The Valquez Seduction

But a one-night stand?

Out of the question.

Daisy gave him an arch look. ‘Do I have lipstick on my teeth or something?’

‘Why don’t you smile so I can check?’

She pressed her lips together. Where was a naughty step when you needed one? ‘Why did you come over to talk to me?’

His eyes twinkled as they held hers. ‘I saw you staring at me.’

‘I wasn’t staring!’ Daisy spluttered. ‘My friends pointed you out and I merely glanced at you to see if I recognised you, which I didn’t. Sorry if that upsets your ego.’ She wasn’t one bit sorry.

A hint of a smile still lurked in the black ink of his eyes. ‘It doesn’t.’

‘No, I imagine not.’ She knew she sounded ridiculously prim but she couldn’t seem to help it. The words kept coming out in a steady stream—sounding scarily like Miss Edith Cassidy, her starchy soon-to-retire headmistress. ‘I expect you’re used to young women the world over dropping into a swoon when they see you but I’m not one to be impressed by outward appearances.’

‘What does impress you?’

Daisy paused as she thought about it. ‘Erm…’

He leaned back against the bar and crossed one ankle over the other as if prepared to settle in for the night. ‘Money?’

She frowned. ‘Of course not.’

His mouth curved in a cynical arc. ‘What, then?’

‘Manners. Intellect. Morality.’

His smile became an amused chuckle. ‘An old-fashioned girl hanging out in Vegas. Who would’ve thought?’

Daisy was sure she would have permanent lines around her mouth from all the lip-pursing she was doing. ‘Were you born naturally obnoxious or is it something you’ve worked on over the years?’

He pushed himself away from the bar and ran an idle fingertip down the length of her bare arm from her shoulder to her wrist, still with that mocking smile curving his mouth. ‘Save the last dance for me, querida.’

Daisy gave him a withering look as she brushed past him to join her friends, ‘Dream on.’

* * *

Luiz decided to leave the nightclub at 3:00 a.m. He’d lost sight of the English girl when he’d stopped to chat to someone he knew on the polo circuit. By the time he’d turned around again she had disappeared. He refused to acknowledge the strange little pit of disappointment in his belly. Easy come, easy go. There were plenty of other girls he could pick up if he could be bothered.

He wasn’t sure what it was about her that fascinated him so much. She wasn’t his usual type with her girl-next-door looks and prim goody-two-shoes manner. But her chestnut hair had highlights that shone like spun gold and her darkly lashed intensely blue eyes reminded him of the Aegean Sea. Her skin had that roses and cream bloom young English women were famous for and her mouth was generous and full, suggesting a passionate nature behind the haughty I’m-too-good-for-the-likes-of-you air she affected.

He’d spent most of the evening watching her watching him. It amused him to see her try and disguise her interest. Hiding behind a drink she barely touched or the shoulder of one of her friends. Pretending to be having a good time when clearly the nightclub scene was not her usual stomping ground. For all that she’d dressed for the part in a little black dress and high heels, she looked out of place. She reminded him of Bambi pretending to be Barbarella.

Luiz walked back to his hotel room alone. He’d had plenty of offers he could have taken up but for once he wasn’t in the mood. He was still shaking off the jet lag from when he’d flown in from Argentina, where he’d spent some time with his older brother and his new wife, Teddy. Seeing his brother so happy had triggered a restless feeling he couldn’t block out with endless partying. It used to be just him and Alejandro. They were a team. The playboy Valquez brothers, notorious the world over for having a good time. Women flocked to them wherever they went.

Now Luiz was on his own, wandering around the globe in search of the next victory on the polo field. Trophy after trophy lined the bookshelves at his villa—the villa he only ever visited when the polo schedule allowed. He lived out of an overnight bag; he didn’t stay long enough in one place to warrant a suitcase. He checked in and checked out of hotels like he checked in and out of relationships. One-night stands were his speciality. What was the point of hanging around for someone to do the check out on you? He had seen his mother do that to his father. He had seen his brother suffer the public humiliation of being jilted at the altar ten years ago. Sure, Alejandro was happy now, and Teddy seemed like a top sort of girl, but that sort of commitment wasn’t for him.

No one was ever going to have the power to hurt him. Again.

Luiz was five doors away from his suite when he saw her—the English girl with the cut-glass accent. She was with a man who was leading her by the hand towards a room on the other side further down the corridor. However, something about the little tableau didn’t seem right. The English girl was not steady on her feet and her blue eyes were no longer clear and bright but glazed and disoriented.

‘What are you looking at?’ the man with her snarled at Luiz.

Luiz glanced at the English girl. ‘Are you all right, querida?’

The girl looked at him vacantly, her head lolling to one side. ‘I need to go to bed…’

‘In here, sugar,’ the man said as he shouldered open his door.

Luiz put his arm across the door jamb like a blockade. ‘You want me to call the cops or will you let her go quietly?’

The man breathed alcohol fumes over Luiz’s face. ‘She wants to be with me. She said so earlier.’

Luiz wanted to punch the man’s teeth into the back of his preppy pretty boy head. ‘She’s not capable of saying anything and you damn well know it. Did you do this to her? Give her something in her drink to make her come with you?’

The man gave him a cool it look. ‘Hey, man, what’s your problem? Is she yours or something?’

Luiz felt a sour taste come up in his mouth. Anger came up with it, moving through his body like a bloated tide. What sort of man treated a woman like a toy they could pick up off a shelf? You do, a little voice piped up. He brushed aside the pricking arrow of his conscience and directed his ire where it belonged right now. ‘I’m going to ask you again. Did you do this to her?’

The man’s eyes darted either side of the corridor. ‘Is this a sting or something? Are you undercover?’

Luiz grabbed the man by the throat and pushed him back against the wall so hard all the pictures hanging along the corridor rattled in their frames. ‘I’m going to give you three minutes to check out of this hotel. After that I’m calling the cops. Got it?’

The man swallowed against the heel of Luiz’s hand. ‘I didn’t do it. It was my mate. He said it wouldn’t hurt her. He put a few extra shots of vodka in her drink when she wasn’t looking. I wanted her to loosen up a bit. She was acting all stuck-up. Said she wasn’t interested, but I know she was. They all are in Vegas. That’s why they’re here. To have a good time.’

Luiz bared his teeth like a wolf against a rival. ‘You come anywhere near her again and I’ll make sure you’re sipping your meals through a straw for the rest of your life. Understood?’

The man nodded as he rubbed at his throat, slinking away like a cowed animal until he disappeared into one of the elevators.

Luiz muttered a curse and bent down to where the English girl had slumped to the floor. He touched the side of her creamy cheek with a light fingertip. She was a ghastly shade of white and her skin was clammy but her breathing was normal. ‘Are you staying in house?’ he asked.

She blinked owlishly at him. ‘Have we met before?’

‘Briefly.’

She cocked her head and narrowed her gaze as if trying to place him. ‘You look kind of familiar…’

‘Your room number?’ he prompted.

Her smooth brow wrinkled for a moment as he helped her to her feet. Luiz tried not to notice the way the skin of her hand felt against his, soft as the petals of a magnolia.

‘I think it has a seven in it.’ She gave him a bright smile. ‘That’s my lucky number. I once won a day spa package in a raffle we had at school. It was so relaxing I didn’t want to leave. It was the first time I had a Brazilian. Belinda talked me into it. It hurt like hell. Funny thing is I get them all the time now. I guess my pain threshold has risen or something. Normally I’m the biggest coward out. I cry when I take a plaster off. It’s pathetic.’ Her dazzling smile faded a little as she added, ‘I blame it on losing my mother so young. She died in an accident when I was ten…’

‘I’m sorry to hear that—’

‘My father never remarried,’ she went on as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘I thought he would replace her as soon as he could, but no. He never did. Not that he hasn’t had lovers. He’s had lots and lots of them. No one ever likes to think of their parents doing it, do they? It’s gross. My dad is over sixty. I mean, what is he thinking? Isn’t it time to put his tackle away and have a rest?’

‘I guess boys will be boys, no matter what their age.’

She gave him another angled look. ‘Am I keeping you from something? Someone?’

‘No.’

‘No hot date?’

‘Sadly, no.’

She scrunched up her forehead again. ‘Why not?’

‘I asked a girl to dance with me but she turned me down.’

She made a sympathetic sound. ‘Oh, poor you. Were you terribly crushed?’

‘Irreparably.’

She put a hand on his arm, sending a shock of electricity straight to his groin. ‘Never mind. I’m sure you’ll find someone some day. I think there’s a soulmate out there for each of us. We just have to be patient and wait until the planets align. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.’

Luiz momentarily lost his train of thought as he looked at the soft and generous bow of her mouth. Her lips were still glossy from a recent coating of lipgloss, making them look even more luscious and tempting. He could smell the flowery scent she wore, a mixture of gardenia and honeysuckle that teased his nostrils and made him think of sultry summer nights. ‘How much did you have to drink?’ he asked.

‘Hardly anything. I’m not a big drinker. I talk too much when I have wine. I guess that’s why it’s called truth serum, huh? In vino veritas. That’s Latin, by the way. The truth is in the wine.’ She gave him another megawatt smile. ‘That’s why I stuck to vodka. One shot with orange juice and I didn’t even get to finish it because I was too busy dancing. Did you see me? It was awesome. I’ve never been able to do the Macarena before.’

Luiz felt like a parent handling a wayward teenager after a night out on the town. ‘Do you have your room key with you?’

She fished around in her purse, her brow doing that little crinkly thing again, her teeth embedded in her lower lip. After a fruitless search she dropped her purse and reached inside the left hand cup of her bra and handed him a card key with another broad smile. ‘I knew I put it somewhere safe.’

Luiz could feel the heat of her breast on the card. His fingers moved over its surface in a stroking manner as he locked gazes with her. ‘This card isn’t from this hotel. Do you know which one you’re staying at?’

She wrinkled her nose like a child refusing to eat spinach. ‘I don’t want to go there. This is much nicer.’

‘Do you know where you are? What floor you’re on?’

She gave him a vampish look, batting her impossibly long eyelashes coquettishly. ‘I’m on your floor.’

He ignored the wanton come-on in her gaze on principle. He could have any woman he wanted. He didn’t have to resort to drunk or stoned ones. He might be considered an irascible rake but even he had some standards. ‘Listen, querida, you need to lie flat in a dark room until you sober up.’

She pushed her lush mouth out in a pout. ‘I’m not drunk. Look, I can walk in a straight line.’ She tottered off along the corridor, arms out wide to stabilise her passage. She turned and came back towards him but the fourth step was her undoing. Her legs suddenly tangled and she came down in a heap and would have fallen badly if not for him catching her in time.

He gathered her slim body in his arms, trying not to notice the sweet cinnamon of her breath on his face as she snuggled up close with her arms flung around his neck. ‘I’m soooo tired…’ She gave a huge yawn and dropped her head against the wall of his chest and closed her eyes with a soft little sigh.

He gave her a gentle shake. ‘Hey, you didn’t tell me your name.’

She made another soft purring sound and burrowed closer to his chest. ‘Need to sleep now…’

Luiz caught sight of himself carrying his rescued damsel in one of the gilt mirrors hanging above the hall table. Her shiny shoulder-length hair was swaying loose in a soft cloud over one of his arms, tickling the skin where he had rolled back the cuffs of his shirt. Her conservative black dress had ridden up, revealing slim legs and thoroughbred-narrow ankles, and a soft dreamy smile curved her mouth as her cheek settled against the steady beat of his heart as if she had finally found home.

He let out a low rough expletive. ‘Now what, Sir Galahad?’

CHAPTER TWO

DAISY WOKE WITH a construction site hammering inside her head. Her mouth felt as if she had been sucking on a gym sock all night and her stomach was churning so fast it could have spat out pats of butter.

She cranked open one eye to find herself in a plush penthouse suite instead of her budget book-three-nights-get-one-free hotel room. Chandeliers dripped from the high ceiling in a waterfall of sparkling and twinkling crystal. The walls were papered in a luxurious satin-embossed two-toned stripe that was unapologetically masculine and yet opulently stylish. The lighting was softly muted but she could see a sliver of bright sunlight through the gap in the brocade curtains, suggesting it was well past dawn. The acre of carpet looked so thick she was sure if she took one step on it she would be knee-deep. Maybe neck-deep. The pillows behind her were as soft as clouds and the sheets that covered her naked body were super-fine Egyptian cotton.

Her stomach swooped. Naked body? She lifted the sheet and peeked beneath it. Eek! She’d had sex with someone? No. Not possible. Not in a million squillion years. She was not the type of girl to go to bed with a stranger. She hadn’t even gone to bed with a friend. Flirting was one thing. Sharing her body with someone was something else again. But why on earth would she be naked in bed if she hadn’t?

No. No. No.

Surely she hadn’t. Had she? She pressed her legs together. Nope. Doesn’t feel any different. She checked her breasts for any love bites. Scrambled up onto her knees to glance in the mirror to see if her neck had any signs of foreplay.

Nothing.

The door of the bedroom opened and Daisy choked out a shocked gasp and quickly cupped her hands over her breasts as Luiz Valquez with his laughing black eyes entered the room. ‘You?’

He gave a mock formal bow. ‘At your service, mi pasión.’

His…passion? Double eek! Daisy dived under the sheets, pulling them right up to her chin. Oh, dear God. What had she done? Or, more to the point… What had he done? Anger came to her rescue, filling her voice with fulminating rage. ‘Where are my clothes?’

The half-smile that tilted his mouth had a glint of devilry about it. ‘Where you left them.’

Her eyes widened in horror. Had he—gulp—stripped her? Stolen her clothes? Was she to be sold into sex slavery? Never to be heard from again? Where was her damn bodyguard when she needed him? She threw Luiz a combative glare, determined not to show how terrified she was. ‘I won’t let you get away with this. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. I have connections that could wipe the floor with you.’

He had the gall to chuckle. ‘You mean those two travelling companions of yours?’

Daisy felt her flesh shrink on her bones. Oh, dear Lord. What if Belinda and Kate had been kidnapped as well? Were all three of them to be shipped off to some ghastly foreign hellhole where disgusting men would paw and slaver over them? She could already see the headlines. Three London Infant Teachers: Tragic Victims of International Sex Slave Ring. ‘Wh-what about them?’

His dark eyes gave nothing away other than amusement. ‘They weren’t the least bit interested in coming to your rescue.’

She narrowed her gaze to slits. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I asked them to fetch you from my suite last night but they refused.’

Daisy shot him a look of pure venom. ‘I don’t believe you. They would never leave me to fend for myself.’ Hmm, maybe Belinda would. ‘Anyway, how did you contact them? You didn’t have their numbers or names.’

He inspected his square and buffed nails in a casual manner. ‘I sent a staff member to find them. Apparently they were too busy with their dates to come and collect you.’ He looked at her again and added, ‘Their message to you was—and I quote—“Have fun”.’

I am so going to kill you, Belinda.

Daisy huddled further up the bank of pillows under her shroud of luxury sheets. He looked so…so unlike a sexual predator. He was too sophisticated. Too clock-stopping handsome. Why would he have to resort to kidnap when he could crook his little finger and have any woman he wanted? Except you, she thought as she recalled her haughty rejection of him in the bar. She swallowed to clear the ropey knot of part dread, part excitement currently clogging her throat. She had spent the night with one of the world’s most notorious bad boys. How had he changed her mind? And why couldn’t she remember a single second of it? ‘What happened last night?’

He hooked an ink-black eyebrow upwards. ‘You don’t remember?’

She frantically hunted through her memory but it was like rifling through a file that hadn’t been organised properly. Nothing made sense. She could only remember watching him for most of the night, feeling annoyed he was never without a partner. He seemed to be flaunting them before her every time she looked at him, doing raunchy dance moves with an array of nubile young women.

It was nauseating.

Daisy had staunchly remained a wallflower—her default position—until a compatriot from Ealing had asked her to dance. She hadn’t really wanted to dance with him but she must have changed her mind for she remembered being on the dance floor and at one point cannoning into Luiz. The shockwave of touching his hard male body had sent her senses spinning like a top. His dark eyes had run over her partner in a sizing up look and his top lip had curled as if to say, Is that the best you could do? But after that her memory was a blank.

She gave him a caustic glare. ‘Why did you bring me here?’

He sent his gaze over her in a long lazy sweep. ‘You can’t guess?’

In spite of her trepidation, Daisy felt every pore of her skin flower open in response. Heat rushed along her veins, lighting a fire that fanned out from her core. Damn the man for being so attractive. How shameful of her to be so turned on by such a fiend. No wonder her father thought she needed a bodyguard. Clearly she was a ticking time bomb when left to her own devices. One night let loose on the town and she hooked up with the world’s most wicked playboy. ‘Did you—’ she swallowed tightly again ‘—undress me?’

His expression was now deadpan. ‘No.’

Daisy looked at him blankly. ‘Then who did?’

‘You did.’

Her eyes were so wide with shock they felt as if they were going to pop out of her head. She hadn’t been naked in front of anyone since she was twelve. She was twenty-six years old and she still got dressed under a towel at the gym. Body issues had plagued her since she hit puberty. Small breasts, a jelly belly if she didn’t do a hundred sit-ups a day and thighs that had a tendency to look like cottage cheese if she didn’t stick to her diet of cottage cheese. ‘I don’t believe you.’

A glimmer of a smile came back in his eyes. ‘I thought you said you were a teacher. Where did you learn the stripper routine?’

‘You’re lying!’ she choked. ‘I would never do something like that!’

‘It was the best lap dance I’ve ever had and I didn’t even have to tip for it.’

Daisy felt a blush move over her face like a flame let loose beneath her skin. ‘I don’t believe you. You’re making this up.’ You must be. You have to be.

He shrugged as if he didn’t give a damn either way. ‘You want some breakfast before you leave?’

Daisy frowned in a combination of confusion and an inexplicable sense of disappointment. He was letting her go? ‘You mean you’re not going to keep me here chained to the bed to have your wicked way with me?’

Those sinfully dark eyes roved over her huddled form once more, sending another wave of heat to her core. ‘Thanks, but no.’

She knew it was inconsistent of her to feel slighted but surely she hadn’t been that much of a flop in bed? Sure, she might have been unconscious, but still… ‘Fine. I’m leaving.’ She scrambled off the bed, taking the sheet with her. ‘If you’ll lead me to my clothes I’ll be right on my way.’

‘They’re on the coffee table near the sofa. I took the liberty of having them cleaned while you were sleeping.’

Daisy swung around to face him, a dangerous manoeuvre given she was mummy-wrapped in one of his sheets. She would have gone over except one of his hands shot out to steady her. It was warm and strong against her flesh, his fingers like velvet-covered steel. Something flashed through her brain…a vague memory of strong arms holding her close. Protectively close. Fresh-smelling laundry detergent and lemon-scented male flesh close to her face. A rock-steady heartbeat. A sense of being carried to safety… She frowned to bring the memory closer but it floated away like an apparition that no longer wanted to be seen.

She craned her head right back to look into his eyes, her stomach folding over at the satirical gleam that permanently shone there. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Have your clothes cleaned?’

‘Yes.’

‘Seemed the right thing to do under the circumstances.’

‘What…erm, circumstances?’

His mouth had that half smiling slant to it again. ‘After the lap dance you had an episode of dispensing with the contents of your stomach in my bathroom. Unfortunately, your aim was off.’

Oh, dear Lord above. Could this nightmare get any worse? ‘I was…sick?’

‘Spectacularly so.’

Daisy chewed her lower lip, desperately trying not to picture how that might have played out. No one looked their best when being sick. But it was the ultimate humiliation to have disgraced herself in front of him. He was so self-assured. So suave. How he must have gloated over her misfortune after the way she had rejected his offer of a dance. He couldn’t have asked for a better comeuppance for her. She had been so dismissive of his warning the night before. Arrogant even. How had she been so stupid and trusting to let something like that happen? Ugh! She was not some silly young girl on her first night on the town. She had a university degree, for God’s sake.

She rummaged inside her purse for a handful of banknotes, thrusting them at him. ‘I’m terribly sorry for any inconvenience I’ve caused. I hope this covers the expense of…erm, seeing to my needs.’ Bleah. Bad choice of words.

He pushed her hand back with a gentle but firm pressure, his eyes locked on hers. ‘I don’t want your money.’

Daisy was having trouble concentrating. Her thoughts were flying all over the place. The energy coming from his hand where it was holding hers back was making her whole body fizz with reaction. It was like being plugged into a power outlet with too high a voltage for her sensitive wiring. She was going to short circuit for sure. He was so intensely male. So unbelievably handsome it made a hollow space inside her belly vibrate. Her eyes kept tracking to his mouth. Had he kissed her? How annoying she couldn’t remember. That was a mouth that would know how to kiss. There would be no teeth scraping and nose bumping and awkward repositioning of lips and tongues. That was a mouth that knew how to seduce, to slay her senses with one brush of those hard male lips against hers. She drew in a shaky little breath and pushed back against his hand. ‘Take it. I insist.’