ABBY GREEN - One Night With The Enemy

The wide gravelled drive, the rows upon rows of well-tended fertile vines and gleaming outbuildings had been enough of a display. That was what she wanted for her own estate—to see it flourishing as it had when she was a young girl, with rows of vines full of plump sun-ripened grapes …

She heard a noise and whirled around. Her heart thumped hard in her chest at the sight of Nicolás de Rojas in the doorway of the room behind her, shoulders blocking out the light, hands in pockets. He was so rakishly handsome that for a moment she forgot about everything and could only see him.

Maddie called up every shred of self-control and smiled. But it was brittle. Seeing Nicolás’s house up close like this had affected her far more deeply than she liked to admit.

‘Did you really think that showing off your success would make me scurry to the nearest airport with my tail between my legs?’

His jaw was gritted but he stepped out of the doorway, making Maddie’s breath hitch in her throat when his scent reached out and wound around her. She couldn’t back away. The wooden posts were already digging into her soft flesh.

‘It must feel very dull here after the bright lights of London … not to mention the ski slopes of Gstaad. Aren’t you missing the season?’

Maddie flushed deep red. She smiled even harder, hiding the hurt at that particular memory. ‘I wouldn’t have had you down as a Celebrity Now! reader, Mr de Rojas.’

Maddie had long since berated herself that she should have been suspicious when her flighty mother had expressed a desire to see her—even offering to fly her out to meet her in the wealthy ski resort for a holiday. This was the same mother who had refused to help Maddie out because she believed that she’d already sacrificed enough for her daughter.

As soon as she’d arrived at the ski resort it had become apparent that her mother needed her daughter to help foster an image of dutiful motherhood. She’d been intent on seducing her current husband, who was divorced, but a committed and devoted father. Maddie had been too disappointed and heartsore to fight with her mother, and had given in to a cloying magazine shoot in which for all the world they’d appeared the best of friends.

Nicolás answered easily, ‘I happened to be on a plane on my way home from Europe. The air hostess handed me the wrong magazine, but when I saw who was gracing the cover I couldn’t resist reading all about your wonderful relationship with your mother and how you’ve both moved on so well from the painful split with your father.’

Maddie felt sick. She’d read the article too, and couldn’t believe she’d been so hungry for affection that she’d let her mother manipulate her so crassly. She pushed the painful reality of her mother’s selfishness aside.

‘This evening was a wasted exercise on your part, de Rojas. You’ve merely made me even more determined to succeed.’

The fact that he thought he had her so neatly boxed up and judged made fresh anger surge up inside Maddie.

‘I’ve just spent two weeks in a house with no electricity, and as you can see I’m not running screaming for the nearest luxury health spa. Now, if you don’t mind, it’s late and I’ve got to be up early in the morning.’

Maddie gathered up her dress to stalk off, but at that moment one of her oversized shoes came off and she stumbled. A strong hand closed around one bare arm to steady her and the sensation was electric.

Nicolás didn’t let her go, though. She was whirled around to face him again, one shoe on, one shoe off.

He was frowning down at her. ‘What do you mean no electricity?’

Maddie was used to being considered tall, but right now she felt positively petite. Bitterness laced her voice at being made to feel so vulnerable, when she had no doubt that was exactly what this man had intended all along. ‘We’ve been using an ancient generator to get electricity in our house since they cut my father off months ago—when he stopped paying the bills.’

Nicolás shook his head. He looked shocked. ‘I didn’t know it was that bad.’

Maddie tried to pull her arm back but his grip was firm. Panic at her helpless physical reaction galvanised her to say, ‘As if you care. You were too busy signing off on your solicitor’s letters, doing your utmost to get a dying man to sell up. Do you know that he received the last letter the day he died?’

Now Nicolás looked confused. His hand tightened. ‘What are you talking about? I never signed any letters. Any correspondence between my family and yours stopped when my father died. I was too busy rebuilding our own brand and renovating the estate and house.’

‘You can spout all the lies you like, de Rojas. This evening was a mistake. I’ve let down every generation of my family and my father by coming here. It won’t happen again.’

Nicolás’s hand softened its grip on her arm and Maddie felt ridiculously disorientated, her anger dissipating like mist over a hill. His eyes were intense blue flames that communicated something base and carnal directly to her insides.

His voice was deep. ‘But you did come here tonight, and there’s something in the air … it brought us together before, and it’s still there.’

Maddie felt the sense of disorientation increase. She finally yanked her arm free from his grip, but his words were hurtling her back in time to when he had stood in front of her and said, ‘You’re nothing but a tempting tease. I was curious to know what the Vasquez princess tasted like and now I know—poisonous.’

The bitterness and anger of that exchange eight years ago was far too acute, eclipsing everything else. Maddie had not trusted herself with another man since then because of it. She’d held a part of herself private and aloof for fear of getting hurt again, or facing painful revelations. She had to push him back before he guessed how vulnerable she was.

She squared her shoulders and forced herself to look Nicolás dead in the eye. ‘I seduced you once, de Rojas. Did you really think this evening would induce me to try and seduce you again? Eight years isn’t enough time for you to get over your wounded ego?’

Nicolás stood tall, and she saw him pale beneath his tan. ‘You little bitch.’

MADDIE didn’t know where on earth she’d got the nerve to say those words when, if anything, they could be more legitimately levelled at her. She hadn’t got over what had happened eight years ago—not by a long shot.

She heard a rushing in her ears, but she ignored it and tossed her head. ‘Don’t worry. You won’t see me again. I think we can safely say this farce is over. I came tonight because I was curious to see what you were up to. You’ve seriously underestimated me.’

She was turning away again when she forgot that she still had one shoe off. She stumbled into thin air, and would have fallen if Nicolás hadn’t caught her and hauled her back against him. One strong arm was wrapped around her ribcage, just under her breasts, and the other was across her shoulders. Adrenalin pumped through Maddie’s veins. She immediately tried to remove his arms but they were like steel bands. And they were completely alone.

She had an urge to shout out, but a hand came over her mouth as if he’d read her mind. Panic gripped her—not at the threat of violence but at the threat of something much more potent. The evidence of Nicolás de Rojas’s hardening body at her back was liquefying her insides. A silent scream sounded in Maddie’s head: No! Not this, please . He would expose her vulnerability in seconds if he touched her.

She bit down on the fleshy part of his hand and heard him curse—but not before she’d tasted the salty tang of his skin. Her belly swooped and fire danced along her veins. He moved her effortlessly in his arms and now she was facing him, his arms manacling her to his body, her hands behind her back. She was completely powerless. And, to her absolute disgust, the predominant thing she was feeling was excitement.