They both startled when the intercom buzzed and the pilot announced they would be free of the turbulence in a few minutes.
Elise almost snorted. The turbulence in her life had taken the form of a powerful and enigmatic man whose compulsive power drew her inexorably in as every instinct screamed for her to run in the other direction. She might have succeeded in stopping her emotions from unravelling completely a few moments ago, but Elise feared she wouldn’t be as strong should any further turmoil be hurled her way.
Until she could finish her job and walk away, her only option was to distance herself as much as possible from Alejandro.
OF COURSE THAT was easier said than done.
From the moment they landed, she found herself in the very close and personal position of being Alejandro’s interpreter.
In between a whirlwind tour of Kyoto with her, he shamelessly courted Ishikawa Corporation’s rivals.
He accepted a meeting with the Ishikawa brothers two days after landing, which he then cancelled at the last minute with profuse apologies.
‘You’re taunting them,’ Elise observed as they stood beneath one of hundreds of red arches that lined the pathway to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine. They’d paused halfway on the two-hour trek to the top, and, beneath them, Kyoto glistened resplendently in the evening light.
Elise breathed in deep, her heart lifting with a serenity she hadn’t felt for a long time.
Each morning since their arrival three days ago, Alejandro had instructed her to pick a place to visit. Their first visit had been to the Kiyomizu-dera temple close to where her grandmother lived. Her grandmother might have been absent but she’d arranged a private visit of the holy temple renowned for bestowing good fortune and love. As they’d strolled through the hallowed room, Elise had told herself the latter hadn’t been why she’d chosen the temple as her first port of call. Her heart had twanged with disbelief, but she’d shoved the feeling aside. Alejandro had strolled beside her with ease, pointing out scrolls he needed translating, then looking at her with blatant heat as she read them out to him in Japanese, then translated.
In those moments, she’d asked herself whether she was taking her reticence a little too far. Whether she wasn’t risking throwing away a spell of ecstasy for a lifetime of the unknown.
She glanced at him now as he traced his fingers down the scrolls on the arch. He turned, and one of the incisive gazes he’d taken to levelling on her since their turbulent and very eye-opening conversation on the plane bore into her.
She’d told herself she preferred things this way—looks without touching or any hint of the emotional and physical intimacy they’d shared on the plane. But slowly those feelings were changing.
‘Giving them a taste of their own medicine,’ Alejandro responded to her question.
She walked from one scroll to the next, her breath catching when he followed. ‘You know your brother’s here in Kyoto. What if they decide to go with him?’
He shrugged. ‘Then I would’ve lost.’
Elise frowned. ‘After all the effort you put in?’
A distant look entered his eyes. ‘This is a battle I never wished to be drawn into in the first place. Winning at all costs may appear romantic on the big screen, but I’ve never been a fan of pyrrhic victories.’
She gazed up at him. ‘What about compromises? Are you a fan of those?’
Narrowed green eyes speared hers. ‘Explain.’
‘Have you thought about sitting down with your brother and hashing this out?’
His mouth firmed. ‘It won’t work.’
‘Why not? Because you tried before?’
‘No.’
‘Alejandro—’
‘Leave it alone, Elise.’
Her gaze dropped for a second. ‘You both want the same thing. Has it occurred to you that you can have it if you relent a little bit?’
His jaw clenched. ‘I don’t do well with family. I never have. I never will.’
She knew she ought to let it go, but the words poured out nevertheless. ‘You didn’t do well in the past. But now you’ve met Gael again—’
‘For a handful of minutes in my office.’
‘Bite my head off if you want, but I’ve seen you two together. You can salvage this if you would just—’
‘Basta! Enough.’ He linked his hand through hers and started up the slope of the shrine. Elise fell silent, partly because their surroundings were too beautiful to spoil with an argument. And partly because she liked him holding her hand. A little too much.
Later that afternoon, he stood looking out onto the lotus-flowered landscape beyond the window.
The resort was situated north of Kyoto, built beside a meandering river and extending from a central villa said to have once been the private residence of an emperor. Its natural beauty was stunning and the contemporary design blended with traditional floor-level seats and indigenous decorations.
But she didn’t see any of that beauty now, her attention absorbed wholly by Alejandro.
He sensed her behind him and turned. Her heart lurched at the contemplative look on his face.
‘About our earlier conversation. I don’t know why you think you know enough about me to present these opinions,’ he drawled, his tone gruff. ‘But let me give you a brief background about us before you think playing happy families is in any way an option for us.’
‘I didn’t say that—’
‘Gael is a product of an affair my father had with his mother when I was three years old. When I was old enough, I found out there’d been affairs before I was born, and my father had no intention of stopping after I came along. But Gael’s mother was the most...turbulent of all, probably because she was the only woman who managed to convince my father to leave my mother. And he did. For a short time, at least. He went to play happy families with Gael’s mother. Gael was born, and then suddenly my father was back home. My mother hated herself for taking him back. To her, his previous affairs had been meaningless and easily overlooked.
‘But it was different with Gael’s mother. Perversely, she felt as if he’d broken her trust. They fought day and night. You know what it’s like living with a parent who falls apart every time my father is five minutes late coming home? You know how many times she dragged me from my bed and into the car so she could go in search of him to make sure he wasn’t in another woman’s bed? Gael’s mother did that to my family.’ He turned from the window, prowling across the floor until he stood before her. ‘Do you think, coming from that, that there can be any peace between us?’
‘I’m sure Gael didn’t exactly escape unscathed, either.’
‘I know,’ he breathed, shaking his head. ‘But when you’re caught in this...powder keg, rationality goes out of the window.’
Let it go, Elise. Your own family situation is far from a bundle of laughs. Let it—
‘That was then, Alejandro. What about now?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s too late.’
‘I don’t think so.’
His expression underwent a subtle transformation. Elise was willing to bet he didn’t know how vulnerable he’d looked for just a second before his features hardened. ‘Don’t presume to know how to