Honeymoon With the Rancher

“Yes, I did.”

“Then make your wish.”

There it was, that swirling again, that anticipation of possibilities. His fingertips touched her palm as he gave her the money.

“I don’t know what to wish for. It’s been a wonderful day with you.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “I’ve kind of enjoyed living in the moment.”

“I’ve enjoyed it, too,” he admitted. He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you should wish for better riding skills. I’d like to take you out again this week.”

“That might be a wise idea.” She laughed lightly, but ended it on a soft sigh. “I needed this vacation badly,” she murmured, watching a duck bobbing on the surface. “I didn’t really know how much. Despite my obvious lack of equestrian prowess, I’m finding I kind of like myself. I haven’t for a while.”

Tomas leaned closer, putting his free hand on her waist. “You are turning out to be a surprise to me, too. You’re not nearly as annoying as I thought you’d be.”

Coming from Tomas, that was nearly a declaration. Her heart hammered at his nearness, and she felt herself get swept up in the moment. His lips hovered close and she rose up on her toes, tentatively touching her mouth to his.

The gentle contact blossomed into something more, something deeper, and Sophia clutched the coins tightly in her palm as her other hand gripped his arm. Behind them a group of boys hooted and clapped. She broke off the kiss, lowering her heels to the ground once more, slightly abashed and affected by the kiss just enough that she couldn’t meet his gaze.

But that didn’t stop Tomas from leaning forward and murmuring in her ear, “Make a wish, Sophia.”

She closed her eyes, wished and tossed the coins into the shimmering water.

“Your turn,” she said, turning away from the circles spiraling out from the coins she’d thrown.

Tomas shook his head. “No, I’ve made my wishes before. Today is for you to experience.”

He looked so serious her heart stuttered and she smiled, trying to cajole him out of his somber mood. “Come on. What can it hurt? A few centavos in the river.”

A dark look shadowed his features and Sophia drew back. “Tomas?”

He simply shook his head, stepping back, his face an immutable formation of angles and planes.

What had he wished for that had caused so much pain? She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. It was taut as a band of steel beneath her touch.

“What is it? Please, Tomas, tell me. Let me help you, like you’ve helped me.”

“I should not have brought you here,” he murmured. “You and your questions…”

“But you did bring me here, and it is lovely. There is more to you than you want people to see.” She squeezed the muscle beneath her fingers. “But I see it. I know you are hurting. Does it have something to do with this bridge? Tell me what you wished for.”

His dark gaze seared her for several seconds. “I wished to forget,” he finally said, grinding out the words like shards of glass. “I wished to forget and now I wish to God I hadn’t.”

CHAPTER SIX

TOMAS wished he could bite back the words. What had made him admit such a thing? What was it about Sophia that got around his guard without him expecting it? Her kiss just now had nearly undone him. It had been innocent and sweet and freely given. She’d initiated it, not him. It hadn’t been in anger or fear or any other sort of reactionary emotion, either. She had simply lifted her face like a rising sun and touched her lips to his.

He’d liked it—too much. So much that his mind had been wiped clean of anything but her until the boys had shouted and brought him crashing back to earth. He wasn’t supposed to like it.

Dammit, she wasn’t supposed to be able to see so much.

“Tomas.” Her soft voice saying his name seemed to catch him right in the solar plexus, jamming up his breath. “What are you trying to forget? What has hurt you so much?”

He had to tell her. Had to tell someone or it would eat away at him like acid. He couldn’t tell Maria or Carlos; he felt guilty enough already. With the changes going on at the estancia, it was as though the past was being erased a little more each day. With every new building and updated amenity he felt Rosa slipping further and further away. He knew Maria would not understand. She would be hurt, knowing he was moving on. And he wouldn’t hurt Maria for the world.

“You are not the only one with a failed engagement, Sophia,” he said quietly, running his fingers over the edge

of the bridge. Sophia’s lips dropped open and he clarified, “But it wasn’t broken off. My fiancée died.”

Sophia’s large brown eyes glazed over with tears as she absorbed his words. “Oh, Tomas,” she whispered. “That’s horrible.”