‘Why?’
‘Because I’m flying back to Mexico first thing in the morning.’
She cleared her throat. ‘I can wait until you’re next in Boston.’
She might be able to. He couldn’t.
‘You need that money by Monday, don’t you?’
Again there was a pause long enough to fill the Grand Canyon. He waited for her to tell him to go to hell.
‘Yes,’ she said as if she was grinding nails.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’
He hung up before she could say anything else and stood staring at the telephone. He didn’t know what shocked him more: the fact that he hadn’t rescinded his ludicrous offer or the fact that he had made it in the first place. What didn’t shock him was the fact that she had accepted.
He waited for a sense of satisfaction to kick in because he had finally come up with a way to stop her going after anyone else for the money. Instead he felt a sense of impending doom. Like a man who had bitten off more than he could chew. Because he had no intention of lending her the money and he didn’t like what that said about him.
Maybe that he needed more tequila.
‘Just have a shower, imbecil, and get some sleep,’ he told himself.
Come Saturday The Rodriquez Polo Club would run the biggest polo tournament in Mexico for the second year and he had a Chinese delegation coming over to view the proceedings. They had some notion that he could form a partnership with them to introduce polo into China via a specialised hotel in Beijing. So he had to be on site for the next three days and be at his charming best.
‘Better get rid of the chica, then,’ he told his reflection grimly as he stripped off and stepped into the shower. Because watching Aspen flick her hair and flirt with everything in pants was not, he already knew, conducive to putting him in a good mood.
Ah, hell, maybe he should just forget the whole thing. Forget buying Ocean Haven. Yes, it was an exceptional piece of land, with those rolling hills and the bluff that looked out over the North Atlantic Ocean. But there were plenty of beautiful spots in the world. What did he really want it for anyway?
He squirted shampoo over his head and rubbed vigorously.
The fact was eight years ago Aspen Carmichael had set him up so that her over-indulged fiancé could take his place on the dream team without batting a pretty eyelash. She’d walked up to him and shyly put her arms around his neck and, like a fool who had fantasised about her for too long, he’d lost control. He would have done anything for her back then because, if he was honest, he’d liked her a little bit himself. Liked her a lot, in fact, and he hated knowing that she’d so easily fooled him.
But not this time. This time he would be the one holding all the cards. He relaxed for the first time that night. And why not? Why not take what she had offered him eight years ago? She was older now, and obviously still prepared to use her delectable body to get what she wanted. So, okay—game on, Ms Carmichael. Game on.
And if a small voice in his head said that he was wrong about her—well, he couldn’t see how.
So what that she had loved the horses and been kind to everyone she came into contact with? So what if her apology earlier had seemed genuine? She knew how to play the game, that was all that said about her, but in the end she’d used him for her own ends just like everyone else in his life had done.
So, no, he didn’t owe Aspen-damned-Carmichael any-damned-thing. And if this was fate’s way of evening the score between them then, hell, who was he to argue?
CHAPTER FIVE
ASPEN WAS PACKED and ready by six the following morning. She’d told Mrs Randall, their long-time housekeeper, that she was going to Mexico to look over Cruz’s horses for future growth opportunities. It was the best explanation she could come up with at short notice, especially when Mrs Randall had looked so pleased at the mention of Cruz’s name.
‘He missed his family terribly, that boy. Of course he was too proud to show it, but I suppose that was why he left so suddenly when he was a young man. He wanted to get back to them.’
Aspen would have liked to believe that homesickness had contributed to Cruz leaving The Farm eight years ago, but she suspected it was more because she had put him in an untenable situation.
Guilt ate at her, and all the confusing emotions she’d experienced at that time came rushing back. Her desperate need for approval from her grandfather, her fear of the future, her confusing feelings for Chad and the amazing pull she’d always felt towards Cruz.