He lowered his head and seemed to gather himself, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I don’t know if it’s occurred to you that you’ll have to testify against Fortunada when he goes to trial.”
It wasn’t something they’d talked about, but for sure it was something she’d thought about, although she’d been unwilling to share with him or Logan the sick feeling it gave her. If she had, she wouldn’t have put it past either one of them to find a way to make it appear her maybe-father had twisted his sheets into a rope and then hung himself. She could not—and would not—put that burden on either of them.
“Go on,” she said, refusing to reveal what she’d thought.
“It was something I couldn’t stop thinking about. If there was a chance you could take that witness stand and look the bastard in the eye, knowing he wasn’t your father, and put him away for good, then I was determined to make that happen.”
Only a few minutes ago, he’d told her he loved her. But those words hadn’t come as close to proving it as what he’d taken it upon himself to do. The hope of knowing her father, that she’d decided to banish, blossomed against her will. She didn’t want to be disappointed again, didn’t want to resurrect an impossible dream.
“If you’re wrong, I don’t know—”
“I don’t think I’m wrong.” He traced the outline of her lips with a finger. “You have his mouth . . . and the same eyes.”
“You met him?”
“Yes. I also met his daughter. She’s three years younger than you, and she could be your twin, Maria.”
Could it be true? She tried to speak, but no words would come. There were so many questions she should be asking, but she couldn’t think of a one. If Miguel Garcia really was her father, that meant Fortunada wasn’t. It was too much to hope for, and if it turned out Garcia wasn’t, the disappointment would be too much to bear. She’d managed to quash the dream and now here it was, wanting to come back.
“There must be a thousand things going through your mind right now.”
She nodded.
“While you work on taking it all in, I’ll tell you what I know so far. He agreed to a DNA test, and it’s already been sent to one of K2’s contacts, marked high priority.”
Didn’t they need something from her to compare it to?
“You’re wondering if you need to donate blood or something?”
She nodded.
His smile was sheepish. “Yeah, about that. The hair I took from you, I plucked some of it out and as long as they have the roots, that’s all they need.”
“And Logan knew all this? Knew where you were?” Her voice sounded shaky to her ears, but at least she was over the shock enough to talk.
“Yes, but we didn’t want to get your hopes up until we were as sure as we could be and until I’d met him. You know, to make sure he was open to having a daughter. Well, another daughter, one he didn’t know about.”
“Is he?” She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of the answer.
“Very much so, Chiquita. In fact, he’s waiting by the phone for you to call him. If you want to. He would have come back with me if his daughter’s baby wasn’t due any day.”
“I have a half sister,” she whispered, hardly able to take it all in.
“You do. Her name’s Elena, and like I said, she’s the spitting image of you. It was kind of scary, actually, seeing another you.”
Tears mixed with her laughter. “You better not get us mixed up.”
“Never.” He pulled her onto his lap so that she straddled him. “Are you happy?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
When Maria burst into tears again while furiously nodding, Jake spread his fingers over her nape and pressed her face against his neck. These were happy tears, at least. He slid his other hand up a silky-smooth leg to her bare ass, cradling a soft but firm cheek. That she cried wasn’t much of a surprise considering all he’d hit her with. That she wore no underwear definitely was.
“Chiquita,” he growled into her ear. “You’ve been naked all night under this dress made for sinning and you didn’t think it was something you should tell me?”
She giggled, and her lips trembled against his skin. “I thought it was something you’d enjoy discovering for yourself.”
Couldn’t argue with that. He glanced around to make sure the beach was still deserted. “A few minutes ago, you listed all the things you loved about me, but you forgot something, maybe one of the most important things.” He took her hand and pressed it over his hard cock.