Uncovering Her Nine Month Secret by Jennie Lucas

Author:Jennie Lucas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

The Duchess of Alzacar

my darling new granddaughter

Looking at it, a lump rose in my throat. “Look what she wrote.”

Alejandro looked at the card, and smiled. “Yes.”

“She’s already accepted me in the family. Just like that?”

“Just like that.” He made me a plate with a little of everything, and poured me a glass of sparkling water, then red wine.

“Wine for lunch?” I said doubtfully.

“It’s from my vineyard by the coast. You should try it.”

“All right,” I sighed. I took a sip, then said in amazement, “It’s delicious.”

“You sound surprised.”

“Is there anything you’re not good at?” I said a little sulkily. He smiled.

Then the smile fled from his handsome face. His dark eyes turned hollow, even bleak.

“Keeping promises,” he said.

The blow was so sudden and unexpected that it felt like an anvil hitting the softest part of my belly. The moment I’d let my defenses down, he’d spoken with such unprovoked cruelty it took my breath away. Reminding me.

Did you lie to me in the past? Or will you lie to me in the future?

Take your pick.

“Oh,” I breathed, dropping my fork with a clang against the twenty-four-karat-gold-rimmed china plate.

He’d done me a favor reminding me, I told myself savagely. I couldn’t start believing the pretense. I couldn’t start thinking we were actually a family. That we were actually in love. I couldn’t surrender!

And yet...

“Are you enjoying yourself, dear?” I looked up to see Maurine smiling down at me from the other side of the table, with chubby Miguel still smiling in her arms. “I hope you see something you like!”

“I do,” I replied automatically, then realized to my horror that the exact moment I’d spoken the words I’d been looking at Alejandro. Quickly, I looked down at my plate. “What’s this?” I asked, looking at one of the dishes, some kind of meat with leeks and carrots.

“Pato a la Sevillana, a specialty of the area. Slow-cooked duck roasted in sherry and vegetables.”

I took a bite. It was delicious. “And this?”

“Rabo de toro. Another classic dish of Andalucía. Vegetables, slowly braised with sherry and bay leaf.”

Bull’s tail? I tasted it. Not bad. I tried the fresh papayas and mangoes, the albóndigas, the fried-potato-and-ham croquetas. I smiled. “Delicioso!”

“Muy bien,” Maurine sighed happily, then turned on her grandson, tossing her chic, white hair. “Though you don’t deserve lunch. I should let you get fast food at a drive-through in Seville!” She hitched her great-grandbaby higher on her hip against her pinafore apron. “I cannot believe you got married without inviting me to the wedding! My only family! After I waited thirty-five years to see you get married! After the way you used to make me bite my nails over those wretched skinny, self-centered women you used to cavort with!”

“At least I didn’t marry one of them, eh, Abuela? Do I not get credit for that?”

“Yes,” she sighed. “On that, you did well.”

The two of them smiled at each other, and I had the sudden image of what it must have been like for him to be raised by Maurine in this enormous castle.

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