Amado couldn’t help turning to look down the path. Susannah was already out of sight. A fierce pang of loss kicked him in the gut. “She doesn’t love me.”
His words came out low and kind of choked. Humiliating. He couldn’t even believe he was arguing with his ninety-something former nursemaid over this.
“She does, and she’s showed her love by trying to save your family, even if it means leaving here for good.”
He frowned, squinting in the sun. How did Rosa always know everything?
She raised a hand in the air. “And you love her too, even if you’re too thick-skulled to realize it right now. Now, get out of my way before these eggs turn sour. Shoo!”
A rough volley of barking propelled him along the path back to the house. He jogged, but didn’t run. He wasn’t going to chase after another woman who could walk out of his life without a backward glance.
But when he saw the scene in front of the house, he broke into a sprint. Cástor and Pólux had Susannah pinned to the gravel beside her rented car.
“Help!” Her voice rose through the gruff barks.
Cástor leaned over to lick her face. Amado stopped running. A smile crept across his face. “They’re not hurting you.” The dogs seemed to be lavishing her with affection.
“They don’t know their own strength. And one of them is standing on my dress so I can’t get up.”
Pólux had planted himself neatly over her legs, pinning her on both sides and in the middle by standing on the skirt of her floaty dress. His dogs turned to look up at him with their mournful, doting stares.
Did we do good, Daddy?
He couldn’t keep a raw burst of laughter from leaving his mouth. “I don’t think they want to let you leave.” He summoned the dogs off her and offered his hand.
She took it. As he pulled her to her feet he noticed her face was streaked with tears.
His stomach coiled into a knot. “What happened? Are you okay? My dogs don’t usually act like this.”
“I just wanted to pet them goodbye. Give them a hug.” She inhaled shakily. “And they got carried away and knocked me over.”
“They’re affectionate dogs.”
“I know.” She blinked and two fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. “I still remember their enthusiastic greeting on my first visit. I’ll miss them.”
The rift of loss in Amado’s gut opened into a chasm.
You can’t leave.
Could Rosa be right? He frowned, trying to gather his thoughts. He tended to get overwhelmed by emotion and sensation around Susannah and he couldn’t think straight.
Was that love? It felt more like madness.
Susannah looked right at him, her eyelashes glittering with tears. “I’ll miss you very much.”
Her raw, personal confession kicked him where it hurt. Right now he couldn’t imagine life without her. He wanted to take her to his bed. Not even for sex. Just to hold her.
“Why do you have to leave?” The words departed his mouth before he had a chance to stop them. They came out gruff and demanding.
“I’ve caused enough trouble. I thought I was helping, but I’m not. I’ve made a mess and I don’t know how to fix it.” Her shoulders shook as a sob racked her. “I got personally involved when I shouldn’t have.”
“Who says you shouldn’t have?” He took a step toward her. Fought the urge to bury his hand in her loose dark hair.
“You.” She lifted her chin.
He stopped. He had told her to stay out of his business. To leave Clara and Ignacio alone. Her meddling attempts to repair his broken family suddenly touched him.
“And you’re right,” she continued, head held high. “I don’t want to tell you what to do with your vineyard. I especially don’t want to tell you to do something that I don’t think is right.”
“I value your advice.”
“I know.” That familiar little groove appeared next to her brow. “You’ve taken my unwanted advice with such good grace. Treated me with respect and offered me your hospitality. It was all okay as long as I was just doing my job, representing my boss.” She paused and he watched her chest rise and fall inside her delicate dress.
Longing mingled with desire choked him.
“But you’re right. I can’t go through life being someone else’s representative. I have to do what I, Susannah Clarke, think is right.”
“Even if it means giving up the job you love.”
She blinked, tears still fresh in her eyes. “Yes. Tierra de Oro is a special place, and I couldn’t live with a clear conscience if I did anything to hurt the estate or the people who love it.”
“Because you also love Tierra de Oro.”
She bit her lip, that thoughtful line still deep. “Yes, if you can love a place on such short acquaintance.”
He could see her attempting to analyze and understand. Her busy mind trying so hard to tackle something that could never be understood, only felt. The urge to hold her, to simply take her in his arms, was almost unbearable. “Some people say you can fall in love at first sight.”
“That’s not love. That’s attraction.” She tilted her head. “But it invites you to explore. To seek out the spirit of a place. Or to wait for it to reveal itself to you. That doesn’t take long.”
“Maybe only a single day.”
“Or one night.” The tears appeared again.
They weren’t talking about just a place, anymore.
I’m too old to watch another Alvarez push away the woman he loves because of his stupid pride. Rosa’s words buzzed in his confused brain, tangled with the thoughts and feelings gathering there.
Ever since Susannah had come to Tierra de Oro on her difficult errand, he’d been unable to get her out of his mind. When she wasn’t around, he missed the light that sparkled in her dark eyes. He hungered for her thoughtful opinions and craved the touch of her gentle hands.
“Susannah.” He stepped forward and picked up her hand, which trembled in his. “You coming here awakened something in me. Something good and something bad.” He frowned, trying to organize his thoughts. “Bad because I learned I’d been lied to by the people I loved most. But good, because in testing those relationships I realized how much I have to lose.”
His heart ached almost to bursting as he struggled to put his feelings into words. “I think the worst thing that could happen, Susannah—” he squeezed her hand, too hard probably, as adrenaline spiked through him “—would be to lose you.”
She stared at him, blinking. Confusion fluttered across her always-composed face.
“What I’m trying to say is…” He dragged in a breath. “Is that I love you.”
The words reverberated in the air, and seemed to bounce off the old stucco facing of his familiar home, off the gravel of the road and the sharp blue sky.
“I love you, too.”
Her reply startled him. He was still wrapped up in his own pronouncement. In how true it felt and what a huge relief it was to get the confession off his chest.
“You do?”
Tears sparkled in her eyes even as a smile tugged at her mouth. “Yes. I think I loved you since that first night here, when I realized it was going to be harder than I thought to just walk away.”
“Don’t walk away. Stay here with me.”
She frowned, emotion tugging at her delicate features.
“I know it’s a different country, but you’ve traveled and lived in many places. You’ll help me run the vineyard, and market our wines, and anything else you want to do.” His heart soared as the vision unfurled in his mind.
Susannah’s entire expression had gone blank. Even that tricky and revealing wrinkle he loved so much had disappeared. “Me? Here?”
“Why not?” He pulled her to him, grasped both her hands in both of his.
“But I don’t have any experience.” Sadness shadowed her eyes.
“With what? Staying in one place? It’s easy. You just don’t go anywhere.”
“I mea
n with fitting in. Being part of a community. Look at me!” She gestured at her dress. A very lovely yellow, decorated with dusty paw marks. “I’m visiting a farm and I wore a dress.”
He grinned. “I love your dresses. In case you haven’t noticed, Clara and Rosa always wear skirts, too. I guess it’s an Alvarez family tradition. See? You already fit right in.”
“Do you think?” Her shy glance stabbed him in the heart.
“I know it.” Unable to control himself any longer, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with every ounce of passion and energy he possessed.
When he paused for breath, he managed to rasp, “Will you marry me, Susannah? Will you be my wife?”
Her lips parted. “Oh, goodness.” She searched his face. “Do you think I could? Even after what I did?”
His heart clenched. How could she still feel guilty for just doing what she had to? “I’ll always be grateful you took on the unenviable task of bringing me the news about my parentage.”
Her eyes widened. “You will?”
“Yes, because now I know who I am. Not who everyone wants me to be or expects me to be. I’m glad the cobwebs of lies and secrets have been blown out of Tierra de Oro and bright new sunlight can pour in. I’m glad I met my biological father before it’s too late.” He rubbed her hands, enjoying the warmth he found there. “I found a new piece of me and at the same time I found you.” He hesitated. Drew in a shaky breath. “Please say you’ll marry me.”
Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I’d love to marry you and be your wife.” She let out something between a laugh and a sob. “Will you be my husband?”
Only Susannah would feel the need to invite him into her life as well. And why not? Her quiet strength and resolution captivated him. Since she arrived he’d been annoyed and entranced in equal measure as she swept house in his life and heart. She’d turned the family upside down and shaken loose emotion they’d kept bottled up for years. No doubt she’d keep them on their toes in the future, too. He couldn’t wait to savor every minute of it.
“It would be my great honor and joy to be your husband.”
She smiled, pulled him close and kissed him full on the mouth. Exhilaration swept through him like a spring wind and he couldn’t help laughing with joy.
Spending the rest of his life with Susannah promised to be a wonderful adventure.
Epilogue
“Goodness, what’s that?” Samantha Hardcastle grabbed Susannah’s arm. They stared at what looked like an entire cow strapped to a vast wrought-iron gate and suspended over an open firepit.
Susannah laughed. She was still getting used to the local customs herself. “Mendocinos take their parilla very seriously.”
“What’s parilla?”
“I’m sorry! I’m forgetting how to speak English already. It’s barbecue, which is a real art form here. Ignacio raised the meat himself.”
The rich aroma of almost-roasted beef was intoxicating. Sparks from the fire crackled and spat, echoing the excitement in the air. The garden glowed with the last rays of sunset, and lanterns shone in the trees and around the tables decorated for their wedding feast.
Sam leaned in to her and whispered. “Look at Ignacio and Tarrant.”
The two padres familias stood squared off, their arms raised wide as if to say, “it was this big!”
“Men!” exclaimed Sam. “They don’t change much, I’m afraid. I learned that somewhere between my second and third marriages. You just have to love them as they are.”
Susannah couldn’t help a shy smile sneaking across her face. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’re so lucky, you and Amado, having so many glorious years to look forward to. Do say you’ll make me a grandma soon.”
Susannah’s heart clenched as she saw tears glisten in Sam’s eyes. Poor Sam was barely thirty and no doubt wanted a child herself, but that wouldn’t be possible with Tarrant so ill. Soon her third marriage would end too and leave her a widow, yet she managed to smile and be happy for two newlyweds with their whole lives ahead of them.
Susannah couldn’t help putting her arms around the woman whose spirit shone so brightly despite her troubles. “You’re welcome here any time you like, you know. With Tarrant or just by yourself. Think of Tierra de Oro as your second home in Argentina.” Then she laughed. “Or is it your twelfth home? I suppose you have a few already.”
Sam smiled. “Tarrant always did love to travel. The doctors told him not to come here under any circumstances, but he said he’d rather be dead than miss his son’s wedding. Goodness, look at them now!”
Susannah turned to see Tarrant and Ignacio locked in a bear hug.
“What have you ladies done to my fathers?” Amado’s deep voice crept into Susannah’s ear as he stepped between her and Sam and slid his strong arms around their waists. “I bet it was that speech Sam gave about how you can’t change the past but you can change the future. They look like they’re ready to weep and they haven’t even tasted our steak yet.”
“I think the wedding left everyone a little emotional,” Susannah whispered. She brushed a lock of hair from her new husband’s forehead. He looked breathtakingly handsome in his dark suit and white shirt. “I know I am, even after my mother gave us that sobering lecture about the duties of a wife to her spouse.”
Amado smiled his familiar crooked smile and laid a soft kiss on her cheek. “I’m going to hold you to those, querida. Especially the part about how you support the sacred institution of marriage when you keep your husband happy in bed.” His hushed tones sent a shiver of giggly excitement through her. Amado laughed. “I guess missionary work has changed a bit since I was in school.”
She shrugged, smiling. “They’re unusual people.”
“Just like their daughter.” He looked at Sam. “Is she the most beautiful woman on the planet, or am I just crazily in love with her?”
He stepped back and Susannah blushed under his admiring gaze.
“It’s this lovely dress.” She smoothed the cleverly cut white silk that molded to her slim body and found curves where she never knew she had them. “Rosa and Clara made it themselves. Aren’t they brilliant?”
Sam’s eyes widened. “Goodness, yes. They’d give Vera Wang designs a run for the money.”
“They said they used to make all their own clothes when they were younger. Can you imagine?”
“No, way.” Sam laughed. “The fashion industry might fall apart if I started doing that.”
It was a Hardcastle Enterprises joke that Sam dressed only in couture originals. At least Susannah used to think it was a joke. Now she was a family insider, she knew better. Apparently designers even came to their Upper East Side mansion for fittings at Tarrant’s insistence.
Susannah couldn’t imagine how Sam put up with her ebullient husband, but it was obvious she loved him desperately. What would her life be like when he was gone?
As if he was thinking the same thing, Amado wrapped his arm around Sam’s shoulders. “You’re my third mom, you know? I think Marisa would be so happy to see us all here together.” He rubbed her arm. “It’s all your doing, Sam. You started the search for Tarrant’s lost children.”
Tears welled in Susannah’s eyes as she watched the emotion flickering on Sam’s face.
Sam dabbed at her eye makeup with a designer handkerchief. “Thank you, Amado. I can’t put into words how much it means to me to see you all together, and so happy. This wedding is a wonderful blessing. Tarrant keeps outliving his doctors’ expectations and it’s because his children are giving him such joyous events to look forward to.”
Her carefully made-up lips quivered. “Maybe he really will live a long and full life, just to spite them all.” She laughed through sudden tears, and Amado squeezed her hand.
“This evening will live forever in all our hearts,” he said softly. “Would you do us the honor of ringing the bell to call everyone to eat?”
“I’d be thrilled.”
As the sound of
the old brass bell reverberated off the stone buildings, guests made their way into the lovely garden. Ignacio with his arm affectionately wrapped around his beloved Clara, Tarrant helped by his daughter Fiona, Dominic and his wife Bella already practicing their tango steps, Susannah’s own parents speaking in animated Spanish to Tomás. Susannah had even found Valentina, who traveled from the Pampas with her husband and three children to join the celebration.
The newly united families joined with friends, neighbors and vineyard workers to share slow-roasted steaks, homegrown vegetables and fresh ice cream. Dinner stretched into a long, sweaty, breathless night of dancing, and Amado and Susannah’s wedding was celebrated with toasts and tears and many, many glasses of the very best wine on earth.
Friday Night Mistress
By Jan Colley
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
One
“All rise.”
Spectators and participants in the Wellington High Court rose as one. Day one of the defamation case brought by Randall Thorne, founder of Thorne Financial Enterprises, against Syrius Lake had begun.
Seated behind his father in the front row of the gallery, Nick Thorne frowned as his younger brother slipped into the empty seat beside him. “You’re late,” Nick muttered without heat. Adam was always late, even while on holiday.
The judge bustled in and motioned for everyone to take their seats.
“Would you look at that?” Adam whispered, nudging Nick. “Little Jordan Lake, all grown up and pretty as a picture.”
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