He shook his head. ‘You are not only being overly dramatic, but you are also totally incorrect in your accusations. In regard to your father or anyone else. As you would know if you would allow me to come in and talk to you.’
‘Not going to happen.’ She gave a firm shake of her head.
‘I disagree.’
‘Then be prepared to take the consequences.’
‘Meaning?’ Gregorio’s lids narrowed.
‘Meaning I’m being extremely restrained right now, but if you persist in this harassment I promise you I will take the appropriate legal steps to ensure you are made to stay away from me.’
He raised his brows. ‘What legal steps?’
‘A restraining order.’
Gregorio had never experienced this much frustrated anger with another person’s stubbornness before. He was Gregorio de la Cruz, and for the past twelve years no one had dared to oppose him. Lia not only did so, but seemed to take delight in it.
He had never felt so much like strangling a woman and kissing her at the same time, either. ‘Would you not have to engage the services of another lawyer in order to be able to do that?’ he retaliated.
Colour blazed in her cheeks at his obvious reference to the fact that David Richardson was no longer her family lawyer or her fiancé.
‘Bastard!’
Gregorio had regretted the taunt as soon as it had left his lips. At the same time as he couldn’t take it back when he only spoke the truth. David Richardson had left this woman’s life so fast after her father’s death and Fairbanks Industries being put under investigation, Gregorio wouldn’t be surprised if the other man hadn’t suffered whiplash.
He took his wallet from the breast pocket of his jacket before removing a card from inside. ‘This has my private cell phone number on it.’ He held out the white gold-embossed business card to her. ‘Call me when you are ready to hear what I have to say.’
Lia stared at the card as if it were a viper about to strike her. ‘That would be never.’
‘Take the card, Lia.’
‘No.’
The Spaniard’s jaw clenched as evidence of his frustration with her lack of co-operation. She doubted many people stood up to this arrogant man. He was far too accustomed to telling people what to do rather than asking.
Lia had acted as her father’s hostess for years, so she had met high-powered, driven men like him before. Well...perhaps not quite like Gregorio de la Cruz, because he took arrogance to a whole new level. But she had met other men who believed no one should ever say no to them. Probably because no one ever had.
She had no problem whatsoever in saying no to Gregorio.
Lia didn’t remember her mother, because she had died in a car crash when Lia had still been a baby. But for all Lia’s life her father had been a constant—always there, always willing to listen and spend time with her. Their bond had been strong because of it. When her father had died Lia hadn’t just lost her only parent but her best friend and confidante.
‘I’m asking you to leave one last time, Mr de la Cruz.’ She spoke flatly, sudden grief rolling over her, as heavy as it was exhausting.
Gregorio frowned at the way Lia’s face had suddenly paled. ‘Do you have anyone to take care of you?’
She blinked in an effort to ward off her exhaustion. Which in no way stopped her from continuing to fight him verbally. ‘If I tell you that I’m alone are you going to offer to come in and make hot chocolate for me? Like my father did whenever I was worried or upset?’
‘If that is what you wish.’ He gave an abrupt inclination of his head.
‘What I wish for I can’t have,’ she said dully.
Gregorio didn’t need her to say that her wish was to have her father returned to her, because he could already see the truth of that in the devastation of her expression: the shadowed grey eyes, those pale cheeks, her lips trembling as she held back the tears.
‘Is there anyone I can call to come and sit with you?’
‘Such as...?’
Not her ex-fiancé, certainly. David Richardson could not have truly loved Lia, otherwise he would have remained at her side and helped her to weather the storm that had followed her father’s death. Instead he had distanced himself from any scandal that might ensue once the investigation into Jacob Fairbanks’s finances was complete.
Gregorio had no such qualms. He had no interest in the outcome of that investigation, nor in what other people might or might not choose to say about Lia or himself. His private life was most definitely off limits. He might not be in love with Lia but he certainly wanted her, and he would be pursuing that desire.
Lia appeared to be swaying now, and there was not a tinge of colour left in her face. She looked so fragile that a puff of wind might knock her off her bare feet.
What had she been doing when he’d arrived? She was obviously naked beneath the towel wrapped about her, but she claimed she was alone so she obviously wasn’t entertaining a lover. The obvious explanation was that Lia had been taking a shower or a bath in order to wash away the dust of having moved in to her apartment today.
The loosely secured hair and the droplets of water that had now dried on the bareness of her shoulders would certainly seem to indicate as much.
‘Take off the safety catch and let me in, Lia,’ Gregorio instructed in his most dominating voice. It was a voice that defied anyone to disobey him.
She attempted a shake of her head, but even that looked as if it was too much effort. Her head seemed too heavy to be supported by the slenderness of her neck.
‘I’m not sure I can,’ she admitted weakly.
‘Why not?’
‘I... My fingers don’t seem to be working.’
Gregorio stepped up close against the partially open door. ‘Move your right hand slowly, then slide the catch along until it releases.’ He held his breath as he waited to see if she would do as he asked.
‘I don’t want to.’
‘But you will,’ he encouraged firmly.
‘I... It’s... You...’
‘Move your hand, Lia. That’s it,’ he encouraged gruffly as she hesitantly moved her hand towards the safety chain. ‘Now, slide the lock along. Yes, just like that,’ he approved softly. ‘A little more—yes.’
Gregorio breathed softly as the safety chain fell free and he was able to push the door open. Not quickly or forcefully, but just enough to allow him to enter the apartment.
To be alone with Lia at last.
THE APARTMENT LOOKED to be in absolute chaos to Gregorio’s gaze. There were boxes everywhere, and furniture stacked haphazardly in the tiny sitting room. The kitchen looked as if there had been an explosion of cooking utensils in its midst, and not a single surface was visible beneath pots and pans and cutlery.
Gregorio had never seen this side of moving to a new home before. The vineyard in Spain had belonged to his family for years, and the three de la Cruz brothers had grown up there. The rambling ranch-style house was full of family heirlooms as well as memories. And he had hired an interior designer to decorate and furnish the apartments he had acquired in New York and Hong Kong, as well as his houses in Paris and the Bahamas.
No wonder Lia was exhausted.
Lia managed to rouse herself slightly as she