pulled her loose T-shirt tight over nipples he now knew were the exact same color as her lips. “I said they came from family.”
“My family?” He shoved all thoughts of nipples back where they belonged. His family’s honor was on the line here.
“Mine, actually. In case you’ve forgotten, they belong to my mother.”
“We both know where they really belong. And you should know better than to take them to a local jeweler who might put two and two together and figure out where they came from.”
“Why shouldn’t he know the truth?” She cocked her head.
Naldo blinked. Her obstinacy made him so exasperated he could barely think straight. “Because…” He spoke through gritted teeth. “My family’s private business is just that, private. The last thing either of us needs is for the press to get wind of what went on between my father and your mother.”
“Why on earth would the press care about what two middle-aged people were doing on their own time?”
“Because my father is Robert De Leon.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “And my mother was his cook. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re ashamed that your father had an affair with a ‘servant.’ You’re just like your snobbish sister. You really do think that my mother was so far beneath him that-”
“You know I have the highest regard for your mother.” Naldo cut her off and took a step into the tiny kitchen. “But you know as well as I do that the press will turn it into a tawdry scandal. Do you truly want your mother being remembered as that cook who slept with her boss?”
Anna blinked and stared at him for a moment before replying. “Perhaps it’s better than her not being remembered at all.”
“Your mother’s memory will always be cherished here.”
“No, it won’t. You’re trying to stamp out every trace of her. You want to buy the cottage, you want to buy back the jewels, you want to put everything back exactly the way it was before your father had the temerity to fall in love with someone other than your precious mother. You’re so hung up on your own fairy-tale ideal of your father’s life that you don’t want to deal with the reality.”
She took a step toward him, eyes flashing. “Life isn’t black and white like your polo uniform, Naldo. You can’t take reality and trim it and tweak it into what you want. Real life has shades of gray. It’s messy and untidy, and sometimes inconvenient, but it’s real and you can’t just throw money at it and make it go away.”
Naldo hesitated. Too right-he was tired of life being a mess. For a decade he’d been torn between loyalty to his proud but difficult mother, and deep love for the caring father who found happiness with the wrong woman. All he wanted to do now was clean the slate and start over.
And Anna saw right through him.
A surge of irritation warred with a sudden disturbing urge to silence this maddening woman with a fast, hard kiss.
But he’d gone down that road before and it certainly hadn’t improved matters.
“How much do you want for the jewels and the cottage?”
She settled her hands on her slim hips and stuck out her chest. Something fresh sparked in her eyes. “You mean how much will it take to get me to shut up and leave? How much hush money do I require?” Her breasts heaved under her shirt.
He ignored the thickening sensation in his groin. “You know that’s not what I mean. I just want to compensate you fairly.”
“So you can make sure you’ll never be troubled by me again? So I won’t turn up again like a bad penny, looking for more money and reminding you-and everyone else-that the majestic De Leon family has a skeleton in the closet? I’ve a good mind to go to the papers right now and tell them the whole story.”
Naldo froze. “Your mother would never have done that.”
“No. She knew her place, didn’t she? The faithful family retainer, true to her beloved lord and master. So circumspect that she never even dared to confide in her own daughter.”
A flush covered her neck, and he could see her breath coming faster. Was she going to cry? “I think it’s disgraceful that your father supposedly loved her for so long and never offered to marry her. Like she wasn’t worthy of him. Everyone thinks the great Robert De Leon was such a chivalrous knight of old, faithful to the cherished memory of his beautiful sainted wife. I’d love to let them know exactly what kind of man he really was.”
Naldo instinctively took a step forward.
“Don’t touch me!” Anna leapt back as if he threatened to bite her. “Get out! Leave me alone.”
She was going to cry. Naldo stiffened. Part of him wanted to grab her and shake her until she saw reason. Part of him wanted to take her in his arms and console her, and part of him wanted to peel off her clothes and-
“Get out!”
He turned on his heel and left. There was no arguing with a madwoman. Especially when every rational thought you summoned was interrupted by a stray urge to kiss the words right out of her infuriatingly sensual and shockingly insolent mouth.
He swung himself into his car and closed the door with a satisfying slam. His father’s mistakes should be a harsh lesson to him. An untidy emotional entanglement had laid him open to the risk of scandal, and ultimately had killed him. Naldo had no doubt his father would still be alive if it wasn’t for Letty Marcus.
He’d decided early on that he would never let a woman tie his heart up in one of her nightgown ribbons.
Right now he needed an ice-cold shower to cool his temper and his blood and get everything back exactly where it should be.
Under control.
The next morning, Naldo was eating a grapefruit in the breakfast room when he heard the telltale click-click of Isabela’s mules on the wood. His spine stiffened.
“Morning, sweet brother.”
“Hey.” He smoothed out the local paper on the table.
“It’s taking an awfully long time to get rid of Ms. Marcus, isn’t it? I’d have thought you’d have her bags packed and shipped by now.” Isabela slid into the chair opposite him.
“Me, too. I don’t know why she’s being so difficult.” He flipped the page. “But she’ll sell. Trust me.”
“I’m not entirely sure I do trust you.”
Naldo’s gaze snapped up in time to see Isabela winking at him as she reached for some toast.
“What do you mean by that?”
“She’s pretty.”
“So?”
“And you’re a man.” She snipped off a piece of dry toast with her teeth.
“I have no interest in Anna beyond securing the land for the family.” He grabbed his juice glass and took a swig. His eggs lay heavy in his stomach.
“Mmm-hmm.” Isabela reached for the butter. “Though you don’t seem to be in any hurry, from what I can see. Where exactly did you spend last night?”
“In my bed.”
“I mean the night before this one.” Her black eyes glittered. “You went out, oh, around three, and came back for breakfast.”
“Sweet of you to be concerned about my whereabouts.” He sipped his coffee.
“Oh, I’m concerned, all right. The last thing this family needs is more scandal.”
“There was no scandal last time. Mother’s death was an accident, remember?” His chest tightened.
“You were just a kid. You have no idea what Daddy did to hush everything up. He paid off the police, he bought the local paper. Are you willing to do the same?”
“I have no need to do anything.”
“Oh, really? How will you feel if the papers report that you’re sleeping out in the servants’ quarters like dear old Dad?”
“Why would I care? I’m not married. I can sleep where I want.”
“With the cook’s daughter?”
“Nothing wrong with cooking. We all have to eat. Besides, Anna doesn’t work here. She’s a successful businesswoman.”
