The temperature in the room dropped instantly. Everyone stared at her in temporary disbelief.No sooner had the words left Selena’s lips than she regretted an admission that she would never have made had she not been so upset and desperate to defend herself. Silence had fallen. All three women were now viewing her with dropped jaws of disbelief and she was totally mortified.‘I had no idea,’ Elise retorted frigidly. ‘It sounds absolutely immoral and I hope you’re not blaming us for your decision. Do we need the sordid details?’‘Alejandro Perez had to blackmail you into bed with him?’ Wanda gasped wide eyed. ‘I’d have knocked him flat in the rush. What’s the matter with you?’‘That is so, so sexy.’ Charlotte could not conceal her envy. ‘You are really sad, Selena . No normal woman would be complaining about it!’Dumbfounded by those reactions, Selena walked out of the room. She was taken aback to see Bryan waiting in the hall. Just as quickly she appreciated that Bryan, as a member of

Selena studied him uncertainly. ‘Don’t you want to know why I needed to see my family yesterday?’Alejandro released his breath in a slow, expressive hiss. ‘I have a fair idea.’Her smooth brow furrowed. ‘How? I mean...you didn’t say anything,’ she faltered.‘How? I have senior staff at Vento and the rumors about the plunder on the local garden fund hit the grapevine there a few days ago,’ Angelo confided with precision. ‘I then made further enquiries, which is why I’m here.’‘It’s not just a rumour.’Level dark eyes gazed steadily down at her. ‘I didn’t think it would be.’Selena moistened her dry lips. ‘My father took the money and used it to try and conceal the sums he had taken from Vento.’Alejandro lifted his hand to skate a warning forefinger gently across her full lower lip. ‘Let’s rewind and not have this conversation. I don’t like the direction I suspect it might be taking.’Her lashes fluttered up on her bemused gaze. ‘How am I supposed to answer that?’‘Hopefully with a ch

Joshua Lynch leafed frantically through the file Selena had presented him with. Finally he thrust it down on the table. His complexion had taken on an unhealthy grey hue, his shock palpable. ‘Did Alejandro Perez put all that stuff together for you?’‘Yes,’ Selena breathed. ‘Please don’t tell me any lies. I need to hear the truth.’‘It looks a lot worse than it is,’ Joshua declared defensively. ‘Let me explain how it happened—’‘It wasn’t something that just happened. Don’t talk as though it was something that you had no control over,’ Selena broke in tensely . ‘You forged my mother’s will so that I was left penniless. That’s what it comes down to!’‘You’re making too much of this,’ the older man argued vehemently. ‘It all started out quite innocently. When you were a baby, I tried to persuade your mother, Miranda, into a business partnership. I hoped that together we could build houses on the Candy Manor.’‘Build?’ Gwenna parroted. ‘But it’s against the law to develop a site that’s be

The familiar sight of the Candy Manor gates took care of that concern for her. That part of the estate was closed to vehicular traffic and she parked outside, scrambling out to walk up the rough lane that had once been the entrance drive to the house. For the first time she wondered if her inability to think and react normally related to shock. Shock at her father’s treachery and greed?Shock at the revelation that she was, after all, the rightful owner of the estate that had been in her family for generations? Of course that fact would have to be ratified by a court of law before it was officially hers but, even so, it was good news, wasn’t it? Nobody would ever be able to take the estate away from her again and in her hands it would be safe. The plant nursery would belong to her once more. It had made a reasonable income. When she was no longer required to pass over all the profits to her father, she would be able to build up the business and look forward to more comfortable takings

‘I still want you to come to Miami with me,’ Angelo imparted huskily. ‘I’m not putting any pressure on you. You owe me nothing.’But she only had to look at that lean, dark, devastating face to feel the magnetic pull of the pressure he exerted without even trying. When he said that she owed him nothing he was coming as close as he was prepared to come to the fact that he had plunged her into a highly immoral arrangement. But he wasn’t saying sorry and he probably never would. Yet she still needed him, still wanted him, she acknowledged guiltily. At that moment nothing else mattered. With a preliminary knock the consultant and his staff strode in. She had to give up her seat to let them carry out their checks on Alejandro but his brilliant dark gaze did not stray from her.‘I’m waiting for an answer,’ he told her as if they were still alone.And she gave the only answer she could give.But it was eight full days before they managed to get together again in Miami . A strike by an airlin