The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal Read Free

would stem their impatience and relax for however long it took before Pascual finally sought them out.
    Absorbed with fastening the small diamond cufflinks on his tailored deep blue Savile Row shirt, he frowned at the sudden knock on the door. No doubt it was the little blonde, returning with his refreshments, he thought lazily. Good. He could do with some strong black coffee.
    Outside the panelled oak door in the long, lowceilinged corridor, Briana was schooling herself to try and breathe more slowly. She’d arrived late, despite all her best efforts, and had just got there in the nick of time to take the tray of coffee from Tina and bring it up to their VIP guest’s room. Patting down her hair, she hoped her motorway dash and her lack of time to retouch her make-up would not detract from the warmth and professionalism that was usually her byword. She hadn’t even had the presence of mind to ask Tina what their important guest’s name was! Never mind. Perhaps he’d just be so grateful for the coffee he wouldn’t notice that she didn’t address him by his name.
    The silver coffee pot, patterned cup and saucer and little white jug on the elegant silver tray rattled a little between her hands as Briana held it, and she made herself take another steadying breath.
    ‘Good timing! I was just— Dios mio! ’
    Hooded eyes the intensity and colour of luxurious cocoa set in a handsome strong-boned face with high cheekbones and the most sensuous masculine mouth imaginable stared back at her, as though its owner hardly believed the validity of his own eyesight.
    ‘What in God’s name are you doing here?’
    Just in time Briana held onto the already precariously rattling tray. Was she dreaming? As her heart pounded out a shocked tattoo, she had to struggle to maintain her balance. Pascual was the VIP guest? How could she not have known that? Suddenly her equilibrium and professionalism fled altogether, and she was left feeling so painfully vulnerable, exposed and inadequate that tears were a mere breath away.
    ‘Did you hear what I said?’
    For a moment his accent sounded heavier than she remembered. The naturally sensuous timbre of that arresting voice still had the power to turn her limbs to the fluidity of water Briana discovered disturbingly. ‘I’m working…and I’ve brought you your coffee,’ she managed through numbed lips, giving him a nervous lopsided smile. ‘Do you mind if I put the tray down? I’m afraid I might drop it.’
    Holding the door wide so that she could enter, Pascual allowed his dark, accusing gaze to follow her like sharpened daggers as she crossed the room to deposit the tray on a small carved oak side-table.
    ‘What is the meaning of this?’
    He was studying her as if she were a nasty trick being played on him…a trick he abhorred and detested.
    ‘I told you…I’m here working. Your hosts hired my company to provide hospitality services for your stay. I didn’t realise that you were the VIP guest. I’m sorry, Pascual…’
    Biting her lip, she felt herself blush hard at the old familiar use of his name and instantly regretted voicing it. Especially when his handsome face demonstrated no pleasure whatsoever in seeing her again…in fact the exact opposite!
    ‘This is probably the last thing you need. Seeing me again, I mean,’ she murmured. Her confidence drained away as his eyes tracked slowly and devastatingly up and down her body, in a simple but professional black A-line skirt and jacket, as if checking her out for flaws.
    What was he going to do? If he dismissed her and she couldn’t carry out her job it would be the last straw as far as her finances and her reputation went. Briana prayed he wouldn’t go as far as that. And at the same time as she worried about losing this job— and laying the hurt of the past aside —her hungry eyes wanted to weep with joy at the flesh-and-blood evidence of the man she had loved and had secretly dreamed of one day seeing again.
    He looked