Valdez's Bartered Bride Read online

  ‘If you are so against the idea of marriage too, why don’t you just pay it off now?’ That was exactly the question he’d put to Carlos and his legal team and even now he could feel the cold fear sink through him as he recalled Carlos’s reply.

  ‘Such an action will invalidate the will and your father’s business will no longer be yours. Failure of any kind to clear the debt will result in the business being sold.’

  He had to convince Lydia. There was no way he was letting anyone get his hands on a company he’d painstakingly expanded. ‘When I find the person I am looking for it unlocks funds, more than enough to clear your father’s debts.’

  ‘So this is all about money? Silly me, I thought you had sentimental reasons for wanting to find this person.’ The accusation in her eyes was clear, but she could think what she liked. He’d never have to see her again after this.

  ‘Yes, it’s about money—as all business is.’

  ‘So, who is this person? Is it a love child you abandoned and now want to bring out into the open?’

  Such an accusation made it clear she’d researched him too and believed him to be as much of a playboy as his father had been. Maybe that was for the best. She didn’t seem the type to enter into brief affairs merely to satisfy a sexual attraction. This was a woman who would demand so much more from a lover, whatever her earlier protestations had been.

  ‘It is a love child, yes.’ He flaunted the truth before her, aware of the conclusions she was making.

  ‘I hate men like you.’ She snapped the words at him and he smiled lazily. He hadn’t fathered any children. That was something he’d been extremely careful of, but he enjoyed seeing the anger mix with contempt, filling her eyes, again letting him know exactly what she was thinking.

  ‘Not as much as I dislike women who jump to conclusions.’ He sat and watched the questions race across her face. ‘It is not my child.’

  ‘So if it’s not your love child, whose is it?’ Her fine brows rose elegantly in question and the satisfaction that danced in her eyes told him she thought he was lying.

  ‘As I have said, it is not mine.’ He wasn’t ready to give her the secret that had stayed hidden for so many years. All the times he’d tried to be the son his father had wanted had been in vain and now, with the discovery of Max, his half-brother, it had all become perfectly clear why.

  ‘You are going to have to tell me, if I am to trace this person.’ A haughty note had entered her voice. She thought she’d got him on the run, thought she now held the power. Never. But he’d allow her to think that. For a while at least.

  ‘It is my father’s son I wish to find.’

  * * *

  Lydia’s stomach plummeted. She’d been challenging him, pushing him to reveal his true self to her, and it had just backfired spectacularly. The fierce expression on his face warned her she’d gone too far, pushed too hard. Would he now revoke the offer, force her to find an extortionate amount of money to settle her father’s debt? Or worse, marry him?

  Suddenly she was that awkward sixteen-year-old again being introduced to Raul by her father. She’d smiled at him, pleased to know that someone closer to her own age would be at the dinner party her father had insisted she attend with him, but Raul had looked down at her with barely concealed lack of interest.

  Not that that had stopped the heady attraction she’d instantly had for him and she’d been glad she’d chosen the fitted black dress that had made her feel taller, more attractive and much more grown up. Stupidly, she’d hung on every word Raul had said as they’d been placed next to one another at the dinner table. She’d liked him—more than liked him—and had wanted him to notice her, to like her too. She’d wanted to be more than friends and had already wanted him to be the one she experienced her first kiss with.

  All evening she’d tried everything to get his attention, even trying to use her classroom Spanish.

  ‘If you can’t say it correctly, don’t bother.’ The high and mighty put-down had done just that, crashing all the dreams of a friendship, or more, with him.

  ‘I don’t have much call to use the language,’ she’d retorted, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. How had she thought him nice? How had she even begun to imagine that he might like her, might want to be friends, go on a date?

  ‘Then I suggest you stick to your usual shopping and partying and give languages a miss.’

  ‘But I’m going to study languages at university,’ she’d replied with a gauche smile.

  He’d looked at her then, his dark eyes locking with hers, and she’d held her breath, wondering if he was teasing her—teasing her because he liked her.

  ‘Don’t. You clearly don’t have any talent for Spanish, exactly what I’d expect from Daddy’s little princess who does nothing other than look pretty.’ The scathing tone of his voice as his gaze had travelled down her had left her in no doubt that he didn’t like her, that he despised her and all he thought she was.

  She’d bit back a temper-fuelled retort and vowed that one day, she’d tell him exactly what she thought of him and she’d do it fluently in his language. If he thought she was a spoilt little thing, that was fine by her, but her sense of injustice didn’t leave her, not even when she and her father left the dinner party. It had stayed with her, adding to all the insecurities her father had instilled in her.

  Now she looked at Raul, ten years older, anger at what her father had done mixed with sympathy for this proud man. Her father’s deception, the way he’d forced her mother to leave with his detached and cold ways, his constant need to make the next million before losing it again, seemed minor compared to the family secret Raul had just revealed.

  ‘I’m sorry, I had no idea.’ Her voice softened, but it did nothing to the feral expression on Raul’s face. He was a man who didn’t show softer emotions, that much was clear.

  ‘I have only just discovered the existence of my half-brother. He and I are due to inherit from my father’s estate.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’ She was perplexed by the unveiling of the last few minutes. ‘Your father must have known about him, to have included such conditions in the will.’

  ‘He knew. He also knew that I wouldn’t want to marry anyone, least of all the daughter of one of his debtors.’

  ‘We have both been set up.’ Shock set in and the full implications of the situation she was in finally hit home. How could her father have been so cruel? How could he have used her like this? She could almost imagine him concocting this strange deal with Raul’s father. Two heartless men together.

  ‘It would appear so. My father knows that money will motivate me over marriage.’

  She tried not to feel insulted, tried not to feel glad that there was a way out of this mess and once she was out of it she’d insist her father sold the properties to repay the debt that, as far as she was concerned, he would still have to Raul. Debts had to be honoured.

  ‘I need to find my brother, preferably without any media attention. I have no wish for the circus they can create or to expose my father’s weakness, which will push the company further into the wrong kind of spotlight, not to mention destroy my mother.’ His eyes were harder than ever, like a heavy thundercloud about to unleash its fury. Did he hate the brother he’d never met?

  Questions raced through her mind, but one had to be asked. ‘So why trust me, someone you barely know, with such sensitive information?’

  ‘Because you’re as against the idea of marriage as I am and claim to have what I need. Added to that, you are your father’s only hope of clearing his debt without dragging his long-standing family name through the bankruptcy courts. That in itself should ensure your compliance with my request.’

  He was right about that. If there had been another way to settle this she wouldn’t have even met with him today. Her relationship with her father was strained to say the least, but she didn’t want the family’s name brought into disrepute. Her grandmother might be elderly, but it would break her heart and
after what her mother and father had done to her with their selfish actions she would never do anything to upset the only person in the world who had shown her genuine love and affection.

  ‘And there is no other way?’

  He paused for a moment and, although those dark eyes were focused on her, she was sure his thoughts were far away. A pang of sympathy zipped through her for him. How would she feel if she suddenly discovered that she had a half-brother or sister?

  ‘I either find my half-brother or we must marry.’ His accented voice was sharp as he set out the alternative and totally obliterated that misguided sympathy.

  At least any marriage that did have to be made would be purely for the purpose of transferring her property assets to settle the debt. The fact that he wouldn’t contest a divorce went some way to settling the unease that still ran through her. He obviously didn’t have any intention of making her truly his wife.

  So why did disappointment filter through her? Surely she had got over that teenage crush? He might be handsome and possess a lethal charm, if the waitress’s reaction to him was anything to go by, but succumbing to his looks and charm was unthinkable. She would never give him the satisfaction.

  As if to prove the point, their meals arrived and that skilful charm once again melted the waitress into a puddle. Lydia shook her head in disbelief and looked down at the food she suddenly had no appetite for.

  ‘I don’t need to go to Madrid with you. I can work from here.’ She had her own business to run and in the final weeks before Christmas it would be busy. Added to that the idea of going to Madrid with this man was not one she welcomed, but the prospect of marriage, even if it was only on paper, was infinitely more unappealing.

  ‘Your enthusiasm for my company warms me.’ He mocked, but there was a hint of a mischievous smile on his lips, which she couldn’t help but respond to. ‘But you will come to Madrid. That is non-negotiable.’

  * * *

  Raul watched the battle play out in those expressive eyes. He could see every twist and turn of her doubt

  and reluctance, mirroring all he’d felt when he’d realised just what his father had done.

  ‘Neither of us have much choice in this arrangement.’ He tried to avoid becoming sidetracked by her long lashes as they lowered over her eyes, shielding his view into her soul. He hadn’t expected to find a solution to the problem of tracing his half-brother when he’d made arrangements to meet her, just as he hadn’t expected to find the spark of desire from the very first moment he’d seen her, anger sparking from her as she prepared to leave.

  ‘Before I go anywhere with you, or make any kind of formal agreement, I will need a written contract, Mr Valdez. I need it in writing that if I find your brother, my father’s debts will be settled.’ She hesitated. ‘And if the worst happens and we have to marry, it will be nothing more than a deal on paper.’

  So she didn’t trust him either. He admired her courage to sit there and demand a contract for the repayment of her father’s debt. ‘I will have it drawn up and you can sign it as soon as we arrive in Madrid.’

  He’d already decided they would leave tomorrow as he had no intention of giving her too much time to begin enquiries into the whereabouts of his half-brother, Max. He might not yet have given her any details, but he couldn’t risk her discovering the full extent of his father’s treachery, not until he could be sure she wouldn’t leak the story to the press. He had no intention of putting his mother, the only person to have shown him genuine love, through such a public humiliation.

  His father had treated him and his mother badly. For eight years he’d led a double life, deceiving not only his wife and son, but another woman and child. Raul remembered the day his mother had found out about his affair. He could still hear the hurt echoing from the past as she’d told his father the marriage was over, that he could do what he liked but she and her son were staying where they belonged. That was the start of the coldest example of marriage he’d ever seen. What if he too was destined for the same?

  Now that he’d discovered his father had turned his back on a child and its mother, Raul wanted to deal with it. He’d grown up with a father in his life and another child hadn’t. It didn’t sit well and he was determined to do all he could to make some kind of amends for the past. He only wished his father were here to listen to the tirade of angry words he had for him. Given his father’s reputation, it was worryingly possible that more children had suffered the same fate.

  He sat back and pressed his fingers together in a steeple, forcing all the hurt and rejection from his childhood down, trying hard to keep those negative emotions out of play. Now was not the time to relive that constant feeling that he’d never be good enough for his father, no matter what he did.

  He had two choices. To ignore his half-brother and marry Lydia to settle a debt or take Lydia’s offer, find Max and hopefully free them of need to marry. He didn’t have to think too long about that answer. His father might have wished Max away by ignoring him, but he didn’t want to do that—just as much as he didn’t want to enter into the negative binds of marriage. If his father thought the threat of sharing his inheritance would be enough to force him into marriage, he had miscalculated—badly.

  ‘What if I don’t find your brother?’ The question slipped innocuously from her lips and he looked at them, briefly wondering how they’d taste and feel beneath his.

  He bit down on such traitorous thoughts, focusing instead on the shock of all he’d discovered yet had been unable to uncover himself. ‘Half-brother.’

  ‘Half-brother, brother...what difference does it make? What if I don’t find him?’

  ‘It makes a great deal of difference, Lydia. You too are an only child. How would you feel if you’d just discovered you had a sibling?’

  ‘That’s not what we are discussing,’ she fired hotly back at him.

  ‘If you don’t find my half-brother within four weeks, then you will become my wife and your father’s debts will be cleared.’

  ‘For two years.’ The dejection in that statement almost got to him. Almost.

  He nodded. ‘Sí. After which you can file for divorce.’

  ‘Four weeks is not very long to undertake such a task,’ she said as she took a sip of her wine, the action once again drawing his attention to her lips, causing his mind to wander in directions it shouldn’t be going in. ‘And it will be Christmas too.’

  ‘All the more reason to succeed. Four weeks is all you have. If you fail, Lydia, you will become my wife on Christmas Eve.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  MADRID WAS THE last place Lydia had expected to find herself and Raul’s overpowering presence made it seem even more unreal, as if she were in the middle of a dream—or a nightmare.

  The flight to Spain on his private jet had been difficult and with just the two of them she’d wondered what they were going to talk about. Thankfully he’d used the time to read over some paperwork and she’d given the outward appearance of relaxing even though inside she’d been a jumbled mess of questions. Now however, as they travelled in the back of his chauffeur-driven car through the bustle of the city’s streets, lit up with festive cheer even in the late afternoon, she couldn’t escape the fact that his full attention was focused on her.

  ‘How long do you anticipate it will take to find my brother?’ It was the first time he’d referred to him not as his half-brother and she wondered why, when he was notorious for being a playboy himself, he had been so affronted by the discovery of another sibling. But then she knew better than most that families could portray a façade of happiness when underneath secrets and lies were hidden away. It was an art she too had now perfected.

  ‘I have no idea, not until you can give me some more information, but don’t forget this is not my profession. Researching family history is just an interest of mine. I’m not claiming to be an expert.’ She didn’t like the way his eyes narrowed, a sign she’d quickly realised was one of irritation. Neither did she like the rus
h of panic that swept over her. What if she failed?

  You can’t fail, so you’re not going to.

  ‘What is your profession?’ The glacial tone of his voice held scorn and she had to fight hard against the urge to smile smugly at him because one thing was certain and that was the fact that he still labelled her a spoilt little rich girl—Daddy’s heiress who didn’t know how to do anything other than party and shop.

  ‘My profession?’

  ‘Yes, what is it that you do each day?’

  Would he be surprised if she told him that she’d graduated from university with an honours in Spanish? What about if she told him she’d taken her love of fashion and now had two very successful luxury boutiques? One in London and one in Paris. She’d never linked them to her family name, wanting only to succeed on her own merit. And she had. Briefly she wanted to shock him with that piece of information, but what right did he have to know everything about her? All she needed to do was trace his brother and it could be done in a matter of a week or two—if she was lucky.

  ‘I think it’s fair to say my strengths lie in the retail market.’ She teased around the truth, played on what he still thought of her and couldn’t help but smile as he scowled at her. Let him think what he wanted to. Far better that he thought she spent money rather than earned it. After all she was here in Madrid to settle her father’s debts, so that she could move on and put the shambles that was her childhood behind her. She had only ever been an inconvenience to her mother, who now barely contacted her, and her father had always been a shadowy figure in the background of her life. It had been her grandmother who’d brought her up.

  ‘You will of course find plenty of opportunity for such retail strengths here in Madrid.’ The icy tone of his voice was almost enough to make the sun race behind the gathering rain clouds. If he tried hard enough he might even make it snow. She smiled at the thought as she watched him, his handsome face full of undisguised annoyance. ‘Especially at this time of the year.’