The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal by Maggie Cox Read Free Book Online Page A

her fingers through her tousled hair in deepening anguish. If only Tina had not been so free with her conversation, or had made the decision to retire to bed the same time as her boss instead of sitting up to be dazzled by Pascual’s undoubted charm! But what troubled her the most was the fact that he had discovered the existence of his son not from his mother but from a gossipy colleague! No wonder he was enraged. Nothing would prevent her from taking the full brunt of the blame, even though she still believed she had had good reason to leave him.
    ‘Yes…Adán is your son.’ Her mouth was almost too dry to get the words out. Wincing, she lifted her gaze to meet the blistering reply of the man whose sheer charismatic presence seemed to fill up the room, making her feel as if she was relegated to just a small corner of it.
    ‘Adán?’ His voice grated, as if he too were having trouble with words. ‘You had the temerity to call him by a Spanish name and not even let me—his father —know of his existence…why?’
    Moving his head from side to side, Pascual couldn’t hide his torment and Briana’s heart went out to him—even though she knew he would likely despise and detest any compassion she demonstrated.
    ‘Why did I give him a Spanish name?’
    ‘No! Why did you keep the fact that you were pregnant from me and disregard my feelings as though they were of no account whatsoever? I thought that you could not hurt me any worse than you did when you left…without giving me even the smallest indication that you were planning such an unbelievable act. But now I have discovered that you are capable of far worse crimes. I was wrong to think that I knew you, Briana…Your behaviour is beyond my understanding and makes you an utter stranger to me!’
    Staring at her, Pascual saw a myriad of emotions cross her pale just-stirred-from-sleep face. But he wished he could see more than just the evidence of feelings there. He wished he had a mental microscope to probe deep inside her heart and see if he could understand what had motivated her to deal him such a cruel and yet perversely wondrous blow all at the same time?
    The news that he was a father had turned his whole world upside down, and it was by far the most momentous thing he had ever heard. But right now rage and despair were the prevalent emotions crashing through him, battering him like a violent cyclone at the thought that he had already missed out on four years of his child’s life because of the woman that stood in front of him.
    Had he somehow treated her so badly that she would act in such a vicious way towards him? He did not think so. From the first he had always treated her with the utmost care and respect… hadn’t he? Because of the immense gravity of what she’d done to him, there was a painful glimmer of doubt in Pascual’s mind. Had he missed out something important? Searching his memory with rapier-like honesty, he could recall nothing that he’d done or said to wound her in any way. Apart from that unfortunate scene at the party that his inebriated ex had instigated— the incident which he had tried to explain had been genuinely nothing to do with him …No, he concluded. That could not be the only reason she had kept him in the dark about his child. This was all about what had been going on with Briana personally, and he vowed he would let nothing stand in the way of his getting to the bottom of it.
    Looking distressed, she brushed back her hair with a trembling hand, and Pascual’s attention was helplessly drawn to the short pastel blue night garment she wore that resembled an oversized T-shirt—probably a chainstore item that had not been designed to be alluring in any way, he guessed. Her lack of sophistication and guile-free attitude towards things like that had once totally charmed him. And even now, in the midst of his disbelief and despair at what she had done, his libido was unequivocally and treacherously aroused by the sight of