The Spanish Aristocrat's Woman (7 page)

The two sisters she’d met were skinny and beautiful, and Kara felt fatter and plainer every second she was with them.

Cynthia was doing her level best to find legitimate work-related functions for Kara to attend but unfortunately this afternoon she had nothing on her schedule, so when Arcelia and Anika asked her to join them for an afternoon of shopping…she said yes.

Puerta del Sol was the center of Madrid and was considered by many to be the center of Spain. Every distance in the country was measured by how far it was from the crescent-shaped plaza in the center of Madrid. They shopped for three hours before making their way to a restaurant on the plaza where they decided to have a late lunch.

“How did Gui ask you to marry him?” Anika asked once they were seated and all had a glass of sangria.

Kara flushed. No one had asked these questions of her, because she’d neatly avoided being alone with her friends and her sister since the engagement had been announced. Now she was faced with either telling them the truth or making something up.

She took a sip of her fruity wine drink. “You know how Gui is. He didn’t really ask me so much as tell me.”

Arcelia started laughing. “Typical Gui. I hope you gave him a hard time for asking you like that.”

“I did.”

“Good for you. He always said he would never marry, and to be honest I was a bit surprised when I read about your engagement. Mother was furious that he didn’t call and let us know first.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out in the newspaper.”

“It’s okay. Gui isn’t really big on communicating. You will have to be the one to keep us in the loop.”

“So why do you think he asked you to marry him?” Anika asked.

“I have no idea,” Kara said. Truly, she suspected it had something to do with Tristan and Christos both settling down.

“You’re not his normal type of woman.”

“I know,” Kara said. She thought about that every day when she woke up in bed with Gui. Since they’d come to Madrid, he hadn’t made love to her. And a part of her wondered if he had regrets now that they were here. Now that the wedding was only a few short days away.

Anika reached across the table and took her hand. “I think that’s a good thing. He was dating these women who were…” She glanced at her sister, who shrugged.

“Shallow?”

“Yes, shallow. They were a bit trying at times. But you aren’t like that.”

“Well, thank you,” Kara said.

Anika laughed. “I sound like a flake, don’t I?”

“A little. What are you trying to say without saying it?” Kara was really starting to like Gui’s sisters. They had that genuine core of solidness that she sensed in Gui. Kara suspected it was because of the way they’d all been raised. There was no room for doubt or weakness in their family. Gui’s parents loved all of their children, and it was clear to see that that affection and support had helped those children to mature into adults with purpose.

“We’d like to help out with your foundation. As soon as Gui mentioned your name, we knew who you were. A&A Works has been looking for the right charity to partner with.”

Kara smiled at the women. They owned their own jewelry design house. “What did you have in mind? I’d have to talk to Malcolm, who heads up our joint promotions department, but I’d love to create a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry that we could sell and use the proceeds to fund a new housing development for women and children. Maybe here in Madrid.”

“Yes, we have considered that before. But we want to be involved globally.”

“Let me get you in touch with Malcolm and then you can figure something out. I’m thinking we could start with a series of exclusive bracelets each inspired by a different country, and then use the proceeds in that country.”

Anika nodded and grabbed a pen to start jotting down notes. And Kara felt more like herself than she had since she’d arrived in Spain.

Gui had been busy working at Seconds and taking care of his own obligations, and Kara had been at loose ends feeling very much the outsider in her own new life.

But this was exactly the type of thing that she could sink her teeth into. “When I get back I’ll e-mail Malcolm.” She paused. “Thanks for inviting me to come shopping with you this afternoon.”

“You’re welcome. We figured you needed an afternoon of relaxation before tonight.”

“Are royal functions that trying?” Kara asked. Gui had invited her to a dinner party at his brother’s house. Gui’s sister-in-law was the Enfanta…heir to the Spanish throne.

“They can be fun. But I suspected that Elvira will go out of her way to make you feel like an outsider.”

Kara’s skin suddenly felt too tight. Why hadn’t Gui mentioned that the other woman would be there? Not that he had to. “I…I didn’t realize she’d be there.”

“The dinner is for the entire family to meet you. And Juan is our cousin through marriage.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Well, I am looking forward to meeting all of your relatives.”

Arcelia leaned forward. “Don’t sweat it about Elvira. She’s very good at playing games with men, but she tends to leave the women alone. She thinks the rest of us are below her.”

That wasn’t exactly reassuring. Kara knew she had to talk to Gui and find out exactly what was between him and the other woman. If she didn’t have that knowledge, Elvira was always going to be able to rattle her and Kara didn’t intend to give the older woman the ability to shake her up.

She was going to have to be at her best tonight. As lunch ended and she left Anika and Arcelia to head back to Gui’s home, she decided that she was pulling out all the stops. She’d be the sexy woman that Gui told her she was, confident and proud to be on his arm.

That part was fine, but what caused the knot in the pit of her stomach was the fact that she’d have to somehow convince him that
he
was proud to be on
her
arm. Proud to be her man.

What she really wanted was to somehow make him realize that he was happy with her.

“Count, I have laid out your suit for this evening. Your father has asked that you come early so that he can speak to you and Alonzo.”

Gui nodded to Vincent as he took off the polo shirt he’d been wearing, tossing it toward the bed. “Inform my father I will be there. Will you let Kara know I’m home and if she has time I’d like to see her.”

“I certainly will, Count. Is there anything else you need?”

“Please have the Bugatti brought around for us to take tonight.”

“Very well, Count.”

Vincent left and Gui went in to take a quick shower. He had little hope that Kara would be waiting when he came out. She’d kept herself incredibly busy since they’d landed in Spain. He was beginning to think she might have second thoughts about marrying him.

There was a knock on the door that led to Kara’s dressing room. He wrapped a towel around his waist before going to open it. She stood on the other side, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other hanging by her side.

She had on more makeup than she normally wore and her dress was incredibly flattering. “You’re gorgeous tonight,
bebe.
”

She inclined her head. “Thank you, Gui. I’m glad you asked to speak to me. I need to talk to you, as well.”

Kara was all business and he wondered what was going through her head. “About what?”

She came into his dressing room, taking a seat on the padded bench in the middle of the area. She carefully arranged her skirts, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was going to want to talk about.

“I need to know what’s going on between you and Elvira and Juan. I know that you’ve said that it’s all in the past, but everyone keeps mentioning her to me like I know what happened.”

“It’s really nothing to do with you,” he said.

She blanched, and he wondered if she’d back down. He hoped she’d just let it go and that would be the end of it. He had absolutely no interest in rehashing the past.

She shook her head. “If I weren’t marrying you, I’d agree. But I am, and this is important to me, Gui. I can’t continue on without knowing more about her.”

“Why does it concern you?”

“Because she sent me a gift this afternoon, Gui.”

“What did she send?”

“Intimate apparel,” Kara said. There was an indefinable emotion on her face.

“I’m sorry. I have no idea why she would do that.”

“Don’t you? She said that the garment she sent was your favorite to see on the female form.”

“Kara—”

“She was also thoughtful enough to include an exercise DVD that would help me to look better in it.”

Gui cursed under his breath, crossing to Kara. “I hope you discarded both items.”

“I did send them back,” Kara said. “But I really can’t continue to let this lie. I need to know the entire story.”

“What do you want to know?” he asked her, reaching for his dress shirt. He drew it on and buttoned it quickly. He reached for the collar stays that Vincent left on his counter and put them into his shirt before drawing on his tie.

“I guess I want to know everything. From the beginning. Katie said she was the love of your life and she broke your heart.”

Gui hated talking about Elvira. It meant remembering that time in his life when he was a bit out of control. When he’d been young and impetuous and ruled by passion and not logic.

It wasn’t that he was totally logical now, but he was in better control of his temper. And he’d never be as all-or-nothing now as he’d been back then.

“Elvira and I met the summer after I finished at university. Tristan, Christos and I were taking a gap year.”

“Isn’t that a bit late?”

“Yes, but we’d decided that the normal rules didn’t apply to us. It was actually our second gap year. We did the traditional one between prep school and university as well.”

“How did you meet her?”

“I met her in Stockholm. We were there for three months, and she and I had a passionate affair. When it was time to move on, I went with my friends. Elvira followed me and two weeks later we moved to Madrid together. She had a villa that had been left to her by her grandfather. And I was on the outs with my father at the time, so we lived there.

“We lived together for three months before I got restless and joined Tristan and Christos in Milan. Elvira married Juan after I left. That’s it. Not much of a story.”

“What were you restless about?” Kara asked. And Gui realized that was the real treasure to Kara. That she seemed to always be able to look deep into the heart of a person. Not just listen to the surface story but dig beyond. No one had ever paid attention to what he said the way she did when it came to personal stuff.

“I was thinking about marrying her, but I was young and had to be sure.”

“Oh, Gui.”

“Don’t pity me. I came back to Madrid, unsure if she was the woman for me. And finding her married to Juan convinced me she wasn’t.”

“I don’t pity you.”

She almost pitied Elvira, because it was clear from the story that the other woman had had no idea where she’d stood with Gui. Something that Kara herself felt. Gui wasn’t one of those men who spoke freely about his emotions.

He wanted her. She knew that from how often he made love to her. But she thought relationships should be about more than sex. They should include long conversations and romantic gestures. They should include…well, the other things that Gui did.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m trying to figure you out.”

“With me, you get what you see,” he said, taking his dinner jacket and donning it.

“There is so much more to you than meets the eye, Guillermo. You just don’t let anyone see more.”

He didn’t respond, holding his hand out to her. “Come here.”

“Why?”

“I want to see how we look together.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I want to finish our discussion.”

“It is finished, Kara. Elvira thought she could manipulate me into marrying her. I refused, she married someone else, and that’s the end of it. I’m Catholic. Do you know what that means?”

“That you have a special dispensation from the Pope to miss church?” she asked in a teasing tone, because she hadn’t seen him go to church once since they’d met unless she counted Tristan’s wedding.

“Very funny. No, it means that I take the bonds of marriage very seriously. Elvira knew this about me.”

“I know it, too,” she said, remembering the conversation they’d had that first morning after they’d made love.

“Indeed you do,” he said, coming over to her and holding out his hand. She put her left hand in his, saw the large sapphire-cut diamond-and-platinum engagement ring he’d given her. No matter what Elvira wanted, Kara was the one who was engaged to Gui and she didn’t intend to let him go.

What she intended, she realized as she rose to her feet and let him slip his arms around her, was to teach him to love her. And there was only one way to do that. She had to stop holding herself back. She had to be the woman she really was. The woman she’d been afraid to let him see because she was different from the other women of their social set.

Days of shopping and lunching weren’t enough for her. And after spending time with Anika and Arcelia today, she had a hunch that Gui would be able to accept that other part of her.

She’d been feeling so lucky that he wanted her to marry him that she’d been hiding herself, not wanting to rock the boat. And that wasn’t who she was.

“You’re looking very fierce,
bebe.
”

“Sorry. I just realized something important.”

“That Elvira is ancient history and you have nothing to worry about when it comes to her?”

She shook her head. “She still wants you.”

Gui didn’t deny it. “We look good together.”

She looked at them in the mirror. Gui was a big man, tall and muscular and, standing next to him, she didn’t look too big the way she did with men who were her height. Even though she wore heels, he still was taller than she was. He wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her back against his body, resting his chin on her shoulder.

For a split second she saw that fairy-tale couple. Gui filled the bill of handsome prince easily and for once she felt like she was the princess.

He kissed the base of her neck and she sighed, tipping her head back and looking up at him.

“What do you want,
querida?
”

“You,” she said. “You’ve been too busy since we got here.”

“I have been. I want you, too,” he said, sliding his hand down to her tummy and pressing her back against his groin. She felt his erection nudge her lower back.

She shivered delicately and shifted against him. “But there’s no time now.”

“There’s always time for making love to my fiancée.”

She turned in his arms, rising up on her toes to kiss him. His mouth opened over hers and she felt that knot of uncertainty that had been in her stomach since her lunch with Gui’s sisters start to melt.

Many couples met in ways that were unconventional, and Lord knows that people married for reasons nowhere near as sensible as hers and Gui’s. And they had passion. The kind of passion she’d always believed was only found in movies or romance novels.

He sucked her lower lip between his teeth and she moaned in her throat. God she wanted this man. He leaned down to whisper in explicit terms what he wanted to do with her.

She flushed at the words, a pulse of pure pleasure going through her body. She arched against him.

“Yes, Gui. Take me like that.”

He smiled down at her and then lifted her in his arms and carried her into his bedroom. He made love to her on the edge of the bed, thrusting deeply into her body and joining them so deeply that it was easy for her to believe that they’d never be apart. He called her name when he came, and as her own climax washed over her, she clung tightly to his shoulders, held him to her and vowed that she’d never let him go. That she’d find the way to ensure that together they’d have the happiness that she’d always felt was waiting for her with the right man.

With this man, she thought.