terrible.” Susannah could barely manage to get out the words. They were so inadequate to the horror of the situation. It was hard to imagine even Tarrant Hardcastle being cold and cruel enough to abandon a tiny, helpless, motherless baby.
It dawned on her like a clap of thunder that Amado was that baby.
Hot tears rolled over her cheeks.
Amado frowned. “Why are you crying? Surely you knew all this.”
“I didn’t know anything.” The words came out on a whine. “I’m so, so sorry. I can’t believe that Tarrant…” A sob cracked her voice.
“My real father.” He blew out a snort of disgust. “I curse the ground he walks on.”
“I don’t blame you.” Susannah bit her lip. How on earth could she convince Amado to come back to New York with her now? She didn’t even want to.
He inhaled deeply. “So Ignacio brought me back to Tierra de Oro. He didn’t want me to suffer the shame of illegitimacy so he quickly married his longtime housekeeper, Clara. They told people Marisa had died in a car accident.”
“I see.” That explained how Clara came into the picture. “I’d think people would put two and two together, what with Marisa suddenly disappearing and a new baby arriving.”
“My father said they pretended to have married earlier, but kept it secret because of the scandal of him marrying a servant.” He snorted. “Substituting a petty piece of gossip for a real one.”
He shook his head, looking out at the mountains. “Who knows, maybe everyone around here has known for years. But I didn’t.” He tapped his fist to his chest. “Thirty years on this earth and it never crossed my mind that I was anyone but the son of Clara and Ignacio Alvarez.”
“Your father, I mean, Ignacio, told you all this?” If it was awkward for her to figure out what to call him, she could barely imagine how Amado must feel.
“Yes. And I got angry. Very angry.” He fixed his gaze on the horizon. “How could he lie to me for so long?” The question rang with his pain and confusion.
Susannah wished she could think of something to say but her brain still buzzed with amazement at the strange situation.
He blew out a long breath. “And now he’s ridden off into the hills and Clara is inconsolable.”
Susannah was sweating inside her thin dress. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
Amado turned to her with a fierce expression. “Why should you be sorry? You’re just doing your job.” Anger curled in his voice, but once he looked at her, his gaze softened.
Her own distress must have been written all over her face. “You had no choice. With a jerk like that for a boss, you’d be fired if you didn’t jump when he snapped his fingers.”
Susannah exhaled. “You’re right. I did it to keep my job. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t.”
He turned his profile to her and stared out at the mountains. Sun glittered off the icy peaks. “It’s better the truth is out.”
“Better? How is it better? Your family is in chaos.” She glanced behind her, to where muffled sobs could still be heard through the door into the living room.
“Secrets are like poison in the system. They can hide for some time, but sooner or later, they’ll weaken and destroy it.” He turned to her, eyes narrowed. “Better to flush them out and face the consequences.”
Despite his brave words, she could see the strain in every line of his body from the hard jut of his chin to the aggressive stance of his feet. He stood like someone trying to keep his balance in a world that had been upended.
“It’s a different era now. There’s no shame in being illegitimate.”
“Doesn’t bother me. I’m still the same person.” His voice remained steady but a muscle tightened in his neck.
Was he? How could you be the same person after learning that the people you were closest to had lied to you throughout your whole life?
“You should come to New York. I know you’ve spoken to your sister Fiona on the phone…” She cringed, wondering exactly how Fiona had botched the phone call. Tarrant’s spoiled daughter was so used to having everything her way, she didn’t function all that well in the real world. Susannah couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. How could you grow up to be a normal person with Tarrant Hardcastle as your role model? “You have a brother too. Dominic was abandoned, like you, but they found him and he’s part of the family now.”
Amado stared at her, as if the thought was sinking in. “A brother.” He looked past her, out to the mountains.
Susannah swallowed. “There might be many of you. So far, Dominic’s the only other one they’ve tracked down. He was raised by his mother. He’s a year or so older than you.”
His eyes locked onto hers. “I’d like to meet him.”
“You’d like him. I work closely with him choosing wine for the restaurants.”
“He works for Hardcastle Enterprises?” He looked appalled.
“Yes. He owns his own chain of food stores, too, but Tarrant convinced him to take over leadership of the company. It took some persuading to hear Dominic tell it. His attitude was similar to yours, but I guess Tarrant won him over in the end.”
Amado’s face hardened. “I have no interest in meeting the man who left my mother to die.” Then, he inhaled, thoughtful. “But I do want to meet my brother and sister.”
“They’d like to meet you, too.” She hadn’t seen Dominic and Fiona since the results. How could she look them in the eye when she’d slept with their brother?
What on earth had she been thinking?
She swallowed hard.
The sun glinted off Amado’s proud profile. His sleeves were rolled up to reveal his tanned and muscled forearms. He was gorgeous.
Still, that was no excuse. Her behavior was beyond unprofessional. She’d have to do her best to stay far away from him while he was in New York. Then he’d go back to Argentina and no one would be the wiser.
“Why are you backing away from me?” He glanced down at her feet.
She froze, unaware that her body had been putting a safe distance between them. “I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” He tilted his head. Humor glinted in the coffee-brown depths of his eyes. “Little did I know what I was getting into when I invited you in for wine and alfajores. I thought my parents were so rude to try to get rid of you. Now, I see, they wanted to protect me. To protect us all.”
He took a step toward her. Desire throbbed in her veins as her body responded to the raw aggression of his gesture.
“Don’t think you can walk away now.”
Susannah stood rigid on the veranda
