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Brynne Sullivan, he was sure, would be nothing but a nuisance if she came to Majorca with him and Miguel, and would no doubt disagree with him over every decision he made concerning his son’s future.
‘That would seem to be the ideal solution to Michael’s immediate comfort, don’t you think, Señor Santiago?’ Paul Symmonds prompted carefully while Alejandro looked at his own lawyer with a frown and received only an acquiescent shrug in reply.
What of his own comfort? Alejandro inwardly fumed. He didn’t doubt that if he agreed to this the rebellious Brynne Sullivan would enjoy making life difficult for him for the next four weeks.
Brynne wasn’t any happier at the prospect of going to Majorca than Alejandro looked at the idea of taking her there. For one thing she was all too aware of the fact that, despite everything, she actually found the man attractive, nerve-tinglingly so.
But practically she knew her presence would be of help to Michael in learning to accept his change of circumstances. It wouldn’t make parting from him at the end of that month any easier for Brynne, but at least she could try and ensure that Michael was reconciled to living with his new father.
She had tried to explain things to Michael, of course, but as a six-year-old he really hadn’t been able to understand the complexities of the situation.
‘Mr Santiago …’ She looked across at him confrontationally, well aware that the wariness she felt towards him was more than reciprocated.
Not surprisingly, really; she had fought this man every inch of the way the last six weeks. A battle Brynne had been destined to lose.
But accepting this man’s legal right to his son, and then just walking away while he took Michael from all the people who loved him, were two distinctly different things!
Alejandro gave a dismissive shrug of those broad shoulders. ‘It is of little interest to me whether or not you choose to accompany Miguel to Majorca, Miss Sullivan,’ he snapped dismissively.
‘I’m sure that it isn’t,’ she replied irritably, her face flushed with resentment.
‘But if that is your decision then I advise that you also be ready to leave with Miguel tomorrow morning at ten,’ he concluded harshly.
So cold. So intransigent. So damned arrogant!
Only the thought of being with Michael for another month could ever have persuaded Brynne to spend even another second in the company of this man she should have disliked intensely, but who instead made her legs feel slightly weak just looking at him, and her pulse race!
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_d247a4b0-7ae4-51a0-a619-2555ba4da210)
‘DID you see the swimming pool, Aunty Bry? And the beach as we drove up here? Aunty Bry, did you see the beach?’ Michael asked excitedly as he slid open one of the two glass doors that led onto the terrace of the bedroom that Alejandro had informed him was to be his for the duration of their stay here. Alejandro had then stiffly informed Brynne that she could use the bedroom next door. ‘I can see the beach from here, Alej—er, Father,’ Michael corrected awkwardly as he spoke to the tall, silent man who had accompanied them up the stairs. ‘The sea is all bluey-green. And the sand is almost white. And—’
‘Don’t get too close to the rail, Michael,’ Brynne instructed instinctively as she followed him outside, glad of a few seconds’ respite from Alejandro’s overpowering presence.
The warmth of the late July Majorcan sun instantly beat down on her as she looked at the one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the tiered orange groves leading down to the ocean.
It wasn’t difficult to understand Michael’s enthrallment at his new surroundings. If the two of them had just been here on holiday together then Brynne would have been thrilled by the view and location of Alejandro’s villa too, but knowing she would be going alone when she left here in a month’s time certainly took the edge off any excitement she might have felt at their luxuriously opulent surroundings.
She should have known that the Spaniard’s Majorcan home would be like this.
After being on the private jet that had flown them here, with its twelve seats that were actually like armchairs, and a young man who had supplied them with a lunch that any exclusive London restaurant would have been proud to serve, Brynne didn’t think anything was going to surprise her ever again!
This magnificent hillside villa was unbelievable though, she thought. Surrounded by terraces on every level, the marbled interior was wonderfully cool after the hour-long drive from the airport, the white furnishings adding to that feeling of coolness, and the swimming pool was glittering invitingly as an alternative to the tempting beach and cool Mediterranean Sea.
Despite his initial feelings of apprehension Michael had become absolutely captivated with his new surroundings as soon as they had got on the private jet earlier this morning. If he had continued to be a little shy of his new darkly brooding father, who once aboard the jet had ignored them both completely as he had become engrossed in some papers he had taken from his briefcase, then it hadn’t been enough to dampen the little boy’s enthusiasm once they had been airborne.
Brynne wished she could share his youthful pleasure, but, unlike Michael, she had been totally aware of Alejandro Santiago’s presence for the whole of the flight, and then again as he had sat with them in the back of the limousine that had been waiting to drive them from the airport along the west coast of the island to this incredible villa.
No longer wearing one of the formal suits that were all Brynne had seen him in during their legal battle, he looked tall, overpowering and ruggedly handsome in black tailored trousers and a black short-sleeved shirt that was obviously more suitable attire for the warmer climate they were flying to.
Alejandro’s manner had been formally polite when he had arrived at her apartment earlier this morning, and he hadn’t shown any sign of emotion when he had seen that Brynne was packed and ready to accompany Michael, after all.
In fact, he hadn’t acknowledged her presence at all, she thought. Any remarks he had made had been addressed to ‘Miguel’—remarks Michael had completely ignored until he had realized he was the ‘Miguel’ being referred to!
Seeing the two of them together like this made Brynne achingly aware of exactly why Alejandro had been so sure Michael was his son. Both were dark-haired and grey-eyed, and even Michael’s baby face was starting to show some of the harder angles of his father’s features. The fact that Michael was also tall for his age indicated that he would probably eventually attain his father’s considerable height too.
‘I do not believe I have ever given you cause to think that I will be—a strict father to Miguel,’ Alejandro said tersely as he saw Brynne’s tearful gaze rest indulgently on Miguel as he ran from one side of the terrace to the other in order to look at the amazing views over the valley and sparkling blue sea.
She turned to look at him, her eyes appearing bluer and larger than ever, with tears balanced precariously on the edge of her long, dark lashes. ‘So far you haven’t given me reason to think you will be any sort of father to him!’ she replied tartly.
Perhaps because he still found it difficult to believe he was Miguel’s father!
Not that he questioned it for a moment; he knew from the medical tests that there could be no doubt. But it had been a very short journey from having suspicions on seeing Miguel’s photograph in the newspapers to having them confirmed so positively. A journey that had been dogged by Brynne’s stubborn refusal to relinquish Miguel to his custody.
His mouth tightened. ‘I have asked that drinks be served on the terrace beside the pool when you have freshened yourself from the journey.’ Turning to open the bedroom door, he called, ‘Miguel?’
Like ordering a puppy to heel, Brynne thought resentfully as Michael scampered happily out of the room with the man who was now his father. As expected, her own presence here did seem to be making it much easier for the little boy to accept his change of circumstances.
She sat down heavily on Michael’s bed, momentarily burying her face in her hands as the tears that had threatened earlier now fell hotly down her pale cheeks.
Tears that had been long overdue.
Too shocked after the car accident that had killed Joanna and Tom to do more than try to keep herself emotionally together for her grieving parents and the stunned Michael, Brynne hadn’t had the opportunity to release her own grief. But now, in the middle of all the luxury that Alejandro Santiago would be able to give to Michael as his son, seemed as good a time as any.
‘I came back for—Why are you crying?’ Alejandro rasped harshly as he came to a halt in the bedroom doorway.
Brynne looked up at him, unable not to notice how strong and handsome he looked, despite how she was feeling. She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why do you think?’ she snapped, resentful that this man, a man who made her pulse race in spite of herself, should witness the grief she was no longer able to contain.
His chin firmed squarely. ‘I have no idea,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘No.’ She straightened, her moment of weakness over as if she had been dowsed in icy-cold water. ‘You wouldn’t,’ she scorned. ‘What did you come back for?’ she prompted quickly, wiping all trace of tears from her cheeks as she stood up to face him.
She had courage, this young woman, Alejandro acknowledged even as he felt discomforted by her crying.
She was very young, of course, ten years younger than his own thirty-five years, and in challenging him she had not chosen her fight wisely; once Alejandro was sure of Miguel’s paternity, there had never been any doubt that he would claim the boy as his own.
Nevertheless, he was not completely unmoved by her tears, or the fact that her sadness gave her an air of fragile beauty, with her eyes now almost navy in colour against the pallor of her cheeks. Her red hair was lifted and secured off the long, creamy expanse of her neck to give her an air of vulnerability that had been evident in none of their previous encounters.
His mouth firmed. ‘You are upset.’ He stated the obvious. ‘You perhaps wish for me to arrange for your immediate return to England?’
Her chin rose defiantly. ‘You would like that, wouldn’t you?’
His nostrils flared impatiently. ‘I would like to put an end to these—disagreements, yes.’
‘I’ll just bet you would!’ She gave a humourless laugh. ‘No can do, sorry,’ she added derisively. ‘I intend staying on here for the duration!’
‘Dios mío!’ Alejandro bit out his frustration with her stubbornness, and his hands clenched at his sides. ‘Do not try me too far, Brynne,’ he warned harshly. ‘I make a much better friend than I do an enemy!’
‘Friend’? The word echoed incredulously in Brynne’s head while she acknowledged that he had used her given name for the first time in their acquaintance. That familiarity aside, there was no way she and this man could ever be friends!
None of her male friends had ever set her senses singing in the way just being in this man’s company did.
‘I think you’ll find, Alejandro, that so do I,’ she came back smoothly, her blue eyes dark with challenge as she deliberately made use of his own first name in return.
A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘You are here on sufferance only—’
‘I don’t appear to be the one who’s suffering, Alejandro,’ she taunted mockingly.
His grey eyes narrowed icily as he drew himself up to his full six feet three inches in height. ‘Miguel has expressed a wish to swim in the pool. Perhaps you will be so good as to give me his bathing things?’
Michael …
Her anger left her as suddenly as it had erupted as she thought of the only reason she was here. And much as she enjoyed baiting Alejandro Santiago, that wasn’t it!
‘Of course,’ she muttered, moving to unzip the case that contained the clothes she had packed so lovingly late last night when she and Michael had returned from visiting her parents. Several other boxes containing Michael’s toys had been put aboard the jet earlier this morning, too, waiting to eventually be forwarded to Alejandro’s home in mainland Spain.
In fact, everything that Michael possessed had been brought aboard that plane earlier today …
‘Here,’ she said as she held out Michael’s brightly coloured swimming trunks, tears once again blurring her vision, although she was determined she wouldn’t cry in front of Alejandro again. The man obviously only saw it as a weakness he could take advantage of if his offer to have her flown home immediately was anything to go by!
Was she going to cry again? Alejandro wondered, thinking how he never had known how to deal with a woman’s tears, not even Francesca’s during their brief but wholly unhappy marriage. With Brynne Sullivan he definitely found her anger the easier emotion to respond to.
His impatient gaze remained on Brynne’s face as he reached out to take the swimming trunks, slightly missing his objective as his hand brushed lightly against hers.
And instantly received the equivalent of an electric shock up into his fingers and along the length of his arm!
He snatched the swimming trunks before moving his hand back abruptly, his lids half-lowered over his steel-grey eyes as he looked down his nose at her.
He found this woman intensely infuriating.
Irritating.
A nuisance he longed to be rid of.
And yet for that one split second he knew that he had been totally aware of her too, of the pale delicacy of her skin, of the blood flowing so smoothly beneath its surface, of the heat and inner throb of her very being, so much so that he could almost feel that blood pulsing through her veins.
Idiot!
He was hot, he was thirsty, and not a little tired of the verbal fencing that took place every time he was anywhere near this woman.
He stepped back. ‘I will sit by the pool with Miguel until you come down to join him,’ he said dismissively.
Brynne looked up at Alejandro from beneath her dark lashes. What had happened just now? Some sort of electric shock to add to her increasing awareness of him. It had been a moment, a very brief moment, when everything had seemed clearer, sharper, when it had almost felt as if she could feel and hear the beat of Alejandro’s heart.
Which was pretty ridiculous when the man didn’t have a heart!
If he did then he wouldn’t continue to be so unreasonable where Michael was concerned, and would be as eager as she was to make all of this as painless as possible for his six-year-old son.
Besides, if he did have a heart, it would make her unwanted response to him all the more dangerous!
‘I assume my joining you and Michael by the pool will no doubt free you to disappear on some important business or other?’ she questioned.
The thinning of his sculpted lips showed his impatience. ‘You already know I have business interests here,’ he bit out curtly.
‘Don’t let us keep you from them, then,’ Brynne taunted.
His eyes narrowed to silver slithers. ‘You are a guest in my home, Brynne, and as such you will be treated with respect and courtesy. But as I warned you once before, do not push me too far, or you may not like the consequences!’
She probably wouldn’t, Brynne acknowledged ruefully, having no doubts that Alejandro could make life a lot more uncomfortable for her than she could for him if he chose to do so. She was sure the slightly cruel curl she occasionally saw to his lips could very easily be put into action.
Except she had no intention of being in the least cowed by this man. ‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ she drawled. ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to go through to my bedroom and unpack a few of my own things before coming down to the pool …’ she dismissed.
A dismissal he definitely didn’t like, by the look of his glittering eyes and the tensing of his shoulders as he strode forcefully from the room.
She was infuriated by the effect Alejandro Santiago had on her, and never felt in the least relaxed in his company. In fact, her skin seemed to prickle every time she was anywhere near him, almost as if she had been stung by nettles or lots of little insects.
She was also filled, at every opportunity, with a burning desire to shake him out of that cold arrogance with which he seemed to cloak himself.
Unless it wasn’t a cloak …
But surely it had to be? Brynne simply couldn’t see fun-loving Joanna having fallen for someone who was so cold and remote.
It had to be a shield of some sort, a way of hiding the man he was underneath.
At least, she hoped for Michael’s sake that was what it was …
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_5ff347f6-3403-5f3d-bbce-8004949a73d4)
ALEJANDRO was glad he was wearing dark sunglasses to shield the surprise he felt when Brynne stepped out onto the terrace ten minutes later wearing only a very brief turquoise bikini.
It hadn’t been apparent in the tailored trousers and fitted blouses she invariably wore, but, as Alejandro could quite clearly see now, Brynne Sullivan had a spectacularly beautiful body.
Absolutely, perfectly beautiful, with skin a creamy gold colour all over, her legs long and slender, hips curvaceous below her tiny waist, and her breasts pert beneath the clinging turquoise material.
But it was a beauty she seemed completely unaware of as she strolled across to where he sat, her hips swaying gracefully as she walked.
Alejandro, however, was very aware of it as he felt an unexpected throb in his own body!
‘You’re free to go now,’ she told him coolly as she settled herself down on the lounger next to his.
Her scathing tone instantly dampened anything but the anger this woman always aroused in him. ‘I intend to,’ he snapped as he swung his feet down onto the tiled terrace. ‘Dinner will be served at eight-thirty—’
‘That’s far too late for Michael,’ she protested with a firm shake of her head.
It probably was, he acknowledged irritably, not having given too much thought to the changes Miguel was going to make to his daily routine. The fact that he had a son at all was still a source of surprise to him. Not that he thought for a moment that Brynne had even considered this—she seemed to think he was totally without emotions.
His reaction minutes ago to the way she looked in a bikini had told Alejandro quite the contrary!
But he did have several telephone calls to make before this evening’s meal—at least one of which would no doubt be lengthy.
