as close as possible to the truth.
‘Is that it?’ he said.
‘Not yet. Stand still,’ she chided when he moved. She was beginning to enjoy this, though her heart was still thundering off the scale. ‘I’m glad you remembered your bandana,’ she said as she traced the band across his brow. ‘Wild hair must be contained at all times, according to health and safety rules,’ she teased.
‘Don’t forget the earring and the scowl.’
Forget safety, Grace thought, hearing the humour in Nacho’s voice. ‘You’re not scowling,’ she said.
Nacho laughed.
This was not going the way he had imagined. He had come to the cottage with a clear plan in his mind. This was not a date. He would be polite to Grace—chivalrous, even. He would escort her to the grape-treading, where he would keep her safe and help her to do her research. And that was it. If he’d known she was going to explore him so thoroughly with her hands he might have made different plans—like taking her to bed and to hell with the grape-treading, along with his guilty past and all his worthy resolutions.
‘Are we ready?’ Grace asked as she walked to the door.
He didn’t know about her, but he was ready enough to be in agony. ‘What? No laptop, notebook, or phone to take notes?’
‘None of the above,’ she said. ‘Tonight is strictly for enjoyment—I’ll learn more that way,’ she insisted.
‘So what did Alejandro tell you about tonight?’
‘He told me to be careful around you,’ she said.
‘Me?’ When she laughed he thought he’d have to have a word with Alejandro.
Swinging the door wide, he realised Grace wasn’t with him, and felt a punch in the guts when he turned to see her feeling for a stick. It was so easy to forget there was anything wrong with Grace.
‘Locking this thing into place is a real pain,’ she complained good-humouredly as she wrestled with the stick’s extension lever. ‘It collapses, so that’s good, because I can pack it in my suitcase, but just try and get the damn thing to stay fixed in place.’
‘You won’t need it,’ he said. Taking the stick away from Grace, he propped it against the wall. ‘You’ve got me tonight,’ he reminded her.
The barn where the grape-treading was being held was already full of people. He drew Grace close to protect her from the crowd. She felt tiny against him, but she felt full of energy too. Her curiosity was firing on all cylinders, he realised when he stared down into her face.
‘Describe the scene to me,’ she said.
As he looked around him he realised that he was noticing so much more. He’d never paid so much attention to his surroundings in his life, but that had been before Grace had come to Argentina and now he absolutely had to.
‘Well, the barn is packed,’ he began.
‘I can feel that—and I can hear it,’ she said, laughing. She clung to him as they moved through the crowd. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Nacho.’
So he, who never fell short in anything, according to popular belief, was forced to try again. But just for now he wanted to absorb the feeling of being close to Grace—protecting her. He had never been so physically close to a woman outside of bed, and this was far better. Grace was almost a friend. She was certainly a very special business associate. He kept her pressed up hard against him—for reasons of safety only, of course.
‘I hope you’re not isolating me, Nacho?’
‘Isolating you?’
‘Only it’s quieter here, and I’m not being jostled. I don’t want to be regarded as an oddity,’ she exclaimed. ‘And I don’t want you making special allowances for me.’
‘What if they’re steering a wide berth around me?’ he said.
‘Are you so fearsome?’ She huffed with disbelief. ‘I don’t think so. From talking to Alejandro I get the sense that your staff really like and respect you. And, as you’re taking time out from your crazy overloaded schedule to revive their industry, I can only think they must really admire you too.’
‘Maybe I am being a little over-protective,’ he conceded, loosening his grip. Habit of a lifetime, he reflected.
‘That’s better,’ she said. ‘Now we can both relax and enjoy the party. So long as you describe it to me …’
He was keen to do that. He didn’t want her to miss out on anything. ‘We’re in a big all-purpose barn, constructed from old, mellow wood, I guess it’s a sort of rich golden-brown—’
‘High ceiling?’
‘Very high,’ he confirmed. ‘With a pitched roof. The air is—’
‘Warm, noisy, boisterous, and scented with old wine and anticipation,’ she said, her face illuminated with the eagerness of a child as she raised her chin. ‘Go on—’
‘I was about to say the air smells of dry hay and it’s full of dust motes.’
‘Romantic.’
‘Do you want me to describe it to you or not?’
‘You dare stop. It gives me a lovely warm feeling inside when you describe things. I just think you could use a few more adjectives.’
‘Take it or leave it, Grace.’
‘I’ll take it, thank you,’ she said, grinning up at him.
He smiled too, and dragged her a little closer. There was something so innately good in Grace it made him want to know more about her, and at the same time made him wonder if he would spoil his time with her as he had spoiled so many other things. Would the past haunt him until he had?
‘Come on,’ she prompted, ‘I’m waiting …’
He reordered his mind. ‘Most people are dressed in traditional clothes,’ he explained, determined that Grace wouldn’t miss out on anything. ‘The older women are dressed in black, and some of the older men have big hats on—’
‘And belts with coins dangling from them?’ she said.
‘How did you know that?’
‘Because they’re gauchos,’ she said, as Lucia might. ‘This isn’t just a celebration for the people who work at the vineyard, is it? It’s for everyone who works for you.’
‘And anywhere the Acostas are you’ll find a horse,’ he confirmed.
She laughed. ‘I was about to say that.’
They were guessing each other’s sentences now.
‘Are we anywhere near the grape-treading yet, Nacho?’
‘I’m
