He was good, moving around so easily that Elise glided across the stone terrace. “Is this how you got your wife?” she asked.
“I promised to get her out from under my mother’s rule. She ran to me.” He spun her around at arm’s length. “You are destroying my little brother.”
“Good! He’s ripping my heart out and it’s bleeding all over my feet. I may drown in my own blood.”
She’d said this in Spanish, with such drama that Diego laughed. “There are things about my family that you don’t know. We keep our secrets to ourselves.”
“So tell me your biggest, baddest one.”
“Maybe I should. Maybe we should tell you.”
“I’d like to hear of someone else’s problems.”
“Then I must be silent,” Diego said.
She started to ask him what he meant, but he whirled her away again, then Miguel took her hand, then Franco, then...
She was in Alejandro’s arms, her breasts just touching his chest. He had on a shirt of pure white, with ivory embroidery down the center, and pearl buttons. His hair was washed and slicked back. There was little light on the patio and the dusk made his eyes even darker.
She pushed away from him, but he didn’t let go. “I hate you.”
“I know.” He pulled her to him so that her arms were folded onto his chest. His heart was beating against her cheek. The music changed to slow and he swayed to it. “I have to go back.”
“To your real family?” she said.
“No, it’s not. Part of me will never again belong there.”
“You’re going to make me cry.”
“Good. We will weep together.”
For a while they danced. She put one arm around him, one folded against his chest and he held her fingers in his.
“We both have problems we need to solve,” he said.
Elise stiffened. “You have a girlfriend.”
He chuckled. “I wish it were so simple.”
When the music changed to a hard beat, Alejandro took Elise’s hand and led her into the garden, away from the men. They teased, but Alejandro didn’t slow down.
He stopped at the bench by the herb garden and they sat down. He didn’t let go of her hand.
When she looked up at him, her eyes begging him for a kiss, he didn’t lean forward. He smoothed her hair behind her ear, then put her hand on his chest.
“We cannot start what we will not be able to stop.” He stroked her hair. “We both need to be sure,” he said. “I could not bear to be something you use then toss away.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Not intentionally, but I see you with your husband. There is a part of you that if he called, you would go. I would die if that happened.”
Her body was still but her heart was about to leap out of her chest. He seemed to be saying he loved her. And he seemed to be very sure of how he felt. But for Elise, just last night she’d been hoping to have Kent’s baby.
“I am leaving in the morning.”
“No! You can’t—”
He squeezed her hand and smiled. “I will return in the spring and we will see what has changed.”