Page 37 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Then Luis hit her with a new angle.

“I know that you have been divorced since Grace was nearly one year old,” he said. “How involved has your ex-husband been in Grace’s life? I wish to tread carefully so I do not threaten that relationship.”

The thought of Ben stopped her lascivious thoughts cold.

“There is no relationship with my ex,” she said. “He started a new family and made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with us.”

The bastard. She had no intention of telling Ben about Grace’s biological father. He could find out whenever the rest of the world did.

“Why would he adopt a child and leave her a year later?” Luis asked, his voice holding a thread of anger.

Eve stabbed viciously at a slice of egg. “We got married too young. We wanted children, but we both had issues that kept us from conceiving.” The remembered despair at hearing the doctor’s diagnosis could still hollow her out. “Ben was not as enthusiastic about adopting as I was, but he agreed to it. When we got the notification about Grace, I was so thrilled that I didn’t notice that he was less excited.” She shrugged. “I was self-centered, too, I suppose.”

“He should not have gone forward if he had second thoughts about something so important,” Luis said.

“Well, I was the moving force in our marriage. Ben kind of went along.” She savaged a piece of cheese next. “At first, he seemed delighted with Grace. He changed diapers and took turns with me doing the night feedings.”

Why was she sharing all these personal details with him? Maybe because he listened with such focused intensity. And because Luis saw Ben’s actions in the same light she did—an abandonment of the daughter he had made a commitment to parent.

She should shut up now, but he had opened up to her about his wife’s problems.

“After about six months, he stopped participating in her care. I had to ask him to do things for her. And for me.” She had been hurt and bewildered by Ben’s distance from both her and his baby daughter. “Grace was so adorable. I didn’t understand why he would withdraw from her like that.”

She looked down at the shredded food on her plate. “He had found another woman and gotten her pregnant.”

“Cabrón!” Luis snapped.

She could take a guess at the meaning of that. His strong reaction on her behalf was weirdly satisfying.

“He was thrilled about it in a way he hadn’t been about Grace.” When Ben had smugly announced his girlfriend’s pregnancy, she’d felt like he had punched her, since his implication had been that Eve was defective. “There was no point in trying to make him stay with me and Grace. He could only love a baby he had fathered himself.”

“He must be a very stunted person.” Luis’s voice held an edge.

“You know, that’s a good description of Ben.” Except for cheating on her, her ex had led a life bound by narrow convention.

“He is also an idiot to let go of two women as extraordinary as you and Grace.” His gaze was warm with admiration.

“You’re very kind.” Even though his compliment was really about Grace, a shiver of pleasure still skimmed over Eve. Maybe he noticed her as a woman after all.

“I am many things—some admirable, some not—but kind is not among them.” His lips slanted into a sardonic smile.

Eve inclined her head stiffly, while she fought the desire to know in what ways he found her extraordinary.

“Although I am sorry for the pain it caused you and Grace, I am relieved that I will not be displacing her adoptive father,” Luis said.

“It makes things less complicated on that front,” Eve agreed. Which was a relief since every other part of this situation was extremely complicated…and getting more so.

“Thank you for your candor,” Luis said. “You have helped me understand Grace’s situation more fully.”

Luis must have dossiers on all of them. Having watched Mikel Silva in action, she suspected those dossiers were quite thorough, and she couldn’t help wondering what was in them. However, while their factual reporting might be accurate, the emotional nuances would be harder to uncover.

“Please, you must eat. I don’t want you fainting from hunger on the job.” Luis gestured to her half-eaten salad. “We have the dessert still to come.”

Eve jabbed her fork into a cube of tuna. “You should have mentioned dessert sooner.” She forced herself to eat more of the salad before she put down her fork. A tangle of emotions roiled in her gut, making it hard to swallow.

Luis gave her one of his penetrating looks before he also laid down his fork and latched the cover over his salad. She gratefully followed his lead and stacked their plates on the floor.

“If you check in that cooler, you should find the dessert churros,” he said.

---