“My mother hired a sixteen-year-old girl just out of school, then spent two years training her. She—”
“Let me guess. She became Diego’s wife.”
He grinned. “Right. Then my mother hired a second girl. Young, pretty, smart.” He looked at Elise.
“Your brother Ricardo took her?”
Alejandro laughed. “He did.”
“So that left you. What happened with the next girl? Or were you too young?”
“By then I was old enough, but my mother always said that I was going to university. No wife for me! To make sure I didn’t fall in love and take away her help, she hired a woman in her thirties who had two kids.”
When he stopped talking, Elise looked at him. “Are you blushing?” She drew in her breath. “You didn’t!”
Alejandro looked at her from under his lashes. “She taught me a lot.”
Elise leaned on her shovel and laughed. “Did your mother know?”
“I’m not sure. But one day I was yawning and she said, ‘At least you aren’t getting married!’”
“She knew.”
“Probably so.” He was smiling. “The next year I went to the University of Mexico.”
“And studied plants.”
“And English and literature and some other languages. All of it, according to Diego, useless.”
She suddenly realized that he hadn’t said a word about his sister. “What about Carmen? Did she fall in love with some gorgeous young man?”
“No.” He said the word in a way that showed he didn’t want to talk about that.
She lowered her voice. “Did she get into trouble and that’s why she’s now with you and Diego?”
Alejandro took a while before speaking, as though he was considering how to answer. “She just wanted to come to America. She’s like our father and good with numbers, so she does the bookkeeping for Diego.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but it seems like she’s changed. When we were teenagers, we were almost friends. I used to buy cinnamon gum and give it to Carmen because I knew she liked it. But one day she told me that she didn’t want any more of my charity. I apologized but I didn’t see it that way. I used to buy Kit Kats for my friend Lisa. It was just...” She shrugged.
Again, he took his time before speaking. “She...uh...she...”
When Elise’s phone rang, he looked like a weight had been lifted off him. “You’d better get that.”
“It’s not important. Did something awful happen to Carmen? Is that why she changed?” Her eyes widened. “An American didn’t do something bad to her, did he? Or she? Is that why Carmen suddenly seemed to think that I was an elitist and a—?”
“Your phone! It keeps ringing. Maybe something is wrong.”
Frowning, Elise wiped her hands on her middle and picked up her cell off the towel on the grass. “It’s my mother,” she said with a groan, then accepted the call. “Yes, I’m here.” She listened. “Now? This minute?” She let out her breath. “Yes. Of course I will.” Elise’s eyes brightened. “It so happens that one of the gardeners is here. No, I’m sure he won’t mind. Yes, I’ll tell him to take off his shoes.” Elise shook her head. “Mother! He won’t get dirt on anything. If I have to, I’ll make him strip naked and when he goes up the stairs, I’ll watch his every step to make sure he touches nothing.”
Alejandro coughed to cover his laugh and Elise held the phone away as her mother bawled her out.
She turned back to the phone. “Yes, I apologize for my rude, vulgar remark. It was insensitive of me. I will make sure the gardener is clothed and clean. And yes, I’ll be there in minutes.” She clicked off. “We have to go to the house.”
Alejandro looked down at his bare chest. “I need to get a shirt.”
“No!” She blinked. “I mean, you don’t have to get one. My parents are leaving to spend the weekend in the Hamptons with some friends. I have to go back to the house and gather roses for my mother to take with her.”
“And you have to cut them for her?”
“Mother doesn’t like the thorns.”
“When do I walk up the stairs?”
“After they leave, of course.”
Alejandro looked at her with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m not old enough for you so quit hoping. Mother wants you to move a chair to my house and she’s worried you’ll get dirt all over everything. Come on, I have to go now or she’ll make my life miserable.”
“I’m not sure your mother would like to see you and me together.”
“She won’t notice, and besides, you have to take the thorns off the roses.” He was frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“I think I should get a shirt out of the truck.”
Elise narrowed her eyes. “If you want to cover up for them, does that mean you’re half-naked for me?”
“You think your bare legs are going to get burned?”
“Touché. We—” Her phone was ringing again. She looked at the ID. “It’s Mother. Race you there!”
Alejandro outran her but just as they reached Elise’s mother’s big rose garden, he faked a leg cramp and let her win.
Laughing, she went to the little shed on the far side and got out gloves, secateurs, and the wooden trough.
“Funny little basket,” Alejandro said.
“It’s an English trug.”
He said the word a couple of times. “So what do you want first? Damasks? Hybrids? Grandifloras?”
“Show-off. I want fat pink smelly ones.”
“Your mother has some nice bourbons.”
“My mother doesn’t know half what you do.”
“About roses or her daughter?”
“I’m not answering that,” she said. “Here! You hold the trug while I cut, then we’ll sit down over there and take the thorns off.”
As Alejandro followed her down the rows, he glanced back at the house. “Are you sure your parents won’t mind that I’m here? Your mother doesn’t like us getting too close to the house.”
Elise felt a pang of guilt at her mother’s callousness, at her snobbery toward most people.
It took them twenty minutes to cut the flowers and another twenty to remove the thorns. Elise stabbed herself twice and when Alejandro looked like he was about to kiss her hand, she glared at him.
“Can’t blame a man for trying.”
Between them was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t step over the line. She was married and therefore off-limits. But their teasing of each other let them know they were wanted—and oh, how good that felt! To know that a man thought she was pretty and desirable made Elise stand up straighter and put her chin out. She chose her clothes more carefully, was concerned about her hair and makeup. That it was all for the wrong man was something she didn’t want to think about.
“I’d better take these to her,” Elise said. They were sitting side by side on a wooden bench in the shade, and she was reluctant to leave him. “You should go with me.”
Alejandro stretched his arms across the back of the bench. “Call me when you’re done so I can do some stair climbing.” Obviously, he didn’t want to face her mother.
Laughing, Elise went to the front of the house, where one of her parents’ staff, Edward, was loading the back of the big SUV. “Hi. They ready to go?”
Edward smiled at her. He’d worked there since she was a baby. “Your mother has changed her clothes about a dozen times. So who’s the naked guy you’ve glued yourself to?”
“Him? He’s Diego’s brother. I’ve told him over and over to put on some clothes but he won’t do it. I think the poor boy has very low intelligence.”
Edward grinned. “That’s why you were sweating in the sun beside him? I was shocked to see that you know how to use a shovel.”
“He’s my new gay friend and he showed me how.”
/>
“Gay! That’s a good one. That boy’s eyes are eating you up.”
Elise got serious. “How much has Mother seen?”
“None. I told her Diego sprayed the grass with poison to kill the snails. She hasn’t stepped outside once. I don’t know if she fears the poison or the snails.”
“Thank you.”
Edward closed the van door. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Just trying to keep my sanity.”
“I think—” Edward began, but the front door opened.
Her mother looked her up and down. “What a disgusting outfit you have on. You look like a farmer. And is that sunburn on your nose? Really, Elise, you are an embarrassment to our family.”
Behind her, Edward rolled his eyes. He’d always been a strength to her in surviving her mother’s diatribes.
“Your roses.” Elise held out a deep basket full of them. “And we removed every thorn.” She drew in her breath at her slip. Would her mother ask who “we” was?
Her mother didn’t take the basket. “I think the least you could have done was put them in water. We have a long drive ahead of us. Oh no! I forgot my pearl earrings.” She went back into the house.
It was several minutes later before the car pulled away and Elise went back to Alejandro. He was still sitting on the bench. The sun had moved enough that a ray of sunshine touched his face. His eyes were closed, and she stood there looking at him. The black whiskers on his cheeks, his hair down the back of his neck. The color of his skin, the way his chest curved out, then was flat.
She knew the strength of him, the speed of his movements. Earlier, she’d stepped wrong and had nearly fallen. In one swift movement, Alejandro had dropped the shovel and caught both her arms before she fell.
But the instant she’d looked up at him, he’d released her. She understood. It was one thing to tease and flirt but another to actually touch.
“Are they gone?” he asked, but didn’t open his eyes.
He is as aware of me as I am of him, she thought. “They are. The staff took the afternoon off for a well-deserved rest. The house is empty.”
Alejandro stood. “If my brother hears that you and I were in a house alone he’ll send me home.”
“To marry the girl next door?”
“You heard that, did you? You go up, toss the chair down, and I’ll carry it away.”
“Come on, coward. What are you doing?” He’d unfastened the button at the top of his trousers.
“The stairs. I’m to be naked, remember?”
Laughing, Elise told him to keep his pants on and to follow her.
They went to a side door, not through the kitchen in case some of the staff were lingering. But she doubted that they stayed two minutes after her parents left.
The big house had that silent, eerie feel of being empty. They walked softly and didn’t speak. When they got to the big entry hall, Alejandro halted.
It was an impressive area, with a marble floor and big Chinese jugs perfectly placed. In the center was a round table that was suited to be in a museum.
“One time I kicked a soccer ball across this room. My mother was not pleased.” His expression showed his pity for her.
The stairs were wide, and curved, and carpeted in deep red. Elise went up first, then turned to face him and kept going up. “In case you ever need to know, you can sneak down these stairs in silence. And the freezer always has ice cream in it.”
“I’ll remember that.”
At the head of the stairs, she went past two closed doors, then opened the one on the left. Inside was a large room created for a little girl. There was a four-poster bed with a domed canopy. Behind the bed was a silk hanging embroidered with a tree. White cabinets had shelves full of books. A bulletin board had notes about homework due.
“It’s all pink,” he said.
“Peach. A much more subtle color, according to the designer.” She opened two big louvered doors to expose a wide, long closet packed full of clothes.
“These are all yours?”
“Every dress, shoe, necklace, and headband.” She put on a pink Alice band to demonstrate.
“I like your hair loose better. Or pulled back. Maybe with a rose.”
“Like a flamenco dancer?”
“Like a pretty girl who is happy with her life.”
“In that case, no roses for me.” She took off the headband. “Sit down while I look through things.”
There was a big round hassock in the corner and he sat on it, watching her as she opened and closed drawers and tossed things onto the floor near him.
“Why are your clothes here and not in your house?”
“Not enough room over there. And Kent’s suits—” She broke off. They never mentioned his name. It was as though they didn’t want to remember that he existed. Saying it aloud put reality into the day.
Alejandro picked up a blue-and-white dress. It had wide straps at the top and a gathered skirt. “This is pretty. You could dance in it.”
It took her a moment to bring her mind back to the present. “I wore that at a garden party my mother had. It has a jacket. Ah. Here it is.” She held up a short, dark blue bolero.
“Very nice. I like it. So how are you going to get all of this to your house?” She gave him a sweet smile. “I’m a man. I don’t carry dresses. At least not empty ones.”
“I’ll stuff them full of other clothes, then you’ll just have to carry one.”
He groaned. “Where’s the chair I’m supposed to take?”
“It’s—Ow.” She’d tripped over Alejandro’s feet as he sprawled on the hassock. He caught her arm, but instead of the usual flirtiness, he was looking around the big closet and frowning.
It was as though she could read his mind. “I don’t need all these things to be happy.”
“But it’s what you’re used to. It’s your world. It’s where you belong.”
He said this in Spanish and his deep voice made it beautiful. He was still holding her bare upper arm. Without thinking what she was doing, she put her hand on his warm chest and leaned forward. To kiss his lips was all she could think of.
He hesitated, but then he pushed her away and stood up. He seemed to be trying to act as though nothing had happened. “Are you sure you need all these clothes?”
The intimate moment was gone. Behind him, Elise closed her eyes. When she opened them, Alejandro was looking at her in the mirror over the dresser. For a flash of a second, she saw the longing in his eyes. The deep wanting of something that he knew he could never have.
Elise wanted to go to him but couldn’t. He was right. Her life; his life. They weren’t alike. They didn’t even run side by side.
“If we could meet on common ground,” she whispered, “as equals, we could—” Turning, he gave her a look that made her stop talking. They both knew it was no use.
If they began something they couldn’t finish, the pain they felt now was nothing to what it could be.
She gave a quick nod of understanding and stepped away from him. It took a deep breath to bring her back to the present. Away from what might be and back to what was. “How many shoes can you carry?”
He gave a slow smile, glad she understood. “One pair and that’s all.”
“I bet we could slide a dozen pair of sandals over your arms.”
“Like a horse harness?”
Elise’s gasped. “Horse! My riding lesson. I’ve got to go!”
He started toward the door.
“You forgot my clothes.”
“I thought you were in a hurry to leave.”
“Not so much that I’d forget my dresses. Hold out your arms and I’ll pack you.”
“A horse, a mule, a Christmas tree,” he muttered as she slid sandals over his forearms, and they smiled at each other.
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Chapter Nine
Both Kathy and Olivia were staring at Elise in wide-eyed shock. Kathy recovered first. “You didn’t go to bed with him?”
“No. And now I deeply regret it.”
“I know all about regrets,” Olivia said. “If I’d only said or done what my heart told me to, I would have had a lifetime of...of happiness.” She looked at Elise. “What was your excuse?”
“Guilt. Kent was working so hard. For me. At least I thought he was. But I was playing around with the gardener and...” She shrugged. “Maybe I was afraid of the intensity of what I felt for Alejandro—and I didn’t know if I actually liked him or just lusted after him.”
“Did you find out?” Olivia asked.
“I think so.” She swallowed. “No, that’s not true. The lust I could handle. Whether I did or didn’t go to bed with him, that was cut-and-dried. But liking him, maybe even...” She paused. “Maybe even loving him was what I couldn’t bear.”
She looked at them. “I knew Alejandro was right. We came from two different worlds. It’s romantic to say ‘We’ll live on love’ but it’s not very practical.”
“I know about the struggle to pay the bills,” Olivia said. “Sometimes money becomes the number one thing in life.”
“Hmph!” Kathy said. “With a father like mine and married to his clone, I’m well aware of the importance of money.”
“After the time in my closet, I began to think about what I was doing.”
“I wish I’d been that smart with Ray,” Kathy said.
“At the time I didn’t feel smart. I felt cold and calculating. I thought about the truth of divorcing Kent and running away with the beautiful Alejandro. Then what? I have no job skills so I didn’t think I could help financially. And forget the money, there were our families. My family would disown me for sure. And I can’t imagine that his family would accept me. One of us was going to have to give up his or her entire life, friends and family, places, everything! For one of us, all that we knew would be taken away. When I looked at it, I could only see it ending badly.”
Elise put her hands over her face. “I felt awful about my thoughts, but all I could see was that Alejandro and I would come to hate each other—and it would be my fault.”