Page 1 of A Diamond for My Forbidden Bride

CHAPTER ONE

Olivia

AMANWASleaning in the doorway that led to the upper floors of the Silvera mansion and, even though his face was in shadow, his head was turned in my direction and I could tell he was watching me.

I could feel the pressure of his gaze like ghostly fingers trailing down my spine.

A shiver whispered across my skin.

I couldn’t make out his features, since he was leaning just out of the light, but I could see already that he was tall and broad-shouldered and powerful.

Unease coiled inside me.

Security had been tight for Domingo Silvera’s funeral and it was even tighter here in Madrid, at the Silvera mansion, for his wake.

But, given Domingo’s fame, how could it not be? He’d been the CEO of Silver Incorporated, one of Europe’s biggest companies, with shares in tech, R&D, manufacturing, finance—you name it, Silver Inc probably had a stake in it. It was a behemoth, making more than a few governments give it a sideways look.

Domingo’s father, Diego, who’d inherited the family traits of ruthlessness and arrogance from the ancient line of Spanish aristocrats they were descended from, had started the company nearly a hundred years earlier, and since then it had grown and prospered. Yet it hadn’t been until Domingo had taken over that it had flourished to become the massive company it was today.

Many people had come this evening and the ornate marbled ballroom of the mansion was full of politicians, business people, heads of state, the rich and the famous...all here to pay their respects to one of Europe’s most powerful men.

Even Domingo’s rivals and enemies, of which there were many, were here.

Perhaps that man in the doorway was one of them. An enemy come to gloat over the corpse of a dead foe. What else could explain the aura of menace I’d felt emanating from him?

Normally I’d never let something as basic as unease get to me, but I still shivered yet again, and found myself shifting closer to my fiancé, Constantine Silvera. He was Domingo’s son, heir to all Domingo’s power, and was now newly crowned CEO of Silver Inc.

I didn’t need his protection, but he was tall and powerfully built, and radiated a certain reassurance that in the moment some part of me craved.

Constantine was cold, arrogant, ferociously intelligent, a wolf when it came to business and frightened people just as his father had. All those aristocratic traits had been distilled in him and he used them to his advantage. Ruthlessly.

He was also the possessor of the famous Silvera beauty—black hair, black eyes and the kind of profile that would have looked good on a coin. He’d been named for an emperor and an emperor he was. One that didn’t bother with the velvet glove. There was only the iron fist.

So, yes, I should have felt safe with him in a mansion surrounded by the tightest security on the planet.

I was the CEO of Wintergreen Fine Diamonds, my family’s old and illustrious jewel company, and had a fairly powerful security team of my own, all of whom were present tonight.

Yet I didn’t feel reassured.

Constantine was probably deciding when the appropriate time was to give his speech, thanking everyone for coming and so on. If he noticed my uneasiness, he gave no sign, his cold, black eyes surveying the guests dispassionately.

Usually nothing could get past the façade of cool competence and poise that I’d cultivated over the years. I’d had to. Being a female CEO of a very traditional company required a certain strength and I didn’t like anything to undermine it.

Things such as the shadowy presence of a stranger.

Constantine would be appalled if he knew. He saw my icy calm as strong, and strength was a quality he admired, as he so often told me.

Though, ours wasn’t a love match.

My own father had died eighteen months earlier, leaving behind him a legacy of terrible financial mismanagement that could have resulted in Wintergreen going bankrupt. It had come as a terrible shock, since I’d always seen him as the consummate businessman. So had the board, and they’d been very clear that they didn’t want me at the helm. It had been a...testing time. Then the past had come calling unexpectedly in the shape of Constantine Silvera.

I knew him from years ago, when I was a child and our families would holiday on the same Caribbean island. While there had been...difficulties back then, that was all water under the bridge now.

He’d said he’d heard about Wintergreen’s financial issues and that he’d like to help. He’d been prepared to help me, to pay my father’s debts and get the company solvent again as long as he took over management of it until the company was on its feet again. Oh, yes, and in return all he’d required was my hand in marriage. He needed heirs, it was time and he’d always appreciated the Wintergreen genes.

Initially I’d been suspicious of his offer. The board already thought I was unsuitable to take over Wintergreen, since they were all traditionalists who didn’t like a woman managing the company. Having Constantine take over management for a time would make me look weak, as would marrying him.

Then again, if I wanted the company to survive, accepting Constantine’s offer had been the best way forward. Also, there was another plus: children.

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