Billionaire's Defiant Mistress (7 page)

Sarah's first emotion was one of shyness. She then realised a disorientation as she began coming to terms with this new set of circumstances. She felt alone, she was unsure what she should do next. He had been quick to leap out of the bed that morning, to leave the woman who had given herself to him so readily.

On seeing her awake, Carlos walked over to her and planted a kiss on her lips. “Good morning, Sarah.” The kiss was formal, nothing like the passionate kisses of the night before. This was a cool man who seemed to bear no resemblance to the naked, passionate man she had been to heaven with the night before. The man she had made love with was no longer there. What was she to do next?

“Help yourself to a shower. It is just through there.” He waved his hand towards a door. He brought his hand to her head and ran his fingers through her hair. “You look disappointed. Please don't be. You looked so peaceful as you slept that I wanted to leave you in peace. I have an early training session and some meetings later so I must get going.”

Carlos knew in his heart he was not speaking to her with the full truth. He had awoken and immediately felt uncomfortable. He had regrets on his mind, even though his body had instantly renewed its desire for her as he watched her sleeping. Though he had made her initiation into the pleasures of sex as satisfactory as he could, he also knew that the situation could become very complex for him. He didn't want her to form any kind of attachment to him and he didn't want her to think he could reciprocate. So it would be best for both of them to make a clean break. Draw a line under a most pleasurable and memorable evening and move on. Release her now before she got in too deep and was hurt.

“You could have a bath if you prefer. It's up to you.”

Sarah smiled at him for his concern but she was forcing the smile. If a man wanted you for more than a few moments of passion he wouldn't be talking about arrangements in the bathroom. This was the morning after, she thought. He wants me gone. He is polite but this is a very definite goodbye. She wasn't going to object to his morning coldness. She had her dignity and her pride and being tossed aside would not dent either. Just keep smiling she reasoned.

“Thanks, I will be fine. I am due in at nine so I shall just have a shower and get straight into work.”

“Great. Elaine will serve you breakfast. Just tell her what you want and she will sort it.”

The thought of seeing Elaine at the breakfast table filled Sarah with dread. Sitting there in the same clothes she had had on the night before and feeling like the latest in a long line of conquests? No thanks, I can always grab something in Manchester later. I would rather go hungry than suffer the humiliation of being served breakfast alone, she thought.

“You can take the driver too. He will take you where you want to go.”

This chatter coming out of his mouth had no relation to what they had done the night before. It didn't seem that the man who she had been writhing under as he explored her body could possibly be the same person. Where had he gone?

Their eyes met again and this time there was a silence which seemed to hang in the air as it continued, becoming more awkward as each moment passed. She so desperately wanted to break the silence, but what could she say? She could only think about how she had surrendered her virginity to a man who now appeared to be desperately embarrassed about having taken it.

“I will ring you, Sarah.”

She smiled another fake smile and nodded her head. She knew with an aching in her stomach that she did not believe he would ever ring her. He had got what he wanted and now he was easing himself away with a few false platitudes and a polite demeanour. She would be history by that afternoon. Feeling trapped, Sarah sat there hugging the quilt for protection. She may have been happy pressing her naked body against his the night before but she was not going to leap out of bed and walk naked across the bedroom in front of him.

He could sense her discomfort and rather than carry on, he just turned and left. Sarah heard the door go downstairs and knowing he had left made her way to the bathroom for a shower.

The freshness of the shower was great, but having to put on the same clothes from last night just cancelled out the cleansing luxury of the water.

Making her way downstairs hoping to avoid the breakfast table she ran into Elaine who seemed to be lurking around, waiting for her. Making her excuses, she avoided a prolonged talk and Elaine ensured the car and driver would be ready for her. What seemed like a short drive later, Sarah soon found herself back in familiar territory as she stood on the pavement outside the door to work.

Her imagination seemed to be playing tricks with her as she made her way into Puxley's staff entrance. The doorman gave her an unusual look – but he couldn't possibly know anything or read her mind, could he? No, it is just a case of paranoia, no one knows, just get changed and carry on.

She took the lift down to the staff room located in the basement and headed towards the changing rooms. As she pushed the swing doors open to enter she noticed two uniform wearing figures look at her, standing up as they did so. It was a man and a woman in Puxley's security uniforms. They were clearly interested in Sarah, she could tell, and for a moment her heart surged as she wondered why they had their focus on her.

“Sarah Daykin?” said the man.

“Yes, that's me.” She smiled innocently to mask the growing fear in her stomach. The woman took out a notepad and released the pencil from its spine.

“Sarah Daykin, can you come with us please?”

“Why? What is it?” she enquired.

“We have been informed that you may have been engaged in fraudulent activity and we need to ask you a few questions prior to getting the police involved.”

“What!” Sarah's word was an instant denial in tone. So ludicrous was the accusation that she felt it must be some kind of joke and half expected them to burst into laughter. But the expressions on their faces remained stern and serious. As she gazed into their faces for signs of this being one of her colleagues practical jokes she began to tremble uncontrollably. She soon realised this was no joke.

“I don't believe it. You are making a terrible mistake.”

A wry smile flashed across Carlos's face when he saw Sarah's name flash on the screen of his mobile phone. His smile quickly turned to a frown as he thought it was only an hour since he had last seen her. He did say he would call
her
, not that he really intended to. But then his mind drifted to the thought of pressing himself against her luscious curvy body causing the blood to search through his veins.

Carlos had spent the morning congratulating himself for being so selfless. It really would be better for her to allow the relationship to end. Sarah was an innocent young woman and it was for her benefit that Carlos decided a heart-breaker such as himself was an inappropriate choice. Soon she will be back in the Lake District, then it would be Christmas and soon after that she would forget all about him. Better to let it finish now, than to start an affair which would end soon enough anyway.

But Sarah's name flashing on his screen caused images of her naked body to flicker through his memory and instinctively he clicked the answer button.

“ Sarah?” His tone was questioning and registered a degree of alarm; why else would she be ringing him if it wasn't because something was wrong? As he listened to her pour out an incoherent string of words he realised something was wrong, but what? He heard the words 'fraud' and 'arrest' but could make no sense of anything else.

“ Sarah, just calm down and tell me what is wrong. I cannot make out a word you are saying.”

“I have been detained by the security at the store. They are saying I should get some legal help.”

“Legal help? Whatever for.”

“Yes. It's all a big mistake but it's getting serious. Carlos, you know those gift sets you bought...”

He interrupted her because he knew he had to take control of the situation. Getting to the bottom of what had happened would not be possible on the phone with Sarah in her current state of mind. “Just wait right there, I am coming straight over.”

The chauffeur took Carlos straight round to Puxley's. He entered the store and demanded to see the manager who took him to the offices on the top floor. He was led into a room where he found Sarah, her face tear-stained, and two stern looking security guards.

“So this is your lawyer,” said the female security guard as she stood in a formal posture attempting to look important.

Sarah felt lifted immediately as she saw Carlos stride into the room, noticing how formidable and strong he looked. Thank goodness he was here, now all he had to do was explain why there had been so much confusion.

“Hi, Sarah,” he said. “Can you tell me what has happened
?
”

In that moment she felt all her emotional barriers break open. Since the night before she had constructed a defensive wall around herself to protect her pride and dignity from the way she had spent the previous night. But now as she felt her dependency on Carlos and her helpless and vulnerable state her barriers just crumbled.

“Carlos,” she pleaded, as the tears once more slid down her cheeks. “They are accusing me of being a thief.”

He pulled out an immaculate handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it into her palm. He then turned to the manager and gave him a penetrating stare. “Would you kindly tell me what is going on?”

It was soon established that Carlos hadn't actually paid for the gift sets. He frowned as he tried to remember the moment when he had bought the gift sets. He couldn't remember signing for them, all he could remember was the flirting and the chatter between him and Sarah. They had been so wrapped up in each other that neither of them had noticed that the card did not go through the till.

The issue had been compounded because he had forgotten to take the packages with him. The jealous supervisor, who was prone to seek out trouble, had seen Sarah in the changing room with the parcels and decided to do a stock check. There was clearly a discrepancy, they had not been paid for, so technically there had been a theft. It was store policy to prosecute
all
thefts.

“For goodness sake,” Carlos muttered under his breath as he spun on his toes, annoyed at the chaos which had entered his life. Just a little absent mindedness and yet potentially, an all too damaging outcome. He had been distracted by her beauty, that was all that happened. A man who was known for his sense of order and his ability to control a situation had for one moment acted impulsively, and now it seemed he would be paying the price for his impulsiveness. And what a twenty-four hours for Sarah. She lost her virginity and was being branded as a common thief. How she must be celebrating the day she met Carlos Rodriguez.

Recognising that neither his anger or his force of personality would help in this situation, Carlos adopted a tactful and diplomatic approach. He explained that there had been nothing more than a mix-up, repaid the money and managed to get the matter dropped.

Soon enough Carlos and Sarah were stood on the pavement outside the store, his driver sat patiently in the limousine by the kerb. He looked at her slumped and dejected posture. “Are you okay, Sarah?”

“At least I'm free. I thought they were going to get nasty and that I might end up with a criminal record.” She turned her red and blotchy face towards him. “Thank you, Carlos,” she said, feeling like some of the butterflies in her stomach had subsided, though she still felt a strange numbness. It was a strange sensation, as if everything was happening to somebody else. Another tear left her eye and rolled down her cheek and her voice had a stuttering gravelly tone. “Thank you so much,” she repeated. “I feel such an idiot.”

“Don't. There is no need, it was just a mistake.” Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close as she began to cry again. He could feel her tears soaking into his shirt and the soft shaking of her beautiful body as she gasped for air. Her helplessness and vulnerability pierced him with a sense of shame for mistaking her as a provocative gold digger just because she looked like an experienced lover. And because there was a strong attraction between them – an attraction he was only too willing to exploit – her reputation had been ruined.

He pulled his crumpled handkerchief from her fingers, tilted her face towards him and wiped away the new tears which had formed on her cheeks. “Don't be so hard on yourself. It's as much my fault as it is yours. I wasn't paying attention to what we were doing, neither of us were.” He looked into her face and wondered how she managed to look so beautiful even through the tears. “So, you've lost your job.”

“Yes, at least it was only temporary. But I am still so angry.”

“What will you do now?”

Sarah swallowed hard. While she had his arms wrapped around her she felt safe, but once she'd been released from his strength and warmth she became anxious of what lay ahead. It was bad enough having to leave Puxley's and now she would have to think about explaining it to everyone. Her friends with whom she shared the flat, her mother and the owner of the shop back in Keswick who had helped her get the job. All she could think of doing was explaining to them all that she was a failure.

She had let herself down and she had let everybody else down too. Worse, she had made herself look a complete idiot in front of Carlos. It was true she had escaped without getting a criminal record, but the incident had still left her feeling utterly deflated.

“I'm not sure what I'll do next, but I'll think of something.”

Carlos looked at her slumping shoulders and noticed she was still wearing the clothes from the night before. Her face was pale apart from the glow on her cheeks which shone because of the tears. He felt some responsibility and wanted to help make amends.

“Did Elaine make you breakfast this morning?” he questioned.

“No. I was in a rush to get into work.” She spoke quickly as if it would help to hide the real reason she had rushed out – she didn't want to be just one more woman being served breakfast by Elaine.