Say You Will (The Alexanders 5)

Carolina made a rude sound. "Nonsense, Marina. I'm simply stating the facts. Not everyone knows that spicy food builds a man's animal instincts."

James looked across the table at Carolina. Then he looked down at his plate again. "It does?"

"Oh yes." Carolina looked over at her husband who raised his wineglass in a mock toast.

Mara slid down slightly in her seat. "This has to be a nightmare."

With one last hesitant glance, James cut into another piece of steak and raised

it to his mouth. After chewing for a few minutes, he declared, "You know this is really quite good." He looked over at Antonia and smiled, a private, slightly lecherous smile that made Trent very glad he didn't have a full stomach.

After a moment of mental gagging, he glanced over at Mara. "I feel like I'm watching a horror movie. My parents are flirting with each other," Trent stated.

"Well, my mother is talking about 'keeping a man happy' and 'animal instincts' in the middle of dinner. I am beyond mortified. What are your parents going to think?" Mara whispered back.

Trent looked over at his father, happily chewing his food. "I think they'll probably go home and do things that will make me want to claw my eyes out if I imagine them. So I'm not going to worry about it."

Mara looked over at him, her eyes huge. He was sure if he had a mirror right now that he would look just as disturbed.

Trent was in the middle of cutting his own steak when he got his second shock of the night.

"Mara, where did you learn to cook?" James asked, looking very much like he actually wanted to know the answer.

Mara looked just as surprised as he did at his father's sudden interest. Surprised and delighted. The rest of the table went completely silent. Even his mother looked shocked.

Mara recovered quickly, glancing at Trent before answering. "From my mother. She was always the best cook in her family and she started teaching me at a young age." She smiled over at Carolina, who preened under the attention.

"Mara used to bake with this plastic pink kiddie oven. Even then everything she made was great." Matt grinned at his sister, who relaxed slightly.

"I had so much fun with that stove," Mara said wistfully. "Although I'm sure that thing was a fire hazard!"

"Well, everything is delicious." James looked over at Trent. "My son is a very lucky man."

George took Carolina's hand and kissed it. "My baby girl definitely took after her mother in more than just her beauty. We did good, huh?"

Mara blushed. "Dad! Well, I'm having a wonderful time here. I've been spending a lot of time cooking and I'm even thinking about doing a cookbook."

"You are? That's exciting," Penny said.

Even Matt looked over at her. "I didn't know you were thinking about doing that."

Mara speared one of her carrots on her fork. "It's just something I've been thinking about lately."

Carolina clapped her hands together in delight. "Oh, how wonderful! That would be perfect for you."

"Make sure you put your mother's arroz con pollo in there," George suggested. "The way Carolina makes it is slightly different than the way I'd had it here in the States. It's a little spicier than what I was used to."

Carolina was nodding along as he spoke. "Oh yes. Where I'm from, that's just the way we season things."

Antonia took another delicate bite of her steak. "What part of Colombia are you from?"

"A little town near Barranquilla. It's on the northern coast. We like things with a little more spice." Carolina winked across the table at her husband.

"More than this? This is about all I can handle." James chortled. "I've never been able to handle spicy foods too well."

Mara suddenly went still. "You don't like spicy food? At all? That's … well, I'll have to remember that." She blinked several times and then took a long sip from her wineglass.

She hadn't eaten much, Trent noticed. She'd been nervous about everything being perfect for this dinner but all things considered, he thought things were going well. As well as could be expected, anyway.