Mistress to the Mediterranean Male. Кэрол Мортимер
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lowly schoolteacher, but that didn’t mean she was going to accept money, even on Michael’s behalf, from this man! ‘Please don’t let us delay you any longer from your meeting,’ she added with saccharine sweetness.
Alejandro continued to look at her impatiently for several long seconds before giving a dismissive shake of his head. ‘One o’clock,’ he bit out tersely before turning away.
Brynne was determined to forget about Alejandro Santiago, and his arrogance for the next couple of hours as she and Michael wandered around the pretty village. The people were so friendly, with men and women alike smiling and talking to Michael in the shops and café they stopped in to have a cool drink.
They were not joined by Raul and Rafael, thank goodness, although the two men were loitering outside waiting for them when they came out of the café half an hour later.
Michael, luckily, seemed completely unaware of the men’s presence, holding her hand and skipping along happily at her side as they made their way back.
‘Alej—Father is nice, don’t you think, Aunty Bry?’ He looked up at her a little anxiously as they walked up the steps to the hotel.
‘Nice’ was the last thing Alejandro Santiago was!
But Michael’s question showed that he wasn’t as unaware of the animosity between Brynne and his father as she could have wished. Not surprisingly, really, when that antagonism surfaced every time the two of them were together. But it wasn’t good for Michael to have noticed it and so have his loyalties pulled in two different directions in this way.
‘Very nice,’ she told him brightly.
Michael frowned. ‘Did Mummy and Daddy like him, do you think?’
Brynne gave a pained frown. No doubt Joanna had ‘liked’ Alejandro Santiago seven years ago, but whether or not she would have still liked the man he was today Brynne had no idea. As for Tom, Brynne really had no idea what her brother would have made of this arrogantly assured man who was Michael’s real father!
But that wasn’t an answer she could give Michael. The little boy’s future lay with Alejandro, whether she liked it or not, and loving Michael as she did it was up to her to make this change in his life as easy as possible for him.
If only she didn’t find Alejandro so overwhelming physically!
‘I’m sure they did,’ she told Michael warmly as she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, hoping Alejandro would appreciate her efforts—against her real feelings on the matter!—on his behalf.
‘Good.’ Michael sighed his relief.
Obviously Michael, even if he still didn’t really understand how it had happened, was nevertheless getting used to the idea of having Alejandro as his father, and that had to be a good thing.
Even if Brynne couldn’t share his enthusiasm!
She was even more disconcerted, when they reached the outdoor restaurant, to find that Alejandro wasn’t sitting alone at the table they were being shown to. Instead a ravishingly beautiful woman sat beside him, her dark hair long and luxurious, her complexion as olive as his own and her exquisite features dominated by huge dark eyes and a pouting, red-painted mouth …
CHAPTER FIVE
ALEJANDRO’S mouth tightened slightly as he saw Brynne and Miguel being shown to the table where he and Antonia were sitting.
Antonia was not supposed to have been here with her father today, and Alejandro was annoyed that her unexpected presence had changed the meeting from any serious talk of business to yet another social occasion.
Deliberately or accidentally, on the part of Felipe Roig …?
It had been all too easy to flatter Antonia, the daughter of widower Felipe Roig, as a way of charming the older man. But if the way Antonia had begun to actively pursue him was any indication, it was a flattery she had begun to take all too seriously. Which could, in itself, lead to Felipe wanting a much bigger price for the land he had to sell than Alejandro was willing to pay …!
Not that Antonia wasn’t beautiful. With a voluptuous figure that indicated a passionate nature she would no doubt more than satisfy the man lucky enough to become her husband—it just wouldn’t be Alejandro!
He and Francesca had married for all the wrong reasons, and their union had been painful as well as disastrous; he did not intend repeating the mistake!
It was a problem that Alejandro had had no chance to turn his mind to as Antonia had continued to linger long after her father had departed, but he had managed to avoid inviting Antonia to stay for lunch.
Although now that Brynne and Miguel had actually arrived at the restaurant he might no longer have any other choice!
He stood up as Brynne and Miguel reached the table, his smile less warm than he would have wished. ‘Did you have an enjoyable morning?’ he enquired politely.
‘Oh, it was wonderful,’ his son was the one to answer brightly. ‘We went to all the shops, and then to a café where the man gave me a biscuit to eat with my juice, and we sat outside and watched as people filled huge water bottles from the stream that runs down from the mountains, and—’
‘Slowly, Miguel, slowly.’ Alejandro laughed as he halted his son’s excited chatter, all the time aware that Brynne was looking at him with those questioning blue eyes before she glanced at Antonia and then back again. ‘Miguel, I would like you to meet a friend of mine, Antonia Roig.’ He placed his hands on Miguel’s shoulders as he turned him to look at the woman sitting at the table. ‘Antonia, this is—’
‘Your son,’Antonia finished throatily, standing up as she curved her pouting red lips into a smile. ‘But of course it is.’ She nodded. ‘He very much has the look of you, Alejandro.’ Her smile warmed intimately as she looked up at him.
Brynne watched the exchange with growing trepidation. It was one thing to acknowledge that Alejandro was Michael’s father but the little boy was only just coming to that understanding—surely this arrogant Spaniard wasn’t going to introduce him to a stepmother quite so soon?
Antonia Roig was certainly beautiful enough, Brynne recognized as she looked at the tempestuous perfection of the other woman’s face. But there was just something about the woman’s eyes, a certain lack of warmth when she smiled, that indicated to Brynne that this woman might think ‘boarding-school was a good idea’ for any child that wasn’t her own.
Although with Antonia’s curvaceously alluring figure Brynne very much doubted that Alejandro’s interest had gone as high as Antonia’s eyes!
Antonia’s deep brown gaze now narrowed on Brynne. ‘How very sensible of you, Alejandro, to have brought Miguel’s nanny, too.’ She gave Brynne a politely dismissive smile before turning away. ‘Alejandro, why do we not—’
‘Oh, but Brynne isn’t my nanny!’ Michael dismissed with a laugh, totally unaware of any tension amongst the three adults. ‘She’s my aunty. My Aunty Bry,’ he added happily.
Yes, very hard eyes, Brynne decided wryly as the other woman’s deep brown orbs were turned back on her, with critical assessment this time as Antonia took in her appearance from the top of her red head to the soles of her white flip-flops, before returning to Brynne’s make-upless face with its covering of freckles.
‘Your … aunt,’ Antonia finally murmured speculatively before glancing back at Alejandro, her dark, highly arched, plucked brows raised questioningly. ‘The same aunt who …’
Obviously Alejandro hadn’t had the chance yet to tell his … this woman that he had brought Michael’s troublesome aunt back to Majorca for a visit too.
Oh dear!
‘The same aunt,’ Brynne told Antonia happily as she held out her hand. ‘Brynne Sullivan. Are you joining us for lunch, Miss Roig?’ she prompted lightly as the other woman met the gesture with