Page 13 of The Secret Sanchez Heir
‘Address?’ She stared at him in alarmed silence as he waited patiently.
‘Where do you live, Abigail?’ He clicked his tongue impatiently as she continued to stare at him, cheeks a dull red, her mouth parted, her eyes wide. ‘I need to tell my driver where to take you.’
Abigail closed her eyes briefly and rested her head against the leather seat. All the chickens had come home to roost now. She had closed the door on all those ‘what if?’ questions which foolishly she had been sure would never see the light of day.
What if Leandro discovered that he had a son?
What if she had chosen to tell him the moment she had discovered that she was pregnant?
What if he threatened to fight her for custody?
‘You don’t have to drop me to my house, Leandro,’ she said with a touch of desperation. ‘You can drop me to the shop. Vanessa will be keen to hear how the whole thing went. I tried emailing her yesterday but I don’t think it was sent.’
‘You’re still in the same clothes from yesterday.’
‘That doesn’t matter. They’re clean! And...and...’
‘Just tell me where you live. I’m sure your boss can wait another hour for the urgent debrief.’ He clearly wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Defeated, Abigail just looked at Leandro’s bronzed, handsome face. She’d really and truly thought that she had put him behind her. She’d made a big mistake and fallen for someone utterly out of her league, and she had only discovered just how unreachable he was when he had believed his sister and the lies her ex-boss had told and refused even to allow her to give her side of the story.
She had fallen for a guy who had chosen to ignore everything they had shared because all he’d seen was a lying gold-digger who had used him. It hadn’t mattered that they had done more than have sex. It hadn’t mattered a jot that they had laughed, talked and done all the things that couples falling in love with one another do. Except, she had misread the signals. While she had been falling in love, he had just been having a bit of fun. All Leandro had shared with her was his body.
She’d been bitterly hurt and heartbroken when they had split up, but she’d had a lifetime of having to pull herself up and get on with things, and she had done it again. Her eyes had been opened and she had put him behind her as a mistake she had made.
One sidelong glance to her right was enough to confirm that she hadn’t even come close to putting Leandro behind her. Her biggest mistake right now would be to let him see how vulnerable she still was as far as he was concerned.
She drew in a deep breath and said steadily, ‘I think we need to talk before you drop me off at my house. Would you have some time? We could go to...a café close to where I live...’
Leandro leaned against the door and looked at her. Talking could only mean one thing and he controlled a kick of satisfaction at knowing what it meant. She’d had time to think about what he had said and the offer he’d put on the table was one that she was going to accept. Lust was a powerful thing and of course, he thought with cool rationality, there would also be the lure of money because she knew from experience that he was a generous man.
He smiled. ‘I could spare the time,’ he murmured. ‘And we could always go to your place instead, or even mine. I have a place in Belgravia. Why don’t I tell my driver to take us there and when we’re finished...talking...he can drop you back to your flat? How does that sound?’
Abigail couldn’t think of anything worse. As soon as she could, she would have to phone Claire and tell her to hang on for just a teeny bit longer, but there was no way she was going to his place in Belgravia, or anywhere else aside from a busy café, surrounded by people, where she would be able to say what she had to say and the fallout would be diluted. She knew very well why he’d want nothing more than for her to go to his house.
Not going to happen in a million years.
‘No,’ she said simply.
Leandro shrugged. He realised that he didn’t care how much money he had to part with. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted her, and the fact that her CV as a woman who had lied to him and cosied up to him under false pretences left a lot to be desired didn’t seem to have diminished her appeal.
He was willing to throw the rule book out of the window just to get her out of his system once and for all. At least this time round he was in full possession of the facts and would be able to control the situation.
Abigail gave him the address of a café she had occasionally visited in the past and he dutifully relayed the information to his driver. Then—not because she was interested, but to break a silence that was beginning to make her skin prickle—she said, ‘Your country house is magnificent, Leandro. How often do you get up there to stay?’
‘A couple of times a year.’ She had tied her hair back once again but in his mind’s eye he was seeing it in all its glory, hanging low down her back, vibrant and colourful. A few stray strands hung down on either side of her face and he wanted to tuck them neatly behind her ears and then pull her towards him so that he could feel the cool softness of her mouth on his.
‘What a shame that you have so many houses in different parts of the world and you seldom get to enjoy them.’
‘Perhaps, for me, it’s the ownership that counts and that none of my properties will ever lose me money. I keep a sharp eye on them all and, over the years, they have done sterling work when it comes to increasing in value.’
‘There’s so much more to life than money.’
Leandro laughed shortly. ‘Is this where we start going over old ground so that you can try and convince me that you’re as pure as driven snow, despite the fact that you made no effort to tell me the truth about your background or about why, indeed, you were sitting in my hotel foyer in the first place?’
‘No. I don’t want to go over old ground any more than you do. I was just making small talk.’
‘Feel free to skip the small talk.’
