Selena was white with humiliation and self-loathing and she reacted with anger to that derisive comment. ‘I’m not yours and I never will be because you can’t touch me where it matters,’ she launched back furiously. ‘I don’t care what you think of me, or what you say or do with anyone else either, because I gave my heart a long time ago to someone worth ten of you!’As Selena spun away to the vanity basin Alejandro turned her around in a split second to turn her back. Incredulous dark eyes flashed down at her. ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying? You’re telling me that you’re in love with another man?’ he pressed in a raw undertone.Slowly she nodded, savouring the anger she had roused and yet disturbed by that ungenerous response. Being mean, argumentative or vengeful had not come naturally to her until she had met him. The reactions Alejandro Perez incited were as foreign to her nature as the emotional highs and lows she was experiencing. ‘I don’t like the way you make me beha

A savage wave of anger gripped Alejandro . That she should oppose him and put herself at risk in a ridiculous effort to protect another man only heightened his anger. But a glimpse of the apprehension in her expressive eyes snapped him straight back into control.‘Come home with me, then,’ he breathed tautly.‘I’m not going any place with you.’ Yet, Selena still couldn’t take her eyes off Alejandro . There was a light in his brilliant, brooding dark eyes that held her tighter than any chain. Slowly her attention stretched to encompass the impressive whole. In tailored black chinos worn with a striped designer shirt open at the neck, he looked absolutely gorgeous. As usual she was full of wildly conflicting responses. When she had believed he was about to thump Bryan she had been terrified and then madly relieved by his withdrawal. Now her anger escalated in direct response to the fierce emotions she had been suppressing all evening.‘I’m Bryan ...just by the way, in case anyone’s inte

Like a sleepwalker, Selena scrambled up on unsteady legs, wrenching at her vest with one hand and going for her discarded jeans with the other. They hadn’t even got undressed, never even made it as far as a bedroom. She was embarrassed, hopelessly unsure of how to behave. Her mind was in total turmoil. Everything she had believed she knew about herself was being turned upside down. But she fought off her misgivings and reminded herself that Alejandro seemed to be making a genuine effort.After all, hadn’t he come looking for her this evening? He had been annoyed to find her with Bryan . Had he been jealous? Perhaps Alejandro was not quite as cold and unfeeling as his womanising reputation. Hadn’t he told her that she should be proud of the fact that he wanted her so much? Worrying at her full lower lip, she studied the sofa and reflected that he had not been exaggerating on that score. Maybe she was ridiculously old-fashioned. Maybe she needed to loosen up a little and stop fretting a

Alejandro surveyed the heavily crowded room with concealed dissatisfaction. He wondered why it was that when fate gave him what he believed he had always wanted he should find it so irritating. Clingy women who remained welded to him like superglue in company had always exasperated him.In the course of a month, he had learned that Selena did not cling, stalk him round the room or continually seek ways to attract his attention. In fact, he sometimes felt like handcuffing her to his wrist or tagging her with a satellite navigation system he could use to locate her when he wanted her back by his side. When she got talking to his guests, she lost track of time. She was wildly popular with the garden enthusiasts and had to be regularly rescued from those who took advantage of her horticultural knowledge to request free advice and even personal visits.‘Where is she?’ Alejandro was finally forced to ask Chris.A few minutes later, his chief of security was at his heels, he strode out to th

‘I’m all right,’ she muttered awkwardly just as her mobile phone rang. ‘Excuse me...’It was her stepsister, Charlotte .‘We need to talk to you urgently,’ Charlotte declared in a sharp voice that made Selena’s heart sink like a stone and her anxiety level rise even faster. ‘It’s a family matter and I can’t discuss it on the phone. How quickly can you get down here?’‘I’ll get on the first available train tomorrow.’‘I have to go home for a couple of days,’ Selena told Angelo, anxiously wondering if the problem that her stepsister had refused to discuss related to the total breakdown of their respective parents’ marriage. ‘It’s a family crisis.’His lean, strong face austere, Alejandro frowned. ‘I’ll come with you.’Selena was painfully conscious of Alejandro’s attitude to her father, and could only think that Alejandro’s presence would increase the strain and embarrassment for all concerned. ‘Thanks, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. This is private family stuff.’Alejandro thoug