The Buenos Aires Marriage Deal Read Online Free PDF

waistcoat.
    His aim was obviously to embarrass and belittle her as much as he could, Briana saw, and she would have had no bones about demonstrating her fury with his behaviour if only they had been alone. As things stood, she couldn’t do that. Not without making a scene and besmirching her hard-won reputation as a professional businesswoman.
    ‘Very well, then. I’ll go and ring the casino and let them know how many of us are coming.’

CHAPTER THREE
    T HE private members club was situated in an elegant Georgian house tucked away down a quiet country lane, and it welcomed them with open arms. Used to his name and his wealth opening doors Pascual hovered conveniently close to Briana’s slim back as they were shown into the private casino that was set aside for VIPs only.
    If he was announcing to all who cared to observe them that he was the one who was her escort for the evening then he did not stop to examine why he should be acting so possessively over a woman who had treated him with such disdain. All Pascual knew was that not only did he need to be close to Briana, but he would take a secret sardonic delight in her discomfort too. She had hurt him badly. He knew it was pure animal instinct, but he wanted to find a way of getting back at her for the deed…of ensuring that she would think twice before ever behaving like that again.
    Asked what his favourite game was by the club manager, he had no hesitation in replying, ‘American Roulette.’ Once seated at a circular mahogany table, with a roulette wheel at the centre, and having given their drinks order to a pretty auburn-haired waitress in a short satin lilac dress, he made sure Briana sat next to him on the padded red-velvet seat. His thigh deliberately pressed up against hers. The distinct quiver that shuddered through her made him smile with satisfaction. The sweetly seductive scent of her light perfume and the warmth of her body elicited a similar response inside Pascual. Dios mio! He could hardly credit why he should still be so violently attracted to her after all this time.
    Something about the combustible mix of chemistry they produced when they were together, obviously.
    Seeing the jealous flare in Steve Nichols’ pale watchful gaze as he surveyed the brunette with Pascual, the Argentinian ironically found himself musing that all was fair in love and war, and deliberately leaned closer to Briana, so that she gazed up at him with those smoky alluring eyes of hers and coloured hotly.
    ‘You choose the numbers for me tonight,’ he instructed softly as the smartly dressed croupier dealt the chips.
    ‘I’m not sure I agree with gambling,’ she breathed. ‘What if you lose everything because of me?’
    As if realising what she had said might also refer to the way their relationship had ended, she let her even white teeth come down hard on her tender lower lip and couldn’t hide her intense discomfort.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured.
    For a moment Pascual forgot they were in company, in a public albeit supposedly discreet venue that was used to visiting VIPs with a need for privacy, and warred with an almost insatiable urge to savagely claim her mouth and passionately kiss her.
    Maybe that could come later? he considered, willing his heartbeat to slow down, unable to tear his heated gaze from hers. A quiet but pervasive excitement took root inside him at the idea.
    ‘Place your bets,’ the dealer invited, and Pascual raised an eyebrow at his female companion. ‘What will it be?’
    Clearly reluctant to participate, but knowing she could hardly refuse, Briana frowned. ‘Red six,’ she replied.
    ‘Why six?’
    ‘It’s always been lucky for me.’
    As the little hard white ball hopped and skipped round the moving wheel, every glance round the table seemed hypnotised by it. The other patrons had bet too. Hardly caring whether he won or lost, Pascual felt his heart nearly miss a beat when the ball landed squarely on red six. He had just won