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THREE

      MIGUEL stood by the window and stared out to sea, but still only saw the hunger in Allegra’s blue eyes when he’d tossed out his proposition. He’d thought she’d balk when she realized he’d set them up to be targets of the gossip rags. He’d expected anger at being forced to do his bidding in order to gain her freedom.

      But she hadn’t hesitated long before agreeing to resume the role of his wife, leaving him to believe that she wanted out of their marriage so badly that she’d prostitute herself.

      She was a money-grabbing schemer. She’d likely run through the funds she’d gained by selling the jewelry she’d stolen and was desperate to sell the beach house to fund her affair. Was Amando Riveras waiting for her to return to him with a fat purse, or had she taken a new lover?

      That possibility was a fresh knife thrust in his heart. He hated her as hotly as he’d once desired her for taking his child when she ran off with her lover, for her defiance ended his niña’s life. He’d been sure her deceit had burned out all feelings in him save vengeance.

      But being with her again, drawing in her provocatively sweet scent, being close enough to run his hands through her wealth of hair and glide his palms over her creamy soft skin had reawakened the unbridled lust she’d always ignited in him.

      She was the spark to his tinder, and he was powerless to put out the flames of desire.

      He prided himself on his steely control—until he’d met her. She was the enigma that slipped past his defenses. She was the waif who stole into his thoughts when he needed his rapier wits about him.

      She was the one person who struck fear in him, for the feelings she roused terrified him more than the very real possibility of something ill befalling her.

      Even now he caught himself concerned about her drastic weight loss that went beyond her losing her baby weight. He knew well she’d always fussed about being too heavy when he’d thought her perfect.

      Now she had the figure to rival a fashion model. The pale fragile complexion was indicative of someone who’d spent an exorbitant amount of time indoors. In bed with Amando?

      He swore and ran a hand over his just-shaved jaw as he thought of his wife making love with the man he’d hired to guard her. How long had it taken for the man to seduce Allegra?

      The attraction had to have taken root before she gave birth to Cristobel. While her belly was swollen with his child, the man he’d handpicked to guard his wife from a kidnapper had seduced her.

      And she’d welcomed Amando’s attentions!

      He’d known Allegra was unhappy with their marriage those past few months. She hated living at Hacienda Primaro. She had argued bitterly with his madre. She complained about being shut out of his life and wished to hold a position within his corporation.

      “A Gutierrez wife does not work in that sense,” he’d told her. “Your job is your home and family.”

      “I’ll go crazy here with so little to do,” she’d insisted.

      He refused to be moved. “Then perhaps you should ask Madre what causes you could lend your name and time to.”

      She’d said no more about holding a job after that. He’d thought she’d finally understood her position.

      But he’d been wrong.

      While he was immersed in helping the indigenous people survive a catastrophe, she was stealing a fortune in jewels and leaving him with the man he’d hired to protect her from kidnappers.

      Miguel had returned to Hacienda Primaro to find his wife gone, his daughter dead and his marriage over. She’d flown back to England, not even staying for their niña’s burial.

      Over the ensuing months, his mind had conjured up a thousand scenarios of her and Amando secreted away. He spent countless sleepless nights envisioning ways to make her pay for carelessly endangering their daughter’s life, and for dragging him through this emotional hell.

      Miguel had been on the verge of hiring a detective to find her when her housekeeper in Cancún called him. Allegra had phoned to have her ready the beach house.

      He made sure he was here waiting for her.

      He squinted at the dark line gathering on the horizon. Would he find peace of mind after he extinguished the vengeance that burned in him night and day? Would he ever be free of the guilt that battered his heart because he’d not been there to stop his wife from leaving with his darling niña?

      He tipped his head back and stared at the pristine-white ceiling where a fan gently stirred the air that was rife with tension. He’d paid off this house for her as her bride’s gift.

      Their love nest, she’d called it.

      It had been, too, for they’d retreated here when they needed to be alone. They’d created their beautiful niña here.

      Unease rippled over his skin. If she’d wanted out of her marriage, why hadn’t she asked for a divorce before? Why the hell hadn’t she left Cristobel with Madre when she ran off with Amando Riveras?

      The scuff of a shoe on the steps alerted him to her entrance. Before the accident, he always turned to greet her with a welcoming smile that mirrored his desire, always had been stunned by her natural beauty. Her poise. Her sensual aura that enveloped him in her white-hot woman’s heat.

      They’d had a passionate connection that he’d never felt with another woman. It caught him off guard to discover that attraction was still there—still as commanding as it had been that first day he’d seen her on the beach.

      But he wouldn’t let her know that. She’d lost that right to know what was in his heart when she left him for another man.

      Miguel faced her, his features carefully wiped clean of the emotions that kept him on edge. The erotically sensual woman before him made his pulse race.

      Even wearing such a provocative gown, she looked poised and sure of herself. Surely every man would lust after her tonight.

      “You are more alluring in that gown than I remember,” he said.

      The flush streaking across her cheeks and coloring her throat reminded him of the day he’d bought this dress for her. She’d blushed and fussed and told him that it would be months before she could fit into this gown because she’d just discovered she was pregnant.

      That day he’d started thinking of forever with this woman instead of an affair. That day he’d thought with his heart instead of his head, even though a part of him warned of the danger of caring too deeply for her.

      He wanted her, and was certain he’d not fall that deeply under her spell. But he had.

      He’d been terrified of loving her. And terrified of losing her.

      In the end he’d done both.

      He cut a sharp glance at his watch, blotting the provocative sight of her from his mind. Yet his body still hummed with awareness of her.

      He gritted his teeth and tamped down the raw animal need coursing through him. She came back for closure?

      Fine, he’d gladly help her slam the door on their past. But she was in for a rude shock, for when he was done with her, she’d have nothing. She’d gotten all she was going to get from his family.

      No, that was a lie. He’d lived for the moment when the business dinner was concluded, when he and Allegra returned here tonight. When she upheld her agreement to be his wife in all ways. When he took her heart again. And when he dumped her as she had him, she’d know the pain of betrayal.

      He let his gaze sweep up her, slowly this time, noting the tensing in her limbs and inviting swell of her bosom. The telling hip thrust was a primitive and provocative invitation for him to push her against the wall and take her now.

      Sí, she was a

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