Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t realize you knew Spanish.” How much had she heard in his conversations? Did she also catch the endearments he whispered when they were in bed? He had to be more careful.
“I’m not fluent,” she said. “I don’t know anything about your mother’s condition.”
“She’s recovering from heart surgery,” he explained. “There had been a point when we didn’t think she was going to make it. My mother made a dying request and we called the priest.”
Ashley squeezed his hand in silent sympathy. “I won’t do anything to upset her. I promise.”
“Thank you.” Sebastian realized how he was gripping her hand as if it was a lifeline. He reluctantly let go. “I don’t want you to discuss our relationship with anyone in my family. Don’t mention Inez Key. In fact, don’t give any personal information.”
“Should I pick an assumed name?” she asked wryly.
“Ashley Jones should be fine.” It was a common name. His family wouldn’t make the connection.
“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “If that’s what you want.”
Her quick agreement made him suspicious. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing. I’ll just keep the conversation all about you.” She rubbed her hands with exaggerated glee. “I can’t wait to learn all your secrets.”
Dread seized his lungs until he remembered that there was an unspoken agreement with his family on some topics that were forbidden to discuss. “Good luck with that,” he said with icy calm. “I don’t have any.”
Ashley made a face. “Everyone has secrets.”
“You don’t anymore,” he said. “I uncovered them all when I took you to bed.”
“You are so hung up on being my first,” she muttered. Ashley looked flustered and shy. “If I knew that my virginity would have been so important to you...”
Sebastian stepped in front of her, blocking her from turning away. “What would you have done?” he asked. She had not been above using her virginity with Raymond Casillas to get what she wanted. “Keep away from me until I begged? Waited for a wedding ring on your finger?”
“No!” she said, staring at him with wide eyes. “I would have told you.”
Would it have been that simple? Could their first night have been about two people giving in to a fiery attraction? “Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want you to know how inexperienced I was,” she confessed as a ruddy color streaked her high cheekbones. “It would have given you the upper hand.”
He always had the advantage even with the most experienced women. Although there had been some nights with Ashley when he wasn’t sure who was seducing whom. She had gradually begun to realize the depths of his excitement when she made the first move. She was beginning to tap into the sexual power she held over him. He should hide his responses, or at least take over when she became too daring, but he didn’t want to.
“You had nothing to worry about, mi vida. You’re a very sensual woman.” He noticed how his compliment horrified her. “I’m surprised you abstained for as long as you did. Why did you wait?”
“Lack of opportunity?” she hazarded a guess.
She was not telling him the truth. Not the whole truth. “That’s not it at all,” he said gently. “Men would subject themselves to Herculean tasks if it meant a chance for one night with you.”
“Every man but you,” she muttered. “You just had to snap your fingers and I was there.”
“Why did you wait?” he repeated. What he really wanted to ask was, Why did you choose me?
“If you saw the house I was raised in you would understand.” She crossed her arms and looked at the ocean, unable to meet his eyes. “My mother was a mistress. A sexual plaything for my father. My father was a womanizer. He was worse than his friends. The things I saw...heard. I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
Sebastian felt a sharp arrow of guilt. Shame. He was beginning to think he had made a mistake when he’d claimed Ashley as his mistress. He thought she didn’t like the drop in status. Instead, he had made her the one thing she swore she would never be.