Page 74 of His Innocent for One Spanish Night

‘Emily...’ He sounded both practical and kind. ‘You just wanted to fit in.’

She nodded, thinking of how she’d been teased, growing up, about her clothes, her hair... And how she’d always wanted to protect her mother.

‘I feel guilty.’ She reached into her new handbag, but of course there were no tissues, so she had to dab her eyes with the heavy serviette and she felt him watching. ‘I don’t expect you to get it.’

‘You don’t think I know about guilt?’

‘I didn’t mean it like that.’ She looked over at him. ‘You feel guilty too?’

He nodded, and told her that things were strained with his siblings. ‘We’ve been arguing,’ he admitted.

‘Since you came down on your father’s side about the label and Maria in his bio?’

‘No, since my father grew ill.’

He poured wine for himself and held the bottle up for her, but Emily declined. She just wanted to hear about him.

‘The three of us are so different, but we have always been.’ Putting down the bottle, he laced his fingers and gripped his hands together. ‘We are tight-knit. At least we were—now we argue.’

‘About...?’

‘My mother visiting my father...getting more medical opinions. I was taking Carmen some brochures for a hospice...’

‘Alejandro...’ Her face fell. ‘I didn’t realise it had come to that.’

‘It hasn’t,’ he said. ‘Although if he doesn’t have surgery, it soon shall. Carmen and I are trying to jolt him into action.’ He gave a thin smile. ‘We all used to get on better, but since my father fell ill we seem to argue over everything.’

‘That’s good,’ Emily said.

He frowned at her words. ‘Good?’

‘I wish I’d had siblings—especially when my father was so ill and confused. I would have loved someone to argue a point with me. I just felt so responsible—that every decision was mine and mine alone.’

‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’

‘At least you all want the best for him—you just have different views as to what that is. Still, it sounds as if the choices are his.’

‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘He’s not confused or anything.’

Then he told her something she already knew, but she felt very privileged to hear it from him.

‘My mother has started to visit him in the hospital. Sebastián and Carmen think it’s just for his money.’

‘Do you?’

‘No.’ He dismissed the notion out of hand. ‘I pointed out to them that she is still on tour, even in her late fifties... I know she’s extremely comfortable.’ He thought for a long moment. ‘She is also incredibly vain, and likes having her photo on the Romero product.’

‘Yet she never took his name?’ Emily frowned. ‘Or is de Luca a stage name?’

‘No, it’s different here. Wives don’t take their husband’s name, but the children take both their parents’... My full name is Alejandro Romero de Luca.’

‘Did you drop your mother’s name because of the divorce?’

‘No.’ He was clearly trying to explain the complicated system to Emily, who hadn’t grown up with it. ‘You are addressed by your paternal surname, so I am Señor Romero. Given the business side of things, for me it is more prominent.’

‘Oh...’ She hadn’t known that. ‘So Sebastián and Carmen are Romero de Luca too?’

‘Si.’He nodded.

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