Master of El Corazon

‘Yes.’ Her hand tightened on his. ‘We must. we—’

‘There’s nothing to discuss, Arden.’ His voice was taut, almost cool, in a way it had not been in days.

‘But there is. We can’t keep pretending that—that El Corazon’s not—not—’ Not mine, she’d almost said, but the look in Conor’s eyes made her swallow the word. ‘That it’s not lying between us,’ she said unhappily.

Conor pushed back his chair and rose to his feet. ‘We’ll deal with what’s between us when the time comes,’ he said in the same tone. Arden could almost see him pulling himself together. Finally, he held his hand out to her. ‘Now, have you forgotten, querida? We’ve a fiesta to attend.’

At this moment, that was the last thing she felt like doing. But Conor was standing over her, a strained smile on his lips, and for the first time she thought that it would be better to spend the day with lots of people than to spend it alone together. With a smile as artificial as his, Arden stood up and took his outstretched hand.

‘It sounds like fun,’ she said brightly, and she breathed a silent prayer that she’d be right.

The fiesta was being held in a town not more than half an hour’s drive up the dirt road Arden had foolishly imagined ended past El Corazon’s iron gates. Now, she knew that the road stretched on through the rainforest almost to the Pacific coast. There were villages on the road, Conor said as they rattled along, ones very much like the one they were going to.

‘They’re all small,’ he said. ‘Blink your eyes and you’d miss half of them.’

Ampara was one of the larger villages. Four straight streets, lined with red-roofed, white stucco houses, intersected in a square where an old mission church stood surrounded by palm trees. The town was alive with a happy, colourful fiesta crowd.

Except for an occasional comment about the road, Conor had said nothing during the drive, and when he pulled the Bronco under a tree at the end of town and shut off the ignition Arden was desperate to clear the air. When he came around to her side of the car and held out his arms to help her down, she hesitated.

‘Conor,’ she said as she put her hands on his shoulders, ‘about the finca—I didn’t mean to make you angry, I just—’

‘I told you, I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘But—’

‘Felix was right,’ he said sharply. ‘No tica would behave as you do.’

A little warning bell sounded inside her head. “That’s the second time this morning you’ve said that.’

‘Said what?’

‘That Felix was right about me.’ Her eyes were steady on his. ‘It doesn’t sound much like a compliment.’

Conor stared up at her as she stood above him on the running board of the Bronco, his face expressionless, and then he blew out his breath. ‘I’m sorry, querida. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.’

‘You haven’t. It’s just-I don’t understand you, Conor. Why is it all right for you to bring up his name but not me? I know how you feel about Felix, about the will, I understand that it angers you to think about it, but—’

‘Ah, that’s wonderful,’ Conor snapped. ‘A little armchair analysis from the gringa. But you’re wasting your time. You don’t understand any of this, not in the slightest!’

Arden’s face went tight-lipped with anger. ‘You’re right,’ she hissed, slamming his shoulders with the heels of her hands. ‘I don’t understand you, not one bit, but then, how could I? You’re a—a pig-headed fool, you’re the worst combination of Irish stubbornness and Latin machismo that I ever—’ Conor began to laugh. ‘Stop that,’ she demanded. ‘Dammit, Conor, how dare you laugh at me?’

He swung her from the car, caught her face between his hands, and kissed her to silence. The anger drained out of her and a sweet languor filled her senses instead, so that when he finally lifted his mouth from hers, she felt boneless in his arms.

‘I apologise again, querida,’ he said softly. ‘You’re right, we do have to discuss our problem.’ The muscle tightened in his cheek. ‘Especially since Linda’s coming back tomorrow.’

Arden’s stomach clenched. In the happiness of the past days, she’d almost forgotten Linda. The girl had disliked her when she’d only been an employee at EI Corazon. Heaven only knew how she’d react to her now that she was Felix’s heir—and Conor’s lover.

‘Arden?’ Their eyes met, and he smiled. ‘I’ve been thinking about it a great deal, about Felix and the codicil and the ranch, and I’ve come up with a solution.’

‘I have, too,’ she said quickly. ‘And—’

Conor brushed his mouth over hers. ‘I don’t want to talk about it here, sweetheart.’

A sigh escaped her lungs. ‘All right,’ she whispered. ‘But as soon as we get back to the ranch—’

He kissed her again, even more sweetly, so that her heart was racing when they drew apart.

‘I want so badly to be alone with you,’ he said huskily. ‘But first, I must pay my respects to the alcalde.’ Conor looped his arm around Arden’s shoulders and they began walking slowly towards the centre of town. ‘The mayor is an old friend, and the party is for his daughter’s tenth birthday.’