Page 48 of Cinderella's One-Night Baby

She looked at her son. ‘Okay, but put your T-shirt back on.’

‘But...’

‘No arguing. You’ll burn your shoulders. Where did you put your armbands?’

He ran off to get them.

Gabrielle’s gaze turned to Andrés. ‘Looks like you’re starting to win him over,’ she murmured.

He raised his eyebrows and crossed his fingers.

She grinned but before she could say anything further, Lucas came charging back with the armbands, closely followed by Andrés’s godson Raul who had a unicorn rubber ring around his waist. The two boys being a similar age had hit it off in the way only small children could, becoming instant best friends.

Lucas gave the armbands to Andrés to put on for him. ‘Will you come in too?’ he asked shyly.

He couldn’t have been more moved if the boy had embraced him.

Swallowing, he tapped the boy’s snub little nose. ‘Sure. But no splashing me.’

Minutes later shrieks of laughter filled the pool area as the two small boys mercilessly splashed water over Andrés, who splashed them back with equal ruthlessness. Gabrielle watched it all with a huge smile on her face and a huge fist in her heart.

Bringing him to Seville and the relaxed atmosphere of it all was having the effect they’d both hoped for and now, finally, she could see the Andrés effect working its magic on her son.

Which meant that soon he would broach the subject of them all moving in together as one big family in two separate wings.

‘Something on your mind?’

Sophia’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Bringing her smile back, glad she’d put her sunglasses on, she said, ‘Just thinking how great it is to see Lucas having fun.’

‘Andrés has always been good with children.’

This was the first time Sophia had mentioned her brother since they’d sat down together twenty minutes ago. Instead, their chat had been Gabrielle filling her in on the party, a valiant attempt made to remember the names of the people they’d been sat at the table with, and not making it sound as if she’d been so wrapped up in Sophia’s brother that she’d forgotten to beg an introduction to the Queen she idolised and completely failed to soak in the full magic of the evening.

She’d been wrapped in an entirely different magic. She was still wrapped in it, had enveloped herself so tightly in it that, despite her efforts to kid herself that Andrés’s magic only reached her loins, the desolation she’d felt when he’d left her bed that morning proved she was becoming vulnerable.

One day he would leave her bed for good. She had to be prepared for that, especially now that Lucas was taking him into his heart.

‘You know, I hoped this would happen.’

Broken out of yet another reverie, Gabrielle again forced her attention to Sophia. ‘Hoped what?’

‘That you and Andrés would get together.’

‘It isn’t like... Hold on, did you say youhopedwe would get together?’

Sophia smiled. ‘My brother has been a selfish asshole for too long. Do you know this is the first time he’s had the whole family over since he bought this place? He needs a woman like you, someone straight talking and who will call him out when he needs it, not those insipid women who cling to his every word and bore him in seconds. It’s easy to say you’re never going to marry or settle down when you only involve yourself with women you can picture yourself breaking up with.’

Stunned, her heart beating fast—too fast—something finally became clear. ‘You faked your sickness.’

‘I did,’ Sophia admitted without an ounce of shame. ‘You were just so unimpressed with him, it was hilarious,andyou amused him, I saw it, and I saw the look you gave each other. I’m a big believer in trusting my gut—remind me to tell you how I met my husband—and my gut was telling me loud and clear that you had the potential to be perfect for him. You can say thank you to my gut when his ring’s on your finger.’

Before Gabrielle could tell Sophia that was never going to happen, the Spanish woman’s voice dropped. ‘Uh oh, our parents have arrived. Andrés has told you about them?’

‘Only that they have a toxic marriage.’

‘He thinks it’s toxic. I’ve come to think it’s funny. It’s like getting a ringside seat to the Punch and Judy show for free, but without the violence. Come on, I’ll introduce you to them.’

---