Czytaj książkę: «Romantic Getaways Collection»

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS UNSEASONABLY hot in Barcelona for February and, what with the adrenaline-spiked blood rushing through her veins and the brilliant sunshine that beat in waves at her back as she alighted from the cab outside Araya Industries’ ultra-modern offices, Elena Jones was just about ready to combust in her made-for-English-weather woollen suit.

After giving her name in the wonderfully cool air-conditioned reception area, she was shown into a meeting room by a rather anxious-looking PA, acutely aware of the sound of her heels clicking loudly on the highly patterned ceramic tile flooring.

Swallowing down a twinge of nerves, Elena accepted the offer of a drink of water from the young woman, who for some reason didn’t seem to be able to look her in the eye, then chose a chair at the head of the imposing twenty-seater frosted glass-topped table, carefully hanging her suit jacket over the back of the sharply stylish but rather uncomfortable-looking chair so it didn’t get crumpled. She wanted to look her absolute best today in the hope it would provide her with the boost of confidence she needed to get a positive result from this meeting.

What was making her most nervous was not knowing how Caleb Araya was going to react to seeing her again after all this time. She was actually annoyed by just how anxious she felt about being out of her comfort zone. After running her own company for the last five years she’d become far better at taking risks and getting a grip on her fear of the unknown, and it took something rather exceptional to faze her now.

Apparently the thought of coming face-to-face with Caleb again was to be one of those things.

Would he have forgiven her by now?

Her heart gave an extra hard thump in her chest.

He had to have done, surely? What happened between them had been fifteen years ago; he couldn’t still be holding a grudge. He was a businessman after all, a hugely successful one by all accounts, who wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get in on a profitable deal just because they had a bit of a rocky past.

Would he?

Staring out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the busy street below, she remembered how she’d felt the very first time she’d met him during her second year at the University of Cambridge. At the tender age of twenty she’d thought Caleb Araya was the most arresting, ambitious and charismatic man she’d ever met.

They’d been good friends once, able to talk for hours about their passion for engineering and their hopes of making a mark on the world after they’d gained their degrees.

They’d made a strange pair, the two of them, so much so that their classmates had found their friendship a great source of amusement: she a petite, middle class, inner-city-living bookworm and he a hulking bad boy from the wrong side of a small Spanish town.

But away from other people the formerly laconic, gruff Caleb had been playful, gentle and animated. He’d fascinated her with his passion and drive, not to mention his dangerous sex appeal, and had excited her in ways she’d never experienced before.

What she’d most loved about him was that despite having a tough start in life Caleb hadn’t let it beat him down. He’d been determined to better his situation through sheer hard work and making intelligent decisions.

Looking around her now, she could see he’d certainly achieved his goal, and then some. According to the articles she’d read on the Web, his was now the most successful technology and engineering company ever to come out of Spain.

The door in the remarkably fingerprint-free wall of glass that divided the room from the large, plush reception area swung open, letting in the sound of Spanish chatter, and she stood up, taking a deep breath and preparing herself to face Caleb with a cool head and a warm smile.

She was determined not to let her shame about the heartless way she’d treated him in the past get in the way of her objective here today.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t let any residual antipathy towards her get in the way of a promising business partnership either.

A wave of nervous tension made her skin prickle as the man himself strode into the room with his PA hot on his heels.

Caleb was just as captivating as she remembered, probably even more so now that he’d grown into his darkly arresting looks and six foot five, broad-shouldered frame. It seemed he’d only built on the animal magnetism she remembered so keenly too. With his dark, hooded eyes and jet-black hair slicked away from his strong-boned face he looked fierce, indomitable and rather dangerous.

No wonder his PA seemed so afraid of him.

The scowl currently marring his craggy features as he approached was so intimidating it made Elena’s heart leap about in her chest.

‘Elena Jones,’ he drawled in that same beautiful gravelly Spanish accent she remembered so well, his voice sounding not so much friendly as vaguely amused.

Her stomach jumped with nerves as he came to a halt in front of where she stood.

Instead of holding out a hand in greeting, he folded his enormous arms, making his shirt sleeves tighten over his bulging muscles, and looked down at her with one dark eyebrow raised, as if waiting for her to explain how she could possibly have the nerve to show her face here.

He hadn’t forgiven her then.

She swallowed hard, wishing she could take a quick sip of water to loosen her suddenly dry throat, but she didn’t want to weaken her position by breaking eye contact with him so she ignored the impulse.

‘It’s good to see you again, Caleb. Thank you for agreeing to this meeting.’

His mouth twitched at the corner as if he were suppressing a smile. ‘My former PA made it without my knowledge,’ he said, glancing quickly towards his current PA, who seemed to shrink into herself a little, as if afraid she was about to take the fall for her predecessor’s mistake. ‘But when I saw your name in my diary I couldn’t help but be curious about what you could possibly want from me after all this time.’

His presence seemed to grow, crowding out the light in the room as he dropped his arms and drew his shoulders back, pulling himself up to his full height. ‘I’m guessing you’re only here because you need something from me—rather desperately, judging by the power suit and heels.’

Damn, his dispassionate attitude was going to make her job here so much harder. But there was no way she was giving up that easily. Just because he wasn’t prepared to be friendly it didn’t mean she couldn’t persuade him to agree to give her what she needed. She was going to have to play this meeting carefully though. Apologise—again—if that was what it took.

Just not yet.

It was probably best to keep things on a purely business tack for now.

‘I’m here to put a proposition to you,’ she said, forcing herself to keep her gaze firmly fixed to his. ‘Although to say I’m “desperate” isn’t at all accurate,’ she lied.

If she knew Caleb at all, and she thought that she did, showing any kind of weakness at this point would be a huge mistake.

‘A proposition?’ he said, a hint of incredulity colouring his voice.

Elena nodded jerkily, cursing her churning stomach. ‘Yes. I’m sure it’s something you’re going to be very interested in.’

There was a heavy pause while Caleb ran his piercing gaze over her face—perhaps looking for signs of a set-up, or even a joke—before appearing to decide that she was absolutely serious.

‘Then I suppose we’d better sit down,’ he said, gesturing towards the chair she’d vacated and taking another one two places away, which he turned around so it was facing her.

‘You won’t need to take any notes,’ he said to his PA, waving his hand dismissively. ‘This won’t be a long meeting.’

Trying not to show how much his glib assumption riled her, Elena took her own seat and smiled encouragingly at the PA, who gave her a nervous nod in return before scuttling out of the room.

Poor woman.

Biting her lip to refrain from saying something to Caleb about his ogre-like behaviour, Elena sat up straighter in her chair and fixed him with a serious stare.

He looked back at her with one eyebrow raised in apparent curiosity, though the look in his eyes was still hard enough to cut diamonds.

‘I don’t know whether you know, but I’m the Managing Director and owner of a company in England called Zipabout,’ she began, leaning forward a little in her chair.

His expression gave no hint as to whether he’d known that or not so she decided to just forge ahead with the pitch.

‘We’ve designed an electric car specifically suited for a single person to make short trips around towns and cities. It’s safer than riding a bike and easy to park in small spaces, but the overarching benefits are that it’ll help cut down on air pollution and unnecessary fuel usage.’ She took a breath. ‘Right now we’re looking to source a large rechargeable battery to run it. The one that your company makes would be a perfect fit for our design.’

The smile he gave her made her think of a wild animal about to pounce.

‘You’re asking me to partner with you?’ he asked with dry amusement in his voice.

She cleared her throat to try and defuse the tension that was building there.

‘That’s exactly what I’m proposing.’

He nodded slowly, his intense gaze never leaving her face.

‘Why did you choose my battery?’

‘It’s the best one on the market.’ She held back on revealing that it was the only one that would work with the design now that their previous choice was no longer viable.