Read Online The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal by Maggie Cox - Free Book Online
Authors: Maggie Cox
Tags: Fiction
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Dawn was just breaking, and a silvery mist was draped over the trees and hedgerows like a diaphanous cloak. The air contained just enough frost in it to make Pascual shiver. The English countryside in the autumn was a sight to stir the heart, he silently acknowledged, his shoes flattening damp golden leaves deep into the gravelled lane as he walked, and he experienced the first real pleasure he had had since arriving.
Back home in Buenos Aires the temperature would be a predictable twenty-two degrees, warm and sunny. But strangely at that moment he felt no particular longing for the place of his birth. Where he was right now was perfect because that was where his son was, he realized—that was enough to make Pascual content to be there. What did he look like, this boy of his? Did any of his features resemble his father’s? What characteristics might they share? Feeling his throat tighten almost unbearably, he muttered something impatient into the frigid air.
How could she have done it? How could Briana have deliberately kept his child from him? Even if he had cheated on her with Claudia—which he most definitely had not —was he deserving of such unbelievable treatment? And just because her faithless father had had affairs, did it naturally follow that Pascual would do the same? He was a different kind of man entirely…an honourable, loyal man. If only she had seen that. And he was even less likely to have an affair knowing he had a child to think of! How was it possible that he had once loved such an untrusting woman—a woman who had preferred to leave him rather than stay and hear his side of the story?
Preferring to focus on solutions rather than regrets, and for the moment determinedly putting the past aside, he concentrated on some of the decisions he’d reached last night about the future. When he returned to Buenos Aires in a couple of days he would be taking the boy back with him. No question about it. ‘When you become a father,’ his friend Fidel had once told him, ‘everything changes. In a way the path becomes much clearer. You are less concerned with your own needs and ambitions. Instead almost every waking moment is given over to this precious child you have helped bring into the world…’
Sadly, his friend had not lived to see his own child grow up. Having already missed out on Adán’s infant years, Pascual was determined that from now on it would be a very different story for him. And if Briana made it difficult in any way, then he would not hesitate to take a legal route to claiming what was his. But he hoped it would not come to that. Much better that she saw she had done both him and his son a grave injustice in keeping them apart, was ready to right a wrong rather than make that wrong even worse by obstructing him.
Taking a moment to expel a long, troubled breath, he continued on his journey up the winding lane. He almost stumbled when he remembered the kiss he had stolen last night— before he had found out about his son. Heat coiled in his belly with a fierce demand that shocked him. How could it be that she could still arouse such lust and need in him even after five years of being apart? Feeling betrayed by his own body, Pascual impatiently lengthened his stride. He would walk hard for a while and burn up some of the nervous heightened energy that throbbed through him, he concluded grimly. His treacherous and inconvenient desire would give him no peace if he did not.
And there was something else he had made a decision about. The planned visit to a polo match at one of Britain’s most elite sports grounds today no longer held any appeal for him, he realised—end of the season or no. No…He had far more important upcoming events commanding his thoughts—the first one entailed putting Briana in the picture about his plans, and the next was visiting his son…
Dumbfounded, Briana stared at her fresh-faced colleague. ‘What do you mean he’s decided not to go to the polo match?
Back home in Buenos Aires the temperature would be a predictable twenty-two degrees, warm and sunny. But strangely at that moment he felt no particular longing for the place of his birth. Where he was right now was perfect because that was where his son was, he realized—that was enough to make Pascual content to be there. What did he look like, this boy of his? Did any of his features resemble his father’s? What characteristics might they share? Feeling his throat tighten almost unbearably, he muttered something impatient into the frigid air.
How could she have done it? How could Briana have deliberately kept his child from him? Even if he had cheated on her with Claudia—which he most definitely had not —was he deserving of such unbelievable treatment? And just because her faithless father had had affairs, did it naturally follow that Pascual would do the same? He was a different kind of man entirely…an honourable, loyal man. If only she had seen that. And he was even less likely to have an affair knowing he had a child to think of! How was it possible that he had once loved such an untrusting woman—a woman who had preferred to leave him rather than stay and hear his side of the story?
Preferring to focus on solutions rather than regrets, and for the moment determinedly putting the past aside, he concentrated on some of the decisions he’d reached last night about the future. When he returned to Buenos Aires in a couple of days he would be taking the boy back with him. No question about it. ‘When you become a father,’ his friend Fidel had once told him, ‘everything changes. In a way the path becomes much clearer. You are less concerned with your own needs and ambitions. Instead almost every waking moment is given over to this precious child you have helped bring into the world…’
Sadly, his friend had not lived to see his own child grow up. Having already missed out on Adán’s infant years, Pascual was determined that from now on it would be a very different story for him. And if Briana made it difficult in any way, then he would not hesitate to take a legal route to claiming what was his. But he hoped it would not come to that. Much better that she saw she had done both him and his son a grave injustice in keeping them apart, was ready to right a wrong rather than make that wrong even worse by obstructing him.
Taking a moment to expel a long, troubled breath, he continued on his journey up the winding lane. He almost stumbled when he remembered the kiss he had stolen last night— before he had found out about his son. Heat coiled in his belly with a fierce demand that shocked him. How could it be that she could still arouse such lust and need in him even after five years of being apart? Feeling betrayed by his own body, Pascual impatiently lengthened his stride. He would walk hard for a while and burn up some of the nervous heightened energy that throbbed through him, he concluded grimly. His treacherous and inconvenient desire would give him no peace if he did not.
And there was something else he had made a decision about. The planned visit to a polo match at one of Britain’s most elite sports grounds today no longer held any appeal for him, he realised—end of the season or no. No…He had far more important upcoming events commanding his thoughts—the first one entailed putting Briana in the picture about his plans, and the next was visiting his son…
Dumbfounded, Briana stared at her fresh-faced colleague. ‘What do you mean he’s decided not to go to the polo match?
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