Page 78 of His Innocent for One Spanish Night

Emily’s face was as bright as the practice skirt she wore. Even her arms were blushing as she raised them when Eva did. Then the teacher struck the floor with her full foot and Emily started topalma...

‘Come on, now, Emily.’

Emily met Eva’s eyes and gave in with light palmas and matched her foot strike. It felt good to stamp.

To stamp for her jealousy and at theickfactor that here was another of Alejandro’s lovers, and he clearly remained friendly with her.

Would he with her?

The question was immaterial, Emily quickly realised—very soon she wouldn’t be here.

They were down to their final days...

Actually, as Alejandro was just finding out, they were down to their final hour.

‘How is Padre?’ Sebastián asked after their father at the beginning of their online meeting.

Alejandro could hear the strain in his older brother’s voice. Usually they spoke first about work, and got that out of the way before addressing family matters, but their father’s health was the first topic Sebastián raised.

‘He’s much the same as when you left,’ Alejandro informed him. ‘He’s still refusing surgery, but I think he’s starting to understand that is his only choice.’

‘So why are we looking at hospices?’

Alejandro turned his pen up and down on his desk, annoyed. He’d trusted Carmen not to discuss this with their brother until they could meet face to face.

‘Exactly as I said,’ Alejandro responded evenly. ‘I’m trying to get him to see that surgery is his only real choice. Carmen shouldn’t have said anything to you.’

‘Why not?’ Sebastián snapped. ‘I told you that I want to be kept informed.’

‘You are.’

‘Well, it doesn’t feel like it from this end. I’m flying home—you can take over the talks here.’

‘Why?’ Alejandro demanded. ‘I’ve told you...there is no real change.’ He pressed his lips together rather than tell Sebastián he was overreacting. ‘If there was anything serious I would have called you.’

‘I just know that I need to see him,’ Sebastián said. ‘I can’t sleep.’

‘What time is it there?’

‘Three in the morning.’

Alejandro took a breath, surprised at his brother’s sudden sentimentality.

‘All this talk of hospices,’ Sebastián said. ‘It wasn’t even on the agenda when I left—’

‘Sebastián, listen,’ Alejandro cut in. ‘It isn’t on the agenda now...’ He halted, realising that he was being selfish.

Usually he’d have hopped on a flight to New York without a second thought. But he and Emily were down to mere days, and Alejandro wanted all of them. Then he thought of what Emily had said—about how she wished she’d had a brother or sister to lean on—and knew that perhaps it was time to be that person.

‘Of course,’ Alejandro said. ‘I’ll organise my flight now.’

‘Thanks.’

Alejandro had always kept things incredibly professional at work. So much so that when he buzzed down and asked her to come up to his office, Emily truly thought it must be about the website.

She hadn’t actually ever been in his office.

There had been no need.

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