As You Wish

  She pushed away from the door and wiped her eyes. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just stand up to all of them? Why couldn’t she look into her mother’s eyes and say she was not going to marry Kent? Not going to spend her life with a man who didn’t love her?

  But then what? Elise had no money. She had a useless education that had prepared her for being a wife to an executive. She’d studied art and poetry, and done lots of exercise to keep herself fit. If she defied her parents, she knew of no one who’d risk their wrath to take her in until she could get on her feet. And that thought terrified her. What could she do?

  In the shower, she washed off the quarter pound of makeup her mother had insisted on. She was trying to combat the “blandness” of Elise, meaning her blonde hair and eyebrows and lashes. What her “family” was planning to do to her wasn’t fair. Where were those parents who said, “We support you no matter what you want to do?”

  She got out of the shower, dried off, put her underwear back on and the thick hotel robe, then began to blow-dry her long hair. Okay, so now she had a second chance, but what had changed? Her parents were going to be so angry that they would cut her off completely.

  Maybe she should have asked Arrieta to go back to when she entered college so she could major in business. But then, when the three weeks were up, her old self would probably still believe she was in love with Kent. What was she going to do? Write herself a letter about her future? No, she needed the years of marriage to show her that Kent wasn’t who she thought he was.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble of a sound that she recognized.

  Alejandro’s voice. He was here!

  Elise looked at herself in the mirror. With no makeup on, she was pale, but she knew Alejandro liked that.

  With her hand on the doorknob, she took a deep breath. She reminded herself that at the time of her wedding she’d never met Carmen’s brother. She needed to act that way now.

  Quietly, she opened the door. Carmen and Alejandro were on the far side of the room so she couldn’t see them, but she could hear them clearly. They were talking rather loudly in Spanish.

  “You want me to take care of her?” Alejandro’s voice was disbelieving.

  “I want you to look after her for two or three days, that’s all. Is that too much to ask of my own brother?”

  “You’re up to something, aren’t you? You...” He paused. “You want me to do what? Seduce her? So you can steal her husband?”

  “He is not her husband.” Carmen sounded angry. “You don’t have to do anything with her. Just feed her. She’s so skinny she probably eats a peanut a day. Just keep her hidden for a few days, then put her on a plane to wherever she wants to go.”

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with her? Can she dig flower beds? Spread mulch?”

  “No,” Carmen said. “She can’t do anything. Kent says she is an absolutely useless person!”

  Elise leaned against the door, her eyes closed, trying to take in the hurt.

  Carmen’s voice sweetened, was cajoling. “I know you don’t like this whole thing, but Kent and I love each other.”

  “He’s marrying someone else.”

  “He was, but after this humiliation I don’t think he will. And Kent may lose his job because of her. Why did she have to destroy everything? Stop looking at me like that. You’ve seen this girl. She’s so shapeless I’m not sure she’s a woman. And Kent said she’s really cold. There’s nothing between her and him except business and she knows it.”

  “If she wants the marriage, then why did she run away?”

  “Who knows? Maybe she wants more money. I know she thought that by coming to me I could get Kent to forgive her.”

  Elise gasped at that great lie. “What was that?” Alejandro asked.

  “Nothing. It was in the hall. Will you do this for me or not?”

  “I don’t know. Where’s she supposed to stay?”

  “I’m staying with Diego, so she’ll be with you. In your bedroom.”

  “What?” Alejandro half yelled.

  “Shhh! She’ll hear you. Not that she’d understand, but she’ll hear. If you think I’m going to sleep in the same room as a crazy woman, you’re wrong. She ran away from her own wedding. Who knows what she’ll do next?”

  Elise stepped back into the bathroom and silently shut the door. You’re afraid to go to sleep around me? she thought. So much for her compassion for Carmen. It looked like it wasn’t reciprocated.

  She stood up straighter. Right now, she thought, I need to think about how to take care of myself.

  Since she’d seen the extent of what her parents and Kent would do to get her under control, she had to act wisely. She knew that if she showed herself to them now she’d either marry Kent or be taken away to...to... She didn’t like to think about that.

  She needed food and shelter until she could figure out what to do. Surely there was someone in her life who could help her. She just needed time to think about it all. Even if she could get to Warbrooke, Maine, she didn’t know if she’d find help there. It was years before she’d met Olivia, and years before she got back together with Kit.

  “One day at a time,” she whispered. At the moment, she needed to take care of the necessities, like food and shelter, and the rest would have to follow.

  She opened the door again. Carmen and Alejandro were still arguing. “You’re sure she doesn’t speak Spanish?” he was saying.

  “Absolutely. She’s American. She can barely speak one language, certainly not two. And it’s none of my business but if I were you, I wouldn’t let her know you speak English. Kent says she’s the world’s biggest whiner. She complains all the time. She says no one ever pays any attention to her or spends enough time with her. You’re so softhearted you’ll probably begin to believe her. You might even fall for the skinny girl.”

  “After the mess I just got out of? I’m staying away from all females. I’m going to let Mom choose a wife for me. Some village girl with a hairy upper lip.”

  Carmen laughed. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

  Elise had heard enough. She started to step into the room, but on impulse, she let the robe fall to the floor. One thing she knew about Alejandro was that he was physically attracted to her.

  She had on a lacy white demi-cup bra that exposed the top halves of her breasts. Her matching panties curved across her—thanks to frequent gym visits—very firm derriere.

  Loudly, she flung the door open. “Carmen!” she said as she strode across the room to the closet, not looking at the two people standing on the other side. “Which of your clothes should I wear? Everything is either too big or too short for me. Your jeans wouldn’t reach to my calves. It’s a curse having such long legs.” Elise pulled out the smallest skirt and held it in front of her in a way that exposed her tight stomach. The upper half of her was nearly bare.

  Turning, she saw Carmen and Alejandro staring at her. Carmen’s frown was so deep she could plant wheat between the furrows. Alejandro was looking at her in stunned silence.

  Was there anything more gratifying than seeing a beautiful man dumbstruck by desire? Elise had never seen it on her husband’s face. And Alejandro had always kept himself under control. She’d seen twinges in his eyes but never this down and dirty look of lust.

  “Oh!” Elise said, trying to sound innocent. “Sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was here. You must be Alejandro.” She pronounced it as Alex-andro. “Did I say that right?”

  She held the skirt up in a way that it covered nothing as she went forward to hold out her other hand to him to shake.

  He just stared at her.

  “Is he okay?” Elise said in a false whisper, and realized she was channeling Tara.

  Carmen was still frowning. “He doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t greet naked women.”

  “Oh
.” Elise pulled the skirt to her, but covered very little of her well-toned body. “I. Am. So. Sorry.” She spoke slowly and very loudly. “Welcome. To. A-mer-ee-ca.” She was almost shouting. Elise looked at Carmen and whispered, “I’ll just be a minute, then we can go.” She gave another glance at Alejandro, as though to say it was too bad he wasn’t a fully functioning human being, then she walked back to the closet—with the skirt in front of her, exposing her entire back half to their view.

  With a warm smile at the two of them, Elise grabbed a handful of Carmen’s clothes, and disappeared into the bathroom.

  “I’m a dead man,” Alejandro said, and collapsed into a chair.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Thanks to Alejandro, it was easy getting out of the hotel unnoticed. Outside the suite was a pretty young woman with a cleaning cart. Smiling, he told her in Spanish that Elise was the runaway bride everyone was looking for, and she needed a disguise. He unnecessarily added that the two of them were eloping. The young woman smiled back, her eyes dreamy with romance, and unlocked a closet that held a maid’s uniform.

  Alejandro motioned for Elise to put it on, then stood outside the door while she changed. When she came out, he frowned. The uniform was for a much shorter woman so it exposed a lot of her legs.

  However, as they rode the elevator down, no one so much as looked at either of them. He had on dirty jeans, an old T-shirt, and a baseball cap, while she was dressed as a maid. They were anonymous to the world.

  When they reached the bottom, he led her through the kitchen. A lot of the staff knew she was the missing bride, but they didn’t tell. But then, Alejandro kept saying that they were in love and she was leaving her heartless gringo ex-fiancé to live with him in Mexico.

  Elise didn’t speak, pretended she didn’t know what was being said, and stayed close to Alejandro as he led her outside.

  They hurried through the parking lot to his truck and when she saw it, she couldn’t help a laugh. She’d forgotten that it was big and black. Was it the source of her black horse fantasy?

  Alejandro looked at her in question, silently asking why she was laughing.

  Elise waved her hand. It didn’t matter. When she got into the truck the short skirt rode up so high she may as well have been wearing just her underpants. She started to pick up a shirt that was jammed behind the seat and cover herself, but when Alejandro kept glancing at her bare legs, she didn’t.

  As he started the engine, she realized that she needed to get him on her side. Carmen had lied about her—or rather, she’d repeated what Kent had said, so Elise wanted to counterbalance that.

  First, she needed to see if Alejandro was going to keep up his lie about not speaking English. Turning, she looked at him. He was even more beautiful than she remembered. Cut cheekbones; black, black hair; whiskers that she longed to touch.

  “I’m Elise,” she said, then waited for him to introduce himself. But he didn’t. He acted as though he didn’t know what she’d said.

  She had to look out the side window for a moment. Maybe their friendship hadn’t happened yet, but damn! To flat-out lie was a low blow.

  She took a breath. “I know you don’t know what I’m saying, but I need to talk to someone. Sorry, but you’re it. First of all, I apologize about the Welcome to A-mer-ee-ca. I got that from West Side Story. I was really angry at Carmen and I guess I took it out on you. And I also apologize for running around in my underwear but I wanted to make your sister angry.” She smiled. “I think I succeeded.”

  There was no reaction from him. “Okay, where do I begin? I only recently found out that your sister and my—” She hesitated. Not her husband. Not yet. “That my fiancé and your sister are a couple. I knew Kent wasn’t madly, passionately in love with me, but I thought he would be. I’ve been after him—kind of like a boy band groupie—since I was a kid. I really believed I could make him love me.”

  As Alejandro turned onto the expressway, he glanced at her. For all that he was pretending not to understand, his eyes were skeptical.

  If the circumstances had been different, she would have exclaimed that he’d understood her. But now she just wanted to talk. However, she did glance in the visor mirror. An advantage of going back in time was that she was four years younger than she was yesterday. It wasn’t much in age but there’d been a lifetime of experience in those years.

  “Anyway,” she said, “I was shocked when I found out about your sister and Kent. I guess you know that she’s pregnant.” When he kept looking straight ahead, she tapped his shoulder with a single finger. He looked at her and she said, “Carmen,” then pantomimed a big belly.

  With an expression of disgust, Alejandro nodded. Yeah, he knew.

  For a moment Elise wondered what she would have done if she’d actually known about Carmen before she got married. The way she felt back then, she probably would have married Kent anyway. But she’d always been absolutely sure she could make him love her. “I planned to run away to the airport, but the limo driver betrayed me.”

  She told him about giving the driver a check and that he must have gone directly to her father. Alejandro said nothing, but the muscle in his jaw was working furiously, and his neck was turning darker. Elise smiled. Even if he was lying about the language, his rising anger was making her feel good. It was nice to have someone on her side!

  “The security men scared me,” she said. “I knew that if I didn’t get out of there I’d end up saying vows to Kent. Then what? He has two lives? Me in one house, Carmen and the baby in another? I knew who’d lose in that tug of war.”

  When she looked at him, Alejandro turned just enough that she could see sympathy in his eyes. Good! she thought. At least she was showing a different side to the awful things Carmen had said about her.

  But Elise didn’t want to go too far, didn’t want to make Alejandro feel too sorry for her. That could lead to something that she didn’t want right now. She planned to spend just a few days with her almost-husband’s lover’s family, then get out. There was no way Carmen would hold out for more than forty-eight hours before she blabbed to Kent.

  As Elise looked at Alejandro, she could feel the heat of him. It hadn’t happened yet, but she remembered the closeness they’d had before. Laughing together, telling each other about what they did during the day. He’d told her about the American woman who’d demanded more than Spanish lessons from him. He said he’d accepted a summer job from his brother on a whim, thinking that he’d last about a week. But he’d liked the physical labor, had liked the US. “But I don’t like your winters!” he’d said, and they laughed together.

  Elise reminded herself that none of that had happened—but she had no doubt that if she let it, it would repeat itself. The very last thing she needed now was to attach her life to another man. To in essence say, “I am yours. Do with me what you will.”

  No. What she needed was to find a place to put her own feet. In two days—three tops—she’d go to Warbrooke, Maine. She had no connection there, but she needed to con her way into Olivia’s future family. Maybe they could help her with legal matters. Help her find a job.

  Alejandro stopped the truck. She hadn’t paid attention to where he was driving, so she was surprised that he’d pulled into a shopping mall parking lot. In front of them was a Nordstrom’s.

  He turned off the engine, got out his wallet, pulled out four one-hundred-dollar bills, and held them out to her.

  Elise’s heart nearly stopped. She’d gone too far and he was throwing her out. But no, he motioned to her maid’s uniform. He wanted her to buy herself some new clothes.

  She took the money from him because she needed it, but she didn’t get out of the truck. “I think you’re a very nice man, but your sister hasn’t exactly been a friend to me.” She gave a bit of a laugh at her joke. “Oh well, if we were held accountable for our relatives, I’d have to take on the sins of my parents. Sorr
y, but I’m in a bad state right now. And sorry you got stuck with me.” She extended her right hand to him. “Thank you.”

  Alejandro took her hand in his. “Amigos.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Amigos.” She got out of the truck.

  In the store, Elise rushed to buy some jeans and leggings and T-shirts. When she went back outside, he was there, waiting for her, and when she smiled at him, he smiled back. For a moment he was the Alejandro who was her friend.

  She got into the truck, and when she handed him a leftover hundred-dollar bill and change, he looked surprised. In the years of her marriage, she’d had to learn to economize. But then, her husband was supporting two families.

  Alejandro’s cell rang, he answered. “Yeah, she’s with me,” he said in Spanish. “No, you can’t stay with him. You have to come back tonight.” He hesitated. “I don’t give a crap if your lover is upset. You’re needed at home.”

  He turned away from Elise. “Because I don’t want to be alone with her. No! She isn’t useless and I want you to stop saying that.” He paused. “I have to go back to work. Do you remember what that is? Or are you too busy with...with him?”

  Elise kept her face turned away so he couldn’t see her expression. It looked like Carmen was with Kent, and Alejandro didn’t want to be left alone with Elise.

  He hung up the phone, started the truck, and got back on the highway. Minutes later, he pulled into the cracked concrete driveway of a little house on the outskirts of the Long Island neighborhood where Elise had lived with Kent. She assumed the house was rented for the summer. It had that forlorn look of being unloved and neglected. Like me, she thought.

  Inside it was nearly bare. There was a little living room with beat-up old furniture, and a kitchen to the side. An old table and chairs was by the back door.

  There were two bedrooms, but she was glad to see that there were also two tiny bathrooms. It seemed that Alejandro and his brother had one room, Carmen in the other. But that was to change.