For this was no ordinary betrothal ring, it was, in fact, her mother’s ring. She glanced up into intensely black eyes. Luiz saw the tears and bent to whisper hoarsely. ‘Don’t…’
It was almost her complete undoing. Then Padre Domingo spoke. ‘If you would place the ring on Don Luiz’s finger, we can continue…’
Outside in the sunshine the villagers had gathered to applaud them. Caroline clung to Luiz as if she had been joined to him in more ways than marriage just now. She blushed and smiled and was aware of Vito standing like a mountain beside the tiny Abril, of her father looking rather sombre and drawn. She was even aware of Tía Consuela, standing cool and erect—seeing the whole thing through to its bleak finish like a martyr to her chosen fate.
But Felipe was nowhere. Neither did he turn up when they sat down at the banquet table, now decked out with white linen and the kind of china and silverware that belonged in a museum.
Her hand had not been allowed to leave Luiz’s once since he had formally claimed it. Even now, while they sat at the table, they were having to eat one-handed while their entwined fingers lay on the table between them.
‘Thank you for this,’ she said, catching sight of her mother’s ring shining like a prism on her finger. ‘What made you think of it?’
‘It should have been my mother’s ring,’ he murmured quietly, looking down at the ring also. ‘But she never had one so I went for the next best thing and asked your father for your mother’s ring. He brought it back to Marbella with him, ready cleaned and altered to fit your finger…’
‘Well, thank you,’ she repeated huskily. ‘It made everything just perfect.’
‘No.’ Looking up, Luiz caught her eyes with a look that set her head spinning. ‘You are what makes everything perfect,’ he said, and kissed her gently.
The gathered assembly began clapping, halting something else that felt absolutely perfect.
By the time they retired outside the sun had set and the garden was ablaze with twinkling lights. Luiz drew her into his arms on the makeshift dance floor as a small set of musicians began playing a waltz. It was the closest they had been except for the clasped hands since they had married, and the knowledge of that sparked between them. Electric, tantalising, utterly mesmerising.
His mouth brushed her cheek, then stayed there. ‘You look so beautiful today. Walking towards me in the church, you made my heart ache,’ he murmured huskily.
When she tilted her head back so she could look at him, her eyes had stars in them. But she paled a little when she remembered how she had been feeling earlier, and—more importantly—why she had felt like that. ‘I’ve been talking to my father,’ she murmured huskily. ‘He told me what really happened seven years ago. I—’
The man holding her suddenly changed into an entirely different person. Seeing it happen stopped her words, and she watched his hardened eyes flick around the garden in angry search.
‘Luiz—’
‘No,’ he cut in. ‘I am angry with him for breaking his word to me and telling you all of this. I am angry with you for bringing it up tonight of all nights!’
‘But you didn’t take a single penny from him!’ It had to be said! ‘You left me asleep in bed each night and went down to play cards with him to stop him gambling with anyone else. You knew how I worried about him—so you took it upon yourself to keep him out of danger! I owe so much to you for that, Luiz!’
His face was white, his lips thin, his teeth clenched behind them. ‘You owe me nothing,’ he rasped.
‘I owe you an apology,’ she said thickly, beginning to tremble in his arms as the full cup of her guilt came pouring out. ‘I was in love with you. I should have known you wouldn’t do something so crass as to fleece my own father! But I believed him instead of you—when I knew what a liar he was! I don’t blame you if you never forgive me for that!’
‘Drop it, Caroline, before I get angry,’ he warned.
But he was already angry. ‘You let him win thousands from you—the same thousands of pounds he then told me you had won from him! It’s no wonder he was so eager to play you again last week,’ she said bitterly. ‘He truly believed he was in for another easy killing!’
He flinched as if she’d struck him hard. ‘I didn’t mean it like that!’ she groaned, lifting her hand to lay it in apology against his taut cheek. ‘Luiz—’
‘No,’ he said. ‘We will not discuss this. Not now, not ever. Do you understand?’ And he took hold of her hand to remove it, then stepped right back, turned and walked away!