Читать книгу One Night Of Consequences Collection - Ким Лоренс, Annie West - Страница 71
ОглавлениеWE ROSE FOR a late breakfast the next morning, after a night in our hotel room with much giggling and even more lovemaking. As eager as I was to see our baby after a whole night away from him, I was also lingering, enjoying every last moment of this brief, perfect honeymoon.
No one would ever be able to part us again.
“I think,” Alejandro said thoughtfully as we left the hotel, “that was the best honeymoon I’ve ever had.”
“Best and only,” I said.
“No, surely not only. Our marriage will be nothing but one long honeymoon,” he said huskily, then to prove it, he kissed me. The kiss soon became so intense and deep that Alejandro muttered something about renting the room for another night, and started to pull me back toward the hotel.
“But we can’t!” I protested with a laugh. “Miguel...”
“All right,” he grumbled, then his eyes smoldered. “But I’m taking you back to our bedroom as fast as the car will go.”
But at my request, we returned to Rohares the long way. He took me to the spot where legend said Boabdil, the last sultan of Spain, took his very last look at Granada, after he was forced to cede it to Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
“Oh, no. I left the guidebook at the hotel,” I said sadly, then brightened. “But I left my name in it. Hopefully they’ll find it and call.”
“A guidebook? Get another one!”
“It’s a souvenir,” I whispered, “of the happiest night of my life.”
He kissed me, then standing on the hill, we looked back at Granada. “They say Boabdil wept when he looked his last upon his city,” I said wistfully. “And his mother mocked his tears. She sneered that he was weeping like a woman for what he could not fight for as a man. Can you believe that?”
“People can say hurtful things to those they love,” Alejandro said quietly. “Especially when they’re backed into a corner and their own hearts are breaking.”
As we drove back home, I suddenly realized Alejandro was right. I thought of all my anguished years feeling lonely in London, wishing hopelessly for my grandmother, my uncle and Claudie to love me. But they could not, because they did not know how. Instead, they’d relentlessly pursued the wrong things, luxury and status and appearance. They’d never known that the only way to gain happiness was not only to follow your heart, but to give it away.
Leaning over, Alejandro took my hand. Bringing it to his lips, he fervently kissed it. My eyes blurred with tears as I smiled at him, thinking how lucky I was.
And that was the moment I forgave my family for not loving me. Sometimes, I thought, you have to make your own family.
Blushing, I said shyly, “So what do I call you now?”
He looked at me. “I’ve grown fond of Alejandro. I’ll let my son keep Miguel.” He turned away, facing the road. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “After we get back, I’m going to talk to a lawyer. I’ll see if there’s any way to renounce the title without causing risk to Maurine.” He looked at me. “But it seems so much to ask of you.”
“What?”
“Would you be heartbroken to give up the title of duchess—and know Miguel would never be a duke?”
“Are you kidding?” I gave a low laugh. “I’m happy to give it up. Do you really think I’m duchess material?”
He looked at me seriously. “Yes, mi amor. Yes.”
“I’m happy as your wife,” I whispered. “However that may be.” And he squeezed my hand in his.
When we arrived at Rohares Castle, we hugged our baby and Maurine, who immediately started telling us every small detail of their extremely uneventful night, which mostly involved patty-cake and Miguel dozing as his great-grandmother read him Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra. “So Miguel felt part of the experience, too. It seemed appropriate....”
“Like his name,” I said. Smiling, I glanced back at Alejandro. “It turns out I named him after his father.”
With an intake of breath, Maurine looked between us. Then she gave a whoop of joy. “Took you long enough,” she cried, then hugged us, telling us we were silly to be so emotional as she wiped her own eyes. “So. I, too, have news. The best news of all.” Maurine looked between us, beaming. “While the two of you were on your honeymoon, I did something with your hairbrush....”
The house phone rang loudly from across the great room. Wondering if it might be the hotel calling about my guidebook, I said hurriedly, “Just a minute.” Rushing across the room, I answered breathlessly, “Hello?”
“Don’t say my name.”
Edward?! I gritted my teeth and rasped, “I’m hanging up now.”
“If you do, you’ll be sorry.”
Something about the cool confidence of his voice made me hesitate. “Why?”
“Because I know.”
“What?”
“Everything.”
A chill went down my spine. I tried to bluff. “Everything about what?”
“About your husband. And the lie he told twenty-three years ago.”
The chill turned to ice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He snorted, then said quietly, “I followed you to Granada. I was in the shadows on the street. When you came out alone from the restaurant, I was going to comfort you. Then your husband followed you out. And gave me all the ammunition I would ever need to destroy him. And that so-called grandmother of his.”
Turning, I stared wide-eyed at Alejandro and Maurine across the great hall, where they were laughing together. I gripped the phone. “What do you want?”
“What I’ve always wanted. You.”
“I don’t love you—”
“Yes. I know. You love him. So if you want to protect him, this choice should be easy for you. I’m waiting in a car at the castle gate. Call the guard. Tell him to let me in.”
“If I tell Alejandro how you’re trying to blackmail me, he will kill you.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Which is why you won’t tell him.”
“You don’t understand! That’s not just an expression. He will literally kill you!”
“Let him try,” he said flatly. “Tell him, if that’s how you want this to go. I’m not afraid. I have nothing to lose.” He paused. “Do you?”
I shuddered, trembling, afraid that Alejandro would really kill him, and he’d end up in jail not just for fraud, but for murder. “What do you want me to do?”
His voice was smooth and slick. “Tell him you’ve changed your mind about your marriage. Tell him you only wanted him when you thought he was a real duke, but now...you’re in love with me.”
Horror filled my heart. “He’ll never believe it—”
“He will. That’s what frightens you.” He gave a low laugh. “Tell him you’re going to spend tonight with me, and your lawyers will be in touch about divorce—and custody. That bit about custody is just for you, by the way. I’ll let your baby live with us. Doesn’t that show how much I care?”
“You never cared about me,” I whispered. “If you did, you couldn’t do this.”
“I took care of you. I saved you. I earned you. Not him.”
“I’m a human soul—not some trophy to be won!”
“You should be mine,” he said coldly. “Let him watch you leave with me. Make him believe I’m the one you want. And I’ll forget what I know. Do it for his sake. And the old woman’s.”
“Edward, please...”
“Three minutes. Then I’m calling a press conference.”
“And he’ll kill you!”
“Then Navaro will be in jail for the rest of his life. And your kid will have no father. Or great-grandmother. Make your choice. You say you really love them? Prove it.”
The line clicked off.
My whole body shook as I hung up.
“Who was it?” Alejandro said behind me.
“N-nothing. I mean, no one.”
“Which is it? Is something wrong?” His eyes were sharp. Of course he knew something was wrong. He saw right through me. Saw my anguished heart.
So how could I break his—with a lie?
And yet—how could I not?
Wide-eyed, I looked across the great hall toward Maurine, who at her age would likely never come back from the shock of a scandal and trial for fraud, much less being sent to prison. I looked at my sweet baby in his baby swing, who would endure the experience I’d feared most—being surrounded by paparazzi—before he lost his father. And Alejandro. I looked at him, hardly able to breathe. If he really did attack Edward as I feared...
I remembered the look in his eyes in Granada when I’d told him that Edward had visited me. I remembered the cold menace in his face.
I will kill him.
“Lena?” Alejandro frowned, coming closer. “Who was on the phone?”
The phone suddenly rang again. I picked it up.
“Your Excellency?” It was the security guard at the gate. “There’s an Edward St. Cyr here. He has no appointment. Should I let him inside?”
I took a deep breath.
“Let him in,” I said faintly, then hung up the phone. I picked up my handbag. I walked slowly toward my family, feeling as if I was going to die.
But I would die for them. I looked at those three beloved faces, in this beautiful old castle I’d already come to love. My family. My home. Would I do it? To save them?
Yes.
“Where are you going?” Alejandro said.
“I’m sorry.” My teeth were chattering. My words were faint. “Our marriage is over. I’ll be back tomorrow. So we can discuss c-custody....”
I stopped at the door. Alejandro was staring at me with open-mouthed shock. I was trembling so hard it was all I could do not to black out.
But it was the only way to save him. To save all of them.
I was the one who’d allowed Edward into our lives. I was the one who should pay for that. Not them.
But as I looked into Alejandro’s face, I knew that he, too, would suffer. Squeezing my eyes shut, I turned away.
“Edward’s come for me,” I choked out. “I’m leaving with him now. We both know it never would have worked out with us, Alejandro. Not for long...”
“What are you saying?” he breathed, searching my gaze. “I don’t believe you!”
“I’ll be back with a lawyer—tomorrow....” My voice ended on a sob. Whirling around, I fled for the door. Outside, I saw Edward waiting in an expensive SUV. The windows were all rolled down, the engine still running. Sobbing, I climbed in beside him. He gave me a triumphant, cruel smile.
“Wise choice,” he said coldly. “Very smart.”
“I don’t feel smart,” I whispered, hating myself, hating this choice already, wanting to do nothing more than jump out of the vehicle. And suddenly, that’s just what I needed to do. “No. NO. I can’t do this—”
Reaching over me, Edward put on my seat belt. It felt like a restraint.
“You’ll soon be free of his influence,” he said softly, reaching toward me. “I promise you.”
I shuddered at his touch. “Don’t!”
With a low laugh, he put down his hand. “Have it your way. I am a patient man....”
But as he turned the steering wheel and started to drive down the circular courtyard, Alejandro was suddenly there, standing ahead of us, blocking the way to the road.
He wasn’t looking at Edward. He was looking only at me. I saw his lips form my name.
“Make him believe you love me,” Edward growled in a low voice. “Make him believe.”
I licked my lips. I looked at Alejandro’s stark face. The anguish in his dark eyes.
And I couldn’t go through with it.
“I can’t.” My voice trembled as I started fumbling with my seat belt. “I can’t do this. Let me out of here!”
“Too late,” Edward said grimly, holding on to the latch as I tried to fight him.
Alejandro saw us struggling through the front window. Hands clenched at his sides, he started walking toward the SUV, now staring at Edward with narrowed eyes, his powerful warrior’s body threatening his murder.
Edward’s mouth twisted as their eyes met. He glared back, the same expression of murder in his face.
They both intended to kill or be killed today.
Over me.
With a low, cruel growl, Edward stomped on the gas, increasing speed as he drove the SUV straight at Alejandro, who was unprotected and alone in the castle courtyard.
But my husband didn’t turn and run. He didn’t back down. Instead, he started running straight at the car—as if a man could play chicken against seven thousand pounds of steel!
I screamed. Grabbing the steering wheel, I twisted it hard to the left. Veering off balance, Edward’s SUV crashed into the stone fountain and twisted, then flew, high into the air.
As if in slow motion, I felt us fly up, up, up, at the same time we flipped in sickening circles, around and around. We hit the ground with a bone-jarring crunch and rolled down the long hill, all the way down. Then, with a shudder and metallic groan, the SUV was still.
I wasn’t dead. I was upside down, held into the passenger seat by the taut seat belt that had knocked the air out of me, leaving a streak of pain where it crossed my chest.
Panting, I looked over at the driver’s seat. It was empty. Edward was gone.
“Lena!” Alejandro cried. A moment later, my door was wrenched open, and suddenly he was there. He yanked open the seat belt, and caught me in his strong arms as I fell.
Cradling me desperately, my husband sank to the ground, still holding me against his chest. He ran his hands over my body, found no life-ending injury and exhaled, holding me tight against him, rocking me in his lap. “Oh, my love,” he choked out. “You’re safe. You’re safe. For a moment I thought...” He looked at me fiercely. “Don’t ever do that to me again!”
“I’m sorry,” I wept, pressing my head against his chest. “He learned the truth and said if I didn’t come with him, he would ruin your life and Maurine’s and even Miguel’s. I couldn’t risk you going to jail for the rest of your life—”
“I’d rather be sent to jail for a million years,” he said hoarsely, “than lose you.” I felt his body trembling beneath me. Reaching up in amazement, I brushed away a single tear trailing down his tanned, hard-edged cheek.
Pressing my forehead to his, I whispered, “Thank you for not letting me go.”
He cupped my face, looked me straight in the eyes. “Never. We are forever....”
A low growl made us both turn.
“You’ll be sorry.” We turned to see Edward collapsed on the grass, where he’d been flung from the vehicle, across the hill. “Both of you,” he panted, “will be sorry.”
Alejandro’s hands tightened on me. I looked up at him in terror. “Don’t kill him. It’s not worth it. Remember you promised you’d never leave me....”
“Kill him?” He looked at me incredulously. “Why should I? Look at him....”
For the first time, I noticed the odd way Edward’s arms and legs were stretched out in unnatural directions on the grass. But even his body wasn’t as contorted as his face.
“I’ll tell the world,” Edward panted, “how you all committed fraud. I’ll ruin your lives—both of you—the old woman and that baby, too....”
Alejandro glared at Edward, parting his lips to answer. But someone else beat him to it.
“Calm down, dear. You’re acting crazy.”
Maurine stepped calmly between us on the hill. She peered down at Edward benignly, as if about to offer him cookies at a party, and the upside-down SUV behind us, with its crushed steel doors and a wheel still spinning, was just a decoration, like fairy lights or balloons. “Whatever you think is wrong, Alejandro is my grandson.”
Edward gave a hard laugh. “It’s a lie.” He coughed. “I’ll prove it when I get the court order for a blood test....”
“You know, I always wondered.” She smiled, then looked at Alejandro, who was still on the ground, holding me protectively in his lap. She gave a brisk nod. “I was about to tell you, before all the fuss broke out. The hairbrush. You’re my grandson, Alejandro. Really and truly. The grandson of my heart.” She gave us a broad, self-satisfied smile. “Also a grandson of a DNA test.”
I felt Alejandro jump. His face was pale.
“What...?” he breathed.
“The silly secret was just causing such a problem between you two.” She looked between us severely. “And the way you were botching things. It just was ridiculous. Honestly, I’d always wondered why your mother stayed on as housekeeper for all those years, even when my son wasn’t paying her. And then there was that family resemblance.... Anyway. It never mattered to me one way or the other. Until it started to interfere with your happiness.” She grinned. “So I took your hairbrush and had a DNA test. You are my grandson, Alejandro. By heart, as you always were. But also by blood.”
“No!” Edward screamed. Then he was suddenly quiet. I think he had fainted from pain.
Rather vengefully, I hoped he had. Although I didn’t want him to die, of course. I didn’t. Really, I didn’t.
Alejandro’s eyes were wide. “Is this true, Abuela?”
She nodded. “Remain the Duke of Alzacar, and if anyone wants to check if you are my grandson, let them.” She looked at him and said quietly, “There is no one left in the family to inherit, if not you. No one you’re cheating of his rightful due. And let me tell you something more. You’re the finest duke of them all.”
I saw him blinking suspiciously fast. He rose to his feet, helping me to rise, as well. He hugged his grandmother, then pulled me into the embrace. When we finally pulled away, I wiped my eyes, then glanced over at Edward, still unconscious.
“We should call an ambulance, do you think?”
“I can see him breathing,” Maurine said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He’s fine.” She sighed. “But I’ll call.” She glanced at Alejandro. “And I expect the policía will want to come, as well....”
She went toward the castle, and Alejandro looked at me.
“She’s right. We have only a few moments before the police arrive,” he said quietly. “A choice must be made.”
“So make it,” I said, trusting whatever he’d decide.
He clawed back his hair. “I am tired of secrets. Tired of lies.” He turned to me. “I never want another secret to shadow the light between us.”
I nodded, unable to speak over the lump in my throat.
“So.” He smiled at me, blinking fast, then gave a decisive nod. He walked over to Edward, who was still unconscious, his legs stretched out at a painful angle. He put his fingertips to the other man’s neck, then straightened.
“Is he—dead?” I said. Not hopefully. Really.
He shook his head. “His pulse is strong. He will recover.”
“Too bad,” I said.
Alejandro looked at me in amazement. Coming back, he wrapped his arms around me. “It’s not like you to be bloodthirsty, mi amor,” he murmured.
“I can be dangerous—” I reached up my hand to caress his cheek “—when it comes to protecting those I love.”
“Yes.” The corners of his sensual mouth quirked. Then his expression became serious. “But are you brave enough to face what lies ahead? There will be scandal. Or worse. Though perhaps I can protect Maurine....”
“How?”
“I will say that she was distraught over her family’s death, and that I tricked her into believing I was her grandson.”
“Oh, she won’t like that at all.”
“No,” he agreed. He looked at me, emotion in his dark eyes. “Can you bear it, Lena? The storm that might come? Miguel will lose his legacy....”
“You’re wrong.” I put my hand on his cheek. My eyes were watery. “His legacy is more than some title. It’s doing the right thing, even when it’s hard.”
“And love,” Alejandro whispered, pressing my hands together as he kissed them fervently. “Loving for all your life, with all your heart.”
“It’s family, always and forever.” Looking up at my husband, I smiled through my tears. “And whatever may come—our forever has already begun.”
* * *
There are all kinds of ways to make a family.
Some ways are big, such as the way Maurine took in an orphaned twelve-year-old boy and insisted on claiming him as her grandson.
Some ways are small, such as when I sent an invitation to my wedding reception to my cousin Claudie.
Autumn had arrived at Rohares Castle, and with it harvest season for our tenants. The summer heat had subsided, leaving a gorgeous swath of vivid colors, of morning mists and early twilight, full of excuses to sip oceans of hot tea with milk in the morning and go to bed early with my husband with a bottle of ruby-red wine. Every night, we lit a fire in the fireplace—and in our bed. And that fire, as months passed, seemed only to get bigger and brighter.
Just that morning, Maurine had caught us kissing in the breakfast room. She’d laughed. “I don’t think the honeymoon will really ever end for you two,” she said affectionately. Then the doorbell rang, and she’d hurried from the room with a desperate cry: “The florist! Finally!” And we were alone.
I’d given Alejandro a sensual smile.
“Could I interest you in a little more honeymoon?” I said, batting my eyes coyly, to which my husband whispered, “All day, every day,” before he kissed me senseless, then picked me up like a Neanderthal and carried me upstairs, back to bed.
Now, the crowded banqueting hall was lit up for evening, bedecked gloriously in autumn flowers in the most beautiful wedding reception I’d ever imagined. Across the crowds of our guests, I caught Alejandro’s eye. He smiled back at me hungrily, as if it had been a year since he’d last taken me to bed, instead of just a few hours. His hot glance almost made me forget we were surrounded by family and friends.
“I told you he would be your husband,” a voice crowed behind me. “I always can tell!”
“You were right.” Turning, I smiled at Dolores, my neighbor from San Miguel de Allende who’d been whisked here from Mexico for the reception. She’d been equal parts impressed and triumphant when Alejandro had sent a private jet to collect her.
I’d sent Mr. Corgan, Mrs. Morris and Hildy a first-class ticket here from London. They were still working for Claudie. “But she’s mellowed a great deal since she became Mrs. Crosby,” the butler informed me. “He’s rich, and that has made her very happy.”
But I could see that for myself. Claudie had arrived at my door swathed in fur, with her brand-new husband at her side.
“I’m going to give you your inheritance back,” was the first thing she announced to me. “David said it’s the right thing to do. And besides—” she grinned “—we can afford it.”
Same old Claudie, I thought. And yet not exactly the same. “Thank you,” I said in surprise. I paused, then smiled. “Donate it to charity. Introduce me to your husband?”
She beamed. “I’d love to.”
David Crosby was fat, short and bald, but he was indeed very rich, a king of Wall Street. They looked totally wrong together. Until you saw the way they looked at each other.
Claudie told me they’d met through a matchmaking service just for rich people.
“Trophy wives for billionaires?” I guessed.
“After all, Lena,” she sniffed, “not everyone can manage to randomly fall pregnant by the love of their lives.”
“No, indeed,” I said.
“And I’m so happy...” she said wistfully, and I thought that she, too, must have been very lonely in London.
“I’m happy for you, truly,” I said, and impulsively hugged her. My cousin stiffened, then let me hug her. I was encouraged. We weren’t exactly best friends, but it was a start. And after all, we were family....
Pulling away, she wiped her eyes. “At least you dress better now. Your style used to make me physically ill.”
Distant family, thankfully.
But Alejandro and I were surrounded by people who cared about us. I looked around at all the people who were here, celebrating our marriage. Thinking with relief about the one who was not.
I still woke up in a cold sweat occasionally, thinking how I’d almost lost everything by getting into Edward St. Cyr’s SUV that day.
Edward, sadly, had lived.
Oops, did I say that out loud?
Yes, he lived. From what I’d heard, he’d had an easier time than he deserved. A punctured lung and five broken bones. When the ambulance and police arrived, he’d refused to press charges against anyone, or even talk about the accident. But as he’d been lifted into the ambulance, our eyes had met, and he’d coldly and silently turned his face to the wall. He was done with me. A fact that left me profoundly grateful.
I tried to wish him well, because he had once been my friend.
Okay, but seriously. He’d tried to run over my husband with his Range Rover. That’s not the kind of thing I could ever forgive, or forget. So mostly I just tried not to think of it.
Because we had so many other things to be grateful for. As I stood in the banqueting hall of our castle, wearing flowers in my hair and a blue silk gown, I caught Alejandro’s eyes across the crowd. And I suddenly didn’t see all the princes and farmers, starlets and secretaries, or the happy mix of our neighbors and friends. I didn’t see the champagne, or the amazing food, or the flowers hung joyously across the rafters amid a profusion of music and laughter. When I met my husband’s gaze, I shivered, and no one else existed.
Alejandro had contacted a lawyer and confessed everything. With the lawyer’s advice, he’d thrown himself on the mercy of the court. As Maurine’s DNA test had proved, he was the duke’s heir, and his only heir at that, and so the group of nobles who oversaw this type of thing decided to allow him to keep his title. He’d also kept the name. Apparently the combination of money and being a direct blood descendant made a big difference. Suddenly, no one was using the word fraud.
The scandal was intense, though. For weeks, our castle had been under siege, with crowds of reporters shaking our gates, clamoring for a picture or an interview. But since no one on the estate or in the nearby town would talk, even the scandal died eventually, especially when the Hollywood star I’d seen at Alejandro’s party in Madrid had been discovered naked, drunk and belligerent at the base of the Eiffel Tower. Bless her heart. The paparazzi eventually melted away, as our story was old news. Just in time for our reception today, too.
Tomorrow was Alejandro’s birthday. His real birthday. I would give him the painting of Miguel and Maurine, and show him the brand-new photo album I’d begun for our family. On the back page, I’d tucked in a picture of a sonogram. We were going to have another baby sometime next summer, when the jacaranda trees were in bloom.
I could hardly wait to give Alejandro his gift....
I heard a clank of silverware against crystal. “Everyone. Could I have your attention?” Looking up, I saw Alejandro holding up his champagne glass. “I’d like to thank all our family and friends for coming today....”
“Any time you want to send your private jet,” someone shouted.
“Or first-class tickets!”
“Or help me pave my garden path—how’s Wednesday?”
There was scattered laughter, and a few tipsy cheers.
Alejandro grinned. “I’d also like to thank my grandmother for doing such a wonderful job designing this party....”
“Darn straight,” Maurine said stoutly, holding our smiling baby in her arms. Miguel, though barefoot as he did not like shoes, was suitably dressed in a baby tuxedo.
“I’d like to thank our baby son for sleeping so well at night....”
Darn straight, I echoed, but didn’t say aloud.
“But most of all—” Alejandro’s dark eyes glowed with tenderness that took my breath away as he looked at me “—I’d like to thank my beautiful wife. Lena. You gave me the family I never dreamed I could have. Just waking up in your arms every morning is a heaven beyond what any mortal man should deserve. But I will spend the rest of my life trying.” He held up the flute. “To family. Forever.”
“Family forever,” everyone cried, with the greatest cheer of all.
“Thank you,” I said to them. I blinked fast, smiling with tears in my eyes. “I love you all.” I looked at my husband. “Especially you.”
Coming through the crowd, Alejandro took me in his arms, and kissed me soundly in front of everyone. And I kissed him back. Oh, boy, you bet I did.
It was crazy. Just a year ago, I’d been so scared and alone. I’d hated Alejandro. I’d thought I would remain a single mother forever.
The disastrous night we were married in Madrid, Alejandro said sometimes fate chooses better for us than we can choose for ourselves. But I think there’s more to it.
It’s not just fate. You create your own future, step by step, by being brave. By doing the right thing. By telling the truth. By trying your best.
By reaching for the man you love, and giving him the chance to reach back, pull you into his arms and finally show you the man he really is inside—the powerful, infuriating, sexy, compassionate man whom no one else will ever truly know.
Love, like trust, is earned. It is kept, day by day, night by night, as we reveal to each other who we were. Who we are. And most of all, who we hope to be.
* * * * *
