style="font-size:15px;"> But where could she hide it until the right moment? Biting her lip, she looked around desperately. “Is there a handbag to match my dress?”
“There’s always a bag,” the stylist said lazily. He narrowed his eyes, then gave a satisfied nod and handed her an adorable pink minaudière laced with pink crystals. Hastily, she tucked her phone, ID, a lipstick and a bit of cash inside. She felt bright with happiness. “Wait,” the stylist said, wrapping a pink stole around her shoulders. “Take this. It’s cold out.”
When she returned to the great room, Rodrigo came closer, dark-haired and devastating in his sleek tuxedo. Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed it, causing her to shiver as ripples of electricity and heat whipped through her body.
“Tonight, I want to fulfill all your dreams,” he said seriously, wrapping her hand over his arm.
Lola’s heart was pounding as he led her outside, where she saw his red two-seater Ferrari waiting. She tried to tell herself to calm down but couldn’t. She felt like she was in a dream as he helped her into the passenger seat.
After starting the engine, Rodrigo drove past the beach house’s gate and onto the coastal highway, heading east, into the sprawl of Los Angeles.
When they reached the outskirts of Beverly Hills, traveling a winding road past all the hidden mansions with their gates and fortress-like hedges, a sudden suspicion began to grow inside her.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Rodrigo shook his head, a smile quirking his sensual lips. Then he turned into a driveway blocked by an elaborate wrought iron gate. Words were worked into the top of the tall gate: La Casa del Corazón.
“What are we doing here?” She turned to her husband, eyes wide. “Is there a party?”
“You might say that.” Reaching out of his window, Rodrigo punched in a code on the security keypad, causing the electronic gate to smoothly slide open. The car continued up the sweeping driveway. To her surprise, Lola saw cars parked along the short private road, all the way to the massive circular driveway around a Spanish-style stone fountain. Parking directly in front of the lavish mansion, he turned off the engine.
He turned to face her, his dark eyes shining.
“The house of your dreams.” Taking her hand, he put a key into her palm. “It’s yours.”
She blinked. “What?”
“It wasn’t on the market.” He gave her a quietly proud smile. “But you told me you wanted it, so I made the owners an offer they couldn’t refuse.”
Lola looked up at the stunning 1920s-era Spanish Mediterranean mansion. Built by silent film stars a hundred years before, this home was a rare beauty, an architectural landmark. Tears lifted to her eyes.
It wasn’t that he’d bought her a mansion. They already had one of those, a nice one on the beach.
It was that Rodrigo had listened. When she’d told him her youthful dreams, he hadn’t mocked them. He hadn’t forgotten. He’d tried to make them come true.
“But why are we dressed up like this?” she said, blinking fast. “And why are there so many cars? I don’t understand.”
His smile widened. “There’s more.”
“More?”
Searching his gaze, she caught her breath. He’d brought her family and friends here, she thought suddenly. Since they hadn’t been at the wedding. He was going to tell her he loved her tonight, in front of everyone she cared about, in front of Hallie and Tess and their families. In front of her sisters. The certainty, the overwhelming romance of the moment filled her.
And suddenly, she couldn’t wait. Fear disappeared, along with pride.
Lola let him see her heart. She didn’t even try to hide the joyful tears suddenly falling down her cheeks.
Looking up at him as he sat beside her in the Ferrari, she whispered, “I love you, Rodrigo.”
He blinked. He said slowly, “You love the house—”
“No. You.” She lifted her hand to his rough cheek. “Not your money. Not these diamonds—” she glanced down at her necklace “—not even this beautiful house. I love you,” she said fiercely. Shaking her head, she smiled through her tears. “I don’t think I’ve ever stopped loving you. From the night we first kissed. All this time. Even when there was no hope.”
His gaze shuttered. “Lola—”
“I told you I was only marrying you for Jett’s sake. But it was a lie. I was scared to admit the truth, even to myself. But I can’t deny it any longer.” Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “I love you. Only you. And I’ll love you forever.”
* * *
She couldn’t mean it.
Lola...loved him?
A horrifying flash of memories raced through Rodrigo of three other women speaking those exact same words, with the same apparent sincerity—right before they slept with another, with his engagement ring still on their fingers.
Only fools put faith in love. Fools and masochists. If he let himself love her, he knew how this would end.
And yet... His heart cried out for her.
He wanted to believe. His long-ago engagements felt like nothing—just the hasty, shallow infatuations of a young man—compared to what he felt for her now.
The thought shocked him.
Rodrigo’s gaze fell to the diamond engagement ring gleaming on Lola’s left hand. He couldn’t let himself love her. What if she betrayed him?
No. He took a shuddering breath. He couldn’t live through it. It would destroy him.
Rodrigo forced himself to give her a casual, crooked smile. “Lola, you don’t need to say you love me. I’ve already bought you the house. You can relax.”
Lola’s beautiful face, which had been hopeful and bright, closed up instantly. He felt an answering wrench in his chest that almost made him sick.
He knew she wasn’t pretending or buttering him up. She actually believed she loved him.
But he also knew it wouldn’t—couldn’t—last. He could not take the chance of loving her. They were married. They had a child. There was too much at stake to risk it on something so deceitful and destructive as love.
His jaw tightened. “We have guests. We should go inside.”
“Guests?” she said, with a tiny sliver of hope in her voice. “What guests?”
“It’s part of your surprise. A housewarming party.”
“Who did you invite?”
“Everyone.”
Her eyes lit up. “My
