From Barcelona, with Love (30 page)

“Hello,” she said, looking in her rival Lorenza's clear dark Spanish eyes.

Mac jumped in to introduce them. “This is Sunny Alvarez. Lorenza de Ravel.”

“Sunny's the one who looked after me in Malibu after I almost drowned,” Paloma cried, rushing at Sunny and entwining her in a tight embrace.

“Of course,” Lorenza said. “I remember. You told me how kind Sunny was to you. And Mac has told me all about you too,” she added, smiling at Sunny. “Please, let's go into the house and get you something cool to drink. Allow me to make you welcome. Any friend of Mac's is also a friend of mine.”

Sunny's eyes met Allie's as they walked behind Lorenza into the house, with Paloma tagging alongside, clutching Sunny's hand. Sunny knew Allie was thinking the same thing she was. What
exactly
had Mac told Lorenza about her? That she was his? And he was hers? And never the twain should part? Or was it “never the twain shall meet.” Oh what the hell, she'd got it wrong again; she never could come up with the proper quote in times of emergency, though she
was
good at finding bodies now and then.

Right now she'd quite like to find Lorenza's body, at the bottom of the stairs for instance, in this lovely house where everything gleamed and shone, perfectly kept, perfectly flowered, perfectly scented with beeswax and jasmine and a faint whiff of winter wood smoke.

“Sunny?” Mac said, giving her a tentative smile.

Lorenza caught it and quietly excused herself, calling to Buena as she strode down the hall to the kitchen.

 

Chapter 43

Mac went and stood
next to Sunny.

“I didn't expect you.” He clapped a hand to his head and groaned because the minute he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing.

Sunny didn't bother to say
obviously
he didn't expect her, since it was the obvious thing to say. Instead, she stood aloof, her nose pointed in the air.

“Please, Sun, baby,” Mac said. “I'm here to find Bibi. Nothing else, I promise you.”

Allie and Ron moved discreetly away. They wandered through the living area onto the terrace and looked interestedly past the wildflower meadow at the rows of vines climbing the hills into the sunset.

“I'm glad.” Sunny moved a step away from Mac.

It was the first time he'd ever seen her like this: stiff, uncaring, her face turned from him.

“It's not the way it seemed, Sunny, I promise you. I simply fell asleep. I didn't even know she was there.”

“Oh, she was very much there.” Sunny lifted her long dark hair from her neck, holding it up as though she felt hot. Mac poured her a glass of the iced sangria Buena had brought in from outside.

“This will cool you off,” he said.

“It certainly didn't cool you off.” She looked over her shoulder at him, eyes snapping.

“Sun, I promise you, it was nothing.”

“It's not ‘nothing' when
we
sleep like that.
Me
with you … my leg over
you.
”

“But then we're in bed, we're naked, we love each other, you always sleep like that, I love the way you feel, pressed against my body, so soft, so … so
you,
Sunny. It's only
you
I care about, I promise…”

“At least she had her clothes on.”

“Of course she had! I've never seen her without her clothes.”

“Oh yes, I believe you have,” she said.

“Look, it was years ago, we were just kids, in love with love and life. I admit we couldn't get enough of each other, and then it was over. I haven't even thought about her in years, and she certainly never thought about me. She was madly in love with her husband.”

“Unfortunately for me, he's dead,” Sunny said, just as Lorenza appeared carrying a tray laden with a frosty ice bucket containing two bottles of wine.

 

Chapter 44

Lorenza paused for
a second, taking in the scene. She had taken the opportunity to change and instead of the white shorts and shirt, was now wearing a soft flowery pink summer dress that caressed her curves, light as a lover's hand. A deep V-neck displayed her pretty cleavage and ruffled cap sleeves looked girlish and sophisticated at the same time. She had on high-heeled strappy sandals that showed off her legs and she'd brushed her dark hair into a face-framing cloud that fluttered as she walked toward them.

She smiled. She could imagine the conversation that had just taken place.

“I thought we should start with a tasting of our de Ravel Sauvignon Blanc,” she said, smiling innocently into Sunny's eyes. “It's a favorite of mine, and I'm sure we have the same taste.”

Sunny wondered whether Lorenza's remark had a deeper meaning; did Lorenza mean they had the same taste in men? She suddenly felt a little travel-stained in the creased chambray shirtdress, and she hadn't failed to notice that Lorenza had taken advantage of the break to freshen up her lipstick and her perfume. She knew that scent … what was it? Versace, of course. She'd never liked it.

She looked at Mac, who had gone to open the bottles of wine. Lorenza waited by his side, holding out a glass, which Mac filled. She walked across to Sunny who was still standing at the entrance to the living room.

“Please, my dear Sunny,
do
come in and make yourself more comfortable. And
do
taste this wine, it's beautifully chilled and you look so hot. I'm sure you will feel better, especially because it has that little sparkle to it that women are always looking for.”

*   *   *

Coming in from
the terrace Allie heard Lorenza. “Shit,” she muttered to Ron. “This time the cavalry is really needed.”

“I'm a winemaker too,” Allie said, striding rapidly over to where Lorenza was standing, next to Mac, of course, holding another glass for him to fill. Not that the bastard couldn't have held the glass himself and filled it, Allie thought, hiding her scowl behind a smile as Lorenza turned to her.

“I didn't know you had a vineyard,” Lorenza said, surprised.

“Not many people do, yet,” Ron said. “Allie won't allow her name to be used, she wants to do it the hard way, no strings pulled. And she's doing very well, thank you very much.”

“How wonderful,” Lorenza said. He was obviously so proud of her, she was impressed. She thought regretfully about Juan Pedro and sighed. “I know how hard it is for a woman in the wine business. Please, try my small offering, it's not a grand wine but it has a kind of delicacy I think you might enjoy.”

Allie accepted the glass, looking over at Sunny, who was still standing where she had left her, a glass clutched nervously in her hand too, and looking as if she thought its contents might be poisoned. Allie wondered for a minute whether it was; it wouldn't be the first time a woman had tried to drug her rival in order to win a man, but she dismissed that thought quickly.

Mac had put down the wine bottle and gone over to Sunny. He took the glass from her, put it down on a nearby table, and clasped her by the hand.

“Please, excuse us for a moment,” he said to them. “Sunny and I have things we need to discuss.”

Allie caught Lorenza's frown. She hadn't lived in Hollywood and been a movie star for nothing; she'd learned a lot about women in her career and she knew that, whatever the reason—love, lust, past memories, loneliness, opportunity and a hard dick, or the fact that Lorenza's love for Mac had never died—she meant business. She was out to get Mac and it was up to Ron and her to protect Sunny from Lorenza.

Lorenza poured herself some wine and took a sip. “I don't blame you, if you hate me,” she said with a serene little smile. “After all, Sunny is your friend. And so is Mac. I hate to come between a man and a woman, but the truth is, everyone is free, and everyone has a choice. Mac and I were lovers, young lovers it's true, but we've never lost that certain feeling, that … passion.”

Allie looked steadily back at her. She knew Lorenza wanted her to ask if she and Mac were lovers
now
and she was damned if she would, but her heart ached for Sunny because she suddenly suspected they were. How else that intimacy of that little scene, her leg thrown over him, his arm around her as they slept. At least Mac slept. She wasn't sure about Lorenza.

“I understand,” was all she said finally.

“I'm glad you do,” Lorenza said in a matter-of-fact tone.

And with that she walked to the window, where she stood looking at Mac and Sunny in the shade of the tree.

They were close, not touching, but Sunny's body language did not bode well. Mac was doing all the talking, running a distracted hand through his hair. Allie glanced at Ron. They both thought this looked like a man pleading his case.

“As he fuckin' should,” Ron muttered. He'd never have believed it about Mac if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

“We'd better get Sunny out of here,” he said abruptly to Allie. “We should never have come.”

Lorenza turned away from the window, her fuchsia lipstick perfectly in place, her cloud of dark hair swinging as she strode, so gracefully, toward them. She was a woman in love as she had only been twice in her life and she could not let this one go. Mac meant so much to her, more than these people would ever understand. She wasn't wicked, she was just in love. She would fight for him to the end.

She said, “I do hope you'll all stay for dinner. Buena is preparing roast chickens, and I promise they're like no chickens you've ever tasted. And I'm sure by then, it'll be time for some champagne.”

“Not a shot, ma'am,” Ron said abruptly. “But thanks for the offer.” And, grabbing Allie by the arm, he marched her to the door.

Allie dumped her wineglass on a handy little highly polished table on the way out. “We're leaving?” she whispered, astonished. “Just like that?”

“Damn fuckin' right we are. I'm not allowing that woman to patronize Sunny. We're getting her out of here. Right now.” He gave Allie a keen sideways glance. “Don't you see, Lorenza de Ravel has her sights on Mac? That woman is zoned in and she wants what they had before. And the way they were, in that embrace on the blanket when we drove up, she might be getting it.”

“Oh God,” Allie said, thinking of Sunny's possible heartbreak to come.

She had never seen Ron like this before, full of barely contained anger, a bomb waiting for the fuse to go off. The sad thing was the anger was directed at his good friend. Ron was right though. She understood that as she marched across the lawn at his side. He was not going to allow Sunny to be humiliated if he had anything to do with it. As for Mac … well, that decision was up to Mac.

 

Chapter 45

Mac said, “Sunny.
Please. I promise you it was nothing. I wasn't even aware she was there. I was outside alone, having a glass or two of that sangria—Jesus, I didn't know sangria was so potent. Between that and the jet lag and that I can't sleep without you, I was so wiped out I must have fallen asleep. I swear to you, Sunny, it wasn't the way it looked. Lorenza must have come out and seen me sleeping, and lay down next to me…”

“
On
you,” Sunny said, still with ice in her voice.

“I wasn't aware of that.”

“I'll bet it was just like old times.”

Mac ran a despairing hand through his hair. He shook his head. “I don't know about old times. Oh God, well yes, when I met her again, of course I thought about old times. How could I not? Yes, we were lovers, and yes I did love her then. Didn't I tell you there was only one other woman I'd ever loved? Until I met you?”

Sunny's whole body seemed to sag and tears shot from her eyes, like tiny bullets of rain, aimed at him. “That's the whole point,” she wailed. “I heard it in your voice on the phone … that's why I came … and look what I found. I was right, wasn't I?”

She'd wanted so much to believe him, yet she had seen what she had seen, an intimacy that only happened between lovers.

Mac was looking at her, eyes all blue steel and anger. Anger at her? Anger at Lorenza? Anger at himself?

“I would never betray you, Sunny,” he was saying, but she was looking past him, at Lorenza standing on the terrace, arms folded, watching them. And at Allie and Ron marching across the grass toward her.
Mac wouldn't lie to her … he just wouldn't …

“Sunny!” Ron called out, and Mac spun round to look.

“Mac,” Sunny said, putting her hand out to him.

Then there came that familiar low vibrating rumble
. His phone.

Without even thinking, Mac's hand went to his pocket. He took out the phone, glanced at the readout.

“Lev?” Mac said.

The fuckin' phone! Sunny had always heard about “last straws.” Now she knew this was it. She ran to Allie, stumbling into her arms as Ron hustled them both quickly toward the car. The driver saw them coming and already had the door open.

Sunny huddled in the backseat, head thrown back, eyes closed as the car purred off. But she had to look. She had to see if Mac had gone back to Lorenza, who was waiting for him on the terrace.

But Mac was still standing under the tree, phone in hand, looking after her, dumbstruck. And then he was yelling.

His voice calling her name echoed after her as the car drove quickly away.

 

Chapter 46

Trujillo

Bibi was alone
at the Castillo Adivino, the “Fortune-Teller's Castle.” She wondered if the fortune-teller would have been able to predict the events of the past few days, and how her life would change.

She was sitting on the high-backed old green velvet sofa. Amigo lay next to her, though she'd had to haul him up this time. He was getting so rickety, he simply didn't have enough push left in his legs.