How to Marry a Matador (Exclusive Sneak Preview) (13 page)

“You can always go after her,” Gustavo
said.

“I already did,” Fernando replied,
stone-faced. He mounted his horse as the taxi started down the
drive, Eve turning slightly to give him a guilty glance over her
shoulder.

“Yah!” he commanded, driving his steed
forward and alongside the road that carried Jessica’s cab toward
the airport. She pursed her lips and peered at him through the
glass as he galloped faster.
Stop the car
, he wanted her to
say. Anything to indicate they still stood a chance.

He followed them past the grove of olive
trees, then slowed his horse in the setting sun.

Jessica turned away, her head dropping on
Eve’s shoulder.

Fernando swallowed past the burn in his
throat and beat back the fire in his eyes.

Then he urged his horse into a run and took
off over the desert landscape. He would ride until neither he nor
his steed could take any more. But Fernando knew he would never
outrace the ache in his soul. It was a scar he’d be forced to wear,
just like the one on his thigh. Some battles were worth fighting,
and Fernando had never found a contest in which he hadn’t given it
his all. Yet sometimes your opponent was tougher than you were,
and—no matter how many skirmishes you won—you still wound up losing
the war.

Fernando rode faster, leaning into the
Andalusian winds. Tomorrow was his thirty-first birthday, but
apparently, nobody remembered but him.

Eve pulled a tissue from her purse and handed
it to Jess, who was weeping on her shoulder. It was one of those
quiet sort of cries, tears spilling silently as Jess gazed straight
ahead with unseeing eyes. Eve felt all punched out inside, as if a
million tiny fists were beating at her gut and heart. She’d done
the right thing, she was sure of it. What sort of friend might she
have been had she left Jess here all alone to fend for herself with
a man who looked like
him
?

Eve watched as Fernando quickened the pace of
his horse and rode off into the sunset. If he’d really been sincere
and not just trying to secure an inheritance, Jess’s timeline
wouldn’t have mattered to him in the least. But he’d been unable to
wait for her, had refused her point-blank. It was a miracle they’d
gotten to the magistrate in time.

Eve glanced at the thick express mail package
still clutched in Jess’s hands. She’d held it on her lap since
leaving Casa de la Vega, just gripping it there like some sort of
lifeline between the reality of now and the hopeful imaginings of
the past. Initially, the postmaster at the magistrate’s office had
been unhelpful, stating if the package had come through at the
start of the week, it had likely been processed and was already on
its way to Madrid for final approval. It was only at Eve’s
insistence that he’d dug through the large canvas carrier on stout
wheels and managed to come up with the return address of La
Esperanza del Corazón. The postmaster had required identification
but then wasn’t sure who to hand the package to.
“Give it to
her,”
Fernando had said coldly.
“There’s nothing left in it
for me.”

When Jess had refused to take it, Eve had
snatched it away, holding on to it until just now. Jess had
accepted the parcel without a word and had just stared out the
window at Fernando instead. Eve knew she must be disappointed to
have met yet another man who wouldn’t stand by her, but best to
learn that now than a continent’s move away and a few kids into the
future.

“I booked us a long layover in Madrid,” she
said to Jess. “Fourteen hours. Plenty of time to clear out your
apartment and spend a quick night.”

Jess nodded numbly, staring down at the
package. “I can’t even remember what I left at that place.”

“Probably not too much important,” Eve
answered. “But it’s good to check it out, just in case. Jess?” Eve
said, giving her shoulder a tight hug. “Please say you don’t hate
me?”

Jess stared at her, stunned. “Oh, Evie,” she
said with moist eyes. “I don’t hate you. Don’t hate you at all. I
understand what you did and why you felt you had to do it. You
didn’t come all the way over here for yourself. You did it for
me.”

Eve’s heart felt a little lighter. Maybe
things would eventually get back to normal after all. Jess would
put Fernando behind her and resume her life in Brooklyn. As time
passed, she might even look back on this episode with the matador
and thank Eve for coming to her rescue in Spain.

“It’s only that…” Jess continued, her voice
trailing off into melancholy.

“What is it, Jess? What?”

Jess set her chin a moment, focusing hard on
something internal. When she turned to Eve again, her expression
was drawn. “It’s only that I wonder if maybe I’m”
—her
lips trembled
—
“starting to hate myself.”

“Oh, Jess, no. Don’t say that.” Eve drew Jess
into her arms as the airport tower loomed near. “Don’t ever say
that. Nobody could ever do anything but love you.”

But by the way Jess crumbled in her embrace,
it didn’t appear she believed it.

“Fernando,” Ana María said. “Do you mind
telling your mother what’s going on?”

Fernando had just come in from a long ride
and didn’t appear to be in the mood for talking.

“I’ll tell you later,” he said, heading for
the study.

Ana María held out a hand to stop him.
“You’ll tell me now.”

He turned on her, his expression surly.

Ana María pressed on, undaunted. “Your wife
of one week gets in a cab bound for New York? I deserve to
know.”

His eyes were dark and stormy, like the sky
before hard rain. “I need some time, Mamá
.
”

“Fernando,” she said, raising her voice for
emphasis. “She’s carrying your child, my grandbaby
.
”

He met her with a hard, even stare. “There is
no baby.”

Ana María cupped her hand to her lips.

“Never was,” he continued, his neck coloring.
“I’m sorry that I lied to you.”

Ana María stood there, dumbfounded. Fernando
was stubborn, yes. Perhaps a little too used to getting his way.
But never in his life had he lied to her. It took her a long while
to form the words. “Why did you?” she asked quietly.

Fernando ran a hand through his hair,
appearing at a loss, then hung his head for a prolonged beat. He
slowly raised his eyes to hers. “Because, Mamá, in a crazy sort of
way, I wanted it all to be real. Me, Jessica, our future together,
a family…” He shrugged and gave a halfhearted smile that wrenched
her through and through. “I let my emotions get the better of me.
And that’s something you taught me never to do.”

Ana María reigned in her burgeoning tears,
her heart breaking for her son. This wasn’t about his birthday or
the inheritance or their ranch. Fernando had finally fallen for a
woman, and she’d simply slipped away. “You must fight for her,” Ana
María said.

Fernando shook his head. “I fought as hard as
I know how.” As he turned and walked away, Ana María heard him
speak bitterly over his shoulder. “I can’t convince a woman to love
me who doesn’t. In fact, I wouldn’t even want to try.”

****

Jessica lifted the manila file folder from
the small business desk in the Madrid apartment. “It’s a good thing
we stopped by here. I’d forgotten all about this.”

Eve shot her a quizzical look.

“It’s the contract, Evie. The acquisitions
deal. It’s what I flew to Madrid for.”

“Then the whole trip wasn’t a loss,” Evie
tried to add brightly.

“Right,” Jessica said, setting the file
folder back down and sounding less than convinced. Jess turned and
walked to the french doors opening onto a small balcony. “I don’t
really blame him, you know. Fernando.”

“Well, you certainly can’t blame yourself.”
Jess glanced at her.

“Or me!” Eve rushed to say. She thumbed her
chest, squeaking weakly. “Really, Jess. Tell me you’re not blaming
me?”

“I’m old enough to make up my own mind,” she
said, stepping outdoors.

But was she really? Just think of the mess
she’d made of things in less than eight days! Evie nabbed a pencil
off the desk and twisted up her hair. Somebody had to be the
grown-up here, and since it hadn’t been Jess, Eve had been forced
to take the role. Surely, Jess would see that, once the dust
settled and the emotional haze surrounding her cleared.

Jess seemed to be leaning over the balcony
railing, teetering toward the street below. She couldn’t possibly
be despondent enough to toss herself over the edge. “Jess, don’t!”
Eve cried, rushing forward and lunging for her waist.

Jessica lost hold of the watering can she’d
been gripping, and it clattered to the street. “Don’t what?” she
asked with dismay. “Water the flowers? Good God, Evie. Someone
could have been walking by down below.”

Evie stared into the small window box weeping
with bright, harmonious colors, and practically wanted to cry
herself. “I’m sorry,” she said, catching her breath. “I
thought—”

Jess set her hand on her hip and cocked her
head sideways. “That what? I was going to jump?” Her blue gaze
looked clear and reasonable, suddenly making Evie feel the fool and
the youngest child in the place.

Eve’s face burned hot as she ducked back
inside. “You had to see it from my angle.”

The realization hit Jess with a jolt. That
was the issue, wasn’t it? She’d always seen things from someone
else’s perspective. First, there was her mother who wanted her to
go into banking. She was right, of course, because that was where
the money was. And also, according to her mom, lots of single men.
What her mother had failed to advise was that single didn’t always
equal decent and that sometimes even the decent ones didn’t stick
around.

Then there was Evie, forever filled with good
advice, helping her think things out when life got too crazy.

“Jess? Are you all right?” Evie asked,
peering at her from around the corner. First she thought Jess was a
jumper, now she was homicidal?

“What are you doing hiding in there?”

“I just wanted to be sure that it’s safe to
come out and play.”

Jess studied Evie with a long sigh. “I’m not
tossing you over for a new best friend anytime soon.”

Eve swallowed hard and nodded. “Good, that’s
very good to hear, you know.”

“I would, however, probably like you a lot
better if you could do me one favor.”

“Anything, as long as you step away from that
railing. Honestly, it looks kind of unsteady to me.”

Jess stepped away from the wrought-iron grate
and sat in an outdoor chair. “Why don’t you grab that bottle of red
wine and a couple of glasses,” she said. “Then come back out here.
There’s something I’d like to talk through with you.”

Two empty wineglasses sat on the table
between them as the sky lightened with daybreak.

“I wish I could say we’d solved all the
world’s problems,” Eve offered apologetically.

“There’s no easy answer, is there?”

“Oh, Jess,” Eve answered truthfully, “I don’t
think there are ever any easy answers.”

“But Evie, can’t you see? You’ve always told
me what to do.”

“Not this time,” Eve said, crossing her arms
firmly over her chest.

“What do you mean?”

“Jess, this isn’t some casual hookup you’re
considering. You’re talking a decision that affects the rest of
your life. Who better to make that than you?”

“But you came all the way over here to stop
me.”

“No. I came all the way over here to see if
you were still you. Someone had radically changed up my best
friend, and it scared me silly.”

“That someone being Fernando.”

“Actually, I think that someone was you.”

“Me?”

Evie studied her sincerely. “Look, I’ve known
you a long time. What’s it been?”

“Fifteen years.”

“There you have it. That’s longer than some
marriages last!”

“So?”

“So, I’ve come to know you pretty well.” Evie
studied Jess and thoughtfully stroked her chin. “Maybe I didn’t
believe it in New York, but maybe that’s because I had to see it
with my own eyes. I don’t know what precisely happened between you
and Fernando, but it was obviously something that affected you
both. Affected you, deeply. Christ! We wouldn’t have pulled an
all-nighter on this balcony if that wasn’t the case. So now here
you are, once again spilling your soul to me and asking me to put
things right. Jess, I love you dearly. But, frankly, that’s way too
much responsibility. I can’t even manage my hair most days.”

Proving her point, she pulled the pencil from
her hair, letting it spill in an unruly mass to her shoulders. They
shared companionable laughter, after which Jess stated seriously,
“Oh, Evie, what would I do without you?”

“Live your life,” she answered. “A real
grown-up life.”

Jess picked up the empty wine bottle and
traced its label, one very memorable vintage coming to mind. First,
it was her mother, telling her what to do. Next, it was Evie, but
mostly because Jess asked for it. Then there was Fernando, begging
her to remain his bride. Had Jess wanted to stay merely because
he’d asked her or because that was what she’d truly wanted to
do?

“A life where I make my own choices, you
mean.”

“Who better to make them than you?” Evie
asked.

“I don’t think it’s fair to ask me to pick
which present to open first, Mamá
.
I wouldn’t want to appear
to play favorites.”

“But Fernando,” Ana María said lightly. “All
of the gifts are from me.”

“Not all of them,” Gustavo said, stepping
onto the patio. Consuelo trailed him, carting a lovely homemade
flan.

Fernando grinned at the older woman. “Why,
Consuelo, you’ve outdone yourself—again.”