Page 38 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Sure enough, two smaller covered plates were nestled at the bottom of the cooler. She put them on the table to find that Luis had produced two mugs of fragrant coffee from his cooler. She uncovered the plates to find each held half a dozen little sugar-dusted, heart-shaped churros with a chocolate dipping sauce.

She dunked one in the sauce, bit into it, and hummed with delight at the combination of light-as-air dough and warm chocolate.

“You like the dessert,” Luis said as he brushed sugar from his long, elegant fingers. And now she was imagining them stroking over her skin.

She nearly groaned at the sensations smoldering through her body.

“It would be hard not to.” She polished off the churro and decided it was time to distract herself and warn Luis. “There’s another issue that you should be aware of.”

Luis waited, his posture one of concentration.

“Grace wants to meet her birth mother.”

He sat back with a jerk and muttered something in Spanish that she suspected he would not translate for her.

“My daughter is an intensely curious person,” Eve said. It was part of what would make her daughter a great vet. “Once she found out who her birth mother is, I knew she would wish to meet her face-to-face. The desire may be even stronger because she knows how…damaged Odette Fontaine is. Grace needs to make sure that she is not like her biological mother.”

Anger flashed and died in Luis’s eyes, leaving them dull with pain. “I would like to persuade her not to see Odette. Nothing good will come of it.”

“It’s better that she has a chance to look this particular monster in the eye,” Eve said, even though she wished for the same thing. “It will allow her to ask all the questions she has bottled up inside.”

“I don’t know that Odette will answer them except to serve herself or to strike at me through Grace,” Luis said. “She is a manipulative bruja—witch—even in prison.”

“Sometimes asking has to be enough.” Eve ripped a churro in half. “I want to be there when Grace meets Odette. Not at the meeting, but in Caleva. Grace will need someone she loves and trusts to talk about it with.”

“You will come to Caleva when Grace comes.” Luis took a bite of churro as if that settled it.

“You know I have a job. It’s not as important as yours, but people count on me to be there.” Eve was irritated by his blithe dismissal of her obligations.

He lifted his eyebrows at her. “If I can arrange for Grace’s rotation schedule to be changed, do you not think I can arrange for a substitute for you at the clinic?”

“I…I suppose you could.” She just hadn’t expected that he would think of it.

“There are some advantages to being a king.” There was an undercurrent of humor in his voice.

She and Grace had done some research on King Luis IV of Caleva, but it was still hard to connect this living, breathing man with the larger-than-life figure in the photos and news stories. The man in this car worried about what his daughter thought of him, scarfed down ham balls, and rummaged around in coolers.

He glanced at his watch. “Unfortunately, we must end our fascinating conversation if you wish to be back at work on time.” He looked at her with the dazzling smile that lit his eyes and eased the sharp angles of his face. The smile that made her traitorous body go liquid with longing.

“That was my promise to you,” he said. “And I always keep my promises.”

CHAPTER 10

That evening, Eve and Grace sat in the back of a black SUV piloted by Ivan, waiting for two starkly modern stainless-steel gates to swing open.

“Oh my God, did you know this place was here?” Grace asked.

Eve peered out the car window to see a long, curving drive ending in front of a mansion built of sheets of glass framed by steel girders. The late-day sun painted peach and gold reflections on the building’s façade. “Nope. I’m pretty sure whoever lives here doesn’t bring their pets into the clinic themselves.”

As they cruised up the drive, she caught a glimpse of movement and saw a guard moving into position at the gates. How many more guards were concealed as they had been at her house? Since this was Luis’s home away from home at the moment, probably a lot.

As they rolled onto the circular courtyard in the front of the house, she saw two more SUVs parked at odd angles. Then she realized they were positioned to make the fastest getaway possible in two different directions.

Ivan drove up directly under the steel-and-glass portico. He and Bridget jumped out to open the car doors and help Eve and Grace out of the SUV. Which was useful because Eve’s sheath dress—a black one this evening that zipped up the front to end in a V-neckline—made it tough to maneuver gracefully out of a high vehicle. Grace’s moss-green silk dress had a fuller skirt, so she had less difficulty climbing out.

Two guards in black clothing stood on either side of the double doors. As she and Grace climbed the stone steps, one guard pulled a door open. “Welcome,” he said with a brief smile.

They passed into a double-height entrance hall that showcased a huge kinetic sculpture hanging from a girder and a floating staircase rising from the slate floor.

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