Valdez's Bartered Bride. Rachael Thomas

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       PROLOGUE

      Middle of September, two months earlier

      ‘DO YOU REALLY expect me to go through with it?’ Raul Valdez’s voice thundered around the room, his Spanish words fluid and fast.

      ‘The debt needs to be repaid and, whether you like it or not, the contract your father made before his death with Henry Carter-Wilson still stands. As a member of the board I insist upon it.’ Carlos’s voice ripped through Raul, increasing his anger to an explosive level.

      Raul swore savagely as he glared at the older man. ‘Come on, Carlos, we go back further than that.’

      ‘As a long-standing family friend, I urge you to stop looking for someone who doesn’t want to be found and marry the girl—as your father obviously intended.’

      ‘Marry her?’ Raul couldn’t believe he was hearing this, from Carlos of all people.

      ‘Repay the debt, then file for a divorce once the two years are up.’

      Rage charged through Raul like a bull. How could his father have done this? But that wasn’t a question he needed to ask. He’d never been able to gain his father’s approval, had tried all his life to no avail. This was just one more stab at the son he’d never wanted.

      ‘You make it sound so easy.’ Raul drew in a deep breath and marched to the windows looking out over Madrid, basking in the late summer sunshine. On paper it did look easy, but marriage was the one thing he’d never wanted.

      ‘It is,’ Carlos replied, his tone neutral and matter-of-fact. ‘Two years living with a woman who, you’ve got to admit, is very beautiful, then you can file for a divorce.’

      ‘I have no intentions of marrying anyone. Ever.’ Raul strode across the office, the constraint of the walls making him feel more like a caged animal, trapped against its will. Anger at what his father had done mixed with the fear of being controlled by him still becoming a potent cocktail.

      Raul stopped pacing and looked out over Madrid again, trying to control his temper. He stayed like that for several minutes, his back resolutely turned to Carlos Cardozo, the man who had been there for him more than his father ever had. His father. That was a joke.

      He’d always known he’d been a disappointment to his father, but never had he expected such revelations after his sudden death. He’d never suspected his father had hated him, but then he’d never suspected his father had had another family—another son.

      ‘The only other option you have is to find your half-brother.’ Carlos’s calm voice brought him out of his dark thoughts and back to the present with a sharp jab of shock. ‘Which would mean sharing your inheritance—everything you have built this banking enterprise up to be.’

      Raul whirled round. This had been a detail his father’s lawyer had revealed, one he’d kept secret since that day. How did Carlos know? ‘You know about him?’

      ‘Yes.’ Carlos looked him in the eye, challenging him to ask more.

      ‘How long?’ Raul took the challenge.

      ‘Long enough to know how this is affecting you now.’ Carlos’s voice softened a little as he walked over to him.

      Raul had been in ignorance of his half-brother’s existence until his father’s will had been read out two months ago. It seemed Carlos had known the full facts of his father’s double life long ago.

      ‘And you didn’t think I should know?’ His anger rallied again as he glowered at Carlos, the taste of deception filling his mouth with its bitterness.

      ‘I never knew your father would make finding him a condition to you inheriting. Or that he would attach such a huge financial incentive to that task.’

      Huge financial incentive.

      That was an understatement.

      ‘That or marry a woman I barely know.’ Raul glowered at Carlos, suspicion rising at just how much this man knew.

      ‘Marriage would be the easier option.’

      ‘Is that so?’ Raul seriously doubted that. Besides, his brother was out there somewhere.

      ‘It is. You are your father’s son. Marriage will be easy for you. Far better than to share all you’ve worked for.’

      Raul turned away again. His world had been tipped upside down and then inside out. In order to inherit the financial company he’d built into a world player, he had to clear one very large debt by either marrying the debtor’s daughter, or by acknowledging his half-brother and bringing him into the business as an equal, which would unlock funds that would clear the debt and keep the board of directors happy. If the debt wasn’t settled, the company would be sold to the highest bidder.

      The fact that his father had even kept those funds hidden exposed the depths of calculation he had gone to, but that he was prepared to risk his company if the debt wasn’t settled, to risk the jobs of all the people who worked for Banco СКАЧАТЬ