Randi couldn’t deny it. The new shelter liaison had started her job running, preempting several potential problems in the first few hours she’d been there.
“She would be a better manager for the shelters,” Randi admitted.
“No, but she will be a great resource and she’s making it possible for you to visit Spain.”
“It’s not a vacation. Baz is forcing me to go so he can ensure I don’t do the interview after promising not to.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“What else?”
“The man fell for you and he’s looking for the time and opportunity to prove to you that he’s not the monster you’ve decided he is.”
“Kayla,” Randi groaned. “I know you found happiness with your longtime best friend, but not every guy is as trustworthy as Andreas.”
Randi wasn’t sure any man was. Her trust factor was at zero right now.
“Andreas is not exactly perfect.”
“Don’t be telling falsehood to your sister.” Andreas’s voice came over the phone from somewhere near Kayla.
Kayla and Randi both laughed.
“Well, he’s not lacking self-confidence anyway,” Randi said with a smile, surprised at the feeling of lightness in her chest.
“Trust me, he’s hurt me. More than once. Loving someone means you figure out how to forgive the stuff that can’t be changed.”
“And if you can’t?”
“Then that relationship isn’t good for you.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“Life is anything but.”
“You know I’ve always wanted to travel to Europe.”
“And you know that Andreas and I would have happily taken you. This isn’t about seeing the bullfighters of Madrid.”
Randi shivered. “No, it’s not about that, for sure.”
“You want to find out if you can learn to trust the man again.”
“Isn’t that just opening myself up for more pain?”
“Life isn’t just complicated, it’s risky, but if you don’t take the risks, you can’t have the rewards.”
Randi didn’t reply. Her thoughts were too jumbled.
“Randi?” Andreas asked.
“I’m here. Kayla gave you her phone.”
“I may have confiscated it.”
“What’s going on?”
“It is just that I see a lot of similarity between myself and Baz.”
“You do?”
“I had him investigated.”
“You knew he was related to Carl Madison?”
“I found out the same day you did. The final report came in about an hour before your phone call to Kayla. I hadn’t even told my wife yet.”
“You were looking out for me.”
“Always. You are my sister now, too.”
“Thank you.”
“No thanks necessary. Just give the man a chance. He’s ruthless in business, but he is not underhanded. He has integrity.”
“He deceived me.”
“He did, but do you really think he only took you to bed to get your agreement to cancel the interview?”
“He admitted it.”
“He may have been deceiving himself.”
“Or not.”
“Or not. But if your sister hadn’t known me better than I knew myself, if she hadn’t stuck by my side that first time I ended our romantic relationship, remained my friend, I would have been lost. I would not be the man I am today.”
“Kayla is pretty special.”
“So are you, Miranda Smith.”
Just not special enough for Baz to want her for herself and not what she could do for him.
* * *
Basilio bit back a sigh as Miranda accepted a fizzy mineral water from the flight attendant, her usual warmth and enthusiasm glaringly absent. She wasn’t rude. She did not pout. But the bright inner light he’d grown enamored of was not shining from her.
There was no pleasure in knowing that his deception was the most likely culprit.
He did not understand how his actions could have such a profound effect on her after such a short time together, but then his own reaction to Miranda confused Basilio. The day she’d found out Basilio’s connection to Carlos’s family, her pain, her clear sense of betrayal, both had made Basilio feel like a monster. He’d been unable to allow her to just walk away, and the interview had been the last thing on his mind when he chased after her.
He had made efforts to prevent her from ejecting him completely from her life that he would not have made for any other woman.
Again, his desire to bring her to Spain had nothing to do with protecting his family and everything to do with protecting something precious.
It smacked loudly of an emotional decision. Basilio did not do overly emotional. It was too dangerous a barometer for rational choices.
And yet here he was, on the Perez jet, sitting in his favorite leather chair facing the table he usually used to work, Miranda right beside him, her inner fire banked.
He could not leave it like that.
He needed a conversational gambit, something to spark the natural curiosity she’d shown so far. Even after she’d become angry with him, she hadn’t been able to hide her interest in his life back in Spain. That was why he’d taken the risk of trying to convince her to come with him to his home in Madrid. “You will like the hacienda.”
She looked up from her e-reader, a tiny spark of interest flaring before she blanked her face. “Will I?”
“It is over two hundred years old.”
“Inside Madrid?”
“On the outskirts of the city, but there are many historic buildings in the city center.”
Triumph rang through him when curiosity flared in her pretty gray eyes. “When I lived in Southern California, one of my favorite things to do was visiting Old Town San Diego. The buildings were so beautiful, the museums that showed an old way of life, fascinating.”
“The Mission Style architecture there has a great deal of Spanish influence.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Hopefully you will find the original to the inspiration as interesting.”
She set her e-reader down on the table. “You really want me to see this trip as some kind of vacation, don’t you?”
“I would prefer you were looking forward to the benefits, yes.” He wanted to show her his home, had a completely irrational desire for her to fall in love with it.
She gave him a skeptical look, her posture stiff. “As opposed to the detriments?”
“And what are those, do you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “What about having to leave the job I love, the shelter’s clients that are so important to me, at the last minute?”
“But you’ve left them in good hands and you will stay connected, sí?”
“That is the hope. Regardless, I wasn’t planning on an international trip right now. Or any trip of any kind, and I know you know that.” She adjusted her fitted suit jacket, so unlike her usual clothing, but no less alluring.
The blue-gray fabric brought out the color of her eyes, the cut highlighting her elegant curves. Basilio wanted nothing more than to peel away the layers, revealing the entrancing body beneath.
“Life is full of surprises.” Like meeting a woman who played such havoc with his self-restraint.
“Not all of them are pleasant.”