The Return of Her Past

Mia patted her eyes again with the napkin. ‘They were proud of me.’ She shrugged. ‘Did you never…’ she paused, then looked at him directly ‘…did you never consider looking for me to check it out?’

He held her gaze for a long moment, then he said, ‘No.’

‘Why not?’ she whispered.

He looked away and rubbed his jaw. Then he looked directly into her eyes. ‘Mia, it occurred to me I could only mess up your life. I wasn’t ready for a relationship so all I could offer you was an on/off affair, especially if you were up in Queensland. I’d only just taken over from my father so my life was in the process of being completely reorganised.’

He shrugged. ‘I could have kicked myself for doing it—’ He stopped abruptly as she flinched visibly.

‘Hell,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry but—’

But Mia had had enough. She jumped up precipitately. ‘So, if your mother hadn’t warned me off, you would have?’

‘No.’ He said it decisively and he got to his feet and reached for her. ‘No.’

As she jumped away she tripped and would have fallen if he hadn’t grabbed her. ‘Listen to me,’ he ordered as he wound his arms around her. ‘Just listen.’

Mia ignored him and struggled to free herself.

‘Mia,’ he warned, ‘since when did you think you could beat me in a damn fight? Be still and listen.’

‘There’s nothing you can say I want to hear,’ she gasped.

He eyed her narrowly, her flushed cheeks and her eyes dark with pain, her hair coming loose. ‘OK.’ He shrugged. ‘Then how about this?’

And before she had a chance to identify what he was leading up to, he bent his head and claimed her mouth with a kiss.

She went limp in his arms, from sheer surprise about the way he did it, the way he moved his hands on her body. The feel of him, steel-hard against her softness, was mesmerising. And her lips parted beneath his because she simply couldn’t help herself.

When it was over her head was resting on his arm, her hair flowing over it, her eyes huge, very green and stunned, her lips parted in sheer shock—shock that he had done it, shock that she had responded after his news of what had to amount to a betrayal.

‘Don’t look like that,’ he said.

‘Why did you do it?’ she whispered.

‘It’s a traditional way to stop a fight between a man and a woman,’ he said dryly. ‘Didn’t you know?’

Her lashes fell and it occurred to him that he’d hurt her again—like some ham-fisted clod, he thought with distaste. ‘Mia, I would never have warned you off because you were the housekeeper’s daughter.’

‘Oh, Carlos, you may be able to deceive yourself but—’

‘Listen,’ he broke in savagely, ‘yes, I’d have told you there was no future for us then but it had nothing to do with who you were. I have never,’ he said through his teeth, ‘shared my mother’s delusions of grandeur.’

It flashed through Mia’s mind, an image of herself during the day and how, once again, she’d keenly felt her position on the sidelines, despite her designer clothes and her undoubted skills. How she’d proven to herself today that she still had a long way to go in the self-confidence stakes, how she might always be a fringe-dweller compared to the O’Connors and the ubiquitous Nina French.

But above all how much it hurt to know that Carlos would have warned her off himself…

As for his proposal?

‘I think you must be mad,’ she said with bitter candour, ‘if you really believe I’d want to get engaged to you. After all that—have you any idea how cheap your mother made me feel?’

He closed his eyes briefly, then released her and handed her her glass. She blinked and took a sip of brandy.

Carlos stared at her for an eternity, then he said abruptly, ‘How old are you now?’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why?’

‘Why not—twenty-five?’

She nodded.

‘Has there been anyone?’

Two spots of colour entered her cheeks and she put her glass down on the trolley with a snap. ‘That’s none of your business, Carlos.’

‘I think it is. I think it must have been a ghastly experience. My mother—’ He gestured and shrugged.

‘I’m a little surprised you believe me,’ Mia broke in.

‘My mother,’ he repeated dryly, ‘has persistently meddled in all our lives but not in a way that’s actually hurt anyone like this before. What happened to my father came as a big shock to her too and may have made her…may have unbalanced her a bit.’ He paused and grimaced. ‘Whatever, I can’t let this go.’

‘There’s nothing you can do. I…one…gets over these things.’

‘That’s the problem, I don’t think you have. I strongly suspect you’re a twenty-five-year-old virgin, Mia.’

Mia gasped and jumped up. ‘Will you…will you just go away?’ she flung at him. ‘To…to think,’ she stammered, ‘that I thought you were the nicest of the O’Connors.’

He lifted a wry eyebrow. ‘The best of a bad bunch?’

‘Yes! No. Oh!’ Mia clenched her fists and ground her teeth and suddenly it was all too much for her again and she kicked her shoes off and ran out onto the veranda, onto the lawn and down towards her cottage.

Of course she came to grief—it was that kind of day.

She didn’t see the sliver of glass she stepped onto although she yelped in pain.

Carlos was right behind her, and he said her name on a harsh breath and simply picked her up and turned as if to take her back to the big house.

‘No, no,’ she said raggedly. ‘I don’t want to bleed all over the house.’

‘Where then?’

‘Down there, my cottage. I’ve got a first aid kit. Oh, I’m bleeding all over you.’

‘Don’t worry about it. Here we are. Stand on one foot while I open the door and get the lights.’

A few minutes later Mia was sitting lengthwise on her settee with a towel under her foot. Carlos had turned all the lights on and, following her instructions, had found the first aid kit in the bathroom.

‘I’m a good doctor, by the way,’ he said as he laid out tweezers, a bowl of antiseptic, cotton wool and dressings.

‘How do you know?’ Mia peeled off her stocking.

‘I’ve had no complaints to date.’

‘How many people have you actually “doctored”?’ she asked. ‘Is it deep?’

He studied her heel. ‘Deep enough. But I can’t see anything in it and we should be able to keep it from bleeding until tomorrow when we can get you to a proper doctor. It might need a couple of stitches. You’ll have to keep off it for a while.’

He dabbed it liberally with cotton wool dipped in antiseptic, then he dried it and applied a dressing.

‘There.’ He sat back. Then he reached for her and took her in his arms. ‘And you’re a good patient,’ he said into her hair. ‘Feeling OK?’ He held her away and studied her face. ‘You look a bit pale.’

Mia grimaced and, without giving it a second thought, laid her head against his shoulder. ‘I’ll be OK. I feel a bit stupid. I always check the lawn for broken glass; when people drink you never know what they can end up doing with their glasses. I never sprint across it barefoot.’

‘Why did you?’ He kissed the top of her head and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to Mia.

But she sighed. ‘I was running away from you, Carlos.’ She lifted her head and looked him in the eye. ‘For a few minutes I really hated you. And thinking back makes me feel that way again.’

‘Then don’t think back,’ he advised and traced the outline of her mouth. ‘It always was one of the most delicious mouths I’ve ever seen.’

Mia was conscious of a growing clamour in her nerve-endings, delicious but at the same time disturbing, as her awareness of him grew. Awareness of how surprisingly strong he was; he’d carried her with ease. Awareness of all the old sensations being in his arms could arouse, the feel of his body against hers, the pure male scent she used to love so much when they rode together, of the cotton of his shirt mingled with a hint of musk.

Awareness and memories of his hands, so sure when he’d kissed and touched her tonight and once before, even if he was suffering from a concussion on that occasion.

It was that last thought that brought her up with a start. She had to remember that Carlos was dangerous to her mental health!

Correspondingly, she pushed herself away from him and changed tack deliberately and completely. ‘This accident couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I’ve got wall-to-wall functions over the next week. I really need to be on my feet!’

‘Tomorrow?’ he queried.

‘No, not tomorrow but from the day after.’

He looked at her with some irony. ‘Don’t you have any contingency plans? Are yours the only pair of feet available?’

Mia sank back. ‘Well, no. There’s Gail.’

‘Ah, Gail,’ Carlos murmured with a sudden glint of amusement in his grey eyes. ‘Now, I met Gail. She very kindly introduced herself to me and offered me any assistance I might need.’

Mia looked briefly heavenward.

Carlos noted this with a twist to his lips. ‘I did form the impression, however, that, despite being young and impressionable, Gail is a fairly practical person. Possibly a hard worker as well.’

Mia closed her eyes on her inward irritation, then opened them to say honestly, ‘You’re right. Forgive me, Gail,’ she added in an aside.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.