CHAPTER EIGHT

      MAXIE felt as if the common sense she had lived by all her life was being jangled out of every one of her bones as her pony picked up speed to keep up with Diego’s stallion.

       ‘You’ll find it easier if you move up and down like this,’ Diego said as he demonstrated a rising trot. ‘Keep it easy and relaxed, Maxie. Roll your hips like me.’

       That settled it. ‘I don’t need to come to Argentina to do this job for you.’

       ‘Of course you do,’ Diego argued firmly.

       ‘But I can organise everything from a distance,’ Maxie protested. Accepting Diego’s invitation would be madness, she realised, trying not to watch his muscular hips effortlessly thrusting back and forth.

       ‘How can you possibly imagine the scale of the celebrations we’re planning unless you come over?’ he said.

       True, Maxie conceded worriedly. So it would have to be a short visit—just long enough to take a look-see and get out with her heart intact. ‘It shouldn’t take me too long,’ she mused out loud.

       ‘Good. I’m glad that’s settled,’ Diego agreed.

       ‘Can we slow down now?’

       ‘I thought you liked speed?’ Diego shouted back.

       ‘I like control better,’ she countered. And right now she was in danger of losing control of both the horse and her life. And that wasn’t a situation she could allow to continue.

       ‘Relax and it will all be fine,’ Diego assured her, reining in alongside.

       Was he talking about the horse or the charity event? But wasn’t she a co-ordinator of fabulous events for other people to enjoy? This job in Argentina would take her business global, providing security for both Maxie and her father. She couldn’t afford to turn it down. She’d call the nursing home as soon as they got back. Depending on the news on that front, she’d make a final decision. Caring for her father always posed a dilemma. If she didn’t travel for her work she couldn’t afford his fees at the nursing home, but when she travelled away from home she felt guilty.

       ‘Stop dreaming, Maxie, and catch up.’

       Diego had stopped beneath the sheltering canopy of a jacaranda tree. The frowzy purple blossom, dislodged by the wind, was drifting round him, creating a deceptively soft and dreamlike scene—but this was business, Maxie reminded herself as Diego explained that she would have the considerable weight of the Acosta name behind her in Argentina.

       ‘I’ve done very well so far,’ she said wryly, ‘but I’d appreciate any help you can give me. A charity event on the scale you’re proposing will need quite a bit of thinking about, and I want to check a few things before I give you my final answer.’

       ‘Don’t take too long,’ Diego warned.

       ‘Hey!’ she protested, when he turned his horse and nudged it from a standstill into a canter and her horse followed.

       ‘Have some confidence,’ he called back. Maxie was a natural horsewoman. It was something in the hips. His lips tugged in a smile. He was enjoying this uncomplicated time together, but something told him it wouldn’t last long.

      * * *

      The trip to Argentina went without a hitch. Maxie’s contacts had been able to put her in touch with people in Buenos Aires, and the nursing home had given her the nod, so she was good to go. Diego had promised to introduce her to people who might be able to help her business further and was full of practical advice. There was no danger to her heart at all—which should have reassured her, but which left her with a niggling sense of regret.

       The jet landed in brilliant sunshine, and her head was soon spinning with all the new sights and sounds. The thought of visiting not just Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America, but the pampas, with the most exciting man she had ever known, was exciting. She would soon grow accustomed to the seductive samba rhythms and the intoxicating scent of spice and heat and passion, Maxie reassured herself as Diego strolled towards a sleek black limousine.

       So why the sense of doom approaching?

       ‘Please excuse me, Maxie,’ he said, fielding a call as they settled into the limousine with what seemed like acres of kidskin between them.

       ‘No problem,’ she murmured, knowing she would probably have to take quite a few business calls herself before they arrived at their destination.

       One of the first things she noticed as they drove out of the airport was the colossal billboards lining the road. It was the first inkling she had of Diego’s place in Argentina. The billboards featured the impossibly good-looking Acosta brothers. She recognised the groom, Ruiz, right away—smiling down with confidence. Diego’s older brother, Nacho, appeared aloof. Kruz looked so laid back it was hard to imagine him in polo-warrior mode. And then there was Diego.

       The same apprehension she’d felt when she got off the plane was back again, because Diego radiated danger. It was something in his eyes, Maxie concluded, glancing sideways at him. There were ghosts in Diego’s life she couldn’t begin to understand, and as theirs was a business relationship she could hardly ask him. He was still very much a mystery man, dangerously attractive and maybe dangerous to know. She wouldn’t like to be his opponent on the polo field, or anywhere else for that matter, that was for sure.

       ‘We’ll be staying in Buenos Aires for a couple of nights,’ he explained, stowing his phone. ‘You’ll get a chance to familiarise yourself with the city and with our usual suppliers. Then we’ll travel to the estancia and you’ll get the chance to see your first polo match. A friendly with Nero.’

       Maxie laughed. ‘Is there such a thing as a friendly polo match?’

       Diego’s mouth tugged fractionally. ‘You’ll soon find out.’

       ‘Nero must be a good friend?’

       ‘One of my closest. I trust him to tell me—’

       Diego stopped and stared away, but she knew what he had been about to say. Nero would tell Diego if he was up to playing at international level. ‘Either way it will be an important match,’ she said.

       ‘The most important,’ Diego confirmed.

       He didn’t need to tell her that the chance to play at international