Page 3 of Spanish Marriage Solution

Of course it would be important. She hadn’t flown all the way from New Zealand to arrive unannounced at the Castellano hacienda for nothing, and he suspected he knew the reason she was here. Diego. There wouldn’t be anything else that would bring her halfway around the world to his doorstep.

Not even you?

Before he’d met Emily, he’d had many lovers. He was experienced with women. He knew when a woman wanted him, and Alice had wanted him. He’d seen the flare in her dark eyes the moment their gazes had connected. That had made it imperative that he never let slip his own feelings and, so far, he never had.

So no, she wouldn’t be here for him, but even if she were, he wouldn’t do anything about it. The fact that their spouses had been cheating with each other only made his own determination not to even stronger.

‘As I told Tomas, I’m busy,’ he said curtly. ‘Go into the hacienda. Lucia will give you coffee. I’ll be another half-hour.’ Without waiting for a response, he gripped Halcón’s mane and pulled himself up onto the stallion’s back with the casual ease of long practice.

Halcón shifted beneath him, dancing sideways as Sebastián’s weight settled.

You know why she’s here and yet you think the horse is more important?

Oh, the horse was important. New blood for the stables that were descended from the warhorses of old, that the ancient dukes had once ridden into battle on. But nothing was more important than Diego. His son. And he was Sebastián’s son, no matter what the DNA tests said. He’d been with Emily when she’d given birth and he’d been the first to hold him. The first to look down into his face, and he’d felt the same shift then that he’d felt when he’d met Alice, as if nothing would ever be the same again.

He hadn’t thought Alice would know the secret of Diego’s parentage, but somehow she’d found out, and while her visit wasn’t entirely unexpected, it definitely wasn’t welcome. He needed time. Time to decide what he was going to do about it, about her, and he was going to do something. Nobody was taking Diego from him. Nobody.

Sebastián controlled the stallion effortlessly with his knees and laid a hand on the side of the animal’s neck. Halcón settled, but Sebastián could still feel the tension in the horse’s massive body. A spirited beast, which was good. He liked it when a horse had fire. Not so he could break it—to break an animal’s spirit was a tragedy—but to channel it, enhance it.

‘I don’t want coffee,’ Alice said. ‘I need to talk to you. Now.’

There was a note of cool authority in her voice, very different from the warmth that had once infused every word. He’d noticed that the warmth had vanished not long after she’d set up her investment company, the same time he’d noticed that the passionate spark that had drawn him so intensely the day they’d met had died. He hadn’t wanted to notice, of course, but he had all the same. Some inner light in her had been extinguished and she’d become cool and hard all over, like a field of golden sunflowers slowly being covered with ice.

He didn’t know what had happened and he hadn’t asked. He never spoke of her with Emily and Emily had learned by then never to bring up the subject of her sister.

Grief and regret twisted in his heart at the thought of his wife, as it had been doing since she’d died, but he thrust away both emotions. He’d failed Emily and he knew it, but he would not fail Diego. Not ever.

Ignoring Alice, he urged the horse into a trot around the corral, assessing its pace. Eventually she would get tired of waiting and do what he’d said. After all, it was hot out here and she must be jet-lagged.

Except she didn’t leave.

She stood outside the corral and leaned over the fence posts, watching him. Making it very obvious that she wasn’t going to move.

Emily had never come to the stables. She’d been afraid of the horses, which should have been a red flag, but he’d refused to see it. She had been petite and delicate, and even though she’d acted more fragile than she actually was, he’d enjoyed being cast in the role of her protector. That was what he’d been born for, to protect, like the dukes of old.

But Alice had never been afraid of the horses. Every time she and Edward had visited, she’d come to the stables at some point and watch his stable hands. It had been distracting. Eventually he’d had to tell her, curtly, that the stables were out of bounds to visitors.

It seemed she hadn’t remembered that fact.

‘I can stand here all day,’ Alice said as he trotted past her for the second time. ‘You can’t just ignore me, Sebastián.’

Of course he could. He could do anything he wanted. He was a duke. Still, he was simply being petty now and, more than that, trying to put off the inevitable moment when he’d have to stop and look into her dark eyes. Feel that same kick of desire deep inside him, the same tug of recognition. Knowing that this time there was nothing to stop him from taking what he wanted. What they both wanted...

But that was impossible. Edward and Emily might be gone, he might be a widower and Alice a widow, but there was too much between them now. Too many promises he’d made that he couldn’t put aside for the sake of mere sex.

Avoiding her was cowardice and he was not a coward.

After the second circuit, he finally drew Halcón up in front of her. He didn’t dismount, instead looking down at her where she stood just outside the corral fence, dressed in a rumpled black suit and fitted white shirt. Her wealth of glossy black hair had been contained in a severe ponytail, not a wisp out of place, and it left her face looking naked. There were dark circles under her eyes, new lines of grief around her mouth.

He couldn’t forget that while he’d lost his wife, Edward had meant nothing to him. Yet Alice had lost, not only her husband, but also her sister.

Except that made no difference to the punch of emotion that hit him the moment her gaze met his, the restless, aching want that pulled at him.

There were reasons he didn’t speak to her. Reasons he tried never to be in the same room as her, and he’d thought he’d managed to kill the want over the years, but it had never got any easier.

It wasn’t easy now, yet he managed to force away the familiar surge of need, steeling himself to meet her level gaze.

Despite her obvious weariness, she didn’t seem to have any problems with looking at him, so perhaps she didn’t feel it any more. He hoped so. It would make this a lot less complicated.

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