He squeezed as much water as he could out of her hair. “Now hold still while I get you dry.”
Remi reached for his towel and wrapped it turban style around her head, making sure no water dripped down her forehead. “Go ahead and sit up.”
While she did his bidding he levered himself out of the pool onto the tiles. “Let me help.” He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet before letting go. Maybe he was mistaken, but he thought she was trembling. Then again he was so affected by her nearness, it could have been him.
He thrust his hand through his damp hair in frustration, wondering how she would react if he suggested they both get back in the pool and let the cool water lap against their bodies. This ache for her was so real it was driving him out of his mind.
She sat down in the nearest chair to finish drying her hair, then she looked up at him. “Tell me what I can do to repay you.”
Remi thought she sounded way too composed after what he’d just experienced touching her like that. He sank down in the other chair. “You already have. Today you agreed to be my business partner, pending your company’s willingness to give you a leave of absence.” Her brother was another matter but he’d think about that later. “I’ve been operating for a long time without one.”
“That won’t be a problem. Pia already told me to take all the time I need before coming back. At this point it’s just a formality to tell her.”
“Then I’m relieved.” Just keep on talking, Goyo, before you give yourself away and grab her. Taking a deep breath he said, “How long do your tour groups usually stop at a vineyard?”
“Two hours from start to finish.”
“That sounds doable here.”
“I don’t know. Once they start eating Soleado Goyo tapas, we’ll never be able to get rid of them. I’ll build the cost of soft drinks into the itinerary price. Food and wine will be extra. We’ll make them pay cash.” He heard the satisfaction in her voice. “You’ll bring in a small fortune on that alone.”
“With your business savvy, I don’t doubt it.” Apparently business was the only thing on her mind, or was it? She was a deep one.
“I think we should get some postcards made up showing the mill house and the olive press house with the groves in the background. We’ll sell them in the store. It’s another great way to advertise and keep the cost down. Once we’ve set our budget, I promise we won’t go over it. What do you think?”
I can’t take sitting next to you without touching you.
“I think we have our work cut out for us.”
“We do. One of the things we haven’t talked about is the furniture for the bar. If it held a maximum of sixty people, then we’d need maybe eight large, round tables that could seat eight, but bistro size would be more charming.”
“We have a couple of old refectory tables and matching armoires that haven’t seen use in years.”
She let out a happy sound. “How old are they?”
“Seventeenth century. Cherry wood with lyre-styled legs.”
Another squeal came out of her. “Are they very long?”
“They can seat sixteen each.”
“Oh, Remi … if we had benches built on either side of the entry, we could put the tables there and have room for all the chairs and bistro tables.”
Jillian had no idea how tempting she looked with her golden hair in sensual disarray.
“I’ll rummage up our old coat of arms. It used to hang in the foyer, but my mother thought it made the house feel like a fortress so it’s stored upstairs. In fact there’s a lot of furniture we could bring down including a deacon’s chair.”
“When can we look at everything?”
“I’ll tell Maria to show you around any time you’d like.”
“You won’t be sorry about this, Remi. I’ll do it all while you concentrate on running your company. I don’t want you to have to worry about a thing.”
Where had this woman come from? Eight days ago he hadn’t known of her existence. And now …
The urge to take her to bed and make passionate love to her had turned into literal pain because he was forced to deny himself, but she wasn’t ready emotionally. He needed to do something fast before he made a mistake that could ruin everything.
“I’ll be back with our lunch.”
Without waiting for her response he strode to the passageway leading to the kitchen. As he entered it, Paco was coming in through the back door. One look at his face and Remi knew something was wrong.
“I’ve been trying to reach you on the phone. Eduardo got a deep gash between his thumb and index finger on one of the machines. We stopped the bleeding the best we could. Diego and Juan drove him to the clinic in Arges.”
Remi grimaced. First Jillian, now Eduardo. All in one week.
“That means he’ll be off the job for a while. I’ll go to Arges and check on him, then drive over to their house and assure his wife she doesn’t have to worry about expenses his insurance doesn’t cover.”
Paco nodded. “Shall I call Jorge to fill in tomorrow? He called again this morning asking if we’d consider rehiring him.”
“Go ahead. Tell him I’ll talk to him about a permanent job after he goes off shift.”
Thank heaven Remi had gone to the kitchen. Jillian couldn’t have maintained her composure any longer and ran through the house to the bedroom with his towel. Her legs felt as insubstantial as mush.
She’d planned to cool off in the pool, but that was before he’d offered to wash her hair. The need to be touched by him had been so strong she’d willingly put herself in his hands. She would have let him do anything to her just now and she was sure he knew it!
If other people weren’t living at La Rosaleda, would he have taken her to the bedroom? Or to his other house? There was a moment out there when he was looking in her eyes, she’d thought he was going to kiss her. She’d stopped breathing while she waited, but something held him back.
He wasn’t indifferent to her. She knew that. On some elemental level they had a connection that was growing stronger. She could blame part of his hesitation on the damage done by his ex-wife. After what he’d been through it would take more courage than Jillian had to enter into new relationship, but there was another problem.
She and Remi weren’t like ships passing in the night, where they could share a few hours of passion before they both moved on never to see each other again. She couldn’t do that anyway. It wasn’t how she was made. Kyle had been her only lover, but she wasn’t so naive as to suppose Remi hadn’t been with other women since his divorce.
This situation was different. They were joined in a financial venture that was vital to both of them. She didn’t want anything to go wrong for him and she’d made a commitment to stay until December. To become physically involved would complicate everything.
It already had. Her body still throbbed from his ministrations. What had possessed her out there? For sure she wouldn’t be taking any dips in the pool in his presence.
Still shaken by her desire for him, she had to do something to offset it, but how could she do that when she’d be seeing him again in a few minutes? Which reminded her that her hair was a damp mess. She went into the bathroom to brush it into some semblance of order and change into jeans and a T-shirt.
When she emerged a few minutes later, she heard her cell phone ring. Her watch said it was almost four in the afternoon. That would be Dave. He was up by now and wanted to talk before leaving for work. She’d have to call