His eyes darkened. ‘I won’t be drawn into a debate, Elise. Not on this.’ The warning was clear. His mind was made up about the subject. But he caught his brother’s gaze from across the table. ‘I admit, I made you into a villain, too, in that hellish reality, Gael. Back then, I believed you and your mother contributed to the problem.’ He shook his head. ‘But only one person is to blame for this. And it’s not you.’ His voice was solemn, his gaze as beseeching as an inherently proud and autocratic man could achieve.
Emotion rippled across Gael’s face. He swallowed hard. Nodded silent acceptance. Then he surged to his feet and gathered up a sheaf of documents. ‘I’ll go through these before our meeting with the minister,’ he said gruffly, then left the room.
‘My father had wanted a son, someone he could pass on his well-honed cut-throat business skills to. Did I tell you that?’ She spoke into the silence several minutes later.
Alejandro’s chest rose and fell in a mildly frustrated manner. ‘Elise...’
‘My mother told me when I was twelve or thirteen and was refusing to wear some dress she’d bought me. I was a mistake my father convinced her to keep so he could pass on the family legacy. She’d refused to have any more children who would interrupt her career in prestige acquisition. They wanted a son and they got me instead. A daughter with ideals so far removed from theirs, I once heard them wonder out loud whether I was really their child.’
‘Dios,’ he swore under his breath.
‘You’re not the only one who wished for different parents. But what you feel in here—’ she tapped his chest and the strong heart beating beneath it ‘—won’t go away if you don’t
confront it.’
Green eyes pierced hers, probing. Suddenly afraid he would see too much, she dropped her gaze.
‘Come here, Elise.’
Since she was already sitting pretty darn close, she wondered what he meant. He resolved her confusion by picking her up and settling her in his lap. His fingers removed the clasp in her hair and let the heavy tresses cascade around her face.
After pulling her into a long kiss, he set her back. ‘Gracias,’ he murmured.
‘What for?’
His expression grew brooding, introspective. ‘I will know soon enough. But thank you,’ he repeated.
Her heart lurched at the depth of emotion behind the words. And even though she told herself it was futile to read anything into it, she found herself smiling.
‘Okay.’
Emotion of a different, specific nature entered his eyes. His hand tightened at her waist as he devoured her smile. ‘Feel like relocating upstairs for an hour or two before this meeting?’ he rasped.
Her nod brought him to his feet. He didn’t release her, instead walked out of the study and up to their bedroom with her locked in his arms.
And as he made love to her with a fevered, almost spiritual need, Elise wondered why she’d ever thought she could feel anything other than soul-searing love for this man.
* * *
Alejandro stilled in the act of securing his cufflink.
‘Repeat that, if you please.’
Elise groaned and rolled her eyes, but it gratified him to see apprehension in her eyes. She was wise to be apprehensive. Because the words she’d just spoken threatened to rip a gaping hole somewhere in the region of his heart. He knew it couldn’t be the actual organ that was affected, because that wasn’t what they were dealing with here. Hearts and flowers and gentle words weren’t part of their deal. Despite the decision he’d come to in the week since the study incident, those softer things would never feature in his life.
Nevertheless, a hole threatened. A deep black hole where emotions like desolation, despair, pain resided.
‘Don’t be upset, Alejandro. I made a promise. I have to keep it.’
He felt the ground beneath him shift. It was infinitesimal, but it registered. ‘A promise?’
She sighed. ‘Yes, you know those occasions where you pledge something and then you have to honour it?’
‘I know the definition,’ he murmured. ‘I was very much aware of the existence of promises as a child but sadly I never got to experience anyone either making or keeping one.’
She paused in the act of tying the strings of a wraparound dress around her waist.
‘I’m sorry, Alejandro.’ Soft compassion blazed from her eyes and warmed him. Everything inside him strained to be closer to that sensation. To lose himself in it and let it wash away the cold loneliness that had been a part of him for so long he didn’t remember a time when it hadn’t existed.