In the Name of Love (13 page)

Once Darcy found out he was an international event rider she had endless questions about his training and horses. Felipe could feel the energy draining out of him. It didn’t help that he had got through four glasses of champagne very rapidly. He perked up when she mentioned that her parents owned a stables. So he could add rich to the list of pretty but dull. At least that might be useful.

‘You’ll have to come down and visit, if you’re here for long enough. There’s plenty of room in the house for you to stay.’ She was gazing at him provocatively, leaving him in no doubt whose room he’d be sleeping in. The blatant offer didn’t arouse even a flicker of interest in him.

‘Thank you, but I’m leaving on Monday.’

‘That’s a pity, but maybe we can meet up in Spain. I’m always flying over there. We have a villa in Marbella.’

The stables, the big country house, the villa … Felipe couldn’t get excited about any of them. After all, he had those things himself. ‘Of course,’ he replied, and smiled politely. He was about to make an excuse about needing to find his friends when he caught sight of a woman in a show-stopping red dress. He caught his breath – it couldn’t be, could it? But even from a
distance
he knew it was Charlie. And as if to banish any doubt she tilted her head to the side and he saw her beautiful profile.

Darcy was still chatting away but he had no idea what she was saying; all his attention was focused on Charlie. An older, handsome man had his arm round her and the two of them were laughing about something. They seemed very close. Were they a couple? Charlie hadn’t wasted any time, he thought bitterly, conveniently forgetting that he was the one who had pushed her away.

‘I’m sorry?’ he said to Darcy. ‘I didn’t quite catch what you said.’

Darcy glanced over in the same direction as Felipe and noticed Charlie and Aidan, the two people at work she loathed the most. Charlie for being so popular with everyone and for calling her Arsey Darcy behind her back – one of the other PAs had let that slip – and above all for being a presenter, the role Darcy herself coveted. Aidan she disliked for the way he always seemed to look down on her. She glanced back at Felipe who seemed riveted by the sight of Charlie. He hadn’t looked at
her
like that. Darcy experienced a hot flash of jealousy. Even at the ball it seemed she was going to lose out to Charlie. Well, she wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

Charlie and Aidan were having a fine old time pretending to flirt with each other. The glasses of champagne they’d knocked back had helped and Aidan had perked up considerably since the taxi journey. They had chatted to various sporting stars, including Andy
Murray
and Victoria Pendleton, and all in all had done their duty.

‘Can I just say what a cute boyfriend you make?’ Charlie whispered. She was feeling far more relaxed as well after her earlier blues.

Aidan grinned and kissed her cheek. ‘That’s what all the boys tell me.’

While he went off to talk to a cricketer he knew, Charlie took the opportunity to glance around the room. It was like a
Who’s Who
? of the sporting world and their partners. Fingers and toes crossed TFB wouldn’t be here. This wasn’t his kind of scene at all. He was much happier in a club, flirting with the many girls who made it their mission to seek out wealthy footballers. She saw Gary and Danielle Lineker, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, Steven and Alex Gerrard, Jamie and Louise Redknapp. And then she noticed Angel and Cal Bailey. Wow! They were such a good-looking couple. Angel had just had a baby boy but you never would have known from her slender figure. She looked radiantly beautiful. Her long honey-blonde hair was in an elegant ballerina-style up do and she was wearing a gorgeous black lace evening dress. Cal, who seemed to get better-looking with every passing year, had his arm protectively around her. Charlie couldn’t wait to tell her mum, who had a massive crush on Cal, along with most of the women in the country.

Charlie took another glass of champagne from a waiter and gazed at the women swishing by, so colourful with their glittering jewels and bright dresses. For an instant they reminded her of the tropical fish she’d
seen
in the Caribbean. Men looking suave and sophisticated in black tie were cruising by. Even old boot-faced uglies were improved by black tie, and good-looking men became staggeringly handsome in it. She noticed Darcy deep in conversation with a tall, dark-haired man – and then nearly dropped her champagne glass when she saw it was Felipe. Fuck! What he doing here? Instantly she felt breathless, giddy and light-headed. How pathetic! She was like a schoolgirl seeing her first crush.

‘Hello, Charlie, my darling girl!’ Another surprise. It was Luis, arm-in-arm with a beautiful woman who resembled Penelope Cruz. At this precise moment it wouldn’t have surprised Charlie if it had been Penelope Cruz.

‘Luis, how great to see you, but what are you doing here?’ It seemed an astonishing coincidence. She thought of Zoe’s OTT Cinderella comment – had her friend known that Felipe was going to be here?

‘Oh, we had some business meetings in London, which coincided with the dinner. And this is my wife Mariana.’

‘It is wonderful to meet you, Charlie, I’ve heard so much about you. And you are in every way as beautiful as Luis told me. Have you seen Felipe yet? I know he is dying for you with all his heart.’ Clearly Mariana’s English, which she spoke in a husky voice with an adorable Spanish accent, was not quite as good as her husband’s.

‘Are you sure about that?’ Charlie said dryly, instantly becoming defensive.

‘Oh, yes! And it is so romantic, is it not? The night before – what do you call it here?’ She rattled off something in Spanish to Luis, who said, ‘Valentine’s Day.’

‘Yes! Valentine’s Day!’ Mariana gushed, and then waved enthusiastically to catch Felipe’s attention. Charlie thought she might need to sit down to cope with the surge of emotion that came rushing through her as Felipe saw them and strode straight across the ballroom, with Darcy in pursuit.

Charlie’s mouth felt dry and her heart was racing wildly. It wasn’t just from the shock of seeing Felipe. She realised that she was still absolutely furious with him. This was the man who had brutally rejected her. And now he was standing in front of her, a vision in black tie, so devastatingly handsome …

‘Good evening, Charlie.’ He was cool, polite, seemingly unaffected by meeting her again. He could give TFB lessons in how to be a bastard! The hours and hours she had spent thinking about this man, and now he was talking to her as if she was a slight acquaintance. It was outrageous!

‘So how do you two know each other?’ Darcy butted in. God, she was annoying. Mind your own business, Charlie wanted to retort. Instead she bit her tongue and let Felipe do the talking. Choosing not to look at Darcy, his gaze still fixed on Charlie, he replied, ‘We met on holiday in Barbados.’

‘How exciting,’ Darcy drawled, sounding very unexcited about it.

‘And then Felipe decided that he didn’t want to know me and basically told me that he never wanted to see
me
again.’ Charlie was not doing so well at keeping her cool. ‘Oh, and that I was a whore! It’s hard to forget that kind of comment.’

‘He realises he was a complete idiot and that he made a monumental mistake, Charlie, one he deeply regrets.’ Now Luis was getting involved.

‘Too fucking right!’ she burst out, causing other guests to look over, raising their eyebrows at the bad language.

‘I do realise that I made a mistake, and I’m sorry,’ Felipe put in, but to Charlie’s mind he still sounded too smooth and arrogant. And he couldn’t have been that sorry or he would have got in touch with her before now.

‘How’s the website company by the way?’ she added, sounding sarcastic and spiky. Felipe didn’t answer but bowed his head to acknowledge that he had screwed up.

By now Aidan had joined the group. Sensing that something was amiss, he put his arm protectively round Charlie’s shoulders. ‘Everything okay?’

She pointed at Felipe. ‘This is Felipe, the man who dumped me because he thought I had lied to him – when all the time he had lied to me. And this is lovely Luis and his lovely wife Mariana.’

‘And you are?’ Felipe asked, glaring at Aidan.

He stuck out his hand. ‘Aidan Shepherd. I’m lovely too, and it’s lovely to meet you.’ He had clearly fallen under Felipe’s spell; he was bloody flirting with him!

‘And you’re a friend of Charlie’s?’ Luis asked.

‘Yes, a very good friend,’ Charlie replied, giving
the
word ‘good’ extra emphasis and sliding her arm round Aidan’s waist. Felipe frowned as he took in the gesture.

She felt she was in the middle of a farce, which would have been funny save for the fact that seeing Felipe again had triggered so many emotions in her, foremost of which was that, however angry she still was, she was also head over heels in lust with him.

‘I’m Darcy Stratton-Hensher by the way,’ Darcy said, moving forward and shaking hands with Luis and Mariana.

‘And I’m sure you are lovely too,’ Luis said gallantly.

I wouldn’t count on it, Charlie thought, wondering why Darcy was hanging around, and then realising she most likely had her eye on Felipe. The two of them were certainly a perfect match when it came to sheer arrogance and feeling entitled to do exactly as they wanted. They could get married and combine their two posh double-barrelled names. Bastards.

A gong sounded, signalling the start of dinner.

‘I guess we’d better take our seats,’ Aidan said. ‘Perhaps we can meet afterwards for a drink? I’m sure Charlie and Felipe have plenty of catching up to do.’

‘Actually I checked the seating plan and we’re sitting at the same table. That’s a coincidence, isn’t it?’ Luis put in.

It certainly was … Again Charlie got a funny feeling that Zoe and Luis had known she and Felipe would be meeting tonight.

‘Oh, fab, I’ll see if I can join you,’ Darcy added. ‘It looked like I was on a table with some complete bores
and
I would much rather sit with you guys.’ She was gazing adoringly at Felipe as she spoke. He was looking at Charlie, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. Acting as if it was entirely irrelevant to her where Felipe was sitting, she took Aidan’s arm, theatrically swept back her long skirt and began walking into the dining room, head held high. She was the Queen of Mean and nothing could touch her.

‘What are you doing, you total loon!’ Aidan whispered. ‘Why are you pretending that we’re an item? Do you think men like that grow on trees? Let me tell you, they categorically do not. He’s divine, go get him!’

‘He also dumped me and lied to me, remember?’ Charlie hissed back. ‘I want you to pretend that we’re together. So stop looking at him with your tongue practically hanging out.’

‘I can’t help it. He is, as all you youngsters say, well fucking fit. I’d love to see him in a pair of tight white jodhpurs and riding boots! Maybe with no shirt on … or, if not, a jacket, undone to show off his chest … I’ve always been more into rowers and tennis players. Who knew that riders were so delish? The ones I’ve met before all had faces like pickled walnuts. But Felipe is like a god! The abs that man must possess … the muscular thighs. In fact, you can tell me. Don’t spare me any details. Giddy up! I’ll have to check out some websites when I get home. Happy days are here again!’

Charlie punched him. Aidan was slightly drunk, and his camp alter ego was coming out. That didn’t suit her plan of making Felipe jealous at all.

‘Ouch,’ Aidan protested, rubbing his arm.

‘Don’t moan, I know you like it rough. And FYI, men wear breeches while riding, women wear jodhpurs.’

‘Whatevs! I need another drink if I’ve got to pretend to be straight. I had no idea that you ladies were so macho.’

The circular tables with their crisp white cloths each seated ten people and it was pretty near impossible to have a conversation with the person opposite, so Felipe was disappointed to discover that was exactly where Charlie was sitting, sandwiched between Aidan and another man. He urgently needed the chance to talk to her, to put things right. Instead he was trapped next to Darcy, who was making her attraction to him embarrassingly obvious. Go away! he wanted to say, longing to be left alone with Charlie. Now he had seen her again he realised that any idea he could ever forget about her was absurd. He was seized with a powerful desire for her … he remembered how smooth her skin had felt when he had caressed her … remembered kissing the tattoo on her shoulder, her silky-smooth thighs … He gazed over at her, willing her to understand. For a second her eyes locked with his, then she quickly looked away.

Darcy’s incessant chatter intruded on his thoughts. ‘I had no idea Charlie and Aidan were an item. I wouldn’t have thought he was her type at all.’

‘And what is her type?’ Felipe asked, pushing smoked salmon to the side of his plate. He wasn’t hungry.

Darcy gave a sly smile. ‘Oh, with the exception of you, she tends to go for the rougher sort. Her last
boyfriend
was a footballer. He could barely string a sentence together, but I guess he had
other
attractions for Charlie.’

If Darcy thought she was doing herself any favours by slagging off Charlie, she was very much mistaken. With each new barbed comment she sank lower and lower in Felipe’s estimation. Now he could add bitchy to the list of things he knew about her.

‘Then again, I imagine Charlie’s used to that kind of man, given her background.’

And now he could add snob. He stifled a yawn.

Darcy, realising that she was losing him, went for the kill as she whispered, ‘Did you know that her brother’s in prison?’

Felipe recalled Charlie not wanting to talk about her twin. He sighed. ‘That’s hardly her fault, is it? I’m sure we all have things we are not proud of in our lives.’

‘Of course. I only said it because I feel sorry for her.’

Felipe didn’t believe that for a second. He glanced at Darcy’s smooth pretty face. It showed no sign of sympathy. Then he noticed Charlie getting up from the table and, muttering a hasty ‘Excuse me’, took the opportunity to follow her. They had to talk.