The Spaniard's Untouched Bride, page 1
To save her inheritance...
His price is marriage!
Camilla Alvarez refuses to abandon her beloved horses when formidable tycoon Matías Navarro acquires her family’s renowned rancho. Instead, she disguises herself as his stable boy! Yet when Camilla’s charade is discovered, Matías offers her an even more shocking role—as his wife! Innocent Camilla is transformed into a bride deserving of his diamonds, but their convenient marriage is transformed by the scalding heat of their wedding night...
Lose yourself in this tale of innocence and desire...
Camilla Alvarez. Of course. Cesar Alvarez’s daughter. She had to be. He’d heard about her, though he’d never met her. A spirited horsewoman said to have a near supernatural way with the animals, just as her father had.
A fine match for a man like him, in many ways. Though, he had no intentions now of making a permanent arrangement. And yet...that did not negate his need for a bride.
He needed one, and he needed her quickly.
Camilla, it turned out, needed something, too.
That mutual need could be his salvation.
Holding the horses hostage didn’t bother him in the least. He needed to gain control of the family rancho, of the family fortune. Diego had kidnapped his fiancée, and there was no way in hell Matías was going to allow his brother to win.
His path was clear. And the solution to his problem was standing before him, delivered to him at just the appropriate moment.
“Well, Camilla Alvarez. If you want your horses, then I expect something in return. If you wish to remain here, then you will be my wife.”
Brides of Innocence
Claiming the virgin’s wedding night!
Estranged brothers Matías and Diego Navarro know exactly what they want—to inherit the family fortune! Their father’s terms are simple...the first to marry will be named the Navarro heir. But when merciless Diego kidnaps his brother’s fiancée, Matías is left without his innocent bride.
Although Matías won’t go down without a fight. With a new wife-to-be in place, it’s a race down the aisle for these two billionaire brothers! But will they be able to resist their convenient brides?
Find out what happens in:
Matías and Camilla’s story
The Spaniard’s Untouched Bride
Available now!
Diego and Liliana’s story
The Spaniard's Stolen Bride
Available next month!
Maisey Yates
The Spaniard’s Untouched Bride
Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty romance novels. She has a coffee habit she has no interest in kicking, and a slight Pinterest addiction. She lives with her husband and children in the Pacific Northwest. When Maisey isn’t writing, she can be found singing in the grocery store, shopping for shoes online and probably not doing dishes. Check out her website, maiseyyates.com.
Books by Maisey Yates
Harlequin Presents
Carides’s Forgotten Wife
Bound to the Warrior King
His Diamond of Convenience
One Night With Consequences
The Greek’s Nine-Month Redemption
Married for Amari’s Heir
Heirs Before Vows
The Spaniard’s Pregnant Bride
The Prince’s Pregnant Mistress
The Italian’s Pregnant Virgin
Once Upon a Seduction...
The Prince’s Captive Virgin
The Prince’s Stolen Virgin
The Italian’s Pregnant Prisoner
The Billionaire’s Legacy
The Last Di Sione Claims His Prize
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To romance novels, which have been my inspiration as a writer, and my comfort as a reader. I’m grateful there’s an entire genre devoted to love.
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM MY BOUGHT VIRGIN WIFE BY CAITLIN CREWS
PROLOGUE
HE DOESN’T HIRE WOMEN.
Camilla Alvarez looked into the mirror at her decidedly plain reflection. She was a woman, that much was true. Though, she had never been considered a beauty. Even so, she imagined that as far as Matías Navarro was concerned, she was a woman.
Her cheeks were still wet with tears, her eyes glittering with more. It was unthinkable. Losing her father suddenly as she had to a heart attack, and then losing the ranch, as well. And all the horses...
It was her heart. And, shattered though it was, fractured as it was now, she couldn’t lose it. She could not.
But the horses, the rancho, everything was being sold to cover her father’s debts. Everything was going to Matías Navarro.
He had been one of her father’s fiercest competitors. His racehorses were the only steeds that could compete with those of Cesar Alvarez.
And now Matías owned them.
Because apparently, their rancho had been in debt, the supposed millions of dollars that her family possessed nothing more than smoke and mirrors. All mortgaged to extremes and behind on every payment.
Her father had been an idealist. A man completely laser-focused on his ranch, his animals, his workers. With little time or thought given to anything else. She didn’t even have to ask herself how it had happened. She knew. Her father hadn’t liked the situation, and so he had ignored it.
Collectors had been hounding Camilla ever since Cesar’s death. And her mother—predictably—had gone off to France, taking shelter under the wing of one of her many lovers.
She had always flaunted them in the face of her husband, but Camilla supposed that now that Cesar was dead, her mother felt it was all justified seeing as she clearly had an insurance policy.
Camilla had nothing. Nothing but the rancho. The place she had grown up in, grown wild in. Her mother had rarely been in residence, and for most of Camilla’s life, it had simply been her and her father.
And he had allowed her to do whatever she wanted. To run barefoot. To ride until she reached the end of the property, and then beyond. Roaming all over the Spanish countryside as she pleased.
Her mother, an American heiress who had never settled well into the rural country life, had seen it all as beneath her.
Camilla had seen it as everything. And now it was gone.
She had begged, pleaded, as her horses had been led away from the property by members of Matías’s staff for them to let her go, too. If she was going to lose the rancho, as long as she could be with the horses, as long as she could be with Fuego, she could survive it.
She had told them she would do anything, any job.
But the stone-faced man guiding her favorite black stallion into the trailer had simply shaken his head and told her that Matías Navarro did not hire women.
And indeed, the evidence had been all around her that it was the truth. There was not a single woman among Matías’s staff present at the rancho.
Her father was gone. Her horses were gone. Soon, she would be evicted from the rancho, with nowhere to go. There were no provisions made for her. She had nothing. Nothing and no one. She had never been able to count on her mother during good times, she had no illusions that she would be able to count on the woman now that things were difficult.
Camilla knew one thing. She knew horses.
She knew those horses. She loved those horses.
Fuego was going to be the next champion on the European racing circuit, she was confident in that. But no one else could handle him. No one else could ride him, and he had some way to go before he was ready for anyone else to try.
Matías Navarro would find out soon enough that his new acquisition was essentially useless to him. If the horse could not be broken, then he was worthless.
And without the horses... Her life felt worthless.
She looked back in the mirror, examining her face. She was not classically beautiful. Her mother had always despaired of her heavy bone structure, the angular nature of her jaw and chin. Not feminine, her rather spindly mother had declared.
For the first time, though, Camilla was completely pleased with this assessment of her looks. Because it was going to be an asset to her now.
She opened up the drawer in the vanity and pulled out a pair of scissors. Then she touched a lock of glossy, black hair, and ruthlessly stretched it tight, cutting it close to her ears.
Yes, she had found her solution.
Matías Navarro did not hire women. But perhaps he would hire a new stable boy.
CHAPTER ONE
CAMILLA STRAIGHTENED AND wiped her brow, looking out
Sometimes she ached with the desire to walk through that familiar front door, to feel the red stone floor beneath her feet, the places where it was imperfect. Where it bowed and cracked from years of wear. It was like a familiar friend, and it was gone. She could never have it again.
But at least she had the horses.
It was a tricky thing, though, getting access to Fuego. Matías had refused to allow anyone but his most trusted handler and himself to get anywhere near him. Of course, he was proving to be difficult. Camilla had known he would be. Because he was a difficult animal.
But she had opted to keep herself mostly out of Matías’s vision. She had not seen the point in drawing attention to herself, but it was becoming clear that if she wanted to have anything to do with Fuego she was going to have to assert herself.
A difficult thing, since the assumption was that she was a fourteen-year-old boy, simply doing work in exchange for board on the property.
Very few questions had been asked, and for that she was grateful. She had done a bit more digging about Matías and had discovered that he was generous with his employees. That he had a soft spot for troubled youth and made putting them to work something of a mission.
In spite of his family’s difficult reputation, Matías himself seemed to be a good man. When she ignored that little doesn’t hire women thing.
But she had found a workaround. She had decided to play the part of a troubled youth, fallen through the cracks and likely to end up sleeping on the streets if not for the kindness of the Navarro estate.
It was true enough. She had very few options available to her at the moment. She had no money.
And she was, in fact, qualified for the job she had been hired to do.
All in all, her solution was a reasonable one. So, perhaps concealing her gender might be considered less than reasonable.
But with her hair cut short, and baggy clothes over her rather straight up and down figure, no one questioned it.
In part, she imagined, because very few people looked directly at her. Much less Matías Navarro.
Or his beautiful, birdlike fiancée, who had come to live at the estate just last month. She was a lovely creature and reminded Camilla very much of her mother. She had cascading waves of curling blond hair, pale blue eyes and alabaster skin. Anytime she went out onto the rancho she took extensive breaks to stand in the shade and slather her body with sunscreen.
Matías seemed solicitous of her, often putting his hand on her lower back, or taking hold of her arm, as if the woman would fall onto her face on the uneven terrain if he did not hold on to her in some fashion.
Camilla wondered what it might be like to have someone treat her like that. No one had ever been gentle with her. Her father had treated her as though she were the son he didn’t have. Had allowed her freedom, had encouraged hard labor. Her mother had treated her like an irritation. She had preferred the former.
But no one had ever made her feel precious. No one had ever made her feel fragile.
She sniffed and shrugged her shoulders upward, going back to the task of shoveling manure.
She would rather have this than be cloistered away in that giant manor house. Would rather be out in the sun, out where it smelled like hay and horse and grass.
She looked up and squinted. Judging by the position of the sun, it was about time for Matías to make his rounds. That meant he would be coming out to the stables, likely attempting to take Fuego into the arena to be lunged.
Historically, that had not gone well.
Camilla had watched through a crack in the door of the stable, whenever she had the opportunity. Whenever she wouldn’t get caught by the foreman and scolded for being idle. She wouldn’t do well at all to get fired.
She scampered over to the end of the stable and took her typical position. And then her breath caught.
There was Matías, walking into the arena with Fuego on a lead. Fuego was as beautiful as ever, his coat glossy beneath the late-afternoon sun. He tossed his head, already telegraphing his irritation with the situation, his ears listing backward.
Then her eyes slid to Matías. And everything inside her seemed to freeze.
He was stunning in his own right and reminded her in many ways of the animal he was attempting to tame. His black hair was pushed back off his forehead, his skin bronzed and gleaming. His chest was broad, his white shirt unbuttoned down to the center of his chest, the sleeves pushed up past powerful forearms. He was wearing tan breeches that molded to lean hips and powerful thighs, to say nothing of...other parts of him.
Camilla had been around jockeys her entire life. Typically, they were slightly built, all the better to ride quickly. And she knew that Matías did not race for that very reason. It wasn’t practical. A man well over six feet tall with such a heavy build could never compete with other racers.
No, Matías was not a jockey. Therefore, the sight of him in those breeches was...a different experience. And one she was not accustomed to, no matter that she had grown up at a stable.
Matías and his foreman switched out the horse’s lead for a lunging rope, and Matías stepped backward, moving to the edge of the arena, a whip in his hands, which would be used, not to harm the animal, but to signal changes in what he desired Fuego to do. When he wanted him to change his gait, when he wanted him to stop, or turn.
But, as had happened every time in the past couple of months, Fuego balked. He more than balked. He reared, nearly turning himself over onto his back. Camilla felt a spike of rage, and before she knew what she was doing she was tearing out of the stable and heading toward the arena.
Her face was on fire, her heart beating quickly, and this time it had nothing to do with Matías’s breeches.
“Tonto!” she shouted. “You know he doesn’t like it. And you insist on doing it. He’s going to injure himself.”
It took her a moment to realize what she had just done. That she had just shouted at the master of the domain, while in his domain. That she had just undone two months of attempting to go unnoticed by rendering herself as conspicuous as possible.
“I see,” Matías said, taking too long strides across the arena and heading toward her. “You fancy yourself a great trainer, do you?”
Those dark eyes pinned her to the spot, her feet nearly growing down into the grass as he moved to the edge of the fence. She took a step backward, with great effort, trying to put some distance between herself and her formidable boss.
“Not great, perhaps,” she said, attempting to keep her voice low and steady. “But I know the horse.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I came here...” She desperately tried to improvise. “I did not lie when I said that I would have no home if I wasn’t hired.” She cast a look at the rancho foreman just to be sure that he was listening. So that he could corroborate at least that part of her tale. “I came from the Alvarez rancho. I’m familiar with Fuego. I can work with him.”
“You’re only just now telling us this?” Matías asked, shooting his foreman an appointed glare.
“Don’t blame Juan. I didn’t tell him. I was afraid to draw attention to myself. But now I see that Fuego is not going to acclimate to this new environment. Or to new trainers. I could ride him.”
Matías leaned over, resting those strong forearms over the top rail of the fence. “I am to believe that Cesar Alvarez allowed a scrawny boy to ride one of his most prized horses? That this beast responds to you?”
“That’s right,” she said, tilting her chin upward. “I have a way with him.”
She had always had a way with difficult horses, just like her father had. It was a gift. One that Cesar Alvarez had believed you either had or didn’t. He had told her it was in her DNA, as it was in his.
It had been their sole point of connection. Her father had been entirely invested in the rancho, and anyone who loved him had to love that place just as much. And she did. She very much did.
