BY THE TIME Leo finished his swim Anna had composed herself, sitting at the galley table, a glass of water before her, scrolling through her phone, barely looking up as he strode in, a towel around his shoulders, drops falling from the sleek dark head.
‘You didn’t want a swim?’
‘Not really.’ She couldn’t look directly at him in case he saw through her casual tone. ‘Leo, this is lovely, but...’
‘You want to go back?’
‘Yes, I think that’s best.’ She raised her eyes to his face then, but his expression was utterly inscrutable.
‘Before or after dinner? Only if I remember rightly there’s a great seafood restaurant along this coast, not too far along. Shame not to try it.’
Home, now, her instincts screamed, but her good manners won out. ‘Dinner would be nice. Thank you.’
Anna returned her attention to her phone, glad of the ever-present excuse of emails to occupy her, to stop her watching Leo towel himself dry. Her agent and editor had both sent impatient if encouraging questions about her progress, her father had sent a brief, terse message asking what the password was for their online supermarket account and, in the space of just a few hours, her mother had managed to send her several emails, complete with many exclamations and emojis denoting goodness knew what, Anna certainly didn’t.
She reread the first of her mother’s lengthy missives and couldn’t help exclaiming, ‘Oh, brilliant!’
Leo paused. Anna did her best not to notice how the white towel set off his tan, how the casual way it was draped over his shoulder emphasised every sculpted muscle. ‘What is?’
With an effort she tore her gaze back to her phone. ‘Sancia’s received a huge delivery, all the wedding decorations including fairy lights, tablecloths, candles—everything we need apart from the flowers, which are apparently coming on the actual wedding day. Valentina has sent everything labelled and ready to go. That’s a huge amount of work saved.’
‘Val mentioned it was on its way. That reminds me, she was hoping that her favourite restaurant in Barcelona will be able to cater the actual reception. Will that cause any problems?’
‘Actually it’s a relief. The kitchen staff can concentrate on producing the food for the rest of the week. I know the day after the wedding Valentina wants paella on the beach, but they still have five more dinners to plan, plus all the breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Every dish has to be traditionally Spanish with vegetarian, vegan, nut-free, dairy-free and gluten-free options as well—which does make the traditionally Spanish part a little tricky.’
‘I’m surprised that’s all the options she’s asked for. You wait till you meet her guests—and start meeting their demands. You will be earning every cent, believe me,’ Leo said darkly.
Anna pushed her hair out of her eyes as she leaned back against the comfortably padded bench. ‘I can’t help wondering why the short notice for the wedding—and why hold it somewhere she hasn’t even seen? It seems odd for someone whose life is so public to be so hands-off with something so important—my most down-to-earth friends are completely consumed by their weddings. I can’t imagine any of them getting married somewhere they haven’t actually been to!’
She still wasn’t sure why Leo was here on Valentina’s behalf. He obviously cared enough about her to consider her to be like a sister to him, but apart from their nationality they appeared to have nothing in common. Valentina lived in New York, was an Internet princess and hung out with a group of privileged, beautiful, fashionistas; Leo lived in Spain and his social group, although equally privileged, was much wilder. And nothing Anna had come across on social media linked them in any way. Not one photograph, not one friend in common, nothing except they were both Spanish, both hailed from near Barcelona.
‘La Isla Marina wasn’t the original venue,’ Leo said, pulling on a T-shirt, to Anna’s equal relief and disappointment, before he slid onto the opposite bench, grabbing her glass of water and taking a long sip. ‘She was planning to hold the wedding at the villa in Ibiza where she met Todd.’
It all began to make a little more sense. ‘What happened?’
‘Fire, catastrophic apparently. There was no way the villa could be repaired in time. She needed somewhere here, in Spain, able to host one hundred and fifty guests for the week on just over a month’s notice...’
‘Where better than a resort so down on its luck, they had no guests for the start of the season at all? Lucky for her, lucky for Mama. But she knows nothing about us or La Isla Marina. I know she’s busy, but I can’t believe she hasn’t visited yet to check everything out.’
‘She spent several summers on the island when she was a child. She has very fond memories of it. That’s why she was so keen to relocate the wedding to it. Why I’m so keen to make sure it’s ready for her.’
‘She was a guest on La Isla Marina? When?’ Not recently, obviously, but if Valentina had spent a holiday when the island was in its heyday then it was no wonder she had switched the wedding over; when it was at its best there was nowhere more magical. More romantic.
Leo shook his head. ‘Not a guest. Her mother worked for your grandparents for two or three summers starting when Valentina was around eight. That’s why she knows it so well. She lived there too over those summers.’
Anna thought back, but there was no niggle of recognition. Her grandparents had often hired couples as seasonal workers and as a result there had usually been a small gaggle of workers’ children running around the place. Families were housed in small apartments in and around the villa, the children looked after at the same holiday clubs as those set up for island guests. ‘When she was eight? She’s what? Twenty-one now? That means she would have been there when we still went for the whole summer. Only I doubt I would have taken much notice of her,’ she added.
‘Sí, I’m sure a maid’s daughter was far too below the owners’ granddaughter to be noticed.’ His voice was cutting.
‘No.’ She sat up, indignation crashing through her at Leo’s scathing tone, her face hot. ‘Not at all, but if she was eight I was fifteen and at that age that’s an entire generation gap. The different ages didn’t mix, but that was the only barrier. Some of my best summer friends had parents who worked on La Isla Marina, only a few were visitors. That was really uncalled for.’
‘I apologise. It’s just people can be...’ he paused ‘...rigid, about things like class.’
‘Well, I’m not and nor were my grandparents. Mama will remember her, I’m sure. So the wedding is a homecoming?’ That made a difference, somehow. Welcome as the money would be to Sancia, making this effort for one of the island’s daughters seemed right somehow.
‘A homecoming?’ he echoed. ‘Maybe it is. Lucky Valentina, to have a place she considers home.’ He slid out of his seat, his face shuttered. ‘I’ll go and haul in the anchor. Let me know if you want to try that restaurant or head straight back. I don’t mind either way.’
With a deep sigh Anna slumped onto the table. Even though her aim had been to put the brakes on whatever might or might not be simmering between Leo and her, she still couldn’t help feeling that she’d blown it. Not just ending the new accord between them, but reverting to type. Sensible Anna didn’t sail away with handsome pirates, sensible Anna didn’t leave chores undone, sensible Anna didn’t swim in cold seas. Sensible Anna didn’t get hurt; she didn’t have much fun either, but that was the trade-off she made. That was what kept her safe.
Somehow the knowledge didn’t give her the same satisfaction it usually did. Safe was a book unwritten, a father who couldn’t even order his own shopping, a mother content to leave Anna to sort out her problems for her, a sister she didn’t see or speak to. A sister who would never waste an afternoon on a boat with a handsome man checking emails and worrying about the future.
What would it be like when Rosa finally turned up? Anna could already see the amused scorn in Rosa’s face, how she would love the knowledge that Anna had spent so much time with a gorgeous, occasionally charming man and spent it doing chores. How satisfying would it be if she and Leo were on friendly terms when Rosa did deign to rock up?
By the time they got back the light would be almost gone; they wouldn’t be able to do any more work today. So why not extend the trip for a few hours? Continue with careful spontaneity. Yes to a sail and a meal, both civilised activities. No to the intimacy of swimming, no to reacting to his every light touch, no to lingering glances.
Just because Leo discombobulated Anna, just because he made her want things she knew weren’t good for her to want, made her feel fusty and stuffy and dull, just because every quirk of his mouth dared her to take risks she had no intention of taking didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends.
Besides, it still stung that he thought she was the kind of person who would stand on her dignity, that she would consider a maid’s daughter her inferior. What they needed was a new start. She would be her most charming through dinner and Leo di Marquez y Correa would have no choice but to see that there was more to her than notebooks and efficiency.
* * *
Pushing back his chair, Leo stretched and glanced at his watch. Two hours had disappeared in a flow of emails and reports and he had barely made a dent. Over the last week he’d neglected his business and his out-of-control inbox reflected it. There were still far too many decisions to be made, reports to read, to be commissioned, to be acted upon. Funny to think he’d once got such a thrill from moving such huge sums of money around, from creating wealth, bestowing it. Now it just seemed nebulous, more like playing a video game than work. Not like painting and repairing. Maybe he should give it all up and become a full-time groundskeeper? He smiled wryly. Would his father consider that a step up or a step down from a professional playboy and gambler? He suspected a step down.
He glanced at his watch again; another hour until the restaurant opened. They’d moored at the little seashore village’s small wooden harbour earlier that afternoon, but Anna had turned down Leo’s offer of a walk, preferring her emails and making even more of her interminable lists. She’d erected another layer of protection around herself while he swam, the laughing girl who’d driven his boat once more replaced with the cool, organised woman with a large keep out sign stapled to her forehead.
A sign he had every intention of respecting.
‘Leo, I’ve just realised all I have is what I’m standing up in...oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy. I didn’t mean to disturb you.’ Leo was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn’t hear the door open. Anna peered around it, staring at his three computer screens with unabashed curiosity. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
She stepped into the room, still transfixed by the screens. Leo shot them a brief glance, checking nothing incriminating or confidential was on display; one showed the day’s open stock markets, another the report he was currently working on, the third his emails. Innocuous if peculiar for a man who supposedly did nothing but cruise the seas and party. ‘Nada importante,’ he said quickly.
‘No? It looks important. You were a hundred miles away. You didn’t even hear me call you.’ She stepped closer. ‘I wondered why you had three computers in here.’
Turning on his best lazy smile, Leo moved slightly, blocking his email. ‘It’s important to know what’s going on when sailing. I’m just checking the weather forecast.’
The lift of her eyebrows showed just how far short he was of convincing her. ‘Funny, that looks far more like the FTSE than the Met to me.’
He turned up the wattage on his smile, adding a hint of roguish for good measure. ‘Gambling takes more than one form, you know.’
‘True, but stocks and shares are for some reason seen as a lot more respectable than the roulette wheel. Is that what you’re doing? Trading? And what’s that?’ She nodded at the report.
Leo had hidden behind a faceless company name for so long, hidden behind a false image of a partying gambler for so long, he sometimes forgot why the charade had started. It was second instinct to keep pretending. Hiding. But the curiosity in Anna’s sharp gaze tugged at him and he knew he wanted to see the change in her face when he told her exactly what he was doing, to see that faint, unconscious superiority she employed turn to respect. Hardly anyone beyond his employees, faceless anonymous employees working in virtual offices all around the globe, knew what he did. It would be nice for someone he respected to know.
‘Leo?’ She sounded concerned now. ‘I’m sorry, am I intruding? I was only joking. It doesn’t matter. My question can wait...’
‘It’s not the FTSE, it’s the Dow Jones,’ he said abruptly and watched the blue eyes widen.
‘So you do gamble with stocks as well as at casinos?’
‘No, I invest.’
‘In shares?’
‘At first, but now I invest in companies. Preferably in start-ups, although sometimes in companies who want to expand, or are in trouble and need to turn around. The term is angel, I believe. I put money in, usually with conditions, although that depends on the company, and then they pay me back with interest or I retain a share of the company.’
‘But...how? Nothing I read said that you were interested in investments.’
‘That’s because nobody knows. It doesn’t quite fit the image, does it? My company itself is the investor. I’m not publicly listed as the owner. Any investigator would have to look hard to find my connection to it—and why would they? We don’t invest in controversial projects. We’re an ethical investor. There’s nothing to spark their interest.’
Anna’s mouth was open, but no words were coming out, which, Leo suspected, was a first. She pulled out a chair and sat down heavily, staring at the rapidly changing screen displaying all the stock movements of the day. ‘You are telling me that you are a playboy gambler with a secret identity? Like Batman? Do you have a cape as well? Does this boat turn into a plane?’ She shook her head, her hair, once more respectably confined into a ponytail, swinging with the movement. ‘I’ve heard of secret gamblers, but not the other way round.’
‘No cape, no fighting villains, just investing. And despite the title I’m no angel. I do it all for profit.’
That wasn’t entirely true, not any more. Sometimes he invested because a young company had such vision, such passion, he wanted to be part of it in some way. In the hope that passion, that belief would somehow rub off on him. He was still waiting.
Anna regarded him keenly, curiosity brightening her clear, blue eyes. ‘Is this how you make a living? Not in casinos?’
‘I’ve never gambled a penny I wasn’t prepared to lose.’ Leo shifted, her scrutiny making him uncomfortable. ‘You had a question when you burst in here. What is it?’
‘A question? Right. The trouble with spontaneity...’ Anna tugged at her paint-splattered shorts and grimaced ‘...is the lack of planning. I have nothing suitable for a restaurant at all. I can’t turn up in these and a dirty T-shirt. Maybe we should head home after all.’
‘There are clothes in the spare bedroom.’ He scanned her slim figure, trying not to let his gaze linger on the curve of her breasts. ‘Valentina sometimes joins me here when she is in between jobs. I think you’re not too dissimilar a size. Help yourself to anything. There’s plenty of hot water if you want a shower.’
‘Thank you.’ She got to her feet, headed for the door then turned. ‘Leo, why is it such a secret? Investing in start-ups is a great way to make a living. Why let the world think you’re nothing but a party-going playboy when there’s so much more to you?’
So much more? He might not make his living the way the world thought, but he wasn’t sure that meant that he was worth anything. Anna might be intelligent, but she had missed the mark this time.
He pushed out of his chair, wanting, needing to shut the conversation down. ‘Come on, I’ll show you the clothes and how the shower works.’
Anna followed him out of the study, across the narrow corridor and into the guest cabin at the very front of the boat. The bed was made up. Leo tried not to look at the crisp white sheets, tried to push the thought of how Anna would look entangled in them from his mind.
He’d invited Anna for a sail on a whim, purely because he enjoyed discombobulating her. What he hadn’t taken into consideration was how she might affect him. He was so used to always having the upper hand, it hadn’t occurred to him that a smart, curious woman like Anna was more than capable of seeing through him, seeing into him.
She liked facts, knowledge and solving problems. She had a keen intellect. And when that scrutiny was turned on him, it was like a compulsion. He’d been more honest with Anna Gray than he had been with any other human being for a very long time, including himself.
‘Wardrobe’s there,’ he said brusquely. ‘And the shower is in here.’
Anna opened the folding doors and peered in at the tiny but tidy en-suite bathroom. ‘Very nice, not that I’ve come to expect anything else from this boat.’
‘Press that button to activate the water. You can adjust the heat and power with those handles. Towels are in the wardrobe, and I believe Valentina has left toiletries in the bathroom cabinet. You should have everything you need.’ Rattling off the instructions made him feel a little like Anna must with her lists, like restoring order to a suddenly disordered world. And her world was disordered for all her calm exterior; a mother who needed her, a sister she didn’t speak to. No wonder she tried to restore order wherever she saw it. As long as she didn’t try to restore him...
‘Thank you. This is incredible.’
‘Right.’ He most certainly wasn’t going to hang around, to imagine Anna pulling off her shirt, untying her bikini-top strings, slipping her shorts down her strong, toned legs, stepping into that shower. Get a grip, Leo told himself fiercely. This enforced abstinence wasn’t good for him. He needed one of his no-strings, no-effort, short-term affairs and soon. Good thing there was a wedding coming up. They were usually good for a quick, fun fling. ‘I’ll leave you to...’
Leo stepped back and, at the same moment, Anna stepped back, straight into him, her warm body colliding hard with his. Instinctively Leo reached out, grabbing onto her, his arms pulling her close as she struggled to regain her balance. For one long second she relaxed against him, every slim curve snuggled into him, the scent of her enfolding him even as his body enfolded her.
Lust rushed through him, hard, fast, intense and all-consuming, his blood hammering through his veins, thundering in his ears. Want. Need. Have. His body was issuing demands, demands he wanted more than anything to accede to and Leo’s arms tightened around her body, holding her closer for one incendiary moment.
Did she feel it too? Was lust shivering through her? Were her nerves humming with desire? Were her eyes dark, her mouth dry, every atom of her attuned to his? Leo didn’t know what would be worse—if she did or if she didn’t. If this lust was one-sided that would be humiliating enough, but if it burnt through them both then how much worse would it be when she discovered just how hollow he was? Leo spent a great deal of time making sure no one got close enough to reject him, making sure he was the first to walk away.
Letting her go, stepping back, finding the right, unconcerned smile, felt like a Herculean task and yet somehow he did. ‘Careful,’ he said in a voice that didn’t sound like his, aware of the slight tremor as he spoke.
Anna’s eyelashes fluttered down, shielding her eyes, allowing him to think he might have imagined the flicker of hurt, of disappointment in her eyes. But her voice was completely unconcerned, as matter of fact as ever. ‘If I’m this clumsy when we’re moored imagine what I’d be like in the middle of the ocean. I’d say a pirate’s life is not for me.’
On these last words she turned, flashed him a quick smile, and disappeared into the bathroom leaving Leo standing in the cabin. Alone. The way he chose to be. The way he preferred to be. At least, that was what he told himself. One day he might even believe it.