Joshua Lynch slowly shook his distinguished head. ‘I’ll have nothing left, not even my independence.’‘The valuations aren’t what you hoped? Even for the city apartment?’ Selena questioned anxiously.‘I would say that the figures are anything but generous.’Selena frowned. ‘Of course property prices have fallen in some areas. How did the Candy Manor and nursery fare in the valuation stakes?’‘The estate is listed and protected by law,’ Joshua reminded her. ‘That keeps its value low because there are too many rules preventing more profitable types of development. The nursery is a small enterprise. You’ve worked wonders there but...’‘It’s hardly big business,’ Selena filled in heavily.‘Even so, if selling up protects me from having to make a court appearance, how can I possibly complain?’ her father asked her in a more upbeat tone. ‘As for what you told me about you and the owner of Miller, that’s made all this even more amazing.’Amazing? It seemed an odd choice of word. Selena colou
Selena drove slowly back to the nursery in the van. There was nothing more that she could do for her father at present, she thought unhappily. He was going to have to deal with the fact that his life was never going to be the same again, but that would take time. Her brow was pounding out her tension. Reasoning was a challenge when she felt as though the shock of recent events had set up a barrier between her and her wits. She was still struggling to accept that, in the space of ten days, her whole life had fallen down round her like a house of cards and with it the future that she had taken for granted. The village where she had lived from birth would no longer be her home. She would be barred from the gardens where she had grown up and happily worked whenever she had a moment free. The business she had laboured so hard to build would pass on to a stranger and might not even survive. After all, the profit margins at the nursery were low and, with Joy on maternity leave, she was worki
Alejandro said nothing. With difficulty she silenced the self-protective words on her tongue. His uninterest was blatant but she reminded herself that she owed it to the Candy Manor to check out his intentions in advance of the takeover. She let Bruno out of the storeroom. The little dog headed for Alejandro, hovered in unsuccessful hope of an acknowledgement, and then raced out in a delighted fury of barking to investigate the strangers outside. The parking area out front was, at first glance, packed with cars and men.‘Who are all these people?’ Selena frowned. ‘Security.’Selena was tempted to make a rude comment, relating to his undoubted need to take such precautions. His brilliant tawny scrutiny met hers. ‘Much better not,’ he said softly. ‘It’s never a good idea to put me in a bad mood.’Momentarily she shut her eyes, disconcerted by the speed with which he had read her and almost equally shaken by her ongoing need to fight with him. On the other hand the idea of giving way to
Legs feeling shaky, Selena thanked heaven for her pet’s timely intervention and moved away. Putting Bruno back onto his four stubby legs, Selena straightened with reluctance. She was seriously ashamed of her own behaviour and not enough of a hypocrite to tell off her pet. Not when she was convinced that Bruno had saved her from losing her virginity. She did not believe that Alejandro Perez would have called a decent halt. He did what he liked when he liked. He had hauled her into his arms like a Viking on the rampage. He was violently oversexed. Those daunting truths had sunk in on her. Her mouth felt hot and swollen and she was afraid to look at him. ‘The gardens are a wasteland beyond the wall. There’s really not anything more to show you.’‘The ancestral mansion?’A few minutes later she came to a halt a hundred yards from the large shell of the Regency house where her mother had been born. Its ruinous state had embittered Miranda Gomez, who had never got over the conviction that l
Selena breathed in very deep and reminded herself that it was two years since Bruno had starved himself to skin and bone while she was on holiday. The following year, Bryan had helped her to get the little dog a pet passport so that he could travel with his mistress. But now it was very much to be hoped that he had got over such excessive reliance on her for his sense of security. She could feel her eyes prickling at the prospect of life without Bruno and would have died sooner than betray her weakness. Alejandro Perez would be fed up with her within the space of a week, she told herself comfortingly. She would bore him to death.‘Do I have any say about anything?’ she enquired flatly.Alejandro thought hard about that. If he had had a chain attached to her ankle, he would have been set on removing links to restrict her freedom even more. It was an unfamiliar attitude to a male accustomed to easy conquest and it annoyed him. ‘Your accommodation?’he askedSelena went for that assurance
Four days later, Selena was in London. The morning after her arrival, she was met at her hotel by an elegant lady in her thirties. A senior coordinator in Alejandro Perez’s employ, it had been Lorraine Cage who liaised with Selena on the phone and orchestrated all the arrangements to be made on her behalf.‘It’s my job to ensure that you enjoy a smooth transition to city life. You have a full programme of appointments today,’ Lorraine said with a polished smile that displayed her perfect white teeth to advantage. ‘First on the agenda, I’ve organised a viewing of the property Mr Perez has selected for you.’A smooth transition? Selena could have wept at that useful little cover-all phrase that took no account of the drastic upheaval in her once tranquil daily existence. Only now that her contentment had been wrenched from her did she appreciate just how happy she had been pottering about with plants. The same day that Alejandro had visited, her father had signed over all the property h
Silence hummed at the other end of the line. Alejandro was gritting his even white teeth. She might have the grace of a gazelle but she also had the diplomacy of a rampaging elephant. Didn’t she know anything about him at all? Had not even the mildest curiosity stirred her into surfing the internet or checking out the gossip pages? He didn’t do commitment or live in arrangements.‘Naturally, I’m not planning to move in,’ he murmured with deflating cool. ‘I’m sorry if that’s a disappointment.’‘Oh, my goodness, no!’ Selena asserted at a much more cheerful pitch, quite impervious to the presence of the snub she was delivering. ‘We wouldn’t suit each other at all. But that doesn’t explain the house when we won’t last five minutes together. All this trouble and expense is so unnecessary.’Alejandro eyes flashed tawny-gold. ‘Perhaps you would like me to take you to some cheap hotel that hires out rooms by the hour!’Selena bit down on her ready tongue. She was shocked to realise that she w
Selena told the driver to take her to Bruno’s pet hotel. As they sat in the heavy lunchtime traffic she couldn’t help picturing Alejandro’s lean, darkly handsome face, hard with impatience. His compelling image was stuck in her mind like a fixture and she couldn’t push it out again. She realised that she was being torn in two by very different reactions: a sharp and shocking sense of unexpected disappointment, accompanied by a helpless sense of relief. She was startled by that stab of regret. For goodness’ sake, what was the matter with her? Okay, he was incredibly gorgeous and insanely fascinating in the same dangerous way that a sleek man-eating tiger would be. But in terms of compassion and decency Alejandro Perez was an absolute bastard. Knowing that, how could she possibly respond to him on any level?Her phone rang again and she tensed—but it wasn’t Alejandro; this time it was Bryan. ‘I tried to catch you at home and got your stepmother instead. Digging info out of her was not e