Page 105 of Exotic Affairs: The Mistress Bride\The Spanish Husband\The Bellini Bride

He was right; it wasn’t. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled contritely.

He nodded. ‘See you Wednesday.’

He was going to go, and she didn’t want him to go with bad words between them. ‘I like him, actually,’ she confessed. ‘Mainly because he’s so loyal to you, I think. You didn’t know Felipe was even staying at your hotel, did you?’ she then asked, on a complete change of subject.

‘He booked in under a different name,’ Luiz explained.

‘And proceeded to shadow both me and my father,’ she mused frowningly. ‘He knew who I was—knew who my father was. Which tells you you have a mole in your midst somewhere, Luiz.’

He nodded. ‘I’m aware of that—and dealing with it.’

‘Does all of this make my father another weak spot?’ she asked.

For some reason the question had him turning to study her curiously. ‘Yes,’ he replied quietly.

She released a sigh and began to look fretful again. ‘Are you protecting him too?’

‘Undoubtedly,’ he assured her, in a strange tone that matched the strange expression he was wearing on his face. ‘He will be here, safe and sound, to give your hand to me on our wedding day. Have no fear about that, querida.’

Then he was gone, leaving Caroline to stand there staring at the last spot he had been standing on, wondering why she was feeling so very chilled again when surely what he had just said should have been reassuring?

A tap at the door broke her free from whatever it was that was holding her, and she opened it to find Abril, the little maid standing there. ‘Don Luiz send me to help you unpack your purchases,’ she explained.

Caroline was glad of the diversion. It seemed nothing here in this valley could stay happy for long. Together she and Abril unpacked box after box bearing the names of designers Caroline would never have normally been able to afford to buy.

When it came to the dress she had chosen to marry Luiz in, the two of them unpacked it together, with a kind of hushed air of expectancy that increased to a breathless delight when the dress was finally hanging on its satin-covered hanger from the tall wardrobe door.

‘This is beautiful, señorita,’ Abril sighed out wistfully.

Yes, it was, Caroline agreed, smiling softly to herself when she remembered the way she had sent Luiz off to get himself some coffee somewhere while she’d chosen the dress on her own. He’d been all lazy mockery as he strode away. But she su

spected that secretly he’d rather liked the idea of her choosing a dress aimed exclusively to please him.

‘You have a sweetheart of your own?’ Caroline asked curiously.

The young maid blushed. ‘No,’ she denied. ‘But when I do, I would wish to marry him in something as lovely as this…’

She was lightly fingering the delicate lace when the idea came to Caroline. She hadn’t given a thought to it before, but it suddenly struck her now, when it was almost too late to do anything about it, that she was going to have no friends of her own here to help her dress, or share her excitement, or even one to stand as her witness.

Luiz Vazquez, the fine-detail man, seemed to have overlooked that small but important point.

‘Abril…’ she murmured slowly, forming the request even as she spoke it out loud. ‘Would you do something very—special for me?’

‘Of course, señorita,’ the maid instantly replied.

‘If I can get a dress here in time—a pretty dress for you to wear—would you be my bridesmaid?’

For a terrible moment she thought she’d actually horrified the poor girl, she was so still and silent. Then, ‘Oh, señorita,’ she breathed. ‘Do you really mean it?’

The doe eyes were suddenly shining with pleasure. ‘Yes, I mean it.’ Caroline found herself smiling too. ‘You must have noticed that I am here on my own,’ she pointed out sagely. ‘My family and friends are all in England, and though my father is coming I will have no one else. It would be nice, don’t you think, to have someone from the valley to stand beside me?’

‘It would be an honour,’ the young girl answered gravely. ‘But, I will have to ask permission of Doña Consuela before I may say absolutely that I will do this,’ she added anxiously.

‘Of course,’ Caroline said instantly, not bothering to point out that it was really Luiz’s permission the maid should be seeking. And since she knew what his answer would be without having to ask him, Caroline didn’t think that was a problem.

‘I’ll ask her,’ she decided. Abril looked relieved. ‘In fact I’ll go and do it now, while you finish up here, okay?’

Nothing like striking while the iron is hot, she told herself bracingly as she went in search of Luiz’s aunt. But she was beginning to half wish she hadn’t started this, being a coward deep down inside.

---