The Real Romero by Cathy Williams

Author:Cathy Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

ANTONIA ROMERO WAS an elegant, quietly spoken woman who immediately put Milly at ease. She ushered them in warmly, allowing Lucas to kiss her on the cheek and then fret at the fact that she had come to the door herself when she should be resting, when there was help in the house to do things like answer doors.

‘I just couldn’t wait to meet Milly...’ she protested, drawing Milly into the living room, where tea and pastries were waiting for them on a low glass table while a pretty, smiling maid hovered in the background, ready to leap to service. ‘And I know you must be tired after your trip but I’m dying to hear all about your romance. I knew it. I just knew that son of mine would end up finding true love with a real woman and not one of those plastic dolls he’s spent his life fooling around with.’

Milly sneaked a surreptitious look at Lucas to see how he was handling his mother’s criticism and he caught her eye and grinned, eyebrows raised.

‘Didn’t I tell you that my mother has no problem saying exactly what she thinks?’ He shooed Antonia back to the sofa as she automatically rose to pour them tea and hand round the pastries. On cue, the maid leaped into action and refreshments were served before the maid vanished out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

With Antonia on the low, damask pink sofa facing her, Milly had a chance really to look at her hostess. There were fine lines of strain around her eyes and mouth and she was borderline too thin, barely filling the black, shapeless dress that hung down to her calves, yet it wasn’t hard to see that she must have been a great beauty in her day. Not that she was exactly ancient now. At a guess, Milly would have put her in her mid to late sixties.

She tried to maintain the chirpy smile of a woman in love as Lucas helped himself to a few more pastries before subsiding right next to her on the sofa, a replica of the one on which Antonia was sitting, his thigh pressed against hers.

She had been leaning forward, perched on the edge of the sofa, her hand primly linked on her knees, and now he pulled her back so that she tumbled against him.

‘What would you like to know?’ Lucas’s voice was teasing as he fondly addressed his mother. ‘You have limited time for questions because you should be taking it easy.’

‘I’m sitting,’ Antonia retorted, smiling. ‘How much easier can I take things? Please don’t join the queue along with all my friends who have insisted on treating me with kid gloves ever since I got ill.’

‘Why don’t you explain...?’ Lucas brushed aside Milly’s hair and delivered a feathery kiss on the side of her cheek, just enough to send the heat spiralling through her.

Milly’s eyes glazed over. If she wasn’t under a microscope, she would

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