‘You can talk more later but right now I wish to dance with my wife.’ It was the last thing he wanted to do. Just the thought of holding Lisa close, of feeling her body against his as they moved to the slow sultry music now playing, had a bad effect on his senses—his body. One he couldn’t listen to, couldn’t act on.
Before Lisa could back out he took her hand and began to lead her to the dance floor, but didn’t miss the look his sister flung his way. Irritation at having to deal with impending fatherhood in such a public way, brought about by the headlines regarding his brother, Raul, was beginning to take its toll on him. It was as if an unknown force were pushing him backward into his past and everything he’d thought locked safely away, forcing him to drag it all out and own it.
‘You could have been a bit kinder.’ Lisa’s reproach as he took her in his arms and began to move slowly, going through the motions in an obligatory way, only added to his guilt.
‘She likes to test me.’ The curtness of his words wasn’t what he intended and he ignored Lisa’s movement as she looked up at him, knowing that if he looked down into her beautiful face he would want to act on the desire building within him. Desire that was totally at odds with the anger and irritation of their situation, with the knowledge that she wouldn’t be his wife for much longer.
‘I know how she feels,’ she said softly, so softly it was hard to hear her above the music that filled the room.
‘Because you like to do the same?’ He clenched his back teeth together, determined to calm his irrational anger and regain control. This was so unlike him. Only two women had ever done this to him. Angelina and now Lisa.
She stopped dancing and glared up at him. ‘Because my older stepbrother hated me too.’
She thought he hated Angelina? ‘I do not hate her,’ he ground out.
‘Well, you didn’t sound like a loving big brother,’ she said as she pulled away from him, trying to slip from his hold. ‘But silly me, that would never happen. You aren’t capable of love, are you, Max?’
He tightened his embrace. ‘Don’t do this, Lisa. Not here. Not on Angelina’s birthday.’
‘Don’t do what, Max? Say the truth?’
‘You have no idea what my relationship with Angelina is like.’ He looked down at her, aware now they were attracting attention. Every other couple on the dance floor seemed happy and in love and here they were, spitting fire at one another.
‘That just proves how little we know about each other and how unsuited we are.’
Before he could respond to her angry tirade she freed herself from his arms and, chin held high, marched through the other couples toward the door. If she wanted to play those games she would be sorely disappointed. He never went after a woman.
But it’s not just a woman, it’s your wife and your child.
* * *
Lisa was so angry she could hardly walk in her strappy black heels as she left the party in full swing. There was no way she was staying there just to make life easier for Max, not after Angelina’s revelations, which had come hot on the heels of that word she’d never wanted to form part of her life. Divorce. She’d failed. She was no better than her mother.
‘Lisa, what’s the matter?’ Lydia grabbed her arm and Lisa looked at her aghast. She hadn’t even noticed her.
She took a deep calming breath. ‘Men.’
‘In general or one in particular?’ Lydia jested, but there was no mistaking the concern on her new friend’s face.
Lisa sighed wearily. She had to talk to someone. She couldn’t do this alone. ‘One in particular, not that I’m sure you haven’t already guessed.’
‘And you think running away will help?’ The mock conjecture in Lydia’s voice made it impossible for Lisa not to smile. ‘So, come back to the party, tell me what’s upsetting you and give that man something to think about.’
‘I guess you have already tamed one Valdez brother, not that Max will admit to being such a thing.’
Lydia laughed, then became more serious. ‘Anyone can see he loves you, Lisa, just as it’s obvious you love him. You’re made for each other, for goodness’ sake. Just as he has to accept he is a Valdez, he has to accept love.’
Those words hung in her mind as she returned to the party with Lydia, instantly spotting Max, pleased to see he looked casually and briefly their way, then looked again, hardly able to believe she’d had the nerve to return after running out on him so publicly.
‘See,’ said Lydia as she got them both fresh drinks. ‘He can’t take his eyes off you.’
‘He wants to get a divorce.’ The words slipped icily from Lisa as she turned her back on Max, trying to ignore the heat of his glare as it bored into her back.
‘No, he doesn’t. If he’s anything like his brother he knows exactly what he wants, he just doesn’t believe he can have it. He doesn’t believe he can love anyone.’
Lisa looked at Lydia. ‘You and Raul?’
‘Yes, me and Raul. That’s why I was rushing out of the restaurant that day they first met. As far as I was concerned it was over. He didn’t love me, didn’t want my love and that was that.’
‘What changed?’
‘For Raul I guess it was meeting Max. It allowed him to put to rest the ghosts of his past.’
‘May I interrupt?’ Max’s voice sounded from behind her, making her visibly jump. How much of that conversation had he heard?
She whirled round. ‘You shouldn’t keep sneaking up on people. You might hear things you don’t want to hear.’
His brows rose in that sexy way that always melted her heart and buckled her knees and this time was no different, even if he was in a dark mood. ‘Perhaps it’s the only way to discover what someone really thinks about me. Shall we dance?’
Dance? Was he insane? After all they’d said to one another, all the public humiliation, and he wanted to dance. Raul joined them at that point, whisking his wife away in a gesture that spoke volumes of the love they shared but also left her alone with Max.
‘You don’t really want to dance.’
‘Yes, I do. We need to set a few things straight and there’s less chance of you running off if I have my arms around you, only this time I will be holding you tightly.’
Before she could say anything else, he’d taken her drink from her hand and pulled her into his embrace, dancing their way into the couples already on the floor. He held her so tightly it was dangerously intimate. At least that was how it felt to her, but to him it was all about achieving what he wanted, preventing her from showing him up, from letting the guests see what was really between them. Nothing.
‘So, what is it you wanted to set straight?’ The haughty tone of her voice made his eyes glitter, but at least it was some sort of reaction.
‘I want to ensure you are going to honour your part of the deal.’
‘Deal?’
‘To attend the New Year’s Eve party with me, to act the part of my wife until the clock strikes in a new year.’
‘Why should I do that?’
‘It was part of our deal.’
‘Why when it’s obvious we don’t work?’
‘Raul and Lydia have made honeymoon arrangements around the party. They have