The Vasquez Baby Read online

  ‘I gave him one chance. I employed him.’ His smile didn’t falter but there was something in his eyes that hinted at a more ruthless side of him. The side that had made him a billionaire by the time he was thirty.

  Sensing that the subject was best dropped, Faith glanced around her. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘You’ll find out.’ Without answering her question, he turned his attention back to the controls and the helicopter lifted into the air.

  Terror soon turned to exhilaration as they swooped above the pampas. ‘The view is amazing from up here,’ she breathed, her eyes fixed on the landscape beneath her.

  They flew over grassland, interspersed with lagoons and wetlands. Occasionally Faith saw cattle being herded by men on horseback, but this was a vast landscape and the sheer size of it took her breath away.

  Eventually a large lake came into view and Raul landed the helicopter.

  ‘We’re here. This is the boundary of the estancia.’ He jumped down from the helicopter and led her towards a luxurious lodge that nestled between water and trees. ‘My secret hideaway.’

  Faith stopped dead, her heart bumping against her chest. ‘We’re alone here?’

  He turned, his eyes on her face. ‘Does that bother you? Are you nervous?’

  She swallowed. ‘Maybe. Just a little.’

  ‘You were alone with me on the pampas on that first day,’ he said softly, strolling back towards her and taking her face in his hands. ‘And you weren’t nervous then.’

  ‘That was an accidental meeting.’ The skilled brush of his fingers set her pulse racing and nerves fluttered like butterflies in her stomach. ‘I don’t do this sort of thing, Raul. I shouldn’t have come.’

  ‘Stop panicking. You haven’t done anything yet,’ he pointed out gently. ‘And you won’t be doing anything you don’t want to. All I ask is that you allow yourself to be spoiled. This is a thank-you for having saved my favourite horse. Treat it like a spa day.’

  ‘A spa day?’

  His mouth hovered tantalisingly close to hers and then he stepped away and smiled. ‘I want to spoil you. And we’re not alone here. You can shout for help any time you feel the need and a hoard of staff will come running and beat me away with sticks.’

  He led her up a few steps, onto a wooden deck that was suspended over the water and into a large bedroom filled with natural light. ‘This is your room. Have a rest, you deserve it. When you’re ready for a massage or whatever takes your fancy, just pick up the phone and dial zero.’

  Faith blinked. Her head was full of questions but she had no chance to ask any of them because he’d left the room.

  It was like being dropped into paradise.

  She slept in the enormous, comfortable bed and then lay in the shade on the deck while a girl rubbed scented oils into her skin, the skilful stroke of her fingers removing all the last strands of tension from Faith’s body.

  After the massage, she sat and gazed across the tranquil water of the lake while someone tended to her nails and another did her hair.

  There was no sign of Raul and when she eventually walked back into her room, she wondered how she was supposed to contact him.

  A splash of colour drew her eye and she glanced towards the bed, her eyes widening as she saw the beautiful silk dress laid carefully on the cover. The exquisite fabric shimmered in the late-evening light and Faith stepped towards it, puzzled. Had Raul left this for her? And then she saw the diamond necklace, draped almost casually across the bodice, the stones sparkling and glittering like shards of ice.

  She was so stunned that it took her a few moments to notice the card. Her fingers shaking, she opened the envelope and read the dark, bold scrawl: Every woman deserves to be given a silk dress and diamonds at least once in her life. Enjoy. R.

  Completely out of her depth, Faith stared at the dress and the necklace. It was an enormously generous gift. Obviously she couldn’t possibly accept it.

  She stood for a moment, her lip caught between her teeth, her eyes on the dress. Tormented by indecision, she stepped away from the bed and then immediately stepped back again. Then she let the dressing gown slip from her shoulders, the feminine side of her completely unable to let her ignore such a gorgeous dress.

  She was just going to try it on. Nothing more than that.

  Just for a minute.

  The silk slithered over her skin and she gave a moan of indulgence as she realised that it was a perfect fit.

  How had he guessed her size?

  Feeling as though she was living someone else’s life, Faith fastened the dress and then tried to secure the clasp of the necklace. Strong fingers covered hers and swiftly finished the job.

  Stifled by sexual awareness, she turned slowly and found herself looking into Raul’s laughing eyes.

  ‘So how is your day going?’ His fingers lingered at the base of her throat. ‘Do you feel properly thanked?’

  ‘I can’t possibly accept any of this.’

  ‘Of course you can. It is nothing.’

  To him, maybe, but she suspected that the necklace alone was worth more than she earned in a year. ‘I’m just trying it on, that’s all. And then I’m taking it straight off.’

  ‘Why would you want to do that?’

  ‘Because this is not my life.’

  He turned her gently until she was facing the mirror. ‘So who is that, if it isn’t you?’

  Faith barely recognised herself. Her hair fell past her shoulders like sleek, polished gold, the diamonds glinted against her pale skin and the dress hugged her figure. She felt like a princess. ‘Maybe I’ll wear it just for this evening.’ She almost laughed at her own weakness. ‘But then I’m giving it back.’

  Acknowledging her internal battle, Raul smiled. ‘We’ll have dinner on the terrace. The view is very pretty.’

  ‘So do you do this often?’

  He dismissed the staff with a discreet movement of his head and reached over to pour her another glass of wine. ‘Eat dinner? Yes. All the time.’

  ‘No, I mean—’ She glanced down at herself. ‘Play the part of the fairy godmother.’

  ‘It’s fun buying gifts for a woman who appreciates them.’ He watched her across the table. ‘You’re not eating. Aren’t you hungry?’

  Her stomach was churning so badly that she just couldn’t touch the food. ‘No. No, I’m not. Sorry. It looks really delicious but—’

  He gave a slow smile. ‘You don’t need to apologise for the fact that I’m putting you off your food. I take it as a compliment.’

  ‘You’re very sure of yourself.’

  ‘And you’re very nervous, and I can’t understand why. Don’t they have men in England?’

  Not men like him. ‘I’ve been too busy working to notice men,’ she said lightly and his eyes narrowed.

  ‘You are very dedicated to your work. Why did you choose to become a vet?’

  ‘I always wanted to. My father was a vet and I grew up helping alongside him. Even when I was small, he’d involve me in some way and he always encouraged me.’

  ‘He is proud of you, I’m sure.’

  Faith hesitated. ‘He and my mother died two years ago,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s one of the reasons I came to Argentina. I missed them so much and I knew I needed to do something different. I thought combining travel with work might be the distraction I needed.’

  ‘What about marriage and babies?’ His tone was casual but when she looked at him his gaze was sharp and incisive as if the answer to that question mattered to him. ‘When women think about the future it almost always contains a wedding ring.’

  ‘That’s a typically Argentine-male comment,’ she teased, giving up on her food and putting her fork down. ‘Be honest—you don’t think a woman can do anything except stay at home and breed, do you?’

  ‘It’s what most women want. Don’t you?’

  ‘No. Not right now. In the future? Who knows?’ She glanced towards the stillness of the lake. ‘The future feels mil
es away when you’re out here. I’m too young to even think about that. I have my whole career ahead of me. In another ten years or so, maybe.’ She shrugged. ‘It just isn’t what I want. I love my job.’ She watched the sunset, admiring the shimmering red glow that was reflected in the still water of the lake. ‘What about you? No wife? No babies?’

  Something flickered in his dark gaze. ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘You mean, you don’t want it now.’

  His long strong fingers tightened ruthlessly round the wine glass. ‘I don’t want it ever. Remember that, Faith.’ There was a steeliness in his voice that made her look at him more closely but his handsome face revealed nothing.

  She frowned, sensing undertones that she didn’t understand and feeling puzzled by them. ‘Why would I need to remember it?’

  ‘It’s just something that I like to make clear,’ he said softly, ‘early in a relationship.’

  Heat rushed through her body. ‘Are we having a relationship?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied softly, his dark eyes fixed on hers. ‘Are we?’

  CHAPTER THREE

  Ten months later

  ‘SHE just stepped in front of the taxi without looking. According to a man who witnessed the accident, she’s lucky to be alive.’

  Lucky?

  Lying in the hospital bed, listening to those words, Faith decided that it was better to keep her eyes closed. She didn’t feel lucky.

  ‘Any news on next of kin?’ The doctor spoke again and Faith felt the dull pain inside her intensify to serious agony.

  No next of kin.

  She’d lost everything and it was hard to know whether her injuries were more severe on the outside or the inside.

  ‘None. She had no identification on her when she was brought in—they assume someone must have stolen her bag. Her dress was expensive, though,’ the nurse murmured enviously. ‘Some flashy designer label I couldn’t afford in a month of Sundays. Take it from me, she’s either got a good job or a very rich and generous boyfriend.’

  ‘Well, we can’t discharge her until we know she has a home to go to. It’s very inconvenient because she’s blocking a bed.’ The doctor sounded impatient. ‘Someone should have missed her by now.’

  Only if someone cared, Faith thought bleakly. In her case, no one did.

  ‘Faith? Are you awake?’

  Resigning herself to the fact that they wouldn’t go away until she’d spoken, Faith reluctantly opened her eyes and the doctor gave a wintry smile.

  ‘How are we today?’ He spoke in the faintly patronising tone that he obviously reserved for patients.

  ‘I’m fine.’ No point in telling the truth. ‘Much better.’

  ‘I expect you’re longing to go home.’

  Home? Where was home? For the past year it had been Argentina and she’d thought…

  Faith turned her head away, realising with a sickening lurch of horror that she was going to cry. The misery had been bubbling up inside her for days and suddenly it felt almost too enormous to hold back.

  With a huge effort of will, she tried to focus her mind on something neutral. She wasn’t going to think about Argentina, she wasn’t going to think about the fact that she didn’t have a job or a home any more, but most of all she wasn’t going to think about…

  She gave a tortured groan and curled into a foetal position, her thoughts so agonising that she just wanted to remove them from her head.

  ‘Are you in pain?’ The doctor leaned towards her, frowning. ‘I can give you something for it.’

  Not for this type of pain. Faith squeezed her eyes tightly shut. ‘It’s all a hideous mess.’

  ‘Your head? It’s nothing that time won’t heal. Your hair will cover the scar.’

  ‘Not my head,’ Faith muttered. ‘My life.’

  ‘She’s obviously worrying about her head—how’s the wound, nurse? Everything healing?’

  Realising that no one was remotely interested in how she really felt, Faith kept her eyes closed, wishing they’d go away and leave her alone.

  ‘Last time I saw it everything was healing beautifully,’ the nurse said briskly. ‘It will be a very neat scar.’

  On the outside, maybe, Faith thought to herself. But on the inside it was a deep, ugly gash that would never heal.

  Clearly oblivious to the true extent of his patient’s trauma, the doctor gave a nod of approval. ‘You’ve made a remarkable recovery considering the condition you were in two weeks ago. We need to start talking about discharging you.’ He cleared his throat and glanced at the chart again. ‘You need to go home to family or friends. You can’t be on your own at the moment.’

  Faith’s lips were so dry she could hardly speak. ‘I’ll be fine on my own.’

  Just saying the words intensified the sick throbbing in her head.

  How had she ended up at this point?

  The doctor gave an impatient sigh. ‘You haven’t given us details of your next of kin. There must be someone. Or do you think it’s possible that you are suffering some degree of memory loss after all?’

  Faith opened her eyes. ‘My parents died nearly three years ago and I’m an only child,’ she said wearily, wondering how many times she had to repeat herself. ‘And my memory is fine.’ Unfortunately. Given the nature of her memories, she would have paid a great deal for a serious bout of amnesia. Nothing too dramatic. As long as she lost all knowledge of the last couple of months, she’d be happy.

  She wanted the whole nightmare erased from her head for ever.

  But in her case it wasn’t forgetting that was the problem, it was remembering.

  She remembered everything and the memories tortured her.

  All she wanted to do was cover herself with the duvet and just sob and sob and the fact that she felt like that was terrifying because it was so unlike her.

  Where was her energy and drive? What had happened to her natural inclination to fight problems with grit and determination?

  She’d always been resilient. Life could be tough, she knew that.

  But although she’d always known that life could be tough, she’d had no idea it could be quite this tough.

  Panicked by how truly awful she felt, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the cracked ceiling—but somehow the cracks looked like the curve of a beach and soon the images in her head were of a laughing, naked woman and a spectacularly handsome man.

  She gave a groan of denial and covered her face with her hands. It didn’t matter what she did or where she looked, the memories were everywhere. She felt drained and empty, lacking the physical or emotional energy to drag herself out of the dark pit of despair that was sucking her down and down.

  In the bed opposite, an old lady rambled and muttered, confused and disorientated by her surroundings. ‘Doctor, doctor!’

  Muttering something under his breath to the nurse, the doctor turned. ‘Yes, Mrs Hitchin?’ His manner and tone were a study of exaggerated politeness. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘You can marry me, that’s what you can do!’ The old lady’s tone was sharp. ‘No more messing me around! Do what you promised to do and stop running away from your responsibilities.’

  The nurse covered her mouth with her hand to conceal the laugh and the doctor’s face turned a deep shade of beetroot.

  ‘You’re in hospital, Mrs Hitchin!’ He raised his voice and separated each syllable, as if he were speaking to a very slow child. ‘And I’m a doctor!’

  ‘Well, I’m glad you finally made something of yourself.’ The old lady waggled a finger at Faith. ‘Don’t believe a word he says to you. Men are all the same. They want all the fun and none of the responsibility.’

  Faith gave a choked laugh. ‘I could have done with that advice a few months ago, Mrs Hitchin.’ Then perhaps she wouldn’t have made such a complete and utter wreck of her life.

  Another nurse hurried into the room, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glowing. Excitement radiated from her like a forcefield and she had the
look of a woman just bursting with serious gossip.

  Her eyes slid to Faith and her expression changed to one of awe and fascination. ‘I know you think your memory is fine, Faith,’ she said sympathetically. ‘But I’m afraid we now have evidence that you are suffering from amnesia.’

  Faith gritted her teeth. ‘My memory is fine.’

  ‘Really? Then why can’t you remember that you’re married? You’re married to a billionaire,’ the nurse said faintly. ‘And he’s standing outside right now waiting to claim you. I mean, he’s gorgeous, sexy—’

  ‘Nurse!’ Dr Arnold interrupted her with a scowl and the nurse blushed.

  ‘All I’m trying to say,’ she muttered, ‘is that he just isn’t the sort of man any woman would ever forget. If she really doesn’t remember him, then she definitely has amnesia.’

  Simmering with impatience, Raul glanced at the Rolex on his wrist, oblivious to the fact that the force of his presence had brought the entire hospital ward to a standstill. Like a thoroughbred racehorse at the starting gate, he radiated coiled, suppressed energy, as confident and unselfconscious in this environment as he was in every other, his powerful legs planted firmly apart, his intelligent dark eyes fixed on the room straight ahead of him.

  Female members of staff suddenly found reasons to hover around the central nurses’ station, distracted by the unexpected presence of such a striking man.

  Raul didn’t notice.

  He was entirely focused on the task in hand and this brief, unexpected delay in reaching his final objective was a thorn of irritation under his richly bronzed skin.

  A lesser man might have spent the time worrying that the information he’d received might be wrong, that it wasn’t her. Raul had no such concerns. He only employed the best. His security team had been hand-picked and the possibility that they might have made a mistake didn’t enter his head.

  Barely containing his impatience, he stood still for a full thirty seconds—which was twenty-five seconds longer than he’d ever waited for anything in his life before—and then took matters into his own hands and strode purposefully across the corridor and into the six-bedded side ward.