Page 14 of Midnight Surrender to the Spaniard

‘I must go and do my best man duty and dance with my mother...’

‘Is it a tradition?’ Anna asked.

‘No...’ He shrugged. ‘But it is necessary if she is to be prevented from making thishernight. She loves the spotlight. If I don’t stop her it will become the Maria de Luca show.’

‘Olé!’

‘Olé!’

‘Olé!’

Gosh, thought Anna, the Spanish really danced! Emily was showing off the results of her flamenco lessons as Alejandro encouraged her. Maria had started stamping her feet, clearly having fun. Even José got up—to the delight of everyone. And Sebastián could stamp his boots with the best of them.

Only the sulking Carmen remained seated.

Anna danced with a couple of other guests, but found her eyes kept drifting towards Sebastián. He had a cigar in his mouth, and although shehatedsmoking, it seemed that was what all Spanish guys did at a wedding. His hands were above his head and he was clapping and stamping and very possibly the sexiest man alive.

Oh, my!

Willow would have loved this, Anna thought, when her dance with a man who wasn’t Sebastián ended. She decided now might be the right time to slip outside and call her daughter.

‘Do you miss me?’ Willow asked.

‘Very much,’ Anna said, looking at the black barrels piled high in the vast Romero bodega and the stained-glass windows above. Then she noticed a young couple kissing in the shadows, and turned her back.

She envied them, Anna realised as she ended her call with Willow after telling her to be a good girl for Nanny and Grandpa and... ‘go to bed when they tell you. Sweet dreams...’

Her attention returned to the couple in the shadows. Dancing the night away and then sneaking off for a kiss...

It was romantic—all the things a perfect night should be—and something she had never properly known herself...

She didn’t even like kissing, Anna reminded herself with a little shake.

Heading back to the table, she felt betwixt and between not just two worlds—her life in England and this glamorous night in Spain—but another life too...one she had been on the threshold of...

During her third year at university she’d hoped to join in more, have fun, loosen up a touch. While her friends had all considered her to be forthright and bold, when it came to intimacy, Anna hadn’t been.

Anna had hidden.

She’d always dressed conservatively—the judgemental sniffs from her mother at her clothes not worth the effort of rebelling. And she’d always had the eyes of the entire congregation upon her in the village.

University had been overwhelming, and she’d focussed on studying rather than revelling in her new freedoms. Then, in her final year, she’d met someone—or rather had been flattered by the rare attention he had bestowed upon her.

But despite enjoying the attention, kissing and touching—anythingphysical—had had to be coaxed out of her. She’d kept on waiting to enjoy it, and until now she’d assumed it was guilt that had held her back, or that she just wasn’t a particularly sexual person.

She took her seat at the almost empty head table, grateful not to be the only one. Carmen was still sitting everything out—though she did at least acknowledge Anna’s presence.

‘God, I wish this was over.’ Carmen pouted and then glanced up and rolled her eyes as Sebastián came over and said something scathing in Spanish.

He took a seat beside Anna, because Carmen was at the end of the table and he had no choice but to do so. He at least had the grace to apologise before talking across Anna in Spanish.

‘Carmen...’ Whatever he said to his sister in rapid Spanish caused her to flash Sebastián an angry look.

‘No!’ she said angrily, and they argued on.

Possibly because their father had come to sit at the table they switched to English, perhaps not wanting him to understand, and Anna, who wasn’t generally a nosy person—well, perhaps just a bit—felt as if her ears were on elastic as she eavesdropped unashamedly.

‘Carmen, talk to your father,’ Sebastián told her.

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