MELANIE MILBURNE - The Valquez Seduction

Now Luiz was on his own, wandering around the globe in search of the next victory on the polo field. Trophy after trophy lined the bookshelves at his villa—the villa he only ever visited when the polo schedule allowed. He lived out of an overnight bag; he didn’t stay long enough in one place to warrant a suitcase. He checked in and checked out of hotels like he checked in and out of relationships. One-night stands were his speciality. What was the point of hanging around for someone to do the check out on you? He had seen his mother do that to his father. He had seen his brother suffer the public humiliation of being jilted at the altar ten years ago. Sure, Alejandro was happy now, and Teddy seemed like a top sort of girl, but that sort of commitment wasn’t for him.

No one was ever going to have the power to hurt him. Again.

Luiz was five doors away from his suite when he saw her—the English girl with the cut-glass accent. She was with a man who was leading her by the hand towards a room on the other side further down the corridor. However, something about the little tableau didn’t seem right. The English girl was not steady on her feet and her blue eyes were no longer clear and bright but glazed and disoriented.

‘What are you looking at?’ the man with her snarled at Luiz.

Luiz glanced at the English girl. ‘Are you all right, querida ?’

The girl looked at him vacantly, her head lolling to one side. ‘I need to go to bed…’

‘In here, sugar,’ the man said as he shouldered open his door.

Luiz put his arm across the door jamb like a blockade. ‘You want me to call the cops or will you let her go quietly?’

The man breathed alcohol fumes over Luiz’s face. ‘She wants to be with me. She said so earlier.’

Luiz wanted to punch the man’s teeth into the back of his preppy pretty boy head. ‘She’s not capable of saying anything and you damn well know it. Did you do this to her? Give her something in her drink to make her come with you?’

The man gave him a cool it look. ‘Hey, man, what’s your problem? Is she yours or something?’

Luiz felt a sour taste come up in his mouth. Anger came up with it, moving through his body like a bloated tide. What sort of man treated a woman like a toy they could pick up off a shelf? You do , a little voice piped up. He brushed aside the pricking arrow of his conscience and directed his ire where it belonged right now. ‘I’m going to ask you again. Did you do this to her?’

The man’s eyes darted either side of the corridor. ‘Is this a sting or something? Are you undercover?’

Luiz grabbed the man by the throat and pushed him back against the wall so hard all the pictures hanging along the corridor rattled in their frames. ‘I’m going to give you three minutes to check out of this hotel. After that I’m calling the cops. Got it?’

The man swallowed against the heel of Luiz’s hand. ‘I didn’t do it. It was my mate. He said it wouldn’t hurt her. He put a few extra shots of vodka in her drink when she wasn’t looking. I wanted her to loosen up a bit. She was acting all stuck-up. Said she wasn’t interested, but I know she was. They all are in Vegas. That’s why they’re here. To have a good time.’

Luiz bared his teeth like a wolf against a rival. ‘You come anywhere near her again and I’ll make sure you’re sipping your meals through a straw for the rest of your life. Understood?’

The man nodded as he rubbed at his throat, slinking away like a cowed animal until he disappeared into one of the elevators.

Luiz muttered a curse and bent down to where the English girl had slumped to the floor. He touched the side of her creamy cheek with a light fingertip. She was a ghastly shade of white and her skin was clammy but her breathing was normal. ‘Are you staying in house?’ he asked.

She blinked owlishly at him. ‘Have we met before?’

‘Briefly.’

She cocked her head and narrowed her gaze as if trying to place him. ‘You look kind of familiar…’

‘Your room number?’ he prompted.

Her smooth brow wrinkled for a moment as he helped her to her feet. Luiz tried not to notice the way the skin of her hand felt against his, soft as the petals of a magnolia.

‘I think it has a seven in it.’ She gave him a bright smile. ‘That’s my lucky number. I once won a day spa package in a raffle we had at school. It was so relaxing I didn’t want to leave. It was the first time I had a Brazilian. Belinda talked me into it. It hurt like hell. Funny thing is I get them all the time now. I guess my pain threshold has risen or something. Normally I’m the biggest coward out. I cry when I take a plaster off. It’s pathetic.’ Her dazzling smile faded a little as she added, ‘I blame it on losing my mother so young. She died in an accident when I was ten…’

‘I’m sorry to hear that—’

‘My father never remarried,’ she went on as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘I thought he would replace her as soon as he could, but no. He never did. Not that he hasn’t had lovers. He’s had lots and lots of them. No one ever likes to think of their parents doing it, do they? It’s gross. My dad is over sixty. I mean, what is he thinking? Isn’t it time to put his tackle away and have a rest?’

‘I guess boys will be boys, no matter what their age.’

She gave him another angled look. ‘Am I keeping you from something? Someone?’

‘No.’

‘No hot date?’

‘Sadly, no.’

She scrunched up her forehead again. ‘Why not?’

‘I asked a girl to dance with me but she turned me down.’

She made a sympathetic sound. ‘Oh, poor you. Were you terribly crushed?’

‘Irreparably.’

She put a hand on his arm, sending a shock of electricity straight to his groin. ‘Never mind. I’m sure you’ll find someone some day. I think there’s a soulmate out there for each of us. We just have to be patient and wait until the planets align. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.’

Luiz momentarily lost his train of thought as he looked at the soft and generous bow of her mouth. Her lips were still glossy from a recent coating of lipgloss, making them look even more luscious and tempting. He could smell the flowery scent she wore, a mixture of gardenia and honeysuckle that teased his nostrils and made him think of sultry summer nights. ‘How much did you have to drink?’ he asked.

‘Hardly anything. I’m not a big drinker. I talk too much when I have wine. I guess that’s why it’s called truth serum, huh? In vino veritas. That’s Latin, by the way. The truth is in the wine.’ She gave him another megawatt smile. ‘That’s why I stuck to vodka. One shot with orange juice and I didn’t even get to finish it because I was too busy dancing. Did you see me? It was awesome. I’ve never been able to do the Macarena before.’

Luiz felt like a parent handling a wayward teenager after a night out on the town. ‘Do you have your room key with you?’

She fished around in her purse, her brow doing that little crinkly thing again, her teeth embedded in her lower lip. After a fruitless search she dropped her purse and reached inside the left hand cup of her bra and handed him a card key with another broad smile. ‘I knew I put it somewhere safe.’

Luiz could feel the heat of her breast on the card. His fingers moved over its surface in a stroking manner as he locked gazes with her. ‘This card isn’t from this hotel. Do you know which one you’re staying at?’

She wrinkled her nose like a child refusing to eat spinach. ‘I don’t want to go there . This is much nicer.’

‘Do you know where you are? What floor you’re on?’

She gave him a vampish look, batting her impossibly long eyelashes coquettishly. ‘I’m on your floor.’