Free A Spanish Engagement by Kathryn Ross Page A

the office.’
    He glanced over and noticed how her skin suddenly flushed with colour. She pointed up ahead to a road that led off the main thoroughfare. ‘I live down there,’ she told him stiffly.
    Max turned into her road and followed her directions to pull the car up outside a tall, narrow townhouse with an ornate terrazzo entrance.
    He turned off the engine and then turned to look at her. ‘So are you seeing someone at work?’
    Her blue eyes darkened angrily. ‘My private life is my business,’ she muttered. ‘Nobody has the right to pry. Not Carmel. Not you—’
    ‘Carrie, if we are going to go through with this arrangement we both need to know where we stand.’ He cut across her with firm determination. ‘Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind and you want to ring Carmel and Bob, tell them the truth.’
    The prospect filled Carrie with a cold, clammy, sick feeling. She glanced over into the back seat of the car. Molly was fast asleep, her head resting against Mojo’s. She remembered how scared the little girl had been in the hotel foyer. How she had clung to her trembling and sobbing. Carrie was the only familiar figure in her life at the moment. Molly needed her. ‘No, I don’t want to change my mind.’ She glanced back at Max. ‘Yes, I was seeing someone at work—my boss José. But he couldn’t accept the fact that Molly has to come first in my life now, and things have changed.’
    ‘Changed as in the affair has ended?’
    Max’s dark eyes seemed to be raking into her very soul.
    She nodded.
    Max watched her, sensed how much she hated letting him inside her life even this much. It was as if she was scared of opening up to him, as if she had big orange traffic cones around her saying, You can only come so far with me. I’m my own person.
    Then she lifted her chin and fixed him with that confident ‘I’m in charge’ look that he recognised from their business lunch. ‘So what about you?’ she asked crisply. ‘Why are you asking me to pose as your fiancée? There must be a million women you could ask. You could even propose to someone for real, settle down.’
    ‘I decided to do that once before.’ His voice softenedsuddenly. ‘I was engaged. Everything was in place for our wedding, but…’ He shrugged. ‘It just didn’t work out.’
    There was a hint of wistfulness in his tone for a moment, a serious look in his dark eyes that made her wonder what had happened between him and his ex-fiancée. And she remembered his stark words earlier. ‘Relationships fail. We just have to deal with it and move on.’
    Did Max have regrets about the past?
    Before she could ask him anything he switched briskly back to a practical tone. ‘So, you see, I think it’s best that I stick to a more businesslike arrangement this time.’
    The blunt statement made Carrie think he probably did have regrets. That, like her, he had decided it was better to be single.
    ‘I suppose this kind of agreement has its pluses,’ she said hesitantly. ‘Neither of us will get hurt.’
    ‘Exactly. It’s the perfect deal,’ Max agreed. ‘I’m helping you out; you’re helping me. It’s a sensible arrangement. With no strings.’
    Something about the way he emphasised the last point, in a brisk, pragmatic tone, grated on her. ‘Yes, okay, Max, I get the point,’ she said coolly. ‘And you have no need to worry on that score, I can assure you. I’m not going to get carried away by the pretence. I have absolutely no wish to get married again.’
    ‘So, as I said before, it’s the perfect arrangement,’ Max said lightly. His gaze moved from the fire in her blue eyes to the gentle curve of her lips. ‘But of course we will have to be convincing in our parts.’
    She looked at him warily. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean that people will expect us to act like lovers. Not as business partners.’
    Hastily she looked away from him, the softly spoken words sending all kinds of alarm bells ringing inside