‘I don’t want there to be secrets between us,’ she whispered, mesmerised by the intensity of his gaze. ‘You’re my husband—although you seem to have forgotten that fact these past few weeks.’ She recalled the seductive voice of the woman at his apartment and swallowed. Now was not the time to reveal her irrational jealousy.
‘You think I could forget you?’ His beautiful mouth curved into a half-smile that did not reach his eyes. ‘I wish I could, querida, but the truth is I’ve spent every waking minute thinking about you and every night dreaming that you were lying next to me, your face so close to mine that if I turned my head my lips would brush against yours…Like this.’
His mouth moved over hers slowly, sweetly, as if he wanted to savour the moment after all the days they’d spent apart. This was where she wanted to be, Grace thought simply as she wound her arms around his neck and held him close. She parted her lips and responded to his kiss with tender passion, wanting to comfort him after the trauma of witnessing Luca lying beneath the wheels of the truck.
‘You should try and sleep,’ she murmured when he finally lifted his head and she noted the lines of strain around his eyes.
‘Not tonight—I want to sit with Luca in case he stirs.’
‘Well at least take a few minutes to shower and have something to eat—I’ll sit with him, and I promise I’ll call you if there’s any change in his condition.’ They were still kneeling on the floor beside Luca’s basket, but now Javier stood and drew her to her feet and she felt his lips brush softly against her brow.
‘Grace, I don’t deserve your gentleness,’ he said huskily. ‘You’re the one who should get some sleep—you’re flying to England tomorrow.’
‘Do you mean you’re sending me away? But why?’ she faltered as her imagination leapt into overdrive. Was he sick of her and her principles and wanted her out of the way so that he could bring his mistress to the castle?
‘It’s only for a week.’ His brows lowered in a puzzled frown at her obvious distress. ‘I know how much you miss your father and I’d arranged for us both to visit him, but I can’t leave Luca like this.’
‘Of course not, but we could postpone the trip until he’s better.’ Relief flooded through Grace and she offered him a tentative smile.
‘I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that it’s Angus’s birthday in a few days. When I spoke to your aunt, she told me how much he’s looking forward to seeing you.’ Javier smoothed her hair back from her face. ‘You can’t let him down, querida.’
No, she couldn’t let him down, Grace acknowledged, but if she was honest her mind had been so full of Javier that she had forgotten all about her father’s birthday. ‘When do I leave?’ she asked quietly.
‘Early tomorrow. You’d better go to bed, and I’ll see you in the morning.’
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, but as she reached the door the sound of his voice halted her.
‘Grace! You will come back?’ The expression in his eyes was unfathomable, but she noted the faint colour delineating his sharp cheekbones.
‘Of course I will,’ she promised softly. ‘We made a deal—remember?’
But the question of how she would live without him when their marriage contract expired tormented her for the rest of the night, and when Torres drove her away from the castle the next morning she couldn’t hide her unhappiness.
Autumn had obviously decided to pay an early visit to England’s south coast, Grace decided on the fifth day of leaden skies and torrential rain. She stared out of the window of Aunt Pam’s guesthouse at the flooded lawn, and thought wistfully of the exotic palms and grasses that thrived in the gardens of El Castillo de Leon.
She couldn’t wait to go back, she admitted, although her impatience had little to do with Granada’s warm sunshine—she would happily live in the Arctic as long as she was with Javier.
‘Checkmate!’ Angus Beresford announced happily, lifting his head to glance at her over the rims of his spectacles. ‘Something tells me your mind wasn’t fully on the game, sweetie.’
‘I’ve never been able to beat you at chess, Dad,’ Grace replied with a smile. ‘Mum was always a better opponent than me.’
Angus was silent for a moment and then slowly returned her smile. ‘Yes, she could beat me hollow, bless her.’
Grace caught her breath. It was practically the first time since Susan Beresford’s death that she’d been able to bring her name into the conversation. Before, she had always avoided any mention of her mother for fear of sending her father into a deep depression that would last for days. But now, with the help of a bereavement counsellor, Angus was finally coming to terms with the loss of the woman he had fallen in love with at first sight.