Page 43 of Claiming His Baby At The Altar

CHAPTER TEN

TWOANDAhalf hours after they were supposed to set off for the party, they got in the back of the car. Alejandro was unperturbed about their tardiness, pointing out that most parties took a few hours to warm up and that no party really got going until he arrived. The latter was a point she was not going to argue with. She couldn’t really argue about the former either. Flora had never been a party animal, not even close, had always preferred nights out with her small group of close friends to raucous shindigs.

Now wearing a black wrap dress—when they’d finally dragged themselves out of bed she’d found the white one scrunched on the floor—and with her hair now tied into a loose bun, Flora resisted attaching herself to him like a limpet and satisfied her body’s craving for him by holding his hand.

The post-coital bliss of their second lovemaking still thrummed in her veins but the barriers she’d worn around him for so many years were refortifying themselves.

She no longer denied that she was in love with him but she wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t protect the last part of her heart from him. So long as she kept a degree of detachment, she could survive marriage to a man who could never love her.

Love involved risk. It involved hurt. Alejandro would never allow himself to love anyone because the risk of hurt was too strong a deterrent for him.

He had feelings for her. Strong feelings, she was certain.

But they weren’t strong enough for him to take the risk of love and if he ever found out how deeply her feelings for him ran, the tipping point of power in their marriage would fall even more heavily in his favour.

The party was in a traditional Spanish villa that matched Alejandro’s for size and elegance, their hosts a wildly glamorous couple called Juan and Camila who greeted Flora with enormous kisses to her cheek and a large glass of champagne.

Having only had that tiny glass of wine over dinner the night of the ballet since Benjamin’s conception, Flora knew she needed to take it easy with the alcohol. The problem was, Alejandro had been righter than even she had suspected that the party wouldn’t start until he arrived, and no sooner had they entered the vast party room than all the beautiful, glamourous guests clamoured around him. Although most spoke in Spanish, she could tell by their tone and body language that they were chiding him, and guessed it was because he’d been off the party scene for so long. With everyone wanting a piece of the only person she knew there, and feeling the weight of a hundred pairs of curious eyes and so many introductions made and kisses planted on her cheeks, Flora kept sipping at her champagne out of nerves and before she knew it, she’d finished two full glasses.

‘Let me show you our new swimming pool,’ her hostess insisted, taking the empty glass from her and handing it to a passing waiter. Camila then slipped her arm through Flora’s and bore her away.

Flora looked over her shoulder at Alejandro and her stomach settled a little when she immediately caught his eye and received a faint, knowing wink from him.

The far end of the party room had no wall and led straight onto the terrace, which acted like an extension of the party room and was filled with numerous people enjoying the humidity of the hot evening. After the air conditioning of the villa’s interior, Flora felt the heat, and when Camila snatched another glass of champagne for her, she took a large mouthful of it without even realising.

‘You are Justin’s sister?’ Camila said as they walked down marble steps to the large kidney-shaped swimming pool.

‘Yes.’

‘I remember you.’

Her heart sank. ‘Do you?’

‘A party at Alejandro’s a few years ago.’

‘You have a good memory.’

‘You were the only one wearing clothes,’ Camila pointed out with a cackle of laughter that made Flora grin. ‘My sister was hoping Alejandro would notice her but he only had eyes for you.’

‘Hardly,’ she demurred, feeling a blush crawl over her face. ‘I was only there for thirty minutes.’ And most of that had been spent hiding in the changing room.

‘He didn’t want her after you went.’ Camila nudged Flora’s side with her elbow. ‘That was very unusual. It is why I was not surprised when I heard he had married you, even though you are Justin’s sister.’

She didn’t have the faintest idea how to take that or how she should respond.

They reached the water’s edge.

‘I miss your brother,’ Camila said. ‘We were lovers many years ago.’

‘Maybe a bit too much information?’ Flora suggested. ‘I am his sister.’

‘It is okay, I will not give you details of his lovemaking. How is he?’

‘Lonely. Guilty. Ashamed.’

Camila gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘He should be ashamed. He screwed his best friend.’

‘I know.’ Justin would live with the guilt and regret for the rest of his life.

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