vows and while I was in the area, I stopped by the chapel where we got married.”
A bolt of surprise shot through her and she couldn’t help but think back to that night. She’d been emotionally flattened by her mother’s death and had only just returned to finish her studies in Europe. She’d shared some drinks with the guy she’d secretly had a crush on and the next thing she’d known, they were hunting for a preacher or a justice of the peace with the lights still on.
Visiting the place where they’d exchanged vows sounded sentimental. Like that day meant more to him than a drunken mistake.
She couldn’t stop herself from asking,”You went back there?”
“I was in the neighborhood,” he repeated, his jaw going tight, the first sign that the whole debacle may have upset him as much as it had her.
He’d let her go so easily, agreeing they’d made an impulsive mistake rather than asking her to crawl back in bed with him and discuss it later. A huge part of her had wanted him to sweep away rational concerns. But no. He’d let her leave, just as her father never claimed her mother.
Or her.
She tore her eyes away from the tempting curve of his mouth, a mouth that had brought such intense pleasure when he’d explored every patch of her skin later that night after their”I do.” Except they’d exchanged vows in Spanish, which had seemed romantic at the time. Between her hiccups.”Everyone knows King Enrique doesn’t live in San Rinaldo anymore. Nobody knows where he and his sons fled after they left. There are only rumors.”
“Rumors that he’s in Argentina.” Jonah lounged back in the seat, seemingly lazy and relaxed, except for the coiled muscles she could see bunched under his black jacket.
She knew well he came by those muscles honestly. Her first memory of him was burned in her brain, the day she’d joined the restoration team on a graduate internship to assist with research. Jonah had been studying blueprints with another man on the construction site. She’d mistakenly thought Jonah worked on the crew, from his casual clothes and mud-stained boots. The guy was actually a couple of credits away from his PhD. He wasn’t just an architect, he was a bit of an artist in his own right.
That had enticed her.
Only later, too late for her own good, had she discovered who he was. A Landis, a member of a financial and political dynasty.
Eloisa looked away from his too-perceptive eyes and swept her hem back over her knees.”I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Lying came so easily after this long.
“It also appears that neither you nor your mother has been to Argentina, but that’s not my point.” His eyes drilled into her until she looked back at him.”I don’t give a damn where your royal papa lives. I’m only concerned with the fact that you lied to me, which gummed up the works for our divorce.”
“Okay, then.” She met his gaze defiantly.”If what you say is true, maybe it means the marriage is void, too, so we don’t need a divorce.”
He shook his head.”No such luck. I checked. Believe me. We are totally and completely husband and wife.”
Jonah slid his fingers down the length of her hair until his hand cupped her hip. His hand rested warm and familiar and tempting against her until she could swear she felt his calluses through her dress. She struggled not to squirm—or sway closer.
She clasped his wrist and set his hand back on his knee.”File abandonment charges. Or I will. I don’t care as long as this is taken care of quickly and quietly. No one here knows about my, uh, impetuosity.”
“Don’t you want to discuss who gets the china and who gets the monogrammed towels?”
Argh! She tapped on the window.”Driver? Driver?” She kept rapping until the window parted.”Take me back now, please.”
The chauffeur glanced at Jonah who nodded curtly.
His autocratic demeanor made her want to scream out her frustration but she wouldn’t cause a scene. Why did this man alone have the power to make her blood boil? She was a master of calm. Everyone said so, from the stodgiest of library board members to her sixth grade track coach who never had managed to coax her to full speed.
She waited until the window closed before turning to him again.”You can have every last bit of the nothing I own if you’ll please just stop this madness now. Arguing isn’t going to solve anything. I’ll have my lawyer look into the divorce issue.”
That was as close as she would come to admitting he’d stumbled on the truth. She certainly couldn’t outright confirm it without seeing what proof he had and hopefully have time to take it to her attorney. Too many lives were at stake. There were still people out there tied to the group that tried to assassinate Enrique Medina, had in fact succeeded in killing his wife, the mother of his three legitimate heirs.
Enrique had been a widower when he met her mother in Florida, and still they hadn’t gotten married. Her mom vowed she hadn’t wanted any part of the royal lifestyle, but her jaw had always quivered when she said it. Right now Eloisa sympathized with her mother more than she could have ever imagined. Relationships were damn complicated—and painful.
Thank goodness the limo approached the paddleboat again because she didn’t know how much more of this she could take tonight. The car stopped smoothly alongside the dock.
“Jonah, if that’s all you have to say, I need to return to the party. My attorney will be in touch with you first thing next week.”
Eloisa reached for the door.
His hand fell to rest on top of hers, his body pressing intimately against her as he stretched past.
“Hold on a minute. Do you really think I’m letting you out of my sight again that easily? Last time I did that, you ditched before lunch. I’m not wasting another year looking for you if you decide to bolt.”
“I didn’t run. I came home to Pensacola.” She tried to inch free but he clasped her hands in his.”This is where you can find me.”
Where he could have found her anytime over the past twelve months if he’d cared at all. In the first few weeks she’d waited, hoped, then the panic set in as she’d wrestled with contacting him.
Now, they had no reason to talk.
“I’m here now.” His thumb stroked the inside of her wrist.”And we’re going to fix this mess face-to-face rather than trusting the system again.”
“No!” Already her skin tingled with awareness so much more intense than when he’d cupped her hip—and she’d been mighty aware.
Damn her traitorous body.
”Yes,” he said, reaching past and throwing open the door.
He was letting her go after all? But hadn’t he just said they were going to confront things face-to-face?
However, who was she to waste time questioning the reason he’d changed his mind? She rushed out of the limousine and turned at the last second to say goodbye to Jonah. Why was her gut clenching at the notion of never seeing him again?
She
