But for now, “We’re going to dinner at the hotel.”
Sean snorted. “Sure. When your missing wife reappears after five years of running from you, you want to put off revenge long enough to have a dinner date.”
“It’s not a date.” Even the word had Rico scowling.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s dinner.” Rico slapped one hand to the wall beside the window and glared out at his yard. “I’m not romancing her. I’m not courting her. We both have to eat and I don’t want her out of my sight. Don’t make more of this than there is, Sean.”
“Sure, sure. Not a date. Just revenge foreplay. Got it all planned out, huh?” There was a distinctive smile in Sean’s voice that irritated Rico beyond measure.
“Is there something wrong with a plan?”
“Nope,” Sean said. “Just be prepared, cousin.”
“For what?”
“For when your plan blows up in your face.”
* * *
Teresa’s stomach was in knots. Just being with Rico was tearing her up. And waiting for whatever was going to happen next was making her a little crazy. Who knew what he would do? She never would have expected to be held hostage and since he’d surprised her once, she had to wonder what else was ticking through his mind.
Oh, she had known the minute she slipped from their suite at the Castello de King five years ago that she had made him her enemy. It had broken her heart at the time, but over the last five years, she had tried to heal. Tried to forget the fact that she had run away from a man who had loved her. And though her inner wounds had healed over, the scar tissue was still tender. Being here with him now, Teresa knew that even more pain was headed her way. There was no chance to avoid it. When this month with him was over, that was it. All dreams would be dead. All hope gone.
So should she treat this month as the punishment Rico considered it—or should she embrace it and pack in as many memories as she could? Enough to last her a lifetime?
“If I turn this around,” she whispered into the quiet room, “and look at this month as a gift from the fates…” What? She wouldn’t be in pain later? She’d get the happy ending to her fairy tale?
“No,” she told herself, refusing to even begin to blow a bubble of hope that was doomed to burst. “But at least this time with him will be easier. For both of us.”
She almost laughed. Nothing about this was going to be easy, no matter how she colored it. The man she had loved so desperately wanted her—but only for the revenge she could provide. There was no happily ever after in her future. But she still had the choice to either accept this coming month as he’d described it—a punishment—or to look at it as one last thing she could share with Rico.
The door to the bedroom opened on a hush of sound and she turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. He took her breath away. In this palace of tropical pastel colors and varying shades of white, he stood apart. Dressed entirely in black—slacks, long-sleeved shirt, shoes—he looked…dangerous. And she knew he was. At least, to her own sensibility. His black hair was too long, curling around the collar of his shirt. His blue eyes shone against his tan. His mouth was a grim slash. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks, leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb and fixed his gaze on her.
She felt that look as surely as she would have a touch. Heat washed through her and her breath came in short, sharp gasps. Oh, she was in very deep trouble here. And she couldn’t even really regret that he had ensured she stay with him. How could she? She’d missed him for five years. Now that she was with him again, how could she not enjoy it?