Page 4 of Spanish Marriage Solution

‘I didn’t think half an hour was too much to ask,’ he said coolly. ‘You’d be more comfortable inside.’

‘Probably.’ There was a determined cast to her chin now and she lifted it, as if he’d challenged her. ‘But this can’t wait.’

Halcón shifted again, as if picking up on his disquiet, but he put his hand on the horse’s neck once more and the stallion settled. He stared at Alice, recognising abruptly something he hadn’t seen in her in far too long—a spark.

It was bright, burning and fierce. But, as he already knew, it wasn’t for him.

‘You’re here for Diego.’ He didn’t make it a question and there wasn’t much point pussyfooting around the subject.

Her eyes widened, a ripple of surprise crossing her face. ‘How did you—?’

‘There’s no other reason for you to be here, Alice.’

Slowly, she pushed herself away from the corral fence and straightened, the expression on her face almost imperious. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, you’re right. There is no other reason for me to be here.’

He could feel the layers to that statement, but it wasn’t worth trying to read deeper into what she was saying. He wouldn’t be doing anything about it now, that was for certain, and he wasn’t interested in doing so anyway.

‘So what?’ he demanded. ‘What about Diego?’

Her dark eyes met his head-on. ‘Emily’s lawyers sent me a letter. He’s not your son, Sebastián. She wanted me to look after him. So that’s why I’m here. I’m here to take him home.’

CHAPTER TWO

ALICE’S PALMS WERE now damp and it wasn’t only due to delivering a truth to Sebastián that he didn’t want to hear. It was also him.

Watching him pull himself effortlessly up onto the horse’s back and then ride without either saddle or reins, as if he and the horse were one beast, one mind, was like drinking a slug of whiskey straight down. It stole her breath then made her feel warm all over, and slightly intoxicated, a little drunk on his competence and the athleticism with which he performed every movement.

She’d seen him ride before, at other visits, and it had always been mesmerising. She didn’t know anything about riding, but he seemed a natural to her, and it was clear the horses loved him too. They were always following him around and nuzzling at his pockets for treats, nickering at him and pushing at him with their long muzzles. He was so gentle with them, too. Not at all the cold, proud, arrogant man he was around everyone else, and that had fascinated her. Made her want to know why he was so different around animals. She’d wanted to ask Emily, but talking about him to Emily had felt too dangerous, so she hadn’t. Going to the stables had felt dangerous too, and really, it would have been better for her peace of mind not to. Yet she hadn’t been able to help herself. She was drawn helplessly there, by her fascination with the horses and with him.

She hadn’t known her visits were a problem until he’d told her curtly that the stables were out of bounds to non-employees, and she was disturbing the horses.

It was a good thing, she’d told herself then, ignoring the hurt she’d felt at the time, because she had no right to feel that hurt. Of course, he didn’t want her in the stables, especially if her presence disturbed the animals. She didn’t work for him, so there was no reason for her to be there after all.

Yet still, watching him now, she felt that same combination of fascination and hurt that she’d felt years ago. The same combination of breathless desire and guilt. Nothing had changed.

God, how she hated it.

He sat on the back of the huge black stallion, his muscular body shifting with the horse’s restless movements, automatically adjusting without any seeming effort. His gaze was hard, his smoky gold eyes as cold as she’d ever seen them, so it took her a second to register that he didn’t look shocked in the least.

‘What?’ His voice was deep and dark, his lightly accented English making music of the words. ‘You think I didn’t know? You think I wasn’t aware of Emily’s affair? I had the tests done, Alice. So yes, I know he’s not my son, not by blood. But he is in every other way that counts and so he’s not going anywhere.’

She’d expected to shock him, because she certainly hadn’t been aware of Edward’s affair with Emily. Oh, she’d suspected that Edward might have been having an affair given his many absences overseas on ‘business’ trips and the emotional distance growing between them, but not that his affair had been with her sister. Not until the pair of them had died together in that car accident.

She hadn’t expected that, not only had Sebastián known about the affair, but he’d also known that Diego wasn’t his.

She felt as if the ground had been ripped from under her.

‘How?’ she asked blankly. ‘How did you know?’

He lifted one powerful shoulder. ‘That’s not important. What is important is that my name is on Diego’s birth certificate. I am his father.’

Alice felt the world shift again, like the horse between Sebastián’s powerful thighs, and her gut churned. Jet lag of course, but also a shock she wasn’t expecting to feel to add to the complicated tangle of emotions seeing him had brought back.

She’d thought he wouldn’t argue. The Castellanos were an old-world, aristocratic family where blood was everything, and she’d assumed that Sebastián wouldn’t want anything to do with a child not of his blood. That, after a period of surprise and anger, he’d have no issue with giving up a child that wasn’t his and he wasn’t responsible for.

With a supreme effort of will, Alice forced her shock and all the rest of her emotions away and met his steady, hard gaze. ‘I don’t care,’ she said flatly. ‘He’s my nephew. I have a letter from Emily saying that she wanted me to bring him up and so that’s what I’m going to do.’ He was all she had left of Emily, all she’d ever have of a family of her own too, but she wasn’t going to tell Sebastián that. He didn’t know about her terrible miscarriage, but he did know that Diego was all she had left of her sister.

‘I sympathise,’ Sebastián said, his voice entirely without sympathy. ‘Nevertheless, his place is here with me.’

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