The Valquez Bride

He had been wrong.

‘I’m sorry I have no recollection of our meeting.’ He ran his gaze over her as he tried to judge her age. She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties but, without make-up and wearing those dreadful tomboy ragbag clothes, she looked far younger. ‘Were we formally introduced?’

‘Yes.’

Alejandro still couldn’t place her. But then he met a lot of people during polo events. His brother played on the field while he worked the business end of things. Sponsors and corporate kings often pushed their daughters under his nose but he was always careful to keep business and pleasure separate. She had obviously taken it as a slight that he hadn’t singled her out in the past. But then why would he? She was as far away from his usual type as could be. ‘You must have been quite young at the time.’

‘Sixteen.’

So that made her twenty-six now. A plain Jane single woman sliding down the slippery slope to the big three-oh, so Daddy had agreed to set her up with a mail order groom.

Alejandro’s gut curdled with bitterness. Why had she chosen him? Why not some other guy who could stomach the thought of matrimony? Or was this some sort of payback for snubbing her in the past?

‘Is there somewhere we could talk?’ He threw a glance at the hovering butler, who looked as if he’d just stepped off a film shoot on a period drama. ‘In private?’

‘This way.’

Alejandro frowned as he followed her. She had a pronounced limp that made the action of walking look not only awkward but also painful, in spite of the use of the stick. One leg dragged slightly as if the muscles weren’t strong enough to take her full weight. Not that she was heavy or anything. She looked as if a gust of wind would send her into the next county. Was it a recent injury? He tried to recall if he had read anything about her in the press but he came up with zero. Perhaps she wasn’t the press magnet type.

He felt a flicker of interest spark and fire in his brain. Not in-your-face beautiful and broken too. Interesting. Was this why she was being packaged in the marriage deal? Did she or her father—or both—think she couldn’t get a husband any other way? She might not be billboard stunning but he could see the classical lines to her face, the porcelain skin that looked as soft and smooth and creamy as a magnolia petal, the unusual colour of her eyes that made him think of a winter lake. She had a quiet beauty that sneaked up on you without you noticing. It was the sort of beauty that would suddenly appear and snatch your breath.

She turned and faced him once they were in the library. Her expression was masked, like a puppet face that hadn’t been animated. ‘Would you care for a drink?’

‘What happened to your leg?’

She pinched her lips together, pride flashing across her features as fast as the flick of a whiplash. ‘I have whisky or brandy or cognac. Wine too. Red. White. Champagne.’

‘I asked you a question.’

Her eyes clashed with his, the chips of blue in hers striking in amongst the sea of grey. ‘A rude one.’

Alejandro gave a careless shrug. He didn’t care if he was rude. He wasn’t here to make friends. He was here to get out of the stranglehold of her father’s machinations. He wanted that land. He would do anything for that land.

But not this.

Not the M word.

He nailed her with a hardened look. ‘I’m not here to drink wine and talk about the weather. I’m here to put a stop to this nonsense.’

Her expression remained composed. Determined. Implacable. ‘I’m not marrying you.’

‘Damn right you’re not.’

‘I have no intention of marrying anyone.’

‘Couldn’t agree more.’

‘Which brings us to the rather vexing terms of my father’s will.’

Vexing? Was she stuck in a time warp or something? She talked as if she had stepped out of the pages of a Brontë sister’s novel.

Alejandro watched as she poured herself a glass of soda water. The silence was so intense he could hear the bubbles spitting and fizzing against the sides of the glass.

She had delicate hands, slim and long-fingered and milky-white like the rest of her skin. Her nails were short but not manicured that way. They were bitten down to the quick, one of them looking red and painful near the cuticle.

With her awful clothes and the absence of make-up and any other adornment such as jewellery, he suspected it had been a deliberate choice to make herself as unattractive as possible. Intriguing thought. Why would she do that? She stood to gain the most out of this deal. Or lose the most. Her inheritance rested on her agreement to the terms. A distant relative would get everything if she didn’t comply with her father’s wishes. What young woman would turn her back on an inheritance worth several millions? Marlstone Manor and its surrounding estate was a property developer’s dream. And then there was her father’s investment and property portfolio that would leave her without money worries for the rest of her life.

He studied her for another beat or two before he asked, ‘You didn’t know he’d planned things this way?’

‘No.’

She had the amazing ability to say a lot with one word, Alejandro thought. She could communicate an entire library of words with a look. And right now she was looking at him as if he had come into her neat-as-a-pin sitting room with his back hunched and his knuckles dragging.

He wasn’t used to women despising him on sight. He was used to women fawning over him and worshipping him. It came with the territory of Having Money. Everyone loved money. Especially women. It opened more bedroom doors than anything else.

He found her ice maiden approach refreshing. Delightfully entertaining. He hadn’t felt this level of interest in a long time, if ever. He could feel the little tick in his blood. The tempo raising just enough to make him aware of the physical needs he had been neglecting of late, due to the pressure of juggling work and his responsibilities at home. There was nothing he liked more than a challenge—the harder the quest the better. It made claiming the victory all the more satisfying.

He knew he could have her if he made a play for her. He could have any woman he wanted. Vanity had nothing to do with it. He could look as ugly as sin and he would still be able to draw a woman into his sensual web.

Ever since his broken engagement he had made it his business to select and seduce. He never stayed with a lover more than a couple of weeks. He was a sexual grazer. He took what was on offer and moved on before expectations made things messy.

‘What do you plan to do about this...er...vexing situation we find ourselves in?’ he said.

Her chin was thrust at a pugnacious height, her eyes glittering with such defiance and spirit he felt a tingling sensation at the base of his spine. ‘I’m seeking legal advice.’

‘Good luck with that.’

Her forehead puckered. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Alejandro wandered over to the bookshelves to see what her taste was in reading. All the classics were there. No surprise. There was a scattering of modern works, mostly thrillers and adventure and a larger selection of romance. Interesting. Did Miss Uptight Teddy Marlstone have a secret desire to be wooed and won?

‘I said, what’s that supposed to mean?’

He smiled as he pushed the spine of the book he’d inspected back in alignment with the others. Now he was getting somewhere. Getting under that starchy façade to see who she really was when she wasn’t trying to be a pain in the butt. He slowly turned and ran his gaze over her assessingly. ‘In my experience, lawyers drive expensive cars paid for by their clients.’

Her throat moved up and down like a small creature under a rug, the only crack so far in her cool composure. ‘So?’

‘Are you sure you can afford it?’

Two spots of rosy pink stained her cheeks but her gaze was as caustic as ever. ‘I haven’t sponged off my father, if that’s what you’re implying. I have my own source of income.’

‘As a children’s book illustrator, right?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘I’ve never seen any of your work.’

Her eyes pulsated with dislike. ‘I can assure you I’m quite popular with whom it counts.’

Alejandro suppressed a smile. He was enjoying their verbal stoush much more than he’d expected to. She was prim and proper and yet fiercely proud. He liked someone who could stand up for what they believed in. Who wasn’t intimidated or put off by others’ egos or agendas. She wasn’t fazed by him or by his reputation. She was making no attempt to disguise her dislike of him. He liked that. He liked it a lot. ‘We have a month to decide what to do.’

Her chin came up again and stayed up. ‘I have already decided.’

So had he...or so he’d thought.

Maybe a short-term marriage on paper would be worth considering after all.

He wanted that land.

It was a thousand hectares of prime real estate that had been in his family for generations, and would still have been except for Teddy’s father’s underhand dealings. Alejandro’s plans to extend his polo pony-breeding stud with an exclusive resort attached couldn’t go ahead without that land. It was perfectly positioned, with good grazing and access, and wouldn’t interfere or compromise the rest of his estate. Sustainable farming was an important issue to him and without that land being returned to his possession he couldn’t rest easy that it would be taken care of in the best way possible. What if Teddy’s relative sold it to a developer? There were plenty about, looking for properties to exploit. The place would be desecrated and his along with it. He had to stop that happening. He would do anything to stop that happening.

Almost anything.

‘Are you really prepared to throw all of this away?’ He waved a hand to encompass her gracious surroundings.

She eyeballed him with that same piercing intensity. ‘Are you really prepared to marry a perfect stranger in exchange for a plot of land?’

He sent his gaze over her in a long lazy sweep, taking in the swell of her small pert breasts the voluminous sweater couldn’t quite conceal. ‘I’m thinking about it.’

Her eyes flickered and then widened as if she couldn’t quite believe her ears.

Alejandro was with her on that. He couldn’t believe his either. Had he really just said he was thinking about it? Red flag. Panic button. Exit stage left.

He was thinking about the M word?

‘Why is the land of such importance to you?’ she asked.

The one thing Alejandro had learned in business was not to show how much you wanted something. It gave the opposition too much power. It was better to act cool and indifferent, as if this was just another business transaction. Nothing out of the ordinary. Easy come, easy go.

‘The land is not the issue. The issue is whether I would feel comfortable watching you lose everything for the sake of six months in a paper marriage.’

Her throat rose and fell again as she made a little gulping sound. ‘Did you say...paper?’

CHAPTER TWO

‘BUT OF COURSE.’ Alejandro hooked a pitch-black eyebrow upwards. ‘You surely weren’t expecting anything else?’

Teddy tried to read his glinting expression. Was he mocking her or baiting her?

It didn’t take her long to decide. He was mocking her. Bastard. Did he have to make it so plainly obvious she was not his type? Grr. She had deliberately made herself look as unappealing as possible when she’d seen his top end sports car prowl up the long driveway. Well, even more unappealing given her damaged hip was no doubt the biggest turn-off for a man who only dated long-legged blondes.

The arrogance of him! He hadn’t even called first to make an appointment to see her. What sort of person did that? What did he think she did all day? Swan around the manor with a champagne cocktail in her hand?

How hard would it have been to call and make a time? What right did he have to come barging in demanding she see him? Did he think she was hanging out here with her heart all aflutter, waiting for him to turn up and dash her off to the nearest register office?

If so, he had better think again. She was determined to show him she wasn’t one of his brainless bimbos who drooled at the mere sight of him.

He might be quite possibly the most gorgeous-looking man she had ever seen, even more gorgeous than those hot male models who advertised aftershave or designer brand sunglasses. He might have the most amazingly dark brown eyes that made her think of strong espresso coffee, and a mouth that made her think of sex, which was a little bit shocking because she never thought of sex. He might have a body that would make Michelangelo make a dash for the nearest chisel and a block of marble, but she was not going to be swooning or fainting any time soon.

No way.

She was going to show him he couldn’t just waltz into her house and tell her how high to jump.

Firstly, she couldn’t jump.

And secondly...well, a girl had her pride, didn’t she? She didn’t want to be handed over like a raffle prize. He didn’t want her. He wanted the land his father had sold to her father. He wanted it more than he was letting on.

That was the thing about being a wallflower. Teddy got to stand back and observe people. To see all the nuances that gave them away. He was better than most at keeping his cards concealed, but she knew he was a powerful and ruthlessly dangerous opponent. He had a winner takes all aura about him. He wore arrogance as easily as he wore his bespoke clothes. He would take risks but only if he was absolutely certain they would pay off. He was calculating and cool. Clever and far more attractive than any man had a right to be. Impressively tall, six-foot-four, and olive-skinned, with jet-black hair that was styled in a casually tousled way—not too short, not too long, but somewhere fashionably in between. His uncompromising jaw was lean and shaven but the regrowth that currently shadowed it suggested he was a twice a day shaver.

Somehow the thought of the rush of those male hormones surging through his body made her insides shift. She was aware of him in a way she didn’t want to own. Would not show. He was used to reeling in women like the catch of the day. He pulled them in and then tossed them away when he was done with them. She wasn’t going to be lured in by his potent charm and undoubted sensual expertise.

No-ho-ho way.

‘Señor Valquez, you seem to have the misguided notion that I am agreeable to any sort of marriage with you. I hate to slight your undoubtedly robust ego, but that is not the case.’

The right side of his mouth came up in an arrogant tilt, those bedroom eyes glinting so darkly the lining of her belly gave an involuntary quiver. ‘You have a lot to lose by rejecting my offer of a temporary marriage.’

Teddy kept her gaze trained on his. ‘So, it seems, do you.’

The only sign of his tension was in a muscle that moved near the left side of his jaw. It was barely more than a flicker but it told her much more about him than anything he had said so far.

He didn’t want to marry her any more than she wanted to marry him. He was playing a game. Getting control. He was ruthlessly determined. Powerfully motivated. He would do whatever it took to get what he wanted and he wouldn’t care who got hurt in the process.

The air tightened like a singing wire.

Sparks passed from his gaze to hers. She felt the impact of them as if he had fired a laser at her. It was all she could do not to blink. It was all she could do not to stare at his mouth. Had she ever seen such a masculine mouth? Such a beautiful mouth? That was the only word to describe it. It was like a work of art. Sexy and sensually contoured with its surround of dark stubble. A tempting mouth. A sinfully corrupt mouth. A mouth that took what it wanted because it damn well could.

Something deep and low in her belly got out of its tightly locked cage. It stretched its cramped limbs, started to move, to crawl around inside her, stirring her senses into wakefulness. It sent a tremor through her blood like a shockwave through a millpond. She could feel the tiny ripples moving over her flesh like the spread of a shiver.

His gaze drifted to her mouth, lingering there for a pulsing beat before re-engaging with her gaze with a zap she felt deep in her core. ‘I’ll give you twenty-four hours to make up your mind. After that the offer is off the table and a new one will take its place.’

Teddy worked hard to keep her expression masked. What other offer would he present to her? Dared she ask? His coal-black eyes were locked on hers in a silent challenge that made the air vibrate with soundless waves of antagonism. The back of her neck prickled as every tiny hair stood to attention like soldiers under the threat of enemy fire. She drew in a breath but the space inside her chest felt cramped, as if her ribcage was slowly but surely shrinking back against her spine. ‘You seem assured I will eventually capitulate to your wishes, Señor Valquez. Again, I would hate to unnecessarily damage your ego but I will not be told what to do.’

His slant of a smile ignited a satirical glint in his eyes. ‘It’s your call, Miss Marlstone. Today it’s a marriage on paper. This time tomorrow it will be the real deal.’ He handed her a business card with his contact details on it. ‘Let me know which you decide.’

Teddy took the card because she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t get her voice to work. Couldn’t get her brain to think. Couldn’t stop her body from feeling hot all over from the smouldering burn of his gaze.

Was he serious? Was he prepared to go that far? To make it a real marriage in every sense of the word?

To her?

Why would he do that? Why would he want that? Why would he want her? Or was he game playing, to see how far he could push her?

Teddy watched as he strode out of the door. Listened to him speak curtly with Henry, the butler, on his way out. Heard the front door click shut on his exit. Heard the roar of his powerful engine and the spin of his tyres on the gravel of the driveway as he sped away, throwing up a shower of stones that hit the side of the house like a spray of bullets.

She closed her hand over the business card and felt the edges bite into the flesh of her palm. It was a chilling reminder that in any further skirmish with him she would have to be better prepared. Armoured up. Invincible.

And she only had twenty-four hours in which to do it....

* * *

‘If you ask me, I think you’d be crazy not to marry him,’ Audrey, the long-time housekeeper said as she poked a blue delphinium into the arrangement she was making in the kitchen. ‘After all, what’s going to happen to all of our jobs if this place is handed over to your layabout cousin? He won’t keep Henry on at his age, not to mention me.’ She gave a little sniff as she picked up another bloom. ‘He’ll want some big-breasted young floozy to flounce around the place with a feather duster in her hand before she dives into his bed.’

Teddy chewed at her lip. She hadn’t got as far as thinking about the loyal Marlstone staff. They were a team. A family. Her family. Audrey Taylor was sixty-eight and had run the household ever since Teddy’s mother had left. She had fulfilled so many roles in Teddy’s life: nanny, friend, confidante, wise counsel and mentor.

Seventy-four-year-old Henry Buckington had worked for her father’s father before her parents were married. He was part of the furniture. The place wouldn’t be the same without his stolid presence.

Then there was Stan and Myles Harris, the father and son team who managed the garden and the rest of the estate.

Audrey was right. Teddy’s cousin would bring in his own staff, not keep the ones who had served her and her father so loyally for so long. They would be cast out and left to flounder.

But could she marry a man she didn’t know to save them? A man she didn’t even like? A man she detested for his cocksure arrogance?

Alejandro Valquez expected her to say yes. Any other woman would have said yes ten times over. That’s what was so galling. He expected her to feel grateful that he was so magnanimously offering his hand in marriage.

A paper marriage.

How insulting was that? Could he make it any more obvious he thought her a deformed freak? Of course he would offer her a paper marriage. What else? He wouldn’t want her in his bed...not that she wanted to be in his bed or anything. A girl might have the odd erotic fantasy, which was perfectly natural, but it didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t as if she was hankering after a red-hot affair with him just because he was so staggeringly handsome...but still.

‘Did you know Dad had written his will like this?’

Audrey snipped off the end of the stalk of the flower she was holding. ‘I suspected he might.’

Teddy frowned. ‘You did? Why?’ Why didn’t you think to mention it during the last five months while I nursed him and stupidly fooled myself into believing he cared about me?

The housekeeper put down the secateurs and gave Teddy a direct look. ‘You don’t need me to tell you your father was a stubborn old goat who thought his way was the only way. I expect he was worried about you being left on your own. This is a big estate for a young woman to run without a husband by her side.’

‘So he engineered one for me? Do you know how...how insulting that is?’ Teddy folded her arms. ‘I can find my own husband, thanks very much.’

Audrey’s gaze had a wise old owl look about it. ‘You’d better get a wriggle on, lass. You’re not getting any younger.’

‘For God’s sake, I’m only twenty-six.’

Four years until she was thirty. Was that the sound of ticking she could hear? When she was a little girl she thought she would be married with a baby by now. As a little girl she had dressed up in her mother’s exquisite wedding gown and veil and tottered around in her high heels pretending to be a princess bride, dreaming of the day when she would become one for real. How far had life taken her away from her hopes and dreams? Her riding accident when she was ten had changed everything. She had gone from being normal to disabled. To being on the outside of everything. The odd one out. The poor little lame girl. The girl no one wanted on their team.

The girl no one wanted unless they could be bribed or bought.

‘Yes, but you haven’t been on a date since you came home from art school.’ Audrey picked up the secateurs and another bloom. Snip. Snip. Snip.

Teddy pressed her lips together. ‘I’m not good at dating.’

Audrey cocked her head as she studied the floral arrangement. ‘You don’t try, that’s why.’

Teddy frowned again. ‘I’m not a party girl. I never have been. I hate small talk. I’d rather paint or read a book.’

‘Alejandro Valquez has plenty of friends. Maybe he can lend you some.’

‘Oh, yes, I can just imagine me becoming chummy with all his pretty pin-up girls.’ She narrowed her gaze at the housekeeper. ‘Anyway, why are you so for this crazy scheme?’

Audrey gave her a pragmatic look. ‘I don’t want you to lose your home and this is the only way you can keep it. Your father was old-fashioned and set in his ways. He wanted to see you settled. He wanted you to marry a man of means. I suspect he thought this was the best way to do it.’

‘It’s the worst possible way!’ Teddy said. ‘I haven’t got a say in it. It’s being forced on me.’

‘I expect it’s the same for Alejandro.’

‘No, it’s not.’ Teddy balled her fists and set her jaw. ‘It’s not the same at all. He thinks it’s amusing to stride into my life and tell me what to do as if I have no mind or will of my own. I loathe him. He’s insufferably rude and arrogant. He thinks I’m gagging to say yes to him.’ Argh!

‘He’s one of the richest men in Argentina.’

‘If he’s so rich then why’s he so worried about a plot of land he could buy a squillion times over?’

‘It’s adjacent to his family property, that’s why,’ Audrey said. ‘I expect he can’t expand his polo breeding stud without it. He rebuilt his father’s polo resort business from scratch. He took over as CEO when he was in his early twenties. He’s been trying to get that land back ever since.’