Page 33 of Midnight Surrender to the Spaniard

‘There you go,’ he said, and handed back the phone.

As Anna forwarded the message to Willow, Sebastián received a text of his own. ‘Alejandro is checking that I am taking suitably good care of you.’

‘You are,’ Anna responded, and decided that now might be the right time to ask him something that had been on her mind—just get it out of the way in one go. ‘Did you ever tell Alejandro?’

‘Tell him what?’

‘About us. About that night.’

‘Anna!’ He actually laughed at the very notion. ‘I’m thirty-five. I don’t keep my brother updated on my life, and I’m sure he has no interest in knowing who I slept with on his wedding night.’

‘Okay...’ She sighed out a soft laugh. ‘I just needed to know whether Emily might know, or...’

‘I would never say. But even if she did know...’ He gave a casual shrug. ‘It was just sex. It’s hardly a crime.’

It had felt like one to her—at least afterwards it had, Anna thought as she scooped out more seriously delicious mussels from her dish.

And then it was Sebastián who had a question—or rather, an observation. ‘You didn’t tell your mother about the baby being born.’

‘Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s rude to listen in on other people’s calls?’

‘No.’ He shrugged again. ‘And anyway, it’s the only way I seem to find anything out about you—’ He bit back whatever he’d been about to say next, and gave a tight smile as he referred to that awful morning.

‘I didn’t tell them because I don’t know enough myself, and I don’t want to scare Willow.’

‘How old is your daughter?’

But Anna didn’t answer.

She was still feeling so angry, and that wasn’t like her. She tried not to let things get to her, but on this subject she was so cross that she put down her glass and looked him right in the eyes.

‘How dare you think you have the right to judge me?’

Black eyes met and held hers, and she awaited his arrogant reply as she replayed in her mind his awful words that morning.

‘Anna, I apologise.’ He held her gaze and nodded, as if confirming his own choice of words. ‘I regret what I said that morning and my reaction.’

She could feel her teeth clenching together in her tense jaw.

‘I’ve regretted what I said for months.’

‘Oh, please...’ Anna responded coldly. She was about to call for the bill, but they both knew he would have to pay for dinner, and what was more, she didn’t care about manners tonight, so instead she reached for her bag and stood.

‘Anna,’ he said calmy, ‘please sit down.’

‘I don’t want to,’ she snapped, and was suddenly confused.

Because shouldn’t an apology that sounded sincere make her feel better? Instead the anger seemed to be rising inside her.

She leaned her head closer to his and in low tones expressed exactly how much he’d hurt her. ‘That was my first time away from my daughter since she was born, and I didn’t tell you about her because I was tearful about leaving her. In any case, it’s none of your business, and I didn’t think a man like you would be particularly interested in hearing about my childcare arrangements.’

‘Anna, please sit down,’ he said. ‘Or if you want to shout let’s take this conversation outside.’

‘I don’t want to be outside with you,’ Anna said, but she did sit back down and stared angrily across at him. ‘You hurt me that morning. A lot. I was already feeling bad enough about leaving her, and you have no right to judge me.’

‘How old is your daughter?’

This time she answered. ‘Four...almost five.’ Anna took a sip of her drink and actually felt better for saying her piece—well, almost. ‘As I said, you wouldn’t think twice if it was a father who left his child for a weekend.’

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