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CHAPTER ONE
JAVIER TORRES IGNORED the paperwork strewn across his lap and gazed out of the tintedof the SUV, absently watching his driver walk into the small store to stock up on refreshlorious, and he ought to feel like a king He was back on the threshold of paradise—Santa Cruz, the uably one of the planet’splaces He was here to oversee the start of the hotel rebuild he’d recently invested in Yet instead of feeling satisfied, he was distracted by an uneasy, prickling sensation No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the recollection of the last time he’d been here More precisely, the redhead he’d ravished There really wasn’t any other word for what had transpired between theht back—with such rare intensity that she’d haunted his dreahteen months since
It wasn’t as if he’d never had a one-night stand before It was pretty h A wisp of wicked ah him as he reht She’d been travelling, all the way from Australia, and who knehere in the world she was now? Certainly not Javier She’d not been there when he’d woken the nextand he’d had to return to ht home to New York
It wasn’t supposed to et Searing hts and teased in unwanted, unsu her And the i He was stuck in the longest ever stretch of abstinence He told himself it was because he was busy ork projects and plans In reality no wo He could do with a fantastic, physical night of unfettered pleasure; the stress release would be good and being back on this island only brought those memories to the fore even more
And just like that she appeared—walking out of the shop—an erotic vision with her stunning solar-flare-red hair and fantastically generous curves Javier groaned Of course his tormented mind would conjure her here It was the ulti he si other than enjoy the ht of her lush body That first night he’d seen her before she’d seen him and the artless confidence hich she’d walked fro her space, hadhe’d ever seen Now she turned as a young couple followed her out of the store She pointed so out down the road and the other won while the redhead took their picture Then the redhead turned as Javier’s driver eed from the shop He sent her aa wo? But all this interaction meant she wasn’t a hallucination
The universe went mute Javier didn’t blink or breathe His heart didn’t beat He stared intently, watching her walk in those slightly too snug jeans that strained to contain her gorgeously shapely hips and thighs His mouth dried Her loose khaki linen shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a white tank top beneath, giving the lilorious riot of red was barely holding up in a half-tuh cheekbones and freckled skin Every ht of her intensely feminine frame while the memory of her soft, silken heat consumed him
His driver opened the door
‘Wait a moment, please,’ Javier instructed hoarsely
The redhead’s sone nuclear Javier’s tension sky-rocketed and he turned to see arranted such a elcome His burst of strain was soothed as he saw an elderly wo a baby—a dark-haired, sled impatiently as he saw the redhead run towards them
Noise returned in a jangling cacophony, pu Javier as he watched the reunion He drew a sharp breath while his brain whirred—registering that relationship, calculating the passage of ti co up with a conclusion that was utterly appalling
Cold panic clashed ild horror Because he kneith absolute certainty that the redhead was the woo—Emerald, the sweet siren from that beautiful beach And that baby was definitely her child And with equal unequivocal, icy conviction, he knew her child was also his
An awful crevasse opened within, rapidly filling with a hot lava of guilt She’d had his baby and he’d not known Because she’d not been able to contact hiht he’d been careless and he’d not told her his true name
Now he studied her again—not seeing the sexy curves of her body and the striking colour of her hair this ties of her shirt, the worn patches of her jeans, the strain around her eyes At the signs of her struggle, that guilt within hiret for her and for her child
Children had never been on Javier’s to do list and, frankly, would never be As for e? Well hell, no He’d not just witnessed the worst of those intie So no, his life was rich enough ork, any instinctive need to leave a mark sated by the creation of his own little business empire, any inner restlessness soothed by travel He had no need and no desire for deep relationships or emotional responsibilities The concept of fatherhood was so far froe it was like a bad joke—how could he possibly do a decent job of parenting when he’d had such a rubbish example in his own life? Well, not a rubbish example, more like no example at all
He’d never wanted solected the way he had Yet—albeit inadvertently—he’d done exactly that to his own forpriht But that sense of duty wasn’t backed up by paternal knowledge or skill He clenched his jaw, biting back his disappoints He was no hero, but he’d provide what he could, as soon as he could He just had to figure out the best way how
Elanced at her watch Less than twenty minutes and she’d have Luke back It had only been an hour but sheshifts at the srateful for the chance to keep her dignity and her boss, Connie, adored spending some time with Luke in the afternoons The rest of the time Emmy was able to keep hih she worried she wouldn’t be able to for lyThat was a problem she was too tired to think of a solution to yet Honestly? She was surviving one day to the next
She glanced up as a tall figure stepped through the shadowed doorway As he ht a hit of pure exhilaration soared, a leap of joy so powerful she alht Instead she froze—that sound trapped in her throat
Eighteen hts Now it tilted again, taking another rotation and rendering everything upside down
‘Ramon?’ she breathed
Dark brown eyes—a decadent uely she absorbed details—the charcoal linen trousers, the white shirt, the sleeves rolled to three-quarters, revealing tanned, strong forearms—but it was those eyes that stunned her She trembled from tip to toe with a powerful whole-body reaction She’d suffered this shudder of raw recognition that first night too He’d captured every iota of her attention in a way no other person ever had And look what had happened
Hormones Her own chemistry had failed her Because with another micro blink of time she’d remembered He wasn’t ‘Ramon’ He’d deceived her, he’d lied about his identity and his reason for being on the island Nothing had been real He’d used her so completely She’d shown him the most perfect place and then he’d stolen it She hated him for that
But at the same time, more memories stirred—those secret ones she’d tried to bury Because while he’d taken the place she loved, she had to ad froinity, , and it had been so ical she could never brand it ahis dishonesty since Andbeyond priceless