Nick saw the confusion in the darkening depths and for a moment she looked so young and acutely vulnerable. ‘I think we have danced enough.’ He loosened his hold on her slightly. ‘It is time we did our duty and circulated a little.’
Nick had decided he would go along with the scenario she had painted. It fitted in with his plans ideally. As for the ‘no sex in his mother’s house’, it would mean him keeping guard by the connecting door all night, rather than sharing her bed. But he could afford to wait with the prospect of sharing the ski-lodge with her tomorrow to look forward to.
Liza said nothing as Nick clasped her elbow and led her through the crowd, pausing here and there to speak to acquaintances, and with meticulous politeness introducing her as a friend of the family. She should have been pleased but instead she felt a deepening sense of dismay. That was compounded when they stopped to talk to Anna Menendez.
‘Lovely party,’ Liza said politely.
‘I am so glad you are enjoying yourself, Liza, but don’t let this son of mine monopolise you; there are some very handsome bachelors here tonight, and we can catch up on all the gossip tomorrow.’
‘Sorry to disappoint, Mamma.’ Nick wasn’t sorry at all; he needed his mother encouraging Liza to flirt like a hole in the head, he thought furiously, but none of his anger showed in the dark eyes that met his mother’s. ‘But Liza has to leave tomorrow; she has to attend a conference she can’t get out of. Isn’t that right, Liza?’ Nick demanded smoothly.
Liza took a deep breath, then released it slowly. She glanced at Nick; his dark eyes stared blandly back at her, with no sign of the incredible passion they had shared in the cold depths. He could not get rid of her fast enough. Forcing a smile to her face, Liza looked at Anna. ‘Yes. Nick is right; I’m sorry, Anna, but I do have to go.’
Just for once she would have liked to ruffle Nick’s colossal control and she added, ‘I promised Henry…’ and stopped, glancing back at Nick ‘…I mean, my boss…’ her smile was a masterpiece of confident sensuality ‘…that I would return in time to go home with him.’ She saw his dark eyes narrow, and felt his contempt right down to her bones, and she didn’t care.
‘Who is going where?’ a husky voice interrupted.
‘Sophia, darling.’ Nick’s delighted greeting knocked Liza’s veneer of confidence for six, and she was forced to watch as Sophia, his supposedly ex-fiancée, slipped her arm through his and lifted her face for his kiss. Nick enthusiastically obliged.
‘You remember Sophia, Liza.’ His dark eyes lifted and he pinned Liza with a hard, challenging look.
Jealousy fierce and primitive lanced through her, but she managed to force a smile for the other woman. ‘But of course. Hello, Sophia.’
‘Hi; I never thought I would see you here again.’ Sophia gave her a brief dismissive glance and then was whispering something coyly in Nick’s ear.
Nick threw his arrogant head back and laughed out loud, and Liza felt as if she had been knifed in the gut. Obviously Nick was still very close to his ex-fiancée, and Liza felt about two inches tall.
‘Excuse me,’ she said to Anna, and turned on her heel. In minutes she was swallowed up in the crowd, and when she bumped into Marco she welcomed his easy-going attitude.
Held in Marco’s arms as the band played a slow tune, she saw Nick dancing with Sophia. No, not dancing—glued together, they simply swayed to the music. Marco, catching the direction of her gaze, looked down at her. ‘I saw you dancing with Nick before and I thought you and he might be an item.’
‘Good heavens, no.’ Liza pinned a bright smile on her face. ‘We are old friends, nothing more.’
‘Ah, I should have guessed when Sophia arrived and Nick grabbed you, the most beautiful girl in the room, he was probably trying to make her jealous.’
Liza looked up into the guileless young face of Marco. ‘Why would Nick want to do that?’ she asked, her stomach churning with nervous dread. ‘I thought they broke up years ago.’
‘I’ll let you into a secret Anna told my mother, and she told me. Nick is not quite the womaniser he seems. Apparently Nick met the love of his life years ago, and he thought she was his, but they parted and he has carried a torch for the girl ever since. Well, it has to be Sophia; it is common knowledge she left him when she finished university and got a job as a translator at the EU in Brussels. I think she liked the idea of a rich fiancé while she was a poor student in Madrid.’
‘You think so?’ Liza managed to murmur.
‘Yes, she is a real career lady; no one has seen her at any family get-together since Nick’s father died a few years ago. But it was common knowledge she had accepted the invitation to this party.’
As the music stopped Marco, with a hand at her elbow, led her to the side, and, turning, he chuckled, looking over her shoulder.
‘I don’t think they have noticed the music has stopped and Sophia is clinging to him like Velcro now, so it looks like making her jealous has finally worked for old Nick. The next big party here could be the wedding. The pair of them are both getting on a bit.’
Slowly Liza turned back and looked across the dance floor, and sure enough Nick was standing with his arms around Sophia, and she was smiling up into his face as if he was the only man in the world.
‘Do you mind, Marco?’ Liza excused herself to go to the rest room, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. Hurt and anger raged in equal parts in her bruised and battered heart.
In a flash of blinding clarity she saw it all now. Her suspicions had been well-founded, but it had nothing to do with her wild idea of industrial espionage, and everything to do with the fact that Nick Menendez was an opportunist. He had bumped into Liza, and quite fancied her, and when his mother had called and reminded him to get back for the party he must have known he was going to see Sophia again, and saw an ideal way to make the love of his life jealous, and if he got a bit of sex on the side all the better. It was that basic.
Taking care to keep well away from Nick and Sophia, Liza finally found Anna and Thomas and his wife, and said her goodnights. Anna took her in her arms and kissed her. ‘I may not see you in the morning, Liza; my old bones won’t get out of bed so quickly any more. But please do try and come with your mother in March.’
The genuine affection in Anna’s smile made Liza want to cry all the more. But she managed to control the tears until she made her way back through the brightly lit hacienda. She gave Manuel a weak smile as she passed the entrance to the kitchen, and a few moments later she carefully locked her bedroom door behind her.
Kicking off her shoes, she threw herself down on the bed and only then did she allow the tears to fall. How could she have been so gullible as to believe Nick had wanted her so badly he had to whisk her away with him? He had wanted her for one reason only, the most basic of human emotions—to make Sophia jealous.
Liza turned over and buried her head in the pillow, great sobs racking her slender body. She had been right to be suspicious all along. He still saw her as a tramp, because he thought nothing of using her for sex, and that was the cruellest cut of all. Choking on a sob, she felt her heart tear with grief, and she gave in to a paroxysm of weeping. Until finally she lay pale and still, her throat hoarse, and stared with sightless eyes at the ceiling, all cried out.
A long time later she sat up, and pressed her knuckles against her red-rimmed, swollen eyes. She and Nick had only ever been a childish dream; she should have left it that way. Now he was her worst nightmare, and, slipping off the bed, she headed straight for the shower.
What kind of idiot was she? she asked herself bitterly as she stood beneath the pounding spray. She had compromised her ideals