AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘So, what is it you wanted to set straight?’ The haughty tone of her voice made his eyes glitter, but at least it was some sort of reaction.
‘I want to ensure you are going to honour your part of the deal.’
‘Deal?’
‘To attend the New Year’s Eve party with me, to act the part of my wife until the clock strikes in a new year.’
‘Why should I do that?’
‘It was part of our deal.’
‘Why when it’s obvious we don’t work?’
‘Raul and Lydia have made honeymoon arrangements around the party. They have put off their plans to be here on New Year’s Eve with us and I do not want any questions asked about your absence.’
‘Tell them I’m unwell.’
‘No,’ he snapped and she looked at him as his face darkened, becoming as black as heavy thunderclouds. ‘I want you there.’
‘So that you don’t have to admit your failings to your brother or yourself? Or maybe it’s to Angelina.’
‘What has Angelina got to do with this?’
‘She’s part of your past too, Max, and if you trusted me enough you’d tell me, share everything as I did with you, maybe then we could work.’ She fought back the surge of tears, trying to keep the anger in front of the despair.
‘And you are part of my present. Those damned headlines have made me the centre of something I have no wish for and until Raul and I have sorted that you will remain my wife and that means being seen with me on New Year’s Eve.’
‘And if I don’t want to?’
‘This is not negotiable. You will be there—with me.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MAX STOOD IN the grandeur of the hotel’s foyer and waited for Lisa as the New Year’s Eve party guests started to arrive. He was as mad as hell and couldn’t stand still. Pacing the marble floor was the only thing he could do as he watched several sleek black cars arrive. Guests spilled out, full of happiness and laughter. Was he the only damn person here tonight who wasn’t happy?
As yet more guests made their way past him he stood tall, trying not to think again of the moment he’d returned to his apartment after Angelina’s party to find Lisa had gone. She’d left before him claiming a headache and hadn’t even waited to tell him. She’d just left a note on the bed—the bed they’d shared such pleasure in.
I can’t be what you need me to be, Max, and you can’t give me what I want.
He’d wanted to turn straight round and go after her, drag her from the little flat she’d moved into when their marriage had first fallen apart and bring her back. But he’d stood and looked at his reflection in the windows, black against the night. He’d never chased after a woman and he sure as hell wasn’t going to start now.
He swore savagely in Spanish under his breath as yet more party guests arrived and paced to the door. What if something had happened to her? What if she was ill?
No, that is exactly what she wants you to think. Don’t give her the satisfaction.
What had happened to his mother wouldn’t happen again. He’d finally managed to get that clear in his mind and, by doing so, his emotions had started to unlock, to engage with hers. He’d been on the verge of admitting something he’d never thought possible, but Lisa’s cold note proved how foolish that would have been, how weak he had become.
As those dark thoughts roused his anger further, another car pulled up in front of the doors and he watched as Raul got out, then turned and took Lydia’s hand as she slid gracefully from the car. She looked stunningly beautiful in her gold dress, but it was the love in her eyes as they met Raul’s that really rocked Max to the core, until he felt such violent shaking that he thought an earthquake was happening.
Once inside the hotel, Raul was oblivious to his brother, his attention so fully focused on his wife that Max felt as if he were watching from a distance, that he was seeing something he couldn’t have.
‘But I love you, Max, why can’t you let me in? Let me love you? Maybe then you can love me too.’
Those words that Lisa had said at the cottage, the words that had condemned any chance of them being together, rushed back at him, like an angry dog, snarling and snapping at him. Forcing him to listen. To think and, worst of all, to feel.
‘Max?’ Lydia’s voice saved him from the savage jaws. ‘Where’s Lisa?’
The lovely smile had slipped from Lydia’s face as she and Raul had walked over and, if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a cool reserve of suspicion in her eyes. Already the two women had formed a close friendship, so wasn’t it only natural that Lisa would confide in her? But had she told Lydia he wanted a divorce?
