A Spanish Seduction (18 page)

‘Ricardo will be tied up with interviews now. We’re to return to the hotel to prepare for the post-race party,’ Manuel told her. ‘He’ll either meet you back at the hotel or I’ll escort you to the party and he’ll meet you there.’

Jess understood, but hated the ongoing separation.

They needed to talk.

She needed to know where they went from this point.

Chapter Fifteen

Ricardo hadn’t had time to go back to the hotel. Instead, he’d sent an assistant to collect his clothes so he could change for the party.

When Jessica walked into the reception with Manuel, her entry caused a stir. Emotion punched at Ricardo’s chest. She was striking in a red, satin halter-neck dress. His blood heated because the garment emphasised her fabulous breasts and her tiny waist. But, it was the flare of a short handkerchief hemline showing off her knock-out legs that made his blood boil with desire.

He carved a path through the room and directly to her side to claim her.

Ridiculously choked up, he pulled her into his arms, wanting the reassurance of having her there. Even as he did so, he stiffened.
Diablo!
What was he thinking? When had he ever wanted a woman for reassurance?

His mind flew to his father, saw him on the kitchen floor with the gun in his hand. He heard the words over again, ‘
Don’t ever fall in love. You’ll lose everything you ever had — everything you could ever be.’

He denied he was falling in love. Love was something he didn’t believe in.

‘Ricardo? Are you okay?’ she asked.

‘I’m fine,’ he replied, immediately hating the terseness in his voice and the way she looked whipped by it. Trying to make amends, he took her hand. ‘Let me get you a drink. Thanks, Manuel, for escorting Jessica tonight.’

‘Congratulations again on your victory today, my friend,’ Manuel said, giving Ricardo another slap on the back. ‘The champion is back.’

Ricardo didn’t correct him, but Manuel was wrong.

Today’s race had seen him do his duty to put the company back into business. There’d been none of the adrenaline-pumping thrill he used to experience behind the wheel. Each lap around the track had been a countdown — not to the podium, but to having Jessica in his arms once again.

Then, there’d been the slide of the car as he’d nearly achieved his goal...He wasn’t so arrogant he thought he was indestructible. He’d had slides before, but today...Today it had seemed there was much more to lose if he didn’t pull out of it. He’d hardly had a chance to think about everything properly because he’d had one interview after another since he’d taken to the podium. One thing he knew was that Jessica featured heavily in the thinking he needed to do.

‘I’ll leave you two alone and speak with you later,’ Manuel said and walked away.

‘It’s good to see you.’ He kissed the top of her head, wishing they were alone in their hotel suite.

‘Hell!’ Jessica swore between her teeth.

It wasn’t the reaction he hoped for. ‘Something I said?’

She made a sound of frustration. ‘It’s that horrible woman who insulted me on our first night in Barcelona!’

He frowned. ‘Simone?’

‘Yes, and it looks like she’s coming this way.’

He placed a finger tip under her chin and encouraged her to look at him. ‘Don’t worry about Simone. You put her in her place and she won’t insult you again. When she sees we’re still together she’ll realise you’re very important in my life.’

He felt her withdrawal emotionally and physically as she took a step away from him. ‘I guess that’s how it would seem to anyone who doesn’t know the truth about our agreement.’

Mierda!
He kept one arm around her waist, sensing the need to keep her at his side in case she left him completely. Their agreement had ceased to be important to him a long time ago. She was here with him because he wanted her in his life. He couldn’t offer her love, but he started to believe he could offer her commitment.

Would she accept his commitment without his love?

His conscience taunted him
.
Would it be fair to expect her to accept him on those terms?

Jessica was special. She deserved a man who could give her the love she yearned for. Knowing she wanted a fairytale ending just about made his heart seize up.

The room blurred a little.

A bug
. For the first time in his life he must have caught a bug, for his stomach roiled and he fought against the nausea rising in his throat.

‘Oh for heaven’s sake!’ Jessica’s voice was irritated. ‘Simone
is
making a beeline for us. Of all the rotten luck.’

‘Ricardo,
mi amore
!’ Simone purred a few seconds later. Far from being deterred from her pursuit of him, his one-time-lover attached to his free arm and looked as though she were a cat and Jessica a canary. ‘Congratulations on an amazing win today.’

‘Simone.’ Distaste and self-loathing slammed into him as he wondered how he could ever have bedded her. The narrowing of her eyes as she regarded Jessica also made him uneasy. He detached himself from Simone and tightened his hold around Jessica’s waist.

‘I vaguely remember meeting you,’ Simone drawled in bored tones. ‘Julia? Judy? You’re English as I recall.’

‘Jessica,’ she corrected with a tight smile. ‘I’m flattered. I wouldn’t have picked you as the sort of woman who remembered anyone without a penis.’

Ricardo couldn’t suppress his laugh nor his admiration at Jessica’s quick comeback. Still, Simone was a natural bitch whose claws had been sharpened on women a lot tougher than Jessica and this time it didn’t seem like she was prepared to stalk off in a huff.

He had to separate the two women before Simone drew blood.

‘Are you enjoying your little visit to Monte Carlo?’ Simone purred, ignoring Jessica’s comment. ‘Is this a stopover on your way back to London?’

‘Jessica isn’t returning to London,’ Ricardo corrected firmly. ‘She’s moved to Barcelona permanently to be with me.’

‘Really?’ Her tone was one of cynical disbelief. ‘But you’re so far from home, Jessica. Aren’t you missing England?’

‘Not at all.’ The response was swift and sincere.

‘I thought you’d be missing familiar faces, so I asked an English friend of mine to join us tonight. It turns out she went to school with you. Perhaps you’ll remember Cristabel Hughes?’

Jessica’s body jerked and Ricardo sensed the maelstrom of emotion she struggled to contain. Every protective instinct he possessed kicked into high alert as she paled.

‘She was Cristabel Fletcher then.’ Simone waved her hand.

Another hard-looking woman sashayed toward them, malice glinting from her face. ‘Jessica Harris. My, you have changed since high school days. New look, new clothes. I remember the last time I saw you. You were drenched in sour milk.’ She gave a bitchy little laugh.

Sour milk?

‘I must delay your re-acquaintance,
mi amore
,’ Ricardo told Jessica, ignoring the other women even as questions buzzed in his brain. ‘We need to take our seats at the head table.’ He began ushering her away, but Simone and Cristabel were not deterred.

‘Do you remember Cristabel?’ Simone’s eyes were as hard as her voice.

Jessica’s face was drawn. ‘How could I ever forget Cristabel?’

‘Interesting,’ Simone gushed. ‘Cristabel said the same of you.’

Beside him, Jessica began to tremble.

Ricardo had no idea of Simone’s agenda, but the contempt blazing from Cristabel confirmed the need to warn both these bitches that if they hurt Jessica in any way, they would not enjoy the consequences. Unfortunately, Cristabel fired a deadly missile before he could intervene.

‘That isn’t quite what I said, Simone. I told you Jessica would’ve been quite forgettable except that her mother was so well known in the community as the local prostitute.’ Cristabel’s voice was loud and shrill, ringing clearly and deliberately over the conversation. The chatter in the immediate area around them stopped abruptly and heads turned their way.

‘Your lover’s mother was a whore, Ricardo!’ Cristabel decreed.

‘Like mother, like daughter,’ Simone accused. ‘How much are you paying her so you can cover up your affair with Carla Lorezzi?’

Two security guards zeroed in on the disturbance. ‘Monsieur Garcia?’

‘I’d be grateful if you’d have these women removed from the function. If that can’t be arranged, please give my apologies to the official party as I won’t be staying.’

‘Oui. Of course.’ The French security men knew it would hardly do to upset the guest of honour.

‘You can’t make us leave!’

‘We have invitations!’

Without a backward glance toward the women and the protests they made as the guards escorted them away, Ricardo propelled a badly shaking Jessica along toward the head table. Even though she shook, her head was high. He admired her strength of character and her refusal to be crushed outwardly by the public revelations.

‘Ignore them, Jessica,’ he told her quietly as he waved casually to several acquaintances. ‘They’re shaming themselves, not you or me.’ He sensed the enormous effort it took for her to continue. A quick glance and he saw the glistening of unshed tears in her eyes and the valiant attempt she made to wipe them away surreptitiously. ‘The best thing to do would be to ignore their comments and stay for dinner, but we’ll go if you want to.’

‘You have to stay.’ He heard the misery in her voice. ‘You’re the guest of honour.’

Ricardo changed direction, leading her toward the first exit and seeking somewhere they could converse privately. When he found the ideal spot, he told her, ‘I’ll leave with you if you wish to go. Your happiness is all that matters right now.’

Her head jerked back at his assertion. ‘Is it?’

‘Yes.’ The word was uttered with absolute conviction and he knew, without a doubt, it was true.

A frown crossed her features as she looked at him in confusion.

‘I’ve missed being with you these last few days,’ he admitted quietly. ‘This race demanded all my focus after so long away from the circuit. I had to shut myself off from everything else and get my head around going back to the track.’

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. ‘I’ve missed you too,’ she whispered.

‘The last time I raced, I was in an accident. My cousin died in the crash.’

‘I know.’ She raised a hand to his cheek.

Tears spilt from each of her eyes and he lowered his head to kiss them away.

Pulling back from him, Jessica wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. ‘Marguerite told me about Santiago.’

Unsurprised, he merely nodded. ‘I needed to be alone to think about that, too.’

‘I hope you’ve found peace.’

She was the one who brought him peace. ‘Shall we leave,
querida
?’

Shaking her head, she exhaled audibly. ‘Cristabel bullied me all through school when we were kids. I’m not a child anymore and I won’t let her win. I won’t run away from the truth and I won’t be embarrassed by it. We’re going back in there.’ She hugged him tight. ‘As much as I hated you racing today, I’m proud of your achievement. Tonight is a celebration of your win, the success it will bring to your company, and to you having fought and overcome the demons that have kept you from driving.’

Ricardo’s lungs constricted. Humbled by her words and by the way she considered his needs above her own, he dropped a kiss to her temple. ‘We’d better go back in straight away. Later,
mi amore
, we will celebrate in private.’

The rest of the evening passed in a blur as Ricardo struggled to concentrate on conversation with the many well-wishers who came to congratulate him. All the while he wanted to leave. He wanted to cocoon Jessica in his embrace and make love to her until he wiped the earlier ugly incident with Simone from her memory.

He was gutted he’d put her in this position. It was his fault she’d been exposed to the bitchy taunts.

Jessica conversed calmly with those around her. She seemed unaware that readers of trashy tabloids all over the world would probably read about her mother. How was he to handle the press to make all this disappear for her?

Also playing on his mind was Simone’s jeered accusation, ‘How much are you paying her?’

Jessica had been so sensitive to becoming his lover during this three month period. He didn’t want the amazing lovemaking they’d known to be sullied in her mind. What they shared was the epitome of all that was wonderful.

They were the surface issues he had to deal with. Deeper down, conflicting emotions warred within him and threatened to overwhelm the status quo of his life. He wanted to commit himself to this woman who had become such an important part of him.

‘I’m sorry, Ricardo, I don’t think I can stay any longer. My head’s pounding,’ she told him a couple of hours later. ‘Do you think you could ask your driver to take me back to the hotel?’

‘We’ll leave together.’ He kissed her tenderly. ‘We’ve been here long enough.’

A quick farewell to the prince, the major sponsors and officials, and Ricardo had Jessica in his limousine, with the privacy screen up. All evening she’d worn a brave face, but now the mask slipped. His chest ached as he watched her wilt before his eyes. The only thing he could do was gather her close and enfold her in his embrace as she snuggled against his chest.