His Ultimate Prize(42)

'Is that your final answer?' he asked.

'Yes. I don't need to phone a friend and I don't need to ask any audience. My final answer-go to hell!'

Sasha braced herself for more of the backlash he'd been doling out  solidly for the last hour. But all he did was stare at her, his gaze  once again leaving her feeling exposed, as if he'd stripped back a layer  of her skin.

He nodded once. Then he paced the room, seemingly lost for words.  Finally he raked both hands through his hair, ruffling it until the  silky strands looked unkempt in a sexy, just-got-out-of-bed look that  she couldn't help but stare at.

Puzzled by his attitude, she forced her gaze away and tried to hang on  to her anger. She didn't deserve this. All she'd tried to be was a  friend to Rafael, a team mate who'd seemed to be battling demons of his  own.

After her experience with Derek, and the devastating pain of losing the  baby she hadn't known she was carrying until it was too late, she'd  vowed never to mix business with pleasure. Derek's jealousy as she'd  risen through the ranks of the racing world had eroded any feelings  she'd had for him until there'd been nothing left.

As if sensing her withdrawal, he'd tried to hang on to her with a  last-ditch proposal. When she'd turned him down he'd labelled her a  bitch and started a whispering campaign against her that had undermined  all her years of hard work.                       
       
           



       

Thankfully Derek had never found out the one thing he could have used  against her. The one thing that could have shattered her very existence.  The secret memory of her lost baby was buried deep inside, where no one  could touch it or use it as a weapon against her.

Even her father hadn't known, and after living through his pain and  humiliation she'd vowed never to let her personal life interfere with  her work ever again.

Rafael's easy smile and wildly charming ways had got under her guard,  making her reveal a few careful details about her past to him. His  friendship had been a balm to the lonely existence she'd lived as Jack  Fleming's daughter.

The thought that Marco had poisoned him against her filled her with sadness.

'You know, I thought it was Rafael who told you about my past. But it was the other way round, wasn't it?' she asked.

She waited for his answer, but his gaze was fixed on the view outside,  on the picturesque towers of the Royal Castle. A stillness surrounded  him that caught and held her attention.

'For as long as I can remember I've been bailing Rafael out of one scrape or another.'

The words-low, intense and unexpected-jolted aside her anger.

'He's insanely passionate about every single aspect of his life, be it  food, driving or volcano-boarding down the side of some godforsaken peak  in Nicaragua,' he continued. 'Unfortunately the perils of this world  seem to dog him. When he was eleven, he discovered mushrooms growing in a  field at our vineyard in León and decided to eat them. His stomach had  to be pumped or he'd have died. Two years later, he slipped away from  his boarding school to run with the bulls at Pamplona. He was gored in  the arm. Save for a very substantial donation to the school, and my  personal guarantee of his reformation, he would've been thrown out  immediately.'

His gaze focused on her. 'I can list another dozen episodes that would raise your hair.'

'He's a risk-taker,' Sasha murmured, wondering where the conversation  was headed but deciding to go with it. 'He has to be as a racing driver;  surely you understand that?' she argued. 'Didn't you scale Everest on  your own five years ago, after everyone in your team turned back because  of a blizzard? In my book that's Class A recklessness.'

'I knew what I was doing.'

'Oh, okay. How about continuing over half the London-Dakar rally with a broken arm?'

His clear surprise made her lips twist. 'How-?'

'Told you I had nerd-tastic info on you. You own the most successful  motor racing team in the history of the sport. I want to drive for you.  I've done my homework.'

'Very impressive, but risk-taking on the track is expected-within  reason. But even before Rafael ever got behind the wheel of a race car  he was...highly strung.'

'If he's so highly strung that you have to manage him, then why do you  let him race? Why own the team that places him in the very sport likely  to jeopardise his well-being?'

His eyes darkened and he seemed to shut off. Watching him, Sasha was  fascinated by the impenetrable mask that descended over his face.

'Because racing is in our blood. It's what we do. My father never got  the chance to become a racer. I raced for him, but because I had the  talent. So does Rafael. There was never any question that racing was our  future. But it's also my job to take care of my brother. To save him  from himself. To make him see beyond his immediate desires.'

'Have you thought that perhaps if you let him make his own mistakes  instead of trying to manage his life he'll wise up eventually?'

'So far, no.'

'He's a grown man. When are you going to cut the apron strings?'

'When he's proved to me that he won't kill himself without them.'

'And are you so certain you can save him every single time?'

'I can put safety measures in place.'

She laughed at his sheer arrogance. 'You're not omnipotent. You can't  control what happens in life. Even if you could, Rafael will eventually  resent you for controlling his life.'

Marco's lips firmed, his eyelids descending to veil his eyes.

She gave another laugh. 'He already does, doesn't he? Did you two fight? Was that why you weren't at the track this weekend?'

He ignored her questions. 'What I do, I do for his own good. And you're not good for him. My offer still stands.'

Just like that they were back to his sleazy offer of a buy-off. Distaste filled her.

She looked around the sleekly opulent room at the highly polished  surfaces, the velvet walls, the bespoke furniture and elegant, sweeping  staircases that belonged more in a stately home than in a hotel.  Luxurious decadence only people like Marco de Cervantes could afford.  The stamp of power and authority told her she wouldn't find even the  smallest chink in the de Cervantes armour.

The man was as impenetrable as his wealth was immeasurable.

In the end, all she could rely on was her firm belief in right and wrong.

'You can't fire me simply to keep me out of Rafael's way. It's unethical. I think somewhere deep down you know it too.'

'I don't need moral guidance from someone like you.'

'I disagree. I think you need a big-ass, humongous compass. Because  you're making a big mistake if you think I'm going to go quietly.'

His smile didn't quite reach his eyes. 'Rafael told me you were feisty.'

What else had Rafael told him? Decidedly uncomfortable at the thought of  being the subject of discussion, she shrugged. 'I haven't reached where  I am today without a fight or three. I won't go quietly,' she stressed  again.

Several minutes of silence stretched. Her nerves stretched along with  them. Just when she thought she'd break, that she'd have to resort to  plain, old-fashioned, humiliating begging, he hitched one taut-muscled  thigh over the side of the desk and indicated the chair in front of it.

'Sit down. I think a discussion is in order.'

* * *

Marco watched relief wash over her face and hid a triumphant smile.

He'd never had any intention of firing Sasha Fleming. Not immediately,  anyway. He'd wanted her rattled, on a knife-edge at the possibility of  losing what was evidently so precious to her.

The bloodthirsty, vengeance-seeking beast inside him felt a little  appeased at seeing her shaken. He also wanted to test her, to see how  far she would go to fight for what she wanted. After all, the higher the  value she placed on her career, the sweeter it would be to snatch it  away from her. Just as he'd had everything wrenched from him ten years  ago.

He ruthlessly brushed aside the reminder of Angelique's betrayal and focused on Sasha as she walked towards him.

Again his senses reacted to her in ways that made his jaw clench. The  attraction-and, yes, he was man enough to admit to it-was unwelcome as  much as it was abhorrent. Rafael was in a coma, fighting for his life.  The last thing Marco wanted to acknowledge was a chemical reaction to  the woman in the middle of all this chaos. To acknowledge how the flare  of her hips made his palms itch to shape them. How the soft lushness of  her lower lip made him want to caress his finger over it.

'Regardless of the state of the team, I have a responsibility towards the sponsors.'

His office had already received several calls, ostensibly expressing  concern for his brother's welfare. In truth the sponsors were sniffing  around, desperate to find out what Marco's next move would  be-specifically, who he would put in Rafael's place and how it would  affect their bottom line.

She nodded. 'Rafael was scheduled to appear at several sponsored  engagements during the August hiatus. They'll want to know what's  happening.'

Once again Marco was struck by the calm calculation in her voice. This  wasn't the tone of a concerned lover or a distraught team mate. Her mind  was firmly focused on Team Espíritu. In other circumstances, her  single-mindedness would have been admirable. But he knew first-hand the  devastation ambition like hers could wreak.