Page 9 of Spanish Marriage Solution

Emily hadn’t said much about their marriage, but Alice had often had the feeling her sister wasn’t happy. It was obvious now, of course, since she’d been having an affair with Edward, but Alice wondered what it was that had made Emily so unhappy. Sebastián was a duke, with an ancient lineage and centuries of wealth behind him, and he was gorgeous. Emily liked status and money and a pretty face. She liked having someone being possessive and protective, but...

Why had she thought Sebastián cold? Why did she fear him bringing Diego up? Was it something to do with their own father? Emily had been his favourite—he hadn’t known what to do with tall, stubborn Alice—and he’d doted on her. Maybe that was it. Maybe all she’d wanted was for her son to have a father who doted on him the way their father had doted on her.

Well, whatever her reasons were, Alice was going to have her work cut out for her if she was going to change Sebastián’s mind, that was for sure.

She took a breath and followed him into the courtyard.

Outside, under the shade of a trellis trailing bougainvillea, was a wooden table neatly set with a white tablecloth, plates and cutlery, and stemless wine glasses. The heat of the day had faded, leaving behind a warm, pleasant twilight, the air scented with lavender.

Lucia was setting out plates of food that smelled absolutely delicious. Sebastián stood near her, saying something in Spanish that it was clear she did not like one bit. She frowned at him, replying in stern tones as if she was telling him off about something.

Alice tensed. He was already burning with anger, which meant surely Lucia was taking her life into her own hands speaking to him like that.

He glared at her and said something else in a hard, curt voice. Lucia merely shrugged, unbothered. Then, noticing Alice standing there, she said in English, ‘It is rude to talk in Spanish when Señora Alice cannot understand us, Señor Sebastián.’ She looked at him sternly, and added, ‘I have cooked a meal for you both, and you will sit down and eat it. Together.’

Alice blinked. She’d never seen Sebastián be told what to do and for a moment she wondered what on earth Lucia was thinking. His carved features were set in uncompromising lines, his hard mouth unyielding. His golden eyes burned with sullen fury.

Alice waited for him to launch into a verbal attack, maybe even fire his housekeeper on the spot, yet instead he muttered something short and sharp in Spanish, went over to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down.

‘Manners, Señor Sebastián,’ Lucia murmured.

He muttered another curse, got to his feet, moved over to the chair opposite his, pulled it out and looked fiercely at Alice. ‘Please,’ he said, his voice like iron. ‘Won’t you join me for dinner?’

A small shock arrowed down her spine. It seemed that this hard, proud man had not only been roundly told off by his housekeeper, he was also doing exactly what she said, albeit with all the grace of a sullen teenager.

Alice almost wanted to smile.

Lucia, who didn’t seem in imminent danger of being fired and obviously wasn’t afraid of Sebastián in any way, gave an approving nod, gathered up her trays, and disappeared back into the hacienda.

Sebastián remained standing rigidly behind the chair he’d pulled out. He looked as if he wanted to bite someone’s head off.

Alice took another silent breath then moved over to the table. ‘I had no idea Lucia was so fierce,’ she said as she sat down, trying to keep her voice light.

‘She doesn’t like it when her meals are under-appreciated.’ Sebastián’s tone was hard as rock, but Alice could feel the masculine heat of him at her back, smell his delicious scent. It made her mouth go dry.

‘Don’t feel you have to sit and eat with me,’ she said as he pushed her chair in for her. ‘I’m sure you have plenty of other things to do.’

‘Lucia wants us to eat together.’ He came around the table and sat down opposite her. ‘The hospitality of the ancient dukes is important to her and we have certain standards to uphold.’ He glowered across the table at her. ‘Especially to “family”.’

This was clearly going to be so much harder than she’d thought. So much. His anger and resentment seemed to reach across the table and wrap around her throat, choking her.

But she wasn’t Emily. She wasn’t going to crumble and weep in the face of male temper. She often had to deal with that at her company and she’d never let it intimidate her before. She wasn’t going to let it now.

Calmly, she picked up one of the snowy white napkins and shook it out over her lap. ‘And what? You do everything she says?’

His gaze sharpened, cutting like a knife. ‘She has been here for decades and is part of the family. I value her so, yes, on occasion I do what she says.’ He said it as if this were self-evident and she was stupid for not understanding. Which of course made her bristle with annoyance.

Except she wasn’t going to rise to his bad temper. Men could be so overly emotional sometimes and maybe this was doubly true of Spanish men.

You like his passion. You’ve always liked it.

In those early days after Emily had first married him, Alice had received lots of glowing emails from her sister about how attentive and protective Sebastián was. Emily had also overshared about his demands in bed and how thrilling that was. Alice had determinedly shoved away her envy, choked her jealousy, and shut down any fevered fantasies about what it would be like to be in Sebastian’s arms herself.

She had been married to Edward, who had been loving and attentive with her even after they’d lost the baby. In fact, he’d been very careful and gentle and while she’d been recovering that had been exactly what she’d wanted. But years past the loss—at least physically—what she’d wanted was passion. Desperation. Possession. She’d wanted Edward to be hungry for her, desire her feverishly. She’d wanted to feel as though she was still attractive to him instead of an empty vessel, her fertility gone and her dreams of a family along with them.

But he hadn’t been hungry for her, as it had turned out. He’d been hungry for her sister and who could blame him? Emily, petite and feminine and fertile, everything that Alice wasn’t.

Edward had been a childhood friend of both her and Emily, and she’d had a crush on him for years. Except he’d only had eyes for Emily. And then Emily had left to go to university in Australia, leaving Edward behind with Alice, and the two of them had grown closer. Alice had been thrilled when he’d told her that he’d fallen in love with her and then asked her to marry him.

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