The Gold Collection: Bedded By A Billionaire: Santiago's Command / The Thorn in His Side / Stranded, Seduced...Pregnant

In reality the gentle timidity that had originally drawn him to her and aroused his strongly developed protective instincts had begun to irritate him.

In retrospect he could see that his disenchantment had begun after Gabby had been born. He had always believed that a mother should be a strong role model for a daughter, but it had seemed to him that the only things Magdalena was passing on to their child were a lack of confidence and a whole host of phobias.

‘She was doing what she thought I wanted,’ he told Lucy now. And you are having this conversation why, Santiago? And with the woman your brother is sleeping with, of all people. ‘Magdalena wanted to please me and it killed her—I killed her.’

And you, she thought, have been punishing yourself ever since … This was a side of Santiago Silva that she had never seen. Part of her way of coping with this man was listing him under the heading of inhuman—the suggestion he had normal vulnerabilities made her feel uneasy.

‘If that were true you would be in prison,’ she offered in a level voice. ‘It was a terrible tragic accident,’ she added, refusing to offer him the condemnation he appeared to be inviting.

‘Accidents cannot be predicted.’ And neither, it seemed, could her response—he’d thought he could have relied on her to take advantage of the chink in his armour.

The self-loathing in his voice made her wince. ‘What do you want me to say—that it was your fault?’

‘I do not wish you to say anything.’ She could have legitimately asked why he had introduced the subject, but she didn’t. After a quick glance at his face she reached for the crystal water jug, not anticipating the weight of it. Her wrist trembled, sending an ice cube skidding across the polished surface of the bedside table.

With a grunt Santiago took it from her hand, his fingers brushing hers. The contact was light but the response of her nerve endings was anything but … It zigzagged through her body like an internal lightning bolt.

‘Let me—you’ll have the place drenched.’

She watched from under her lashes, nursing her still-tingling fingers against her chest as he filled her glass with a steady hand.

‘You have a lovely daughter,’ she said, turning the conversation into a less painful topic. ‘She is back home?’

‘An extended summer break. My lovely daughter has been excluded from school … again. However I’m sure my daughter’s schooling is of no interest to you.’ Women who were ruled by self-interest were rarely interested in any subject that did not directly affect them.

Self-interest has her living in a primitive farmhouse, acting as unpaid labour and nursemaid?

CHAPTER TEN (#ulink_3aa79d97-eb9e-5601-b56b-fd7f4174ecbc)

WHEN the doctor called a few minutes later Lucy was feeling so wretched that she was not surprised when he said that the bug she had contracted was a particularly virulent strain. In fact, she almost retorted—yes, the Santini Strain!

Lucy, who had been hoping for permission to leave, was dismayed when he announced he wanted her to stay in bed until the next day and after that he would review the situation.

In the event, she did not feel much like getting out of bed. She slept a good deal of the time, waking on one occasion during the early evening to find Gabby perched on the end of her bed.

She knew that Santiago would be furious if he found her there and, as the girl began with, ‘Don’t worry, Papá has gone to the hospital to see Uncle Ramon,’ it was pretty obvious that the child had been warned not to visit.

She was saved from having to shoo the child away by the arrival of Josef, who came with one of the rehydration drinks that the doctor had instructed she take through the evening.

He left taking a reluctant Gabby with him.

The next morning Lucy was feeling better and would have welcomed a visit from Gabby to stop her replaying every conversation she had ever had with Santiago in her head over and over. She had improved on many of her responses and never made others.

When he arrived she was able to assure the doctor that she had spent a comfortable night; there were some things you didn’t tell anyone, even your doctor, and the dreams that she had woken from hot, sweaty and shaking the previous night came under that heading!

After a medical twenty questions he pronounced himself happy for her to go home if she managed a light lunch with no ill effects.

Lucy would have loved to have explored the fascinating building, but she reluctantly passed on the opportunity, keeping to her room to avoid the possibility of running into Santiago, and he did not seek her out—not that she had expected him to. He might have been avoiding her, but it was equally likely that he had forgotten she was there. With this self-pitying reflection she made herself consume a portion of the light lunch that was served on a silver tray.

Another night in this place was not an option.

‘I feel so bad about Lucy.’

His brother looked like death warmed up and in deference to his weakened condition he had not brought up the subject uppermost in his mind, but now that Ramon himself had introduced it Santiago found himself unable to hold back.

‘For God’s sake, Ramon, I know you’re bewitched by the woman and I admit she is … compelling … but—’

Ramon waved the hand attached to an intravenous drip. ‘But I’m not sleeping with her.’

He saw his brother’s expression of disbelief and gave a weak smile.

‘Oh, don’t get me wrong, I would if I could, or rather if she would. She isn’t interested in me. I found out about you warning her off and I … The truth is I’m fed up of you trying to run my life. For God’s sake, Santiago, how am I meant to learn from my mistakes if you never let me make any?

‘I knew you’d got it into your head that poor Lucy is some sort of dangerous femme fatale and I wanted to …’ he took a deep breath, there were some advantages to being at death’s door—his brother couldn’t hit him ‘… teach you a lesson.’ He waited for a reaction and when there wasn’t one added crankily, ‘For God’s sake, say something. I’m dying here.’

‘You’re not sleeping with her?’ If Ramon was not, then he … Santiago’s chest swelled as he released a deep sigh. ‘Good.’

‘That’s it—good?’

Santiago’s lips curved into a slow smile as he bared his white teeth and confirmed softly, ‘Very good.’

Very good that he no longer had to feel jealous of his own brother. That he no longer had to rationalise his determination to keep Ramon out of Lucy’s bed and finally that he no longer had to pretend that Lucy’s bed wasn’t exactly where he, Santiago, wanted to be.

What was not good about the anticipation of enjoying sex with a beautiful, experienced woman? He would satisfy this hunger and get Lucy Fitzgerald out of his system.

A few hours later, staying that extra night was looking like a real possibility. Drumming her fingers on the table top in the small salon she had been seated in to wait for transport, Lucy glanced at her watch.

She was deciding to give it half an hour before she took matters into her own hands and called a taxi when the door opened. She half rose and then sat down heavily, the eager expression on her face fading to one of almost comic horror.

‘I didn’t expect to see you still here.’ Santiago stood there looking down, arrogance and hauteur etched in every angle and plane of his incredible face. ‘I thought nothing short of a natural disaster would keep you here a second longer …’ That and Josef, who could always be relied on to rise to the occasion. The man, he decided, deserved a raise. He’d said do not let her leave but Josef was more subtle.

Lucy flushed and got to her feet. ‘I’m still waiting for the car,’ she explained in a small stiff voice. ‘Josef said it won’t be long.’ That had been two hours ago.

He elevated a sardonic brow.

‘I’m sorry if I’ve overstayed my welcome …’ She walked towards the door, back ramrod stiff. ‘Sit down.’ He sighed.

Responding to the pressure of the hand on her shoulder, Lucy sank back down into her seat, her breathing coming quicker as she combated the electrical tingle caused by the light contact.

His eyes brushed her face and for a brief moment she saw something in his dark hooded stare that made her stomach lurch, then it was gone—if it had ever been there …? Lucy had started to mistrust her own senses when she was around him.

She concentrated on not panting—pretty much a giveaway as he walked across the room to the bureau, pulling the heavy stopper off a decanter sitting there. He poured a finger of the liquid into a glass and proceeded to toss it off in one swallow, then he reached for the decanter again.

He refilled it before looking directly at her. ‘Is that what I said?’

‘No,’ she conceded, noticing that he looked relaxed … yet those tensed bunched muscles in his neck told a different story. ‘But—’

‘Are you this defensive and prickly with everyone or is it just me?’ He ground the words from between clenched teeth as he covered the bottom of another glass. ‘Do you think I am not capable of saying what I mean?’