When she’d closed the elevator doors in his face, fury had sent him back to the party. He’d channeled that energy into making the rounds, speaking with guests, sampling the hors d’oeuvres and delivering a brief speech on the Cabrera Merlot to thunderous applause.
Halfway through the evening he’d grabbed apolvorone. The sweet taste of sugar and butter mixed with decadent chocolate had conjured up a look of pure pleasure on Everleigh’s face when she’d eaten a cookie.
The memory of her candidness and her passion for Fox Vineyards had started to chip away at his anger, until he’d been left with a hollow sensation that had dogged him the rest of the evening. Even when Alejandro had introduced him to a stunning nurse practitioner, whose ebony legs had been displayed to perfection in a champagne-colored cocktail dress, his mind hadn’t been able to let go of the sight of Everleigh walking toward the elevator, shoulders thrown back defiantly even as defeat had radiated from her body.
That image was the reason he had woken up in bed alone and come to the lobby to track her down. He didn’t owe Everleigh an explanation. The sale between Cabrera and Fox would move ahead, as Richard wanted.
But he could at least check on her before he flew back to Spain.
“If you’re looking for that woman, she checked out this morning.”
Adrian spun around and pinned Alejandro with a steely gaze. “How do you know?”
Alejandro grinned wolfishly. “I escorted a young woman to her taxi this morning. Around seven or so.”
“Seven?”
Alejandro shrugged. “It was a good night. But as we were...ahem...saying goodbye, I saw your blonde friend walking out with her suitcase.”
Ten minutes later Adrian was back in his room packing up his clothes, when his cell rang.
“Good morning, sir,” said his personal assistant, Eli. “I trust the party went well?”
“Very,” Adrian responded shortly.
Everleigh’s face, pale and yet strong, still filled his mind. He rubbed his hand across his forehead. Why could he not focus?
“Good. I have the itinerary for your trip to Spain. You’ll land at—”
“Eli, change of plan.”
A brief pause, and then “Yes, sir.”
“Get me on the first plane to Rochester, New York, out of La Guardia—first class—and then a rental car.”
“Yes, sir. What should I tell your father about the meeting with the Granada tourism board?”
“I’ll follow up with him when I arrive later this week. Tell him I have some unfinished business with Fox Vineyards.”
CHAPTER FOUR
EVERLEIGHURGEDHERHORSEto go faster, savoring the rush of hot adrenaline and its contrast to the cool wind rushing by. The thick clouds grew darker. At any moment the skies would open and douse the landscape with rain.
But Everleigh didn’t care.
“Faster, Paris!”
Paris obliged and quickened her pace, thundering up the hill so fast the trees passed by in a blur. Half a mile away a long driveway curved up and over the velvet green hills and led to the front door of the farmhouse she called home.
She grabbed the reins and eased Paris back from her gallop until they achieved a slow, easy walk. Paris’s ears drew back and she snorted.
“Did I slow you down too soon?” Everleigh asked with an affectionate pat on Paris’s damp neck.
The growing blackness of the sky mirrored her resurfacing anger. Her fingers tightened on the reins as the disastrous confrontation she’d had with her father that morning rose up in her mind.
“You didwhat?”
Her dad had almost shouted when she’d cornered him in the library this morning. He hadn’t even let her talk.