Mediterranean Tycoons: Dark & Demanding: At The Spaniard's Pleasure / A Most Passionate Revenge / The Italian Billionaire's Ruthless Revenge

He was going sailing, but would be back the morning of the gala. Plus, if his wife happened to call and catch Liza, Liza was to tell her he had been called away suddenly.

Liza had argued she was not prepared to lie to his wife, until he pointed out she was his PA now after four years of being the secretary to Mr Stubbs, who had recently retired. It was the first time she had travelled with him, and if she valued her job she had better get used to obeying his orders. Liza had a sneaky suspicion he had arranged the whole trip so he could slope off with his latest mistress.

Something green! Nick almost snorted. The only thing green Henry Brown was interested in was a green-back dollar… Liza could not be that naive…

‘Lucky for you,’ he prompted, his attitude towards her hardening. So she was not a complete liar, but she was extremely clever—enough of the truth mixed with fiction, Nick thought cynically, his dark eyes roaming once more over her face and body. He wondered if Liza was sleeping with her boss. She had been heading that way at sixteen, and he could not see any red-blooded male turning her down. Immediately he pushed the vaguely distasteful thought aside.

‘Yes,’ Liza agreed coolly. Henry Brown was supposedly a happily married man, but he had hit on her the first week she started work for the company, but, firmly rebuffed, he had accepted with good grace and over the years they had developed a formal working relationship.

Henry Brown was a charming rogue who was probably an asset in the world of venture capitalism, but not really husband material. Still, his private life was not her problem…she was not her boss’s moral guardian, she told herself firmly.

The waiter arrived with the coffee and Liza picked up the cup and took a sip of the aromatic brew. She could feel Nick’s dark gaze on her as the silence lengthened between them. But she saw no reason why she should carry the conversation. She had not instigated this meeting with him.

Twenty minutes ago, after delivering the package, she had sat down at this table, drunk a cup of coffee, and told herself she was going to enjoy the unexpected break. It was magic to be able to sit outside in the middle of January with the temperature a balmy seventy-eight degrees after the winter gloom she had left in England. Now she was not so sure… Suddenly it felt a whole lot warmer, and she set the coffee-cup down with a less than steady hand. She could not believe Nick was actually sitting beside her, and, worse, affecting her usual icy composure like no other man before.

‘I have heard of Stubbs; a very profitable firm, I believe,’ Nick finally remarked.

Startled, Liza took a moment to remember what they had been talking about.

‘Your mother must be very proud of your success; though I hate to admit it, I have only seen her a couple of times in the last few years, usually when she is visiting my mother. It is a shame you never come with her any more,’ Nick offered lightly. He had caught the flash of panic in her eyes, and wondered why. His comment had been harmless enough. Liza was an elegant, sophisticated woman now, but that flash of fear simply confirmed his mounting suspicion she was hiding something.

‘Some time, maybe,’ Liza replied shortly. She needed no reminding of her holidays at his home, and asked, ‘And what are you doing here? I thought you still lived in Spain.’

‘I just flew in this morning. I have a villa here, though I have a house in Malaga, and of course the family home, but my business takes me all over the world.’

‘How nice,’ Liza murmured. ‘What is it you actually do?’ she queried sarcastically. Apart from flitting around the world in a private jet, usually with a glamorous woman on your arm, she almost added, but resisted the temptation.

If ever a child was born with a silver spoon in his mouth it was Niculoso Menendez. The only son of one of the wealthiest families on the continent, he lived a charmed life, indulging his every whim, whether it was skydiving, bunjee jumping or snowboarding in the Alps. He was an exponent of extreme sports, and she had thought his adventures so brave and romantic as a child. But raking over the past was churning up memories she preferred to forget, and, pinning a smile on her face she forced herself to look up into his eyes.

For a second she thought she saw a flash of anger in their depths, but she was quickly reassured when his firmly chiselled lips parted over gleaming white teeth in a reciprocal smile that was meant to dazzle…and did…

‘Right at this moment I am talking to a beautiful woman,’ he said smoothly, ‘when I should be checking a property development on the other side of the island.’

‘So you’re a property developer. That must be interesting,’ she prompted, jumping at the chance to change the subject. Niculoso complimenting her, flirting with her, made her uncomfortable. ‘I seem to remember you studied art, wasn’t it? But your father was in finance, I believe,’ she opined with the lift of one delicately shaped eyebrow. And Nick had stood to inherit the lot, and marry the family-approved distant relative, Sophia, Liza recalled cynically.

‘You’re right and he was, but with my father’s backing we diversified into other areas, though property development is one of my own pet projects.’

Surprisingly Liza believed him. There was no mistaking the passion in his tone, the gleam of determination in his incredible eyes as he expanded on the subject.

‘For instance, here on Lanzarote the landscape fascinates me. It is quite challenging to build something that is pleasing to the eye, and yet does not harm the unique environment. Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists. I do enjoy the better things of life.’

Liza just bet he did! Her blue eyes lingered on his harshly handsome face, the deliciously mobile mouth, a wry smile tugging her lips. He wasn’t called the Spanish Stud for nothing…

‘But here no building must be more than four storeys, mainly from the lobbying of the late, great Cesar Manrique, a famous local sculptor. You have probably seen some of his work around the island.’

‘I’ve read about him, but I only arrived yesterday afternoon and I haven’t had a chance to look around yet,’ Liza said, her smile broadening as for a moment she caught a glimpse of the eighteen-year-old he had once been. A young man full of high ideals and not above expounding them to a young child, before maturity and money had made him the man he was today.

‘In that case, Liza, you must allow me to be your guide for the day,’ Nick declared, flashing her another dazzling smile. Her heart lurched and for a moment she simply stared at him. ‘That is, if you are alone, of course,’ he prompted softly.

His deep, velvet voice trickled over her nerve-endings like dark gold honey, soothing and seducing. ‘Yes. Yes, I am,’ she stammered.

He really was a hunk of a man and the years since they had last met had been kind to him. If anything he was more attractive than she remembered, age giving character to his stunningly handsome face, with perfectly carved features, high cheekbones and a sensually curved mouth. As for his eyes, deep brown and as dark as sin with thick black curling lashes. The kind of eyes that would melt any female’s heart and the slightly long, silky black hair would tempt any female’s fingers. Liza was no exception; she wasn’t even aware she was staring and she never saw the brief glitter of triumph in his gorgeous eyes.

Nick Menendez’s physical presence was almost hypnotic; he exuded a lethal charm, an aura of potent masculine sexuality that called out to every atom of femininity in a woman. On a scale of one to ten, he had to be a twenty. Liza almost groaned out loud as all her deeply buried teenage fantasies rose up to haunt her.

‘I’m amazed.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘A lovely girl like you, alone! But grateful.’ Her blue eyes widened to their fullest extent on his darkly attractive face at his teasing compliment. ‘So, unless you would like another coffee, how about joining me in the Jeep?’ A strong hand gestured to where the vehicle was illegally parked on the pavement. ‘Before some official tows it away. I have to inspect the building site but after that I am at your disposal.’

If only! A vivid image of a naked Nick at her disposal filled her head and, ashamed of her sexy thoughts, she answered hastily. ‘I was going to return to my hotel and laze around the pool.’ She was still slightly wary of this new, charming Nick. Over the years she’d worked hard to block out any sign of emotion where this man was concerned, and she wasn’t sure she liked the way he cut through her defences like a knife through butter with just a smile.

He had been scathing in his contempt of her, brutally so, in the past. So why the turn-around, the flattering comments now? she wondered. Nick was a powerful, dynamic man; add wealth and looks, and it wasn’t surprising he was so arrogantly sure of himself. But surely he must be married by now with a handful of children, yet her mother had never mentioned it. ‘And maybe your wife, Sophia, would object.’ Fool, fool, she castigated herself as soon as the words had left her mouth.

Hooded eyes narrowed intently on her slightly pink face. Nick was a man of considerable expertise where the female sex was concerned, and despite her cautious reserve he sensed an underlying attraction. She wanted him, and the question on his marital state confirmed it. ‘Sophia and I parted years ago. I have no wife, no ties, and I like it that way. Now, no more argument.’ Nick rose to his feet and held out his hand. ‘Come on, you know you want to,’ he opined with sheer masculine arrogance and a wicked grin. ‘I have been reliably informed I am a charming companion. Surely you would not want to disappoint me and dent my fragile ego.’

Liza grinned back; she couldn’t help it. ‘That would be an impossibility,’ she mocked. ‘But surely a man in your position must have better things to do than spend a day sightseeing with me,’ and she nearly added of all people. Memories of the past made her super-cautious; Nick had made his dislike of her very plain, and she was still not convinced of his sincerity now.

‘Are you still angry with me?’ Shrewd dark eyes bored down into hers, guessing the reason for her hesitation. ‘For lecturing you as a child?’

Lecturing her! So that was how little he thought of crushing her burgeoning sexuality under a diatribe of insults and a savage kiss and grope. But with the benefit of maturity Liza wondered if maybe he was right, and she had made too much of what had happened. ‘No, of course not,’ she denied. If he could be so casual about their fight, then so could she, and, putting her hand in his, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. Liza was tall at five feet nine, but Nick towered over her, and she had to tilt her head back to look at him. ‘Why should I be?’ she asked, and suddenly she was conscious of the nearness of his great, virile physique, but was incapable of moving away.

‘No reason at all,’ Nick drawled throatily, pinning her with a smouldering glance, and after a provocative pause added, ‘not now.’ He lifted her hand to rest on his broad chest, and she felt the heat of his flesh through his shirt, and involuntarily she shivered. ‘What is not acceptable in a girl of sixteen does not apply to the beautiful woman you have become,’ he declared huskily and gazed at her, his eyes smouldering with an explicit sensual promise.

Liza stiffened slightly. Nick was as arrogant as ever; he would not come on to a teenager, but an older woman was fair game. Why was she surprised? In a way he was quite moral, she thought wryly. Then his long fingers tightened on her hand, the pad of his thumb caressing her palm, and she stopped thinking altogether.

‘So unless there is somewhere else you need to go,’ he urged her along the pavement, ‘any shopping or more errands to run for your boss…?’ He stopped and trailed off.

‘No, no,’ Liza denied, not quite sure what she was denying—his question or her helpless response to him. ‘Work finished when I dropped a package off for my boss at Daidolas in the town this morning, just before I met you actually.’

‘Daidolas the opticians?’ Nick asked swiftly.

‘Yes, that’s right, I think it was probably some glasses,’ she babbled on, intensely aware of him with every beat of her heart. ‘My time is my own from now on.’ She saw his dark eyes flicker with some emotion she did not recognise, and felt the sudden tension in his tall frame, and her hand trembled in his. ‘So thank you for your kind invitation, Niculoso,’ she heard herself say with ridiculous formality in an attempt to hide the chaotic feelings his nearness aroused in her, and snatched her hand free from his, dying with embarrassment.

Then she gasped as two large hands closed around her waist, and she was lifted off her feet and spun around, a hard, warm mouth briefly brushed her lips, and then she was in the Jeep.

‘So polite, Liza,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘Please, we are old friends and my friends call me Nick.’ And, chuckling at her flushed, bemused expression, he added, ‘Fasten your seat belt,’ before strolling around the front of the car and stepping into the driving seat.

‘My friends call me Liza,’ she muttered distractedly, still reeling from the touch of his mouth on her own, as he started the engine.

Nick cast her a glance, a broad grin lighting his tanned face. ‘I did know that, Liza,’ he mocked her. The speed with which she had offered the information he required meant his mission would not be as difficult as he had thought. ‘I just have to make a call.’ He gestured with his mobile. ‘The reception is better away from the traffic.’ And he jumped back out of the Jeep and strolled a few yards to the beach. He was taking no chances on Liza overhearing. Damn! But she was good. By revealing her actions so readily, either she really was simply an innocent messenger, or a consummate actress.

It may have been glass in the package! But not of the optical variety…he would bet his last cent.

Quickly he called Carl and gave him the information about the drop-off point and then talked Carl out of having Liza picked up immediately by persuading him it made more sense for Nick to keep her with him on the off-chance she had more information of use to them.

What troubled him slightly as he leapt back into the Jeep was why he was so keen to believe in her innocence. A man of his wealth, and bachelor status, he was used to the adulation of women and was wise to all their tricks to entrap him; consequently he had a very cynical attitude to the female sex in general, but Liza confused him… Not an emotion he was comfortable with.

Liza wriggled deeper into the seat as Nick flashed her a brief smile before driving away. She glanced down at his elegant, bronzed hand wrapped around the gear stick, saw the sinews in his strong arms flex as he changed gear, and thought of the same hand on her breast.

Oh, hell! She silently groaned. What a time to start having erotic thoughts about the man. She must remember Nick thought he was miles above her in every way; he had made that very plain years ago. She had to try and relax and enjoy the day for what it was. Two old friends sharing a tour of the island. It was sheer coincidence they had even met again. But in that she was wrong…

CHAPTER TWO

‘FIRE MOUNTAIN; I can see why,’ Liza said softly, staring around in awe. After a brief visit to a building site, Nick had driven Liza into the national park, passing a trail of about fifty camels, provided to give rides to the tourists. But Nick had taken them up into what looked like a lunar landscape. At first she had thought it was the sun shining off the lava that made it appear red, but the further they went she realised it was the rock itself that was red.

Nick stopped the Jeep and lifted her down, keeping one hand around her waist, and she stood in the crook of his arm, not sure which affected her the most—the man or the mountains. She had never seen or felt anything like it in her life. Craters, some huge, some small, the rock red and black and even a trace of green, but not a blade of grass grew there, and the silence was almost spiritual.

‘Impressive, hmm?’ Nick prompted. ‘Some people thought the gods were laughing when the eruptions started on April the first in 1730. It is known as the greatest volcanic holocaust ever witnessed. Thirty-two volcanoes rose up and erupted, spewing forth great quantities of molten rock.’ His hand tightened around her waist, his fingers against the bare skin of her midriff guiding her towards a view of five mountains in a line. ‘Those five erupted one after the other like Chinese firecrackers apparently. What finally wiped out most of the vegetation was the last eruption in the 1850s.’

Liza felt a bit like erupting herself; she had never been so conscious of a man in her life. She had had boyfriends and one she actually thought she loved, until they’d got engaged and made love for the first time and it was a disaster as far as Liza was concerned, and the end of the relationship. No man had ever affected her the way Nick’s simplest touch seemed to do. She had to make a deliberate effort to fight down the stirrings of desire just the sound of his voice aroused in her. Ruthlessly she clamped down on her wayward thoughts, and turned in his hold to look up at him. ‘I have never seen anything like it; it is absolutely fascinating.’ She smiled.

His heavy-lidded eyes darkened softly on her upturned face. ‘So are you, Liza.’

Suddenly the atmosphere was thick with tension. Liza was aware of his hand on her bare midriff, his fingers flexing on her skin, and she knew he was going to kiss her, and then to her surprise he stepped back, setting her free.

‘But you ain’t seen nothing yet,’ Nick joked in a mock-American accent.

Hell! He had almost kissed her. How could he even think of making love with Liza Summers until he knew exactly what she was? The answer came with a tightening in his groin, and, shoving a hand in his trouser pocket, he spun around. ‘Come on back to the Jeep.’

She did not know whether she was disappointed or relieved, but from then on the atmosphere between them slipped back into the easygoing camaraderie of years ago.

Nick was an excellent guide and drove them to another tourist vantage point set high in the weird hills. First he dropped some gravel in her hands that was red hot, and she squealed in surprise, and then they watched as an attendant dropped a bush down a ten-foot hole and it immediately caught fire. Then they walked up to the Vulcano restaurant, the only building for miles around.

‘I don’t believe it.’ She shook her head, her blue eyes laughing up at Nick. They were standing by a large circular well in the restaurant, the heat from the earth below rising to barbecue the chicken pieces spread on the iron grill on top.

‘Believe it.’ Nick took her arm and led her into the dining room. ‘You can’t visit Lanzarote and not eat volcano-grilled chicken.’

He was right and lunch was a jovial affair shared with dozens of tourists. Liza was amazed how well Nick mixed in; she would not have thought it his scene at all. The jet set were his usual companions according to gossip. But she did not have time to dwell on the point as Nick drove her all around the island. They stopped at a small lagoon, and then it was on again to a great volcanic tunnel and deep caves with pools where tiny blind white crabs lived, the only place on earth other than miles deep in the sea.

Back in the Jeep, the daylight quickly failing, Liza turned laughing eyes up to Nick. ‘I can see why you have a villa here; you really love this place.’ The hours had flown— Liza had had a great day, and the company had been superb, and all the better for being so unexpected.

‘Yes, I come here a lot; it is ideal, as one of my hobbies is seismology,’ Nick admitted honestly; he wanted her to feel secure with him and by giving a little more of himself he might get her to trust him, and reveal the depths of her own involvement with the thieves, if any… She was the daughter of his mother’s best friend, for heaven’s sake, and the longer he spent with Liza the more difficult he found it to believe she was guilty of anything underhand. It was up to him to discover the truth of her involvement, but he was beginning to think she was the unwitting messenger for her sleazy boss.

‘That figures, I suppose.’ Liza grinned; his effect on her was certainly seismic, she thought privately. And in a way it made sense; at thirty-five perhaps he had swapped extreme sports to study the extremes of nature. ‘But do we have to see everything in one day?’ she asked, hoping Nick would take the hint and ask her out again.

Nick glanced at her smiling face, his hooded eyes masking his expression. Her lips were begging to be kissed and it took every bit of will-power he possessed to resist the temptation; it was too soon… He needed to make sure her information had been correct. But whether it was or not, his mind was made up—he was going to give Liza the benefit of the doubt. He did not think for a moment she was aware of it, but by coming to Lanzarote she had inadvertently got mixed up with some very nasty criminals, and he was going to do everything in his power to protect her, whether she wanted him to or not. He owed it to their years of friendship, and their mothers’.

‘No, of course not. I’ll take you back to your hotel now as I have some business to attend to.’ He read the flicker of disappointment in her brilliant blue eyes, and almost gave in. His gaze dipped to her mouth, the full, sensuous lips, and he ached to taste them with his own, had done all day… Dios! He needed to get a grip—business before pleasure… Later, he promised himself…

Everything was going according to plan. He had kept Liza out of the way all day, and the information she had given him, which he had passed on to Carl over the phone this morning, should have been acted on by now. He needed to contact Carl Dalk again to discover what had happened. ‘I’ll call back for you at eight and take you to dinner.’ And his lips curled in amused satisfaction at the open relief in her smile.

‘Nick. Hi. Your information was correct.’ Nick Menendez lounged back in the chair at his desk in the study, and listened as Carl’s slightly harassed-sounding tones filled the room.

‘We visited the opticians and questioned the receptionist, and picked up Daidolas at his home and found the diamonds on him. He sang like a bird. He was a jeweller before he was an optician; he does the valuation and passes the information on to an intermediary in Morocco who makes the arrangements to contact the insurance company, and do the deal.’

‘So we have them,’ Nick prompted.

‘Not quite. As you know, Henry Brown is the top man. He arranges everything, his company charters a yacht in Marbella on the Spanish mainland, a different one each time, ostensibly for corporate entertainment. But in reality he has the captain pick up the diamonds at appointed places on the African coast and then transport them to Lanzarote.’

Nick grimaced; he had been hoping like hell Liza was not involved, but it wasn’t looking good for her. Knowingly or not she had delivered the diamonds. ‘So we pick up Henry Brown,’ he said quickly.

‘Eventually, yes; apparently Brown’s one weakness is he cannot resist checking the diamonds himself before they are passed to the optician for valuation. Plus he obviously does not trust the middleman he uses to do the exchange, because on every previous occasion he has been in the same vicinity ready to receive the cash when the deal is done.’

‘So what’s the problem, Carl?’ Nick asked. ‘You have him under surveillance; when the time is right, take him.’

‘If only it was that easy,’ Carl said drily. ‘Unfortunately we have lost track of him.’

‘You’ve what?’ Nick jerked upright in the chair. ‘How the hell did you manage that? I thought you had the police trailing him.’

‘Don’t yell at me, partner, and we did. They watched him collect the package last night from a yacht in the marina at Teguise, and they knew he had handed it on to the woman this morning.’ Nick’s frown deepened; he did not like hearing Liza referred to as the woman, but he listened as Carl continued. ‘They watched as Brown left in the same yacht this morning, but somehow he outsmarted them, vanished off the radar screen. But I doubt very much the thieving bastard sank.’