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‘Misses! Miss Wynne! Miss Tina!’ Libby came clattering down the stairs from the first floor.
‘No running!’ Wynne and Tina shouted at the same time.
‘Sorry, Miss Wynne. Sorry, Miss Tina.’ Their exhortations barely dimmed Libby’s Labrador-puppy-like excitement. ‘Miss April told me to tell you a limer...limo...that a big fancy car is coming down the street.’
Wynne’s heart started to hammer and she envied Libby her big, guileless smile. Libby was one of the team of young Down Syndrome workers that Wynne had hired from a local shelter. They formed a significant part of the housekeeping and gardening staff. April, her housekeeping manager, had been hired on a prison release parole programme. As had her maintenance man Justin. Tina and Meg had been hired from an agency that placed women who were victims of domestic abuse into the workforce. The dregs of society? Not likely!
She swallowed. They were her family. She loved them.
And yet she’d put her grandmother first. That knowledge—the guilt—ate away at her. She had to do her best for them. Better than her best.
She would not let her new boss fire them.
‘Thank you, Libby. Now, back upstairs with you and thank April for the warning. And no running this time.’
With a grin, Libby set off upstairs again, though thankfully at a more sedate pace.
How will you stop him? If he wants to fire them, how will you stop him?
She’d think of something. But hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary.
Through the expanse of glass at the front of the building she and Tina watched a long white limousine move down the drive, past the row of Christmas palms, to slide to a smooth halt by the front doors.
‘Good luck to us,’ Tina whispered. ‘I’m saying prayers...lots of prayers.’
Wynne moved out from behind the reception desk—a long curved confection of pine masquerading as polished oak—and then wasn’t sure what she should do. Hovering in the foyer like this made her feel like a fool.
She glanced around the faux Victorian interior and, as always, it made her smile. The Axminster carpet might be faded, and there might be the odd crack in the plasterwork, but the wooden staircase gleamed with the same rich lustre as the reception desk, the ginormous vase of gladioli looked stately on its marble stand, while the ornate mirror above them reflected an abundance of light over the space. The one thing Aggie’s Retreat did well was its welcome.
Wynne turned as a tall figure encased in an impeccable business suit strode through the door held open for him by his chauffeur. He stopped and surveyed the foyer through narrowed eyes, his chin held at an arrogant angle. His nostrils flared and light briefly blazed in his eyes before it was abruptly checked.
Wynne blinked—and swallowed. Dear Lord, the man was tall. And...um...broad. Dark eyes speared her with a steely gaze. Very slowly he moved towards her, and the closer he came the more he reminded her of something primal and immovable—like a mountain. Such a large man had no right to move with such panther-like grace. She flashed to a vision of him bursting the seams at the shoulders and arms of his jacket like the Incredible Hulk. Except...
Except he looked far too controlled and forbidding to do anything so unpremeditated.
Resisting the urge to run a finger around the collar of her blouse, she forced herself forward and made her smile broad. After all this was the new owner of Aggie’s Retreat. He deserved a welcome fit for royalty.
‘You must be Mr Ramos.’
He took her outstretched hand without hesitation, and this close to him she felt her pulse kick and her heart crash. He was the most disconcerting combination of hot and cold she’d ever come across. Despite the forbidding remoteness in his eyes, he had the whole simmering Mediterranean smoky sex appeal thing down pat.
‘Call me Xavier.’
The words fired out of him, clipped and curt—an order rather than a request. Her spine stiffened, until she reminded herself that he’d only flown in from Spain two days ago. Jet lag probably had him desperately discombobulated. And he was her boss. He could issue orders with gay abandon and she would simply have to bite her tongue and pretend that she wanted nothing more than to do his bidding.
She willed her body to relax. For the staff’s sake.
‘I’m Wynne Stephens. It’s lovely to finally meet you in person.’
He inclined his head and his hair gleamed as dark as the sea at midnight—jet-black. She’d never seen hair so dark. It looked thick and soft, and the tips of her fingers started to tingle.
His eyes were just as dark as his hair. The heat from his hand burned against her palm. But despite their darkness and depth his eyes remained cool. His lips had barely moved upwards into a smile, and she must have been watching too many B-grade movies recently, because she could swear she imagined a hint of cruelty about his mouth.
Those dark eyes scanned her face and she felt as if every secret she’d ever had was being pulled out for his examination and judgement. Heat travelled up her arm and she realised her hand was still clasped in his. She tugged it free, working overtime to hold fast to her composure.
‘You have a very attractive...’
Movement in the doorway captured her attention—the chauffeur, struggling in with a variety of luggage. Should she go and help him?
‘Ms Stephens?’
‘Oh!’ She swung back to him. ‘You must call me Wynne.’
His lips thinned. ‘I have a very attractive...?’
She choked back a laugh. Nothing like leaving a sentence hanging! ‘Accent.’ It was even better in person than on the phone.
One eyebrow lifted with devastating irony. ‘Really?’
She stared up at him and the derision in his eyes made heat rush into her face. Oh, he couldn’t think that she...
No way! He was attractive, but...
Suddenly the images flashing through Wynne’s mind became just a little too vivid.
She shook her head to dispel them, to try and get back on track. ‘Xavier, I’d like to welcome you to Aggie’s Retreat.’
He didn’t answer, just continued to stare at her with those pitiless eyes.
She lifted her chin, pushed her shoulders back. ‘I sincerely hope the motel brings you as much joy and pleasure as it has over the years to my grandmother and myself.’
Those lips cracked open into a ruthless smile that had her suppressing a shiver.
‘Don’t worry, Wynne, it already has.’
* * *
Wynne glanced past him and some of the tension in Xavier’s jaw eased. The wholeheartedness of her smile, its warmth, had taken him completely off-guard. He’d not expected her to be so...generous.
She’d not wanted to sell the motel—her reluctance had threaded through their every email and telephone exchange. It was no doubt why she’d made being manager one of the stipulations of the sale. His fists clenched. That still angered him, but it could be dealt with easily enough over the coming weeks. And it would be.
He’d arrived here today expecting tears...had readied himself for hostility. Instead...
He fought back a frown. Instead he’d been welcomed with a warmth that had made him want to turn around and return to Spain. She made him feel... He swallowed. For a moment she’d made him feel the same way his grandfather had always made him feel—truly welcome.
A dark weariness threatened to descend over him—an all too familiar grief that he’d wrestled with for the past four weeks and two days. It would be weak to give in to it, but it rose up within him now with renewed force as he glanced into Wynne Stephens’s face. He wanted to accept the welcome she offered. He wanted to embrace it and hold it tight.
It was a lie, though. She didn’t know him. She didn’t care for him. But that didn’t make the need gaping through him go away.
Dios! His hand clenched into a fist. He’d readied himself for a fight—a dirty fight—and she’d pulled the carpet out from under him. She’d welcomed him to Aggie’s Retreat as if she’d meant it. The woman was a witch! Just like her grandmother.
He stiffened, forcing up a wall between himself and his new manager. He always built a wall between himself and bewitching women. It kept things simple.
With a Herculean effort he kept the frown from his face, refusing to reveal his surprise, refusing to reveal how she’d thrown him. He’d seen her photograph. He’d known that she was attractive. But attractive women were everywhere. In his world beautiful women were everywhere. What Wynne Stephens’s photograph hadn’t revealed was the life and animation that filled the woman, threaded through her with a vibrancy that made what she looked like a secondary consideration. He hadn’t expected that.
If she wasn’t a Stephens...
He pushed the thought aside. He had no intention of punishing Wynne for her grandmother’s crimes, but a part of him couldn’t resist glorying in the knowledge that the world had come full circle—that a Ramos now had a Stephens under his thumb.
He hoped his grandfather was looking down and laughing with the pleasure of it. He hoped it would allow his grandfather finally to find peace.
Don’t make the same mistakes I made.
I won’t, he swore silently.
He realised the silence in the foyer had grown too long and uncomfortable. Not that he cared too much about that. It suited him to make others uncomfortable. It made them pause for thought before lying or double-crossing him.
He gestured behind him. ‘This is Reyes, my driver.’
Wynne welcomed him to Australia too, her words accompanied with one of those big smiles. Xavier made sure to survey it only from the corner of his eyes. He had to meet her gaze head-on, though, when she turned it back to him.
‘I thought from your correspondence that your son and his nanny would be accompanying you too.’
‘They will be arriving later.’
She stared at him as if waiting for more. ‘Later...today?’
‘No.’
She stared some more, as if waiting for him to continue, but he refused to gratify her curiosity. He’d left Luis in Sydney, under the eagle eye of his nanny Paula. He’d given them free rein to sightsee for the next few days. He hadn’t wanted to bring Luis here to witness any potential unpleasantness. And, while the welcome hadn’t been unpleasant, he had no doubt that the next few days would be.
‘Right. Well...make sure to let us know when to expect them.’
‘Why?’
She blinked. ‘So that we can have their room ready, of course.’
One of those megawatt smiles slammed into him.
‘And so we can make a fuss.’
Her laugh! It could wrap around a man and make him want—Nonsense!
‘No fuss will be necessary.’
Her smile only widened. ‘That’s what you think.’ Her blonde hair bounced about her shoulders and down her back, crackling with life and energy, as she gestured to the woman behind the counter. ‘This is Tina, and we’re both determined to make your stay here as enjoyable as we can.’
He nodded at the other woman.
‘Now, tell me what you would most like? We’ve organised afternoon tea in the Drawing Room if you’d like refreshments. Tea, coffee, lamingtons—which are an Australian speciality—and chocolate chip cookies because...’ She shrugged. ‘We were expecting Luis, and what little boy can resist those, right?’
Xavier stared at the woman, dumbfounded. He’d just bought her motel. He wasn’t dropping in for tea!
She must have misread his expression, because he received another blast of warmth from that spectacular smile of hers. ‘We knew you’d probably be exhausted, and thought you might want a little pick-me-up before you took a tour of the place.’
‘We would prefer it if you simply showed us to our rooms.’
Her smile slipped, but only for a second. For that second, though, he felt like the worst of heels.
‘Of course.’
‘You can send refreshments to our rooms.’
A wall came down in her eyes then, though nothing else in her expression changed, and he bit back something rude. He’d meant his words to come out as sign of appreciation for the refreshments she’d organised, not as a command.
He glanced around, resisting the urge to roll his shoulders. ‘Where is your bellboy or a porter?’
Her laugh feathered across his skin. ‘Ah, that would be me.’
Before he could say anything she took one of the suitcases that Reyes had placed on the floor and started up the stairs.
‘Your rooms are right this way. I’ve made sure you have the very best rooms Aggie’s Retreat has to offer.’ A twinkle lit her eyes as she glanced back over her shoulder to Xavier. ‘I fear, however, that it’ll be a little more rustic than you’re used to.’
In two strides he was at her side and had relieved her of the suitcase. It was all he could do not to scowl at her. ‘You think I will find fault with my quarters?’
‘Absolutely not.’ There was a hint of mischief in her eyes. ‘I expect the motel to charm your socks off!’
A quaint expression, perhaps, but her optimism was misplaced. He kept silent on that point, however.
She led them to the very end of the first floor corridor, and he refused to notice the provocative sway of her hips. Had she deliberately placed them in the rooms furthest from reception?
She flung open a door to her right. ‘This is the Windsor Suite. Our best room, and yours for the duration, Xavier.’
He’d seen pictures of all the rooms, of course. But this wasn’t a suite. There were no separate bedroom and living quarters. The sleeping area was merely separated from the living area by a step, and the most ludicrous wooden railing that stretched from one side of the room to the other. A sliding glass door gave on to a balcony overlooking the rear of the motel. It was decorated with what he suspected were fake wrought-iron railings and fretwork. Still, it would do for now.
‘Opposite we have Luis and Paula’s room—the Westminster Suite—for when they arrive.’
She opened the door for his inspection. It was large, like his, and contained two double beds. Rather than a balcony it had a sunroom that overlooked the front of the motel. Reyes’s room—the Cambridge Suite—was next to it.
‘I hope you’ll be very comfortable. I’ll send up refreshments shortly. If there’s anything you need, just ring down to Reception.’
‘Thank you.’ He nodded. ‘Today we will settle in. Tomorrow we will get to work.’
By the time he was through there wouldn’t be a trace of the black-hearted Aggie Stephens left in this godforsaken motor inn. He couldn’t wait to get started. He would turn Aggie’s Retreat into a haven of such beauty and opulence that his grandfather’s name would be linked with innovation and luxury forever.
He would do his grandfather’s memory proud. He would turn this into a place that Lorenzo would have loved—an establishment worthy of him. Once that was done maybe the scalding ache that had taken up residence in his chest since Lorenzo’s death would finally go away.
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_ce95ccd9-fbd4-52d1-8be1-fad7acf636bf)
