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‘And what’s there to admire about that?’ Thefree spirit, it appeared, used a motorbike as his primary mode of transport and lived, by choice, in rented accommodation because the harsh realities of getting a mortgage represented just too much of a headache for someone who refused to be ruled by all the normal things that most people set their compass by.
‘Haven’t you ever wanted to be free of...a nine-to-five job?’
‘I don’t actually have a nine-to-five job.’
‘No,’ Celia mused thoughtfully. ‘You’re a workaholic.’
‘Is that what Julie told you?’
Celia flushed. ‘She wasn’t being critical,’ she inserted quickly. ‘She was just being honest.’
‘But moving back to the subject of your brother...’ He absently wondered what it was about the woman that threw him. Was it because there was something refreshing about her? Something that made him think that she was being utterly honest in her responses even though so much of him was primed never to take what anyone said at face value, especially in circumstances such as this?
If her brother had made a play for Julie because of the family fortune he believed she had, then was his sister complicit in any way?
For once, he hesitated to pursue cold, hard suspicions. That said, he’d never shied away from anything in his life before and he wasn’t about to start now.
His dark eyes didn’t leave her face.
‘What I’m thinking is that all of this has happened very, very suddenly. Along comes your fun-loving brother with his disdain for all things material, and in a matter of seconds he’s swept my aristocratic fiancée off her feet and whisked her away to who knows where. Is it just me or does that feel a little... suspicious? Maybe I’m being over-cynical, but there’s a lot of truth in the saying that money makes the world go round...even to a fun-loving free spirit who doesn’t care about the cost of a loaf of bread...’
His accusations filled the space between them, and Leandro watched as she paled, absorbing what he was saying and probably reading between the lines to what he wasn’t.
‘How dare you?’
‘I had no idea Julie was involved with someone else.’
‘My brother would never...never...get involved with someone for the wrong reasons!’
‘You’re very trusting when it comes to human nature. From experience, I’ve found it wiser to steer clear of blindly believing what I’m told.’ He sat forward, his expression suddenly urgent. ‘It’s important that I find Julie, Miss Drew.’
‘Celia...’ Her voice was distracted, her expression tense; she was dismayed by the accusations that were rolling around in her head.
But wasn’t there a part of her that could understand, not only why he had shown up here, but why he had jumped to the conclusions that he had?
He’d accused her of being trusting, but wasn’t she just the opposite? She’d been burnt once and no amount of cool-headed reasoning about the narrow escape she’d had had been able to stop her from building walls around herself when it came to men.
The last thing she was wastrustingand yet she knew that, underneath her own heartbreak, she still believed in love. It would never have occurred to her that something as tawdry as money could ever influence someone’s behaviour, and certainly not Dan’s. But the wealthy were often objects of pursuit, so why wouldn’t he immediately jump to the conclusion that a guy who was a self-confessed free spirit might find the temptation of a rich and beautiful woman irresistible? He was wrong about her brother...but that didn’t mean he might not have grounds for suspicion, did it? Especially if he was suspicious by nature.
She wondered what those experiences were that had made this man so cynical. People were shaped by what life threw at them, and as their eyes met and tangled she felt a sharp stab of curiosity that was momentarily powerful enough to sweep away the raw anger at his accusations.
There was no place for curiosity, though. This was a straightforward situation, insofar as she had no idea where Julie and her brother had gone. When she glanced at her watch, it was to find that more time had gone by than she’d expected.
‘I’m very sorry about what’s happened... Mr...’
‘Leandro.’
‘Yes, well, I’m sorry that Julie has run off with my brother. I did try to talk her out of it, tried to tell her that it was just a case of pre-wedding nerves. But she’d made her mind up. I know that’s probably not what you want to hear, but...’ She hesitated but then figured that if he felt free to say exactly what was on his mind, whether it was offensive or not, then why shouldn’t she? ‘People fall in love and it might just be the case that Julie and Dan have fallen in love, in which case what’s the point in trying to find them? What will you hope to gain? And if you’re still keen to track them down...’ she shrugged, hardly believing that the cool, controlled man staring at her with such brooding intensity could be capable of the sort of wild passion that would propel him to hunt down a woman who had jilted him ‘...then surely you can just hire someone?’
Leandro looked at her in silence for a few seconds, then he stood up and moved towards the door.
‘It would seem that that’s the last remaining option,’ he murmured and then he smiled and, just for a moment, Celia felt the breath whoosh out of her because she had a glimpse of the sort of devastating charm that could knock a person off her feet. ‘And just for the record...’ his voice was dry and amused ‘...this isn’t about love. This is much bigger and more important than that. My apologies for showing up on your doorstep, Celia. I’ll see myself out.’
Which was the end of that, so why, she wondered, as she waited to hear the shop door slam before treading quietly downstairs, did she feel a certain disappointment? Was it because, for reasons she couldn’t explain, he’d sparked an interest in her even though that interest was one hundred per cent inappropriate? Even though he was just the sort of guy she personally didn’t like? Work-oriented, tough and way too arrogant and self-assured?
It was a relief she wouldn’t be seeing him again. She didn’t need to start questioning the choices she had made. She was perfectly content to keep her distance until the right guy came along. She was older and wiser now.
Leandro pulled to kerb, killed the engine of his Range Rover and, for a few seconds, he reclined in the seat, eyes narrowed on the bank of terraced houses on the opposite side of the narrow street. His car was wedged between a skip and an e-scooter that appeared to have been abandoned in haste, and it occurred to him that, in his rapid climb up the greasy pole of success, he had almost forgotten what the world on the other side of the tracks looked like.
