A Spanish Engagement (6 page)

Carrie cringed. ‘It wasn’t intentional,’ she whispered hurriedly. ‘Carmel wanted to know who you were when she saw you in that taxi. And I didn’t like to say you were just some stranger I’d met on a plane so I said you were a boyfriend. It was a moment of madness…’ Her voice was husky and urgent, her eyes wide and pleading with
him for understanding. ‘I was desperate to convince her that my life was settled—but I was wrong to lie, I know that now. She took it far too seriously and before I knew what was happening you went from fake boyfriend to fake fiancé in the space of five minutes.’

Max grinned. ‘Pretty giant step for a bachelor career girl.’

‘You’re not kidding.’ Carrie nodded, then glanced into the dining room to check if Carmel and Bob were waiting for them. Luckily they seemed deep in conversation with one of the waiters. ‘I’d planned to own up to the truth today. So really there’s no point you hanging around.’ She looked back at him. ‘Once I’ve explained everything and calmed Carmel, hopefully she will come around to my way of thinking.’

‘Or she might not.’ Max took in the way Carrie’s skin blanched white at those words, the way her arms instinctively tightened on the little girl in her arms.

‘No, she might not,’ Carrie admitted shakily.

Max was silent for a moment. ‘So I could help you out here—go along with this charade of yours for a few days—or weeks—until Molly’s grandparents have gone back to Australia.’ His voice was thoughtful; his eyes held hers with dark, serious intent. ‘And in return you could help me out of a similar problem.’

‘In what way? I don’t understand.’

Before Max could answer Carmel suddenly appeared at the doorway. ‘What are you two talking about out here? We’ve got a table for five by the window.’

‘Won’t be a moment, Carmel,’ Carrie said.

‘So what do you say?’ Max asked in a hushed undertone beside her. ‘Have we got an agreement?’

Carrie hesitated, trying to think sensibly, but all she could see were Carmel’s sharp eyes watching them across
the hallway and all she could think of was that for now this would solve her immediate problems.

‘Yes,’ she said impulsively and firmly. ‘Yes, we’ve got an agreement.’

M
OLLY
seemed to have settled quite happily in the chair between Max and Carrie.

‘Carrie was telling us you live on a vineyard, Max?’ Carmel was asking as she poured him some tea.

‘Yes, the Santos vinery.’ Max reached to help Molly choose a cake from the stand. ‘It’s a family business.’

‘How lovely—and is that where you and Carrie will live when you get married?’

Carrie almost choked on her tea at that question, but Max seemed to take the subject in his stride.

‘Oh, I imagine so.’ Max glanced across at Carrie and saw the expression in her eyes. He smiled. ‘What do you say, darling? You like it at the vineyard, don’t you?’

‘It’s beautiful up there,’ Carrie said hastily. ‘Lot’s of space,’ she added, trying to sound as relaxed as Max. But she couldn’t help feeling she was failing miserably. She hated this. Max was her business client. Lying to Carmel and Bob was wrong. It was all incredibly wrong. Of course she could give Molly a good life, whether there was a man on the scene or not. And at the back of her mind she kept wondering what it was that Max wanted her to do for him in return.

‘You know, Carrie, I’ve suddenly noticed that you aren’t wearing an engagement ring,’ Carmel said, leaning forward.

‘Have you?’ Carrie stared at her left hand, taken aback by the observation, and her brain seemed to freeze in
panic as she searched for some excuse. ‘Well, that’s, eh, that’s—’

‘That’s because up until now we’ve kept the engagement a secret,’ Max interrupted her smoothly. ‘We’ve been waiting for things to settle down a little before announcing our intentions.’

Carmel frowned. ‘Settle down in what way?’

‘It’s been a traumatic time for Carrie and Molly, these last few months, Carmel,’ Max said gently. ‘Carrie hasn’t exactly felt like celebrating.’

‘I can understand that…’ Carmel glanced across at Carrie, her expression sympathetic.

‘But we are ready to announce our engagement now, aren’t we, darling?’ Max smiled across at her.

‘Yes…I think we should.’ Carrie hoped her voice didn’t sound as panicky as she felt. She had never felt more uncomfortable in her life.

‘So when are you thinking of setting a date for the big day?’ Carmel asked insistently, fixing Max with a sharp, intent expression.

‘We are just taking our time over everything,’ Carrie interrupted hastily, wanting this line of enquiry to stop. ‘We have to think about Molly first now.’

Carmel seemed to consider this for a moment. ‘Yes, but you shouldn’t put off your wedding date. The sooner things are settled for you and Max, the better it will be for Molly. I like the sound of this vineyard, don’t you, Bob?’

She glanced over at her husband, who nodded. He looked tired, Carrie thought, feeling sudden sympathy for the man. He was obviously jet-lagged after the flight from Australia.

‘Sarah…that’s Molly’s mother,’ he explained to Max, ‘was our only child. We still miss her greatly. We do want
to do our best for Molly.’ He seemed to draw himself up in his chair with difficulty. ‘But bringing up a small child is a demanding job. I’m not very well, and when my wife told me we should have Molly, I have to be honest, I worried about how we’d cope—how Carmel would cope. Things have not been easy for her, looking after me—’

‘Bob!’ Carmel cut across his speech crossly. ‘Of course we’d cope. We’d just
have
to cope; it’s our duty to Sarah. We’ve been through this a hundred times. We are Molly’s closest blood relatives…’ Carmel shot a look over at Carrie. ‘No offence, Carrie, but Tony was only your half-brother.’

The words struck fear into Carrie; she had half feared that Carmel might use this fact to get Molly. ‘Yes, but we were close, Carmel,’ she said hastily.

‘But we have the closer blood tie. And we would be capable of looking after her—’

‘Yes, of course we’d cope.’ Bob cut his wife off in mid-speech. ‘But if we are both to be honest taking our granddaughter to live with us isn’t our first choice. We know we’d find it hard to adjust. For one thing, she hardly knows us. Plus, a youngster takes lots of energy and time.’ He fixed Carrie with a stern, long look. ‘Obviously she adores you. I could see that the way she clung to you out there in the foyer. But if we are going to hand her over we need to know she will not come second after a multitude of boyfriends and a career that takes you away all the time. Meeting Max today has at least taken away some of that fear.’

Carrie could feel herself growing hotter and more disconcerted by the second. She really empathised with what this man was saying. ‘I promise you I will always put Molly first,’ she said huskily, her blue eyes wide and sincere as they held with his. At least that was the truth, no
matter about Max or living on vineyards, or her job—or anything. Molly would come first.

Max glanced across Molly’s head and saw the expression in Carrie’s eyes, saw the way she held herself ramrod-straight in the chair. He could see that she hated this deception. He could see that she was desperately sorry for Molly’s grandparents and wanted to reassure them, to make everything all right for them as well as Molly.

Bob nodded and then looked over at Max. ‘That’s all right, then. In the meantime we’ll hang around a little, get to know Molly, take her out and we’ll see how things go. Perhaps we could come up to your vineyard one day.’

Carrie felt her heart lurch crazily.

‘By all means,’ Max agreed easily.

The waiter arrived at the table to clear away some of the plates of sandwiches and brought Molly’s ice cream.

For a moment all the adults watched as she tucked into it happily.

‘Is that nice, darling?’ Carrie asked her, and she nodded and then grinned. Perhaps it was something about the child’s innocent pleasure, or maybe it was the aftermath of the conversation with her grandparents, Carrie didn’t know, but suddenly she could feel tears welling up inside her.

She met Max’s eyes and smiled, determined to keep herself together, and then was extremely relieved when Max started up a conversation about the vineyard, chatting easily to Bob, telling him that they would be taking in the grapes soon, and then talking about the business generally. The normality of the conversation was a balm to Carrie’s senses. And Bob and Carmel were extremely interested.

Max was quite funny as well. He told them about amusing incidents and talked about other members of his family and their roles in the upkeep of the estate. Carrie
watched as the lines of tension softened on Molly’s grandmother’s face. And Bob seemed to get a new lease of energy as he helped himself for the first time to some of the cake on the china plates in front of him. Even Molly chuckled as Max included her in the conversation, by occasionally bringing a story down to a silly level that she could understand, making her eyes shine with merriment.

By the time the waiters had come to clear all the empty dishes away the atmosphere at the table was light-hearted. Molly had finished her ice cream and had pink raspberry all over her hands and her mouth. Carrie reached to tidy her up with one of the napkins as much as she could and then picked her up off the chair to take her to the cloakroom. ‘Excuse us,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’m just going to wash Molly’s hands before we get ice cream on her dress.’

Carmel watched as the two crossed the busy dining room. Then looked over at Max. ‘I’m so pleased Carrie has met you,’ she said impulsively. ‘From what Tony told me, that first husband of hers was a complete rat. Tony used to worry about her a lot at that time, although he did say she had been happier since coming to live in Spain and that she was dating again. He never said she was seeing someone as settled and family-orientated as you, though…’ Carmel frowned. ‘In fact the last time we spoke on the phone and he mentioned Carrie I got the impression her latest boyfriend was someone she worked with at the office.’

‘Carmel!’ Her husband frowned and shook his head. ‘You probably only got half a story,’ he admonished. ‘All of your conversations with Tony were about Molly.’

‘Yes…yes, of course.’ Carmel started to look a bit red in the face. ‘I just meant to say that it’s wonderful that
you two have met, and Carrie is a lovely girl—she deserves some happiness after that horrible husband.’

Max digested this information and then tried to soothe Carmel as she flustered on, telling him she had probably misunderstood Tony. ‘You didn’t get it completely wrong,’ he said as Carmel paused to catch her breath. ‘Carrie and I did meet through work. She’s doing an advertising campaign for the vineyard.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Carmel looked immediately relieved. Then smiled at him. ‘She’s very attractive, isn’t she?’

‘Yes, very,’ Max agreed with a grin. He looked up and noticed Carrie returning. He watched the way she moved across the room towards them. He liked the graceful way she walked, the confidence and the gentleness in her manner. He also noticed the way the other men in the room glanced at her with appreciation as she passed, something she seemed totally oblivious of. And he wondered suddenly about the man she had been dating in the office.

‘We were just talking about how you and Max met,’ Carmel said as Carrie reached the table.

‘Really?’ Carrie smiled, but she could feel the muscles aching on her face as she tried to keep the expression in place. She glanced over at Max, willing him to enlighten her as to what story he had been spinning while she’d been away.

‘I was just saying that it was work-related—that you were organising a brilliant advertising campaign for the vineyard,’ he said smoothly.

‘Oh…yes.’ Carrie nodded.

Carmel smiled. ‘I met Bob at work as well. We’ll have been married forty years next December.’

‘Congratulations,’ Max said sincerely.

Carmel nodded. ‘It was love at first sight. As soon as
we met we just knew we were meant for each other. Was it the same for you two?’

Carrie tried to avoid looking over at Max as embarrassment flooded through her. She felt as if all credibility for their business relationship was disappearing fast, and she wished the ground would open up and swallow her. ‘Well, you know, Carmel, it wasn’t really like that,’ she murmured. ‘It was business and…’ She floundered, not knowing what else to say.

‘And it was destiny.’ Max rescued her with a smooth ease. ‘As soon as our eyes met we both knew there was something very special between us.’

Carrie glanced over at him, marvelling at the way he was able to sound so charmingly sincere. As her eyes met his dark intense gaze she felt her blood starting to race through her veins. And for a moment, a brief, silly moment, she wondered what it would be like if that were true. If this whole charade were for real. The warmth of that thought sent her senses spinning. Hurriedly she looked away from him again.

This was all an act, and Max was convincing because he was a charmer. A man who knew exactly how to make a woman feel special just with a mere smile—just like her ex-husband. She couldn’t afford the luxury of forgetting that; there were too many things at stake here, both personally and professionally.

Carrie cleared her throat. She had to get out of here, away from these lies. As Molly tried to make her way back to her chair beside Max, Carrie caught hold of her hand and stopped her. ‘We really have to be going now,’ she said firmly, looking from Carmel to Bob. ‘I have to get Molly back home for her siesta. And I’m sure you could do with some rest after your long flight, Bob.’

Bob nodded and everyone got to their feet.

‘Nice meeting you, Max. We’ll look forward to our next get-together,’ Carmel said happily. ‘And we’ll ring you later, Carrie, about coming over to see Molly.’

Carrie nodded. ‘Yes, whenever you like,’ she agreed.

The relief of stepping outside the hotel was immeasurable, even though the heat of the afternoon was stifling.

Carrie felt emotionally drained; all she wanted was her apartment and a cold drink. As the doorman stepped forward to offer to get them a cab Max put a detaining hand on her arm. ‘Come on, my car is around the corner,’ he said briskly. And before she could say anything he was leading her towards the entrance to an underground car park. Molly was hopping from foot to foot and pulling against Carrie’s hand and she stopped to pick her up, to keep her safe from any cars that might be pulling out.

‘Here, give her to me,’ Max said. ‘She’s too heavy for you to carry down these steps to the car.’

Molly went across to him without a murmur and grinned at Carrie from over his shoulder as if this was all great fun.

Max’s car was a black BMW. He unlocked it with a flick of a button and then secured Molly into the back seat with the seat belt. As Carrie relaxed into the passenger seat beside him he turned on the air-conditioning and opened the fans so that they were directed onto her. ‘That better?’ he asked.

She nodded.

His eyes raked over the pallor of her countenance with concern. ‘Was the heat getting to you?’

‘The heat of the situation was worse. I felt so awful lying to them, Max.’

‘If it’s any consolation, they looked a lot happier when we left,’ he said gently.

‘Yes, but somehow that just made me feel even more
guilty.’ Carrie leaned her head back against the car seat and closed her eyes for a second. ‘Wasn’t it just appalling?’ she said in a hushed undertone. ‘I should have told the truth.’

‘I think what you did was kinder in the long run,’ Max said seriously. ‘You’ve relieved them of a heavy weight of responsibility. They obviously love their grandchild, but Bob didn’t look well. And even Carmel was looking more and more relieved as she realised you had things in hand here.’

‘I still don’t feel good about it.’ Carrie opened her eyes and looked over at him. ‘But I have to say you deserve an Oscar for your part. Thank you.’

‘We made an agreement, Carrie,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘You just return the favour for me and we’ll call it even.’

The cool response disconcerted her slightly. He turned the key in the ignition and the powerful engine hummed into life.

‘So what exactly is this favour?’ she asked curiously.

He turned the car out of the parking space and up into the bright sunlight of the day before answering. ‘What I need is a similar acting job with my family.’ He flicked a wry glance over at her. ‘We’ll interlock. You pretend to be my fiancée, I pretend to be yours; a nice businesslike arrangement that will make everyone happy.’