Page 67 of Midnight Surrender to the Spaniard

It was the latter, Anna was sure.

Yes, the latter.

He did not want to hear any declarations outside of the bedroom. He did not want empty words that held no meaning... Nothing could come of them, so why spoil it with lies? He was stopping her from ruining a very nice thing.

‘No...’ She declined a second go on the slide. ‘Once was enough for me.’

They swam back and she climbed up the ladder, her legs a little wobbly not so much from the thrill of the slide, but more from the words she’d been about to say to him. Unwanted words, it would seem.

‘I ought to visit Emily.’

‘Sure. I’ll get Dante to organise the tender,’ Sebastián said, but then changed his mind. ‘Or we could return to port and give the crew time to do a service.’

It was protocol, apparently, to give the crew time to do their work undisturbed.

It was incredible to lie on the private deck off the main cabin as the yacht was skilfully reversed in and docked, and yet Anna’s heart was still thumping as she realised how close she’d come to saying too much. To ruining their temporary arrangement...

As Sebastián went up to speak with Dante she showered and washed her hair, her tanned limbs looking unfamiliar as she washed the ocean salt from her body. Drying off, she looked at her gorgeous new clothes, but chose the familiar long skirt and cheesecloth top she had brought with her from home. She wondered if she was trying to find the old Anna...the sensible Anna who knew this could never last.

She called Willow, who seemed to have picked up a little Scottish accent!

‘Three more sleeps, lassie,’ Willow said.

‘Yes, only three more sleeps,’ Anna agreed—then inwardly panicked, because that meant only two nights left with Sebastián, because of the party on Saturday night.

How could it already be Thursday?

Their last night would likely be tomorrow...

It had gone by in a puff.

‘I cannae see any photos of Emily, Mummy.’

‘I’m sorry, darling.’ Anna laughed at her daughter’s quirky ways. ‘I keep getting her to take photos of me. I’ll sort that out now.’

‘Can I talk to wee Emily?’

‘Willow, stop!’ Anna giggled. ‘Emily’s with Alejandro at the moment, but I’ll get her to call you.’

Oh, Willow, Anna thought, sitting on the rumpled bed. She was desperate to see her daughter in person, and kept smiling long after the call had ended.

She wanted to tell Sebastián how Willow had just made her laugh, but she couldn’t bear to be rewarded with only his polite, uncomprehending smile.

She came up on deck to discover that he was in another meeting. He excused himself from it and turned the microphone off when he saw her.

‘I’m off,’ Anna said. ‘I might head back to the villa for a while.’

‘Why don’t you check out?’

‘No...’ Anna shook her head. And it wasn’t because she had the blessed blanket to finish—it was more because she needed the bolthole, a place to escape to, in moments like this, when otherwise she might say too much.

She didn’t say any of that, of course... ‘Emily thinks I’m staying there.’

‘Sebastián?’ Capitán Dante came over. ‘Carmen has come to visit.’ He possibly saw Anna’s reaction, because he dealt with it immediately. ‘The first steward is talking to her.’

Sebastián, too, must have noticed her appalled expression, but he just shrugged. ‘Carmen took you out for the day.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll tell her it was my turn.

‘No!’ She was adamant. ‘I don’t want her finding out. I’ll go into the cabin.’

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