Page 67 of Royal Caleva: Luis

Eve remembered her conversation with Grace about moving to Caleva. Was she about to give Luis more ammunition in his campaign to persuade her daughter to leave Iowa?

“I was very close to my grandmother on my father’s side, but she died several years ago.” Eve still missed Nana Nelle’s tart good sense and twinkling blue eyes. “She was my anchor through my divorce. She watched Grace from the time she was an infant so I could work, and they had a special bond.”

“And your parents?” Luis asked.

“My father had health issues, so they moved to Florida soon after I adopted Grace, and then my father died. My mother was not…supportive of Grace’s adoption, so we don’t speak often.” In fact, when Ben filed for divorce, Eve’s mother had pointed out that she had told Eve that the adoption was a bad idea. Her father had been a silent ally, sending a check every month with a sweet note commenting on the photos of Grace she would text him. But he wouldn’t stand up to his wife and come visit his granddaughter. He’d said it wouldn’t be worth the tongue-lashings that would result.

Now Luis knew that there were no loving family members eagerly waiting for Eve and Grace to return to Iowa.

He twisted in the saddle to look at her square on. “You raised Grace almost entirely alone. What an extraordinary woman you are!”

“Plenty of women are single mothers,” Eve said, even as his words made her glow inside. “I was lucky to have a steady job and a mortgage-free house that Nana Nelle left me.”

“When I think of how you and Grace struggled…” His mouth was a grim, unhappy line as he trailed off.

“Yeah, when she should have been living in a palace,” Eve said, with only a touch of defensiveness.

“I did not mean that,” Luis said.

“Yes, you did, just not in an unkind way.” Eve sighed. “Heck, I wanted her to have more advantages than I could offer her.”

Now she could have them. Opportunities neither Eve nor Grace had ever imagined in their wildest dreams.

Luis reached across the distance between their horses to clasp her shoulder, his touch sparkling through Eve’s body. “Grace did not need anything more than what you gave her.”

“I did my best,” Eve said, reaching up to cover his gloved hand for a brief moment, finding the leather stretched over his knuckles soft and smooth.

As Luis dropped his hand, Eve realized that Grace and Raul had stopped to wait for them. The speculative look on her daughter’s face meant that she had seen the touch between Eve and Luis. Not good.

“We’re at the beginning of the Pico de Luto trail up the mountain,” Raul said. “From here, we have to go single file. May I suggest that I lead?”

“And I will go last,” Luis said. “We will keep the ladies between us.”

Except there were guards in front and behind, so all of them were bracketed by protection anyway.

Raul turned his horse forward to start up the trail. Grace threw a look at Eve that said they would talk later before she followed Raul.

“Actually, I wanted to go last,” Eve said to Luis.

He raised his eyebrows. “Why?”

“So I could ogle your butt in those tight breeches.” She grinned at her own temerity.

The lust that blazed in his eyes almost scorched her. In a voice that vibrated with seduction, he said, “But that would deprive me of the pleasure of ogling yours.”

“And the king always gets to ogle what he wants,” Eve said, signaling her horse to move.

“If I could ogle what I wanted, you would be naked,” Luis purred before he reined his horse in behind hers.

Everything in Eve’s body went liquid as his words slid through her, setting off whirlpools of longing. She had started it, so she couldn’t complain, but now she could swear she felt his gaze focused on her backside.

As they climbed through the trees, Eve tried to ignore Luis’s presence and take in the beauty of the forest. Birdsong intertwined with the sound of creaking saddle leather and horseshoes clinking against the occasional rock. Sometimes, Raul’s or Grace’s voice drifted back. Birds fluttered between the tree branches, flashing in and out of the sunlight filtering through the leaves. She inhaled, savoring the scent of warm horse, earthy loam, and green freshness.

They rode in companionable silence for half an hour before Raul came to a halt in the middle of the trail. One of the front escorts had ridden back to speak with him. She turned to ask Luis what was going on, but when she opened her mouth, he held his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

Raul dismounted and came back to speak with Grace in a low voice.

Eve heard the creak of a saddle behind her and footsteps before Luis appeared at her side. “We’re going through the woods from here. There might be wild creatures nearby, so we should keep quiet.”

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