She’d been there, at the first turn of the wheel of the whole mess.
Chloe had been sitting on a bench in the hospital garden with her big brother, both of them dazed; her crying, he ashen, both struggling to comprehend the mother they loved so much was going to die. That was when Benjamin had received the call from Luis asking for his financial help.
‘If you felt Javier had been cheated would you sit there meekly and allow it to go unchallenged when there was something practical you could do to help?’
‘Probably not.’ He shrugged. ‘But would I have conspired to kidnap a woman and hold her to ransom...? No, I would not have gone that far if the first throw of the dice had not already been rolled.’
‘I did not conspire to kidnap Freya! I helped whisk her away from a potential marriage made in hell and...’
‘Is that how you justify it to yourself? I must remember to dress my actions up in a similar fashion when I tell you that you won’t be returning to port until you have married me.’
FOR A MOMENT there was an intense buzzing in Chloe’s ears. She shook her head to clear it, being careful not to take her eyes from Luis, who was now leaning forward with his elbows on the bar.
‘What are you talking about?’
His eyes were intense on hers. ‘I’ve not kidnapped you, I’ve borrowed you. Would that be how it’s said? Is that how I can justify it?’
‘No, what was that rubbish about marrying me?’
‘That? That’s the next stage. If you want to go home you have to marry me first. But let us not call it blackmail. By your logic it will be...an incentive? How does that sound?’
‘It sounds like your cocktail has gone straight to your head.’
‘And you haven’t drunk yours yet. Try it. You might surprise yourself—and me—and like it.’
‘Not if it makes me as drunk as you clearly are.’
‘Regretfully, I am not drunk but I am serious.’
The hairs on her arms lifted, coldness creeping up her spine and into her veins. She hugged her bag closer to her. ‘Okay, this game stops now. I’m sorry for my part in the affair. Is that what you want to hear? Okay then, how about this? I was wrong, I apologise. I’m sorry...je suis desolée...lo siento...mi dispiace...’
Amusement flickered in his hazel eyes. ‘Can you apologise in Chinese too?’
‘If that’s what you want I’ll teach myself it and say it to you, just let me go.’
The spacious windowed walls of the lounge were closing in on her. Suddenly it felt imperative to get off this yacht. She needed dry land and space to run as far and as fast as she could. Luis’s defence of himself, his hulking presence, his magnetism...it was all too much.
It had always been too much but it had never scared her before, not like this.
She had such awareness for this man. She remembered all the visits he’d made to the theatre when she’d been working there, how she would sense his presence in the building long before she caught sight of him, almost as if she had an internal antenna tuned to his frequency. That antenna was as alert now as it had ever been and vibrating like the motor of a seismograph recording an earthquake.
She needed to find safety before the ground opened up and swallowed her whole.
He studied her silently, the brief amusement disappearing into seriousness. ‘I warned you in my message that I would find you and that you would live to regret crossing me,’ he told her slowly. ‘You have known me long enough to know I am not a man to make idle threats.’
‘Believe me, right now I am regretting it.’
‘You’re only regretting that I found you, not your actions.’
She opened her mouth to lie and deny it. His denials about not being party to Benjamin signing the contract under false pretences and that he’d wanted to put things right had sounded so sincere that there had been a few moments when she’d wondered if he might be speaking the truth.
His threats to marry her made her glad she hadn’t swallowed those lies.
It would never happen. He could go to hell first. Hell was where he belonged, him and his cold monster of a brother.
‘I can see the truth in your eyes, bonita,’ Luis said grimly before she could speak. ‘You don’t believe me and you don’t regret your actions. In many respects I commend you for your loyalty to your brother.’
It was a loyalty he understood.
Luis and Javier had always been loyal to each other. Though far removed from the other in looks and personality, they had grown and developed in the same womb and the bond that bound them together was unbreakable, tightened by the tragedy of their lives.
‘Benjamin’s own sister marrying me will kill the rumours and stop people believing that Javier and I are the devil’s spawn. It’s the only way to repair the damage.’
‘I would rather swim to shore than marry you,’ she spat, not caring at that moment that she’d never even mastered a basic doggy paddle.
‘It will be the only way you get home if you don’t agree to it.’ He placed his chin on his knuckles. ‘But have no worries, bonita. I am happy to wait for as long as is needed for you to come to the correct decision.’
‘Then we will sail these seas for ever because I will never, ever, marry you and there is nothing you can do to make me.’ She smiled tremulously. ‘You can’t threaten to fire me—I’ve already quit.’
It didn’t escape his attention that she was inching her way to the door. Any moment she would bolt on those long gazelle-like legs.
Let her run. Chloe would soon discover there was no escape.
He returned the smile. ‘You have not worked your notice period. I can sue you for that and I can sue you for breach of contract.’
‘What have I breached?’
‘You passed on confidential information about one of our dancers to your brother.’
‘Freya’s not an asset, she’s a person.’
‘She’s a company asset. You acted as a spy against our interests.’
‘You would have to prove it. Look at their wedding photo. It’s obvious they’re in love with each other.’ Her beautiful smile widened but there was a growing wildness in her eyes. ‘See? My instincts were right. Benjamin took her to punish Javier but he already wanted her for himself and she wanted him. You can sue me for whatever you want but if you won it wouldn’t matter; Benjamin would pay any fine.’
‘I could make sure you never work in the ballet world again.’
‘I’m sure you could and without much effort but I don’t care. I survived on an apprentice’s salary, I’ll cope. I don’t care what job I do. I’ll wait tables or clean bathrooms.’
‘You would throw your career away?’
Her heart-shaped chin lifted. ‘Some things are more important. I knew the risk I was taking when I made the call to you.’
‘Interesting,’ he mused. ‘You will be pleased to know I have no wish to destroy you. Your brother? Sí. I would gladly destroy him but the feud can end here and now—call it an additional incentive. All you have to do is marry me and all the bad blood will be over.’
‘You call that