Page 64 of His Innocent for One Spanish Night

His mother angrily throwing clothes in a suitcase as his father ripped them out.

Or the less eventful times...just coming downstairs in the morning and seeing the cases lined up, knowing that she was leaving again.

‘I can come with you,’ he remembered saying. ‘I’ll sit quietly.’

He’d often gone backstage, but as his mother’s star had risen so too had the distances she travelled, and the number of after-parties and the demands of the tour.

‘Not this time,’ she would say. ‘Next time, maybe?’

He’d sit quietly on the stairs, wishing his brother, who was five years older, would stop scowling, or his father would stop shouting, or the baby stop screaming...

‘You’re a good boy, Alejandro,’ she’d say, as if in warning, and he’d halt the threatening tears and carry her handbag to the car.

Aside from staff, he’d been the only one to stand at the drive and wave her off. Smiling and waving while never knowing when or even if she’d be back.

He’d learned to turn his emotions off like a tap.

Yet he’d never mastered turning them back on.

He looked over to Emily, who gave him such a bright smile he was almost tempted to look over his shoulder to see who’d come in. But he knew that smile she wore only for him.

‘Do you want to come with me to Seville?’ he asked.

‘To a business lunch?’

‘No.’ He pulled her towards him. ‘That would not be very businesslike, but we could stay there for the night? Have dinner somewhere nice?’

There were nice places here in Jerez—beautiful, romantic places—yet he didn’t take her to them, and not for the first time Emily found she had to bite her tongue.

She was growing tired of this endless discretion.

‘You could go shopping,’ he suggested, and named a very exclusive fashion house. ‘I have an account there...’

‘I can afford my own clothes, thank you!’

‘Get your hair done, then,’ he said.

It wasn’t the first time he’d suggested it, and she knew he must have seen her expression.

‘Or stay in bed...order champagne, or cake, or whatever. I thought most women loved to shop?’

‘I don’t.’ Emily frowned. ‘At least I don’t think so.’

‘I hate it,’ he admitted, ‘but I go there a couple of times a year and they make it as painless as possible. I’m just giving you options. It’s up to you. But if you do want to come then we need to leave very soon.’

Emily wanted to go—and not just because she’d love to see Seville. It was simply the prospect of spending more time with Alejandro along with the prospect of a romantic night away.

Even if Alejandro insisted he didn’t do romance, sometimes it felt exactly what this was.

‘I’d love to come,’ Emily admitted.

‘Get ready then.’ He glanced at her suitcase. ‘You’ll just need an overnight bag.’

Emily packed in a matter of moments. Her wardrobe was starting to fill with colour, but as she flung in a rather nice red top she’d purchased she paused and caught sight of herself in the wardrobe mirror. Despite her wishing he’d take her somewhere nice here, even if he offered she had nothing suitable to wear.

God, maybe she did need a wardrobe update.

Or was it that he was embarrassed to be seen out with her?

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