

So his surprise for Holly was ruined, Ruiz raged inwardly. Lucky for him the jeweller in Buenos Aires hadn’t let him down. Checking the breast pocket of his jacket, he decided he’d better go down to the party, but he was nowhere near ready to give up on his other surprise for her yet.

* * *

Holly and Lucia had barely walked into the party when three of the Acosta brothers spotted their sister and came straight over. Their reunion was touching and Holly envied their closeness. This wasn’t the constant squabbling and petty jealousies Lucia had described at school. It was the deep and abiding affection of people who knew everything there was to know about each other, and made Holly long for her own family.

With all the constant squabbling and petty jealousies that might involve, she thought with amusement as Lucia batted the most formidable of her brothers, Nacho, on the head with her frivolous party purse. ‘How dare you summon me back like an employee, you great oaf? And what have you done with Ruiz?’ Lucia demanded, swinging round. ‘Holly has a special surprise for him and he’s not even here. Don’t tell me you’ve sent him back to London to work?’

Nacho huffed dismissively. ‘I can’t tell your brother Ruiz what to do.’

‘Quite right,’ Lucia agreed dryly. ‘Ruiz is too busy telling me what to do.’

As Lucia kissed each of her brothers in turn Holly grew increasingly anxious. Was her surprise for Ruiz going to fall flat?

‘Last time I saw Ruiz he was pacing his bedroom like a bear with a sore head,’ Ruiz’s brother Diego murmured discreetly in her ear. ‘I’d give him a few minutes.’

‘Thank you.’ Holly smiled her thanks.

As the darkly glamorous men peeled away to welcome their guests other men were drawn like moths to the two girls standing on the edge of the dance floor. Holly was quite relieved to see the driver who had brought her from the airport amongst them. He bowed so politely over her hand she was only too delighted to accept. He was fun, she remembered, as her portly partner chuffed his moustache before leading her onto the dance floor. The dress Lucia had given her was really working its magic, Holly thought as she started dancing. She had never worn such a beautiful party dress before. She glanced gratefully at Lucia, noticing with amusement that Lucia had just walked straight up to the attractive American polo player, Luke Forster, only to veer away at the very last moment on the pretext of tugging one of her brothers onto the dance floor. It was also interesting to see Luke Forster’s brooding amber gaze following Lucia as she sashayed off.

Holly had only been dancing with the driver for a few minutes when another man tapped the driver’s shoulder and cut in. This man spoke no English, but he danced well and held Holly at arm’s length so their bodies always had air between them. She was really enjoying herself, though still worrying about Ruiz and wondering where he could be. And then a younger man, who had clearly had too much to drink, decided it was his turn to take Holly on a drunken lurch around the floor. Unfortunately his grip was so secure she couldn’t break free, and now Lucia was making frantic signals from the edge of the dance floor. Like a drama slowly unfolding that no one could stop, Holly saw Ruiz emerge from the house and stand at the top of the steps to scan the dance floor. The young man who had Holly in his grip decided that this was the perfect moment to launch his assault. Wet lips pursed, he darted his head forward, and as she whipped her head away to avoid him a big black shape launched itself on Holly and her partner, barking wildly as it knocked them to the floor.

‘Bouncer?’ Holly exclaimed, wiping muddy paw marks from her arm. She looked up to find Ruiz dressed in full evening rig standing over her. He looked more magnificent and formidable than she’d ever seen.

‘No harm done,’ Ruiz said in a tone Holly had never heard him use before as he brushed the man’s suit down and called for one of the gauchos to escort him away. ‘How the hell did Bouncer get here?’ he demanded with frustration.

‘Please don’t be angry with Holly,’ Lucia begged him, hanging onto her brother’s arm.

Easing himself free, Ruiz took hold of Holly. ‘Well?’ he murmured.

Their faces were very close. Ruiz’s mouth was almost touching hers. Everyone at the party was frozen to the spot, sensing drama. There was no music, no chatter, not a sound to be heard—until Bouncer whimpered and both Holly and Ruiz knelt simultaneously on the ground to make a fuss of him. As if this were the signal everyone had been waiting for the music started up again and the dance floor came back to life.

‘Happy Christmas, Ruiz,’ Holly murmured, staring across Bouncer’s head into Ruiz’s eyes. ‘I think Bouncer had this planned from the first moment we met, though Lucia brought him over in the private jet with the vet,’ she explained, ‘and as Bouncer has had all his shots and has a pet passport and Argentina has the same arrangement for allowing pets to travel as the EU …’

‘This I know,’ Ruiz assured Holly, softly holding her within an inch of his mouth as he lifted her to her feet. ‘I do deal quite a lot with the authorities in both countries, you know? Shipping ponies?’ Ruiz’s lips tugged in his trademark smile. ‘I tried to bring Bouncer over to surprise you for Christmas too, but it appears you beat me to it.’

His brothers, hearing this, congratulated Holly.

‘Nice to know someone can get the better of you, Ruiz,’ the great Nacho Acosta commented dryly before moving away to ensure the party didn’t flag.

‘I thought it would be better for Bouncer to live here on the pampas than in London,’ Holly admitted. ‘Your brothers agreed. But then I hesitated until Nacho said you had mentioned the same thing to him.’

‘Nacho agreed to Bouncer coming to live here?” Ruiz demanded with surprise.

‘He did more than that. Nacho arranged the jet,’ Holly explained. ‘He said it was a long journey for a rescue dog to take unaccompanied, but with Lucia and a vet on hand he thought it might be possible.’

‘Dios!’ Ruiz glanced at his brother who raised a glass.

‘Are you pleased with your surprise?’ Holly asked anxiously.

‘I couldn’t be more pleased,’ Ruiz said, holding Holly a little closer as the dance floor filled up. ‘But you’ve left me without the possibility of giving you a surprise.’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe we’ve exhausted your repertoire yet …’

Ruiz’s wicked mouth tugged in a grin. ‘So you don’t need a surprise right here, right now?’

‘In front of all these people? Absolutely not,’ Holly murmured.

‘What am I going to do with this, then?’

She stared at the small jewel box. ‘What is it?’

‘The next headline for your column,’ Ruiz said dryly.

‘If that’s what I think it is.’

‘It is,’ Ruiz murmured, ‘but I think you’d better get out of that dress first.’

Holly sucked in a breath, remembering only now that her dress was ruined and covered in mud.