forward to a change of pace the short trip to Portugal would provide.
Rafael D’Afonso grimaced when he realized the new Lady Windemere cosmetics boutique on the rua Da Plata appeared to be thriving.
It was June. By now he’d hoped the American-based company where his sister had been installed as manager would have been forced to close its doors. She would have had no option but to look for another job. Maybe then he could have talked her into giving up her Lisbon apartment and coming back home.
Unfortunately his hopes on that score were dashed last week by an offhand comment she’d made about the first quarter’s earnings being even higher than the home company had projected.
She loved her new job and wasn’t about to give it up.
Since their parents’ death twelve years ago, he’d been watching out for his strong-willed sister who’d already turned down several marriage proposals. If she immersed herself in business much longer, she would miss out on the most important role of her life—becoming a wife.
Lianor was already twenty-nine, six years younger than he was. Time was running out for her. One day soon she would mourn the fact that she had no husband, no children. He refused to let the scars from her past ruin the rest of her life.
Though Rafael was weighted down by bad news that hadn’t fully sunk in yet, he decided now was the perfect time to use it as leverage to force her to come home and embrace the life she was meant to live. All he wanted was her happiness.
As he entered the boutique located in Lisbon’s Chiado district, their gazes met. She was still helping a customer. Her other two employees were both busy as well. Taking a deep breath to curb his impatience, he headed for her private office. He would wait for her no matter how long it took.
To his relief she joined him within a couple of minutes. He put his cell phone away and hugged her. After she’d sat down behind her desk she smiled, looking supremely pleased with herself.
“Take a chair, brother dear. You’re prowling like a hungry wolf. What’s put that grave look on your face?”
He remained standing. “There’s no easy way to say this. As you know, Maria has experienced unbearable stomach pain lately. She finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with cancer. She’s in the very last stages. He said she won’t be leaving the hospital.”
“Oh no—” Lianor cried. In the next instant she’d leaped from the chair and had thrown her arms around him again, dissolved in tears. “The poor thing. What about Apolonia? Does she know yet?”
“No.” He’d left his ten-year-old daughter playing with a friend. His housekeeper, Ines, was watching them. “It’s going to come as a tremendous shock.”
“I can’t believe it. Maria’s too young. I thought she’d be with you until Apolonia was all grown up.”
“So did I,” he muttered.
“This is awful,” she lamented.
It was. Since his wife, Isabell, had died of pneumonia within weeks of giving birth, sixty-two-year-old Maria who’d been a maid in Isabell’s parents’ home, had taken on the role of surrogate grandmother to Apolonia.
Lately his daughter had grown quiet and seemed moody which was not her normal nature. No doubt her worry over Maria, who hadn’t been able to hide her discomfort from the family for several months now, was at the root of her uncharacteristic behavior.
He feared that when Apolonia heard that the only mother-type figure she’d ever known was on the verge of death, his daughter wouldn’t be able to handle it without Lianor being there to take her place.
“That’s why I came here instead of phoning you. I want you to come home with me and we’ll tell her together tonight.”
She pulled out of his arms, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry, Rafael, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
He blinked in shock. “Why? What’s more important?”
“The vice president of the company is flying in from New York. I have to pick her up at the airport in two hours.”
“You mean the notorious Lady Windemere?”
His sister looked wounded. “I’m sorry that her being a brilliant woman lauded by Wall Street makes you see her in such an unfavorable light, Rafael.”
“How else can a man view a woman who’s hard as nails, as the Americans say.”
“You’re wrong about her, you know. She’s not the owner, and she’s not Lady Windemere. For your information it’s the name she gave the company to revitalize and romanticize it. The rising profits are the proof of her business acumen.
“Her name is Mallory Ellis. And I’m asking you not to speak about her in such a derogatory way again.”
He couldn’t help it.
Mallory. Even her name sounded too masculine to his ear. There was nothing soft about Lianor’s new idol. The idea of his sister spending any more time with some hard-boiled female powerhouse who eschewed marriage and family was anathema to him.
“How long is she going to be here?” his voice grated.
“Tonight through tomorrow night. She’ll fly home the following day.”
Rafael swore under his breath.
She put a placating hand on his arm. “Look—don’t say anything to Apolonia for a couple of more days. I promise I’ll come home as soon as Mallory has flown back to the States.”
He fought to tamp down his frustration. “It doesn’t look like I have any choice. Where’s this American paragon going to stay while she’s here?”
“At my apartment.”
“No, Lianor, you can’t do that.”
“She has become a friend, Rafael. While I was in California she went out of her way to show me one of the most wonderful times of my life. We stayed overnight at her parents’ house and they were nothing but gracious to me.”
Rafael had no idea all that had gone on while she’d been out of the country.
“I’m certainly not going to let her go to some sterile hotel room. Besides, you always wine and dine your friends and business associates at home.”
“I happen to live at our family’s pousada which makes it convenient to entertain guests.”
His sister eyed him frankly. “Taking her home would have been my first choice, but knowing how you feel about my job, I thought it best to stay away.”
“It’s your home too,” he averred forcefully. After a pause, “Bring her there tonight.” He decided he wanted to meet this dangerous stranger who’d become friendly with his sister so quickly. “I’ll arrange for a room.”
“This is very important to me, Rafael. Will you give her the Alfama suite?”
The Alfama? His first inclination was to remind
