A Scandalous Midnight In Madrid

‘Can’t I tempt you with a glass of champagne?’

She could tempt him with many things, he thought as she stared into his eyes, but not champagne. He wanted a clear head tonight. His doubts on the wisdom of Annalisa’s choice of husband remained, and he needed to keep a watchful eye on the Prince and his friends. They might have grand titles, but a thorough investigation by his security team had proved they didn’t have the money to fund their extravagant lifestyles, and when his sister was in one of her reckless moods, she might not see trouble looming on the horizon as he did.

‘Champagne? No, thank you,’ he told Sadie.

‘Beer, then?’ she suggested with the hint of a mocking light in her eyes.

She was not afraid to tease and test him, which was another point in her favour. ‘A beer would be good. But only if you join me.’

Her polite smile didn’t falter as she told him, ‘I never drink on duty.’

They stared at each other with renewed interest until she said, ‘I believe your sister’s arriving, so I’ll have one of the waiters bring you your beer.’

Before he could say another word, she had gone. Once again, eluding him, he thought, grinding his jaw. Before he had chance to dwell on this, the fleet of stretch limos he’d ordered to accommodate Annalisa and her friends drew up outside the restaurant. He’d be too busy for the rest of the evening to talk to Sadie, but she’d thrown down a gauntlet he wouldn’t forget.

CHAPTER TWO

IT WOULD BE a late night before she climbed into bed in the tiny attic above the restaurant, but there was nothing she wouldn’t do for Chef Sorollo, and Sadie was enjoying every moment of being in charge of the kitchen. It was the first time she had been put to the test, and she was determined to shine for her mentor.

‘Service!’ she called out for the umpteenth time, remembering back to when the great man had asked her if she had anywhere to live. From the off Chef Sorollo had shown piercing intuition, understanding so much without her having to say a single word. ‘I have a room,’ he’d said. ‘It’s not much, but it’s somewhere to lay your head.’

Sadie smiled to think she’d lived there ever since. The simple bedsit with its view over the rooftops of Madrid was spotlessly clean and extremely comfortable, and, best of all, it was quiet. There was no shouting, no china crashing to the floor and no violence. There was just the hum of purposeful activity in the restaurant kitchen far below. Some might have thought it a comedown after the brash opulence of her parents’ home, but Sadie had always felt like a clumsy intruder in the huge, echoing mansion, with its screening room, swim-up bar, and regular shouting matches.

‘Everyone loves it, Sadie,’ one of the waiters exclaimed as he swept past her as if on oiled wheels. ‘Your party’s a huge success.’

‘Our party,’ she called after him, smiling.

With a little gentle prompting by Chef Sorollo, her story had come out. The great man had insisted on taking charge of her education, sending her to night school, where she’d formally trained to be a chef. When she was qualified, he’d taken her under his wing and had completed her training, saying that a loyal and loving family stayed close and looked after each other. That was why work consumed her now, and why there had never been a more important night for Sadie—because this was her way of thanking a man who had turned out to be her saviour.

Excellence was paramount tonight. With so many celebrated guests present, the papers would report Annalisa Alegon’s party, and there would be photographs of everyone present. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of one guest in particular. She’d had chance to read up on Don Alejandro de Alegon and had learned something of his colourful history. He was descended from a long line of aristocrats on his father’s side, while his late mother had been a Spanish gypsy princess. Both his parents had been killed in a tragic accident, leaving Alejandro to raise his younger sister. Everyone thought it a great honour that he’d chosen El Gato Feroz as the venue for his sister’s engagement party. Sadie guessed he made all the choices; even on the briefest sighting, he’d struck her as that type of man. He played out his life on the world stage while she was content in the kitchen, and she would never belong in his world any more than she had belonged in her parents’ world. Bottom line: the Don commanded while she was happy to serve.

Serve him?

Certainly not! Sadie concluded with a short laugh as she served up a fresh batch of delicious entrées. The thought that there was no buffer between Sadie and Don Alegon in the comforting form of Chef Sorollo might make her tense, but she would allow nothing to get in the way of making tonight the success her mentor and his team deserved. It would be business as usual tonight at El Gato Feroz.

* * *

For the rest of the night he was aware of Sadie somewhere close by, and he looked for her constantly. No other woman had ever affected him this way, and he couldn’t explain the feeling. It took his sister linking arms with him to return his attention to where it should have been all along.

‘I can’t thank you enough for tonight,’ Annalisa said as she snuggled into his side. ‘It’s more than I deserve—’

‘A lot more,’ he agreed dryly.

They laughed together. Annalisa was the one person in the world who could shake him out of his city tension. There were so many plates to keep spinning he could barely spare her a moment when he was in Madrid, but Annalisa had always gone where angels feared to tread, and tonight was a special occasion.

‘Are you happy? Are you sure about the Prince?’ he asked with concern as his glance swept over the man in question and his party, who were doing their best to drain the last bottle of wine in the cellar of El Gato Feroz.

‘I know I love you,’ his sister told him fervently as she stared up into his eyes. ‘You do know that, don’t you, Alejandro? You’re so stern, I wonder sometimes if you realise how much I appreciate all you do for me. I just hope the day will come when I can do something for you.’

‘Behave yourself,’ he said mock sternly. ‘That’s what I want you to do. And don’t worry about me.’

‘But I do worry about you,’ Annalisa insisted. ‘You should be thinking about your life going forward, not mine. What would it take to make you happy, Alejandro?’

‘Whatever it takes for you to have a good life,’ he said, glancing with concern at Annalisa’s husband-to-be, who seemed more interested in talking to the pretty woman at his side than looking after his sister. ‘You will tell me if anything goes wrong, won’t you?’

‘I know you’re always there for me,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about you. It’s time you did something for yourself, instead of always for other people. You deserve happiness too.’

‘Nobody deserves anything,’ he stated firmly. ‘You just concentrate on your upcoming new life as a princess.’ As he said this, he wondered how much of Annalisa’s latest romance was based on the idea of becoming a princess, rather than the reality of marrying such a weak man. His sister wasn’t a fool, but she was a dreamer. It wasn’t up to him to live Annalisa’s life for her, he reminded himself, though living up to that wasn’t easy. ‘Happiness is fleeting,’ he warned as he held her gaze. ‘Grab it while you can.’

‘That’s a lesson for you too,’ his sister told him. ‘I know you’re thinking about our parents when you say things like this, and I also know they’d want you to be happy. Grab some happiness while you can, Alejandro, and hug it tight.’

He smiled. ‘You’re a lovely young woman and I’m very proud of you. You know that, don’t you?’

‘If I don’t,’ his sister assured him with one of her sideways looks, ‘I’m sure I can rely on you to tell me.’

They laughed together, and for a few moments everything was simple and warm, as it had always been before the Prince came on the scene. ‘Just make sure you tell me if the Prince lets you down,’ he said, turning serious.

‘You’ll be the first to know—your cast-iron security team will make sure of it,’ Annalisa added with a cheeky glance as she turned away to her friends.

He watched the young women in their huddle at the table, wondering what they were discussing so avidly. He soon found out.

‘We want the chef to step out so we can thank her for the most marvellous evening,’ Annalisa came to tell him.

‘Annalisa!’ he exclaimed as she bolted away. Too late. She’d already attracted the attention of the maître d’.

A few minutes later, his sister returned with a slightly pinker version of Sadie, who emerged from the kitchen to a storm of applause. In spite of Chef Sorello’s absence, the food had been absolutely delicious and everything had gone without a hitch. He surprised himself by leading the applause, and even offering a personal vote of thanks. When their eyes met, Sadie held his stare with that same mix of professional cool and not quite hidden glint of something more. It was a combination that made his senses roar.

It was the early hours before the guests began to leave. As the restaurant emptied, he stepped outside to find a hint of dawn tinting the night sky lavender. It was a particular light that reminded him of daybreak in the mountains he loved, because it was there, in the wild, dramatic land of his mother’s people, where he felt most at ease. His mother and father’s very different personalities would always war inside him, he supposed. Striving to be the best of both of them was his life’s work. His mother had bequeathed vision and passion, while his father had instilled in him a stern sense of responsibility that insisted his life in the city must always take precedence, because it was here that he cared for his sister and ran a business upon which countless families depended for their livelihood. This thought was only underlined when he noticed Annalisa’s fiancé, the Prince, ignoring the wait staff as he strode out of the restaurant, surrounded by his cronies.

‘Where is he going?’ he asked Annalisa as she stared after the Prince with concern.

‘To a club, I think...to celebrate our engagement,’ she added quickly when he stared at her, frowning.

‘The very least the staff deserve after such a marvellous evening is a word of thanks. And shouldn’t you have a lift home? Don’t worry, I’ll take you,’ he said, seeing Annalisa’s crestfallen expression. Why such a generous-hearted woman should attract such selfish men was utterly beyond him.

He made up for the Prince’s oversight by giving the staff the recognition they deserved, and he enjoyed talking to each of them in turn to thank them personally for making the evening so special for his sister. His only irritation was that when it came to showing his appreciation to the woman who’d saved the night, Sadie was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Resting back on her narrow bed in the attic room above the restaurant, Sadie sighed with relief and contentment...marred with just a little bit of racing heartbeat, thanks to a pair of dangerous dark eyes that kept flashing back and forth inside her mind. At least she could report to Chef Sorollo that everything had gone well. And now that she was back in her safe place, she was confident she would never need anything more than this.

Except relief from images of the Duque de Alegon, Sadie concluded with an impatient huff as she punched her pillows into submission. Turning over repeatedly also failed to banish the all too vivid picture of Alejandro de Alegon. It was ridiculous. She’d probably never see him again. Which would be far better for all concerned, Sadie concluded. He stirred such turbulent feelings inside her, and she’d learned as a small child that passion was a destructive force that led to nowhere but anger and violence. Witnessing her parents’ unhappy relationship had more than proved that.

Closing her eyes, she turned her thoughts determinedly to what had been an astonishing evening. What a setting! What a night! The team had really proved their worth. And then there were the looks she’d shared with Don Alegon...she’d remember those for ever.

So much for blotting him out of her mind!

Alejandro...

She murmured his name out loud, for the pleasure of tasting it on her tongue. Imagining his firm lips on hers, and his lean, bronzed hands leading her towards the type of pleasure she couldn’t even imagine, was inevitable.

And that’s enough! she told herself firmly. However wonderful the evening had been, she would wake up in a few hours, shower and change, ready to prepare lunch.

* * *

Service in the restaurant at lunchtime the next day didn’t go as smoothly as Sadie had anticipated. It seemed incredible that, yet again, a crisis had stopped everyone in their tracks.

‘Oh, my God, no!’ Sadie exclaimed, incapable of hiding her feelings when she heard the news. Gripping the stainless-steel countertop to steady herself, she tried to take in the newsflash on a colleague’s phone. Complete with lurid pictures, it showed a car crash, and the text underneath read that Alejandro, the Duque de Alegon, and his sister, Annalisa, had been innocent victims of a pile-up on their way home from a party last night at El Gato Feroz.

Seeing Annalisa so happy only hours before, and Alejandro so vital and strong, she hardly dared to ask the question. ‘Are they badly hurt?’

One of her fellow chefs was quick to reassure her. ‘They were relatively unscathed, it says in a later bulletin,’ he explained, showing her the screen on his phone. ‘It’s a miracle, some are saying, especially as Don Alegon risked his life, saving his sister from the smoke-filled car. They’re keeping them in hospital as a precautionary measure only, it says here.’

‘His sister would be dead if the Duke hadn’t been such a hero,’ a waiter added. ‘Apparently, he barely had time to free her before the car exploded.’

‘Sadie, are you okay?’ a colleague asked with concern. ‘Shall I get you a drink of water?’

‘It’s fortunate the Duke drank water last night, unlike the Prince and his friends,’ one of the waitresses chipped in. ‘Don Alegon drank one beer, and then he was on water for the rest of the night.’

‘It says so here in the report,’ Sadie confirmed as she read the screen over her fellow chef’s shoulder. ‘The police have confirmed that Don Alegon had not been drinking to excess and was in no way responsible for the crash.’

‘Look, here’s a picture of the party,’ one of Sadie’s colleagues exclaimed excitedly, holding up her phone. ‘There’s a picture of you, Sadie, when you came out of the kitchen and everyone applauded. What great publicity for the restaurant. Chef Sorollo will be thrilled.’

‘Yes,’ Sadie murmured as the phone was pushed under her nose. She blushed to see Alejandro’s black gaze fixed on her face. ‘Maybe we could send him some food from the kitchen,’ she murmured distractedly, hoping no one else had noticed Don Alegon devouring her with his eyes.

When her colleagues chorused, ‘What a good idea,’ she progressed the thought. ‘Some delicacies,’ Sadie mused out loud, already working out a menu in her head. ‘Something to tempt the invalid.’ A voice in her head suggested Don Alegon would not be a typical invalid but would rail against his enforced confinement.

However bad a mood he was in, he’d saved his sister, and that was good enough for Sadie. She would prepare a feast that even Alejandro at his angriest would find impossible to resist.

* * *

‘What the hell is this?’ Lifting the red-and-white gingham cloth that had been so carefully arranged over the wicker basket, Alejandro lost no time in firing the contents into the bin.

‘You ungrateful brute!’ his sister railed at him, eyes blazing with fury. ‘How could you?’

‘Whoever sent this must think I’m not capable of ordering in!’

‘Chef Sadie sent it,’ Annalisa fired back. ‘It was a very kind thought. You should be ashamed of yourself,’ his sister finished with an angry gesture worthy of any great actress.

Sadie had sent this? He scanned the delicacies in the bin, regretting now that he’d been so hasty. His customary good manners had utterly deserted him, thanks to this enforced stay in hospital. It didn’t help his temper one bit—having imagined himself invincible—that Annalisa had been discharged from hospital before him.

‘If you weren’t my brother and you hadn’t saved my life, I’d be ashamed of you,’ Annalisa now assured him. ‘I am ashamed of you. How dare you throw this kindness back in Sadie’s face? Who else would send you food?’ Shoving a stiff white card under his nose, she commanded, ‘Read this. She’s signed it and so has every member of staff at El Gato Feroz. I hope it makes you feel as bad as you should, you monster.’

‘Back in bed!’ The sharp voice from the doorway startled them both. It was the ward sister making her rounds. ‘You breathed in a lot of smoke, Don Alegon,’ she told him, ‘and what you need now is rest.’

‘What I need now is to get out of here,’ he argued tensely. ‘And what about my sister? She was in the accident too. Shouldn’t she be resting?’

‘I managed to keep my head out of the window,’ Annalisa piped up, ‘so I was breathing fresh air. Braving the smoke to save me forced you to breathe in a lot of smoke, so do as the ward sister says and get back into bed.’

‘Am I a caged beast now?’ he grumbled, only to be greeted by peals of laughter from both women.

‘You’re an ungrateful beast,’ Annalisa confirmed, and as the ward sister left them to continue her rounds she began to forage in the bin. ‘What if I had wanted to eat some of this?’

Fortunately most of it was boxed and, having salvaged a container of freshly baked macarrones, Annalisa was cramming her favourites into her mouth before offering the rest to him. He refused, of course.

‘You don’t deserve anyone to be kind to you,’ she flashed. ‘The least you can do is write a thank-you note to Sadie for preparing all this lovely food.’

He growled but found he couldn’t summon up any anger. Quite a different emotion was plaguing him at the thought of Sadie going to all this trouble, and it was one that ensured that as soon as he was discharged, he would thank Sadie in person.

‘You’re still my responsibility,’ he informed Annalisa, ‘and you’ll do as I say.’

‘Oh?’ she queried. ‘Am I not in the charge of my soon-to-be husband?’

‘That puny excuse for a man,’ he bit out, no longer able to hide his true feelings for his sister’s fiancé in his present state of mind. Annalisa wouldn’t even have been in the car accident if her fiancé had done what he was supposed to have done and taken care of her, escorting her home. ‘Tell me you sent him packing?’ Hope rose inside him when his sister hesitated before answering.

‘Take a note, Don Alejandro,’ Annalisa retorted, smashing his hopes into the ground. ‘I’m all grown up, and I’ll make my own decisions without consulting you first.’

‘Is it over?’ he pressed.

‘None of your business. And you can stay in bed,’ she added sharply. ‘I won’t have you towering over me and attempting to bend me to your will.’

As if, he thought, trying not to smile. ‘Where are you going now?’ he demanded as Annalisa made for the door.

‘To El Gato Feroz,’ she fired back. ‘One of us has to thank Chef Sadie, if only to prove that not all the Alegons are arrogant, ungrateful brutes.’

‘Come back here!’

‘No,’ she flashed. ‘If you can’t do anything to help yourself, then it’s up to me to do something to help you.’ Leaving him with that disturbing thought, his sister stormed out.

The spartan hospital room was unbearably quiet when Annalisa left. Was she right? Was Annalisa ready to take charge of her life, and was he guilty of interfering? Caring for his sister had been such an overwhelming force inside him for so long, he didn’t know how to let it go. The thought that Annalisa might need space from him had never occurred to him before, and would take some getting used to.

Where better to do that than in the mountains he loved, where his lungs would soon heal? He would discharge himself. The accident had put life in perspective, proving how fragile it was, and allowing him to see that he had never examined his grief of losing his parents. There hadn’t been chance with the weight of responsibility eating up every minute of every day. Annalisa and the business had always taken priority over personal concerns, but he couldn’t carry out his duties effectively with such an unreasonably short fuse. The time had come to heal his soul as well as his body.

CHAPTER THREE

SADIE EXCLAIMED WITH happy surprise when Annalisa Alegon turned up at the restaurant. ‘Señorita de Alegon! How lovely to see you again, and what a relief to see you looking so well!’

Annalisa looked gorgeous in a simple, flower-patterned summer dress that showed off her bronzed limbs to best advantage. She had teamed the sky-blue confection with delicate strappy sandals, huge sunglasses, and a beribboned straw hat with a wide brim on top of her flowing black hair.

‘And your brother?’ Sadie held her breath as she waited for the answer.

‘First off, I am, and always will be, Annalisa to you,’ Annalisa insisted as she enveloped Sadie in a hug. ‘As for my brother? Predictably, he’s grouchy. Confinement doesn’t suit him.’ She shrugged. ‘Our heritage, I suppose. But let’s not talk about him. I’m here to thank you for last night. It was such a wonderful occasion. And, of course, for the delicious treats you sent to the hospital.’

At the mention of the word hospital, Sadie paled. ‘Was your brother able to enjoy the food I sent over?’

Annalisa slanted an amused look at Sadie. ‘He was most appreciative.’

Her face remained carefully expressionless, leaving Sadie free to guess the rest. ‘All I care about is that you’re both safe. It was such a shock to hear about the accident.’

‘I’d have been burnt to a crisp without Alejandro,’ Annalisa stated bluntly. ‘He’s the best of men, you know.’

‘I’m sure he is,’ Sadie agreed politely.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked suddenly, with concern, keen to divert attention away from how she felt about Alejandro.

‘A little delayed shock, I think,’ Annalisa admitted with a dismissive shrug. ‘Inevitable, I suppose. An accident like that really shakes you up and proves how vulnerable we all are. I keep thinking, what would I do without Alejandro?’

Sadie smiled. ‘I saw how close you are.’ It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if Annalisa’s fiancé had taken care of her too, but instinct kept her quiet. She hadn’t liked the Prince, or his friends. ‘So, your brother’s to remain in hospital?’ she asked instead.

‘And as stubborn as ever,’ Annalisa confirmed. ‘Though knowing Alejandro, I doubt they’ll be able to keep him there for long.’

‘Shouldn’t he give himself chance to recover? I heard he inhaled a lot of smoke.’

‘True, but Alejandro taking things slowly is never going to happen. And he has his own ideas when it comes to convalescing. Chopping logs, swimming in freezing cold lakes and riding flat out on the plateau above the mountains suits him better than a hospital bed. Quite literally anything that takes him away from the city for a while. You wouldn’t know him when he visits our mother’s people. He’s a different man. They regard him as a king, but Alejandro assures me that it’s only when he’s in the mountains that he’s pared down to the better man beneath all the hype and celebrity that status brings him in Madrid.’

Fascinated, Sadie was desperate to learn more. ‘Can I offer you a coffee, or perhaps a cold drink?’

‘I’d love a coffee, if you’ve got time,’ Annalisa agreed.

Sadie would make time, not just to learn more about a man who had affected her so profoundly, but because Annalisa looked a little lost, as if she needed a friend to confide in as much as Sadie. ‘Of course I’ve got time,’ she confirmed warmly as she indicated an empty table where they could sit.