Page 34 of Claiming His Baby At The Altar

Nice and smiley and young and beautiful and without a single stretchmark between them. Not one of them would look out of place on Ramos’s yacht.

‘You must have a favourite?’ he said.

‘Do you?’

‘It doesn’t matter what I think. They’re all equally well qualified and all have impeccable references, but you are the one who will spend the most time with them so it should be your decision.’

She twisted her wedding ring they’d bought two days ago. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from twisting it. Ramos had surprised her by buying himself a matching one. It was a public proclamation that he was a married man.

Oh, she was beingridiculous. Ramos wouldn’t have an affair under his own roof. He just wouldn’t, especially since she’d asked him to be discreet in his affairs.

Oh,whyhad she practically given him licence to sleep with whoever he wanted when the thought of Ramos with another woman had made her feel violently sick since she was thirteen and unwittingly caught that glimpse of him naked?

That made her straighten.

Oh, God, had she actually fancied him all that time? Was that what it had all been about? Had it all been jealousy?

Noway. That was ridiculous. She’d feltsorryfor all those women. The sickness in her stomach whenever she thought of them was empathy for the heartbreak she’d assumed was heading their way when Ramos quickly bored of them.

Liar...

‘Are you okay,querida?’

Realising she’d fallen into a daze, Flora blinked and rubbed her arms and generally tried to look as if there were nothing wrong and that she hadn’t just had a frightening epiphany.

‘I was just considering the options,’ she said quickly. ‘And I’d like to employ Sinead.’

‘The Irish one?’

‘Yep. She seemed the nicest and friendliest of all of them.’ The most genuine too.

‘Just remember what I said about not getting too close. You will be her employer, not her friend.’

‘Is it your experience with Justin that makes you say that?’ It was a question that had played on her mind numerous times these last few days.

His features tightened but he gave a sharp nod. ‘I gave him the job because he had the qualifications and he’s damn good with numbers. I trusted him.’

The job in question had been Finance Director for the Ramos Group, the company Ramos formed when he graduated from university. His billionaire father had given him a huge sum of money as a graduation present, which Ramos had promptly used to purchase run-down properties in central city locations and convert them into his chain of hotel casinos. He’d brought Justin on board four years later and paid him handsomely for it.

‘When the theft from my Athens casino was discovered and brought to my attention, Hillier was the last person I suspected. He told me someone must have hacked into his computer and stolen his passcodes and I believed him because we had been friends for thirteen years and I’d thought of him as a brother.’

Watching his face go through a contortion of emotions, she instinctively reached out a hand to cover the fist he’d made but pulled it back before making contact and held it tightly on her lap.

‘He really hurt you, didn’t he?’ she said quietly.

His eyes flashed dangerously. ‘No,querida, he didn’t hurt me—nothing has had the power to hurt me since I was ten years old—but he did abuse my trust, and trust is not something I give easily.’

‘But don’t you miss him?’ she probed, searching his handsome face intently.

‘No.’

She didn’t believe him. She only half believed him about Justin not hurting him, but no way did she believe that he didn’t miss him.

‘I think back on how close you two were...’ She sighed. ‘I was jealous of you.’

His brow rose. ‘Jealous of what?’

‘Your closeness. I thought you were stealing him from me,’ she admitted. ‘I was eleven when he went to university and I missed him terribly. I was so excited about his visits home and when he brought you back with him...’ She shrugged. ‘I hated you for stealing what I considered to bemyprecious time with him.’

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