His jaw tightened.
She snorted. “Hit the nail on the head, did I?”
“She will step aside from her role once we’re married. That was her intention when I was engaged to Regina. So yes, you can take control of the villa. I assure you there’s enough to keep you busy.”
“Keep me busy?” She tucked her chin. “Why don’t you give me a box of crayons and a puzzle book if that’s the goal?”
He sighed. “It’s a real job, Scarlett. Did you oversee Dad’s vineyards? You could do that here.” He waved toward the terrace and the land beyond. “This villa is bigger than Dad’s. We host parties. It’s not a make-work project.”
“Why would I supervise your vineyards when I’m already doing that for your son?”
“Why be reasonable when you can be obstinate?”
“I’m the one being unreasonable? You’re upset that your mother won’t come out of her room and you are taking it out on me. No, Javiero, I will not quit my job. I want to do it and I have to do it. As for marriage, I’ve given you my terms.”
“Your terms are impossible. Even if you invited Kiara, do you think Val would allow her to come? I told you what he did to me, the corner he pushed me into. I don’t want him here and I won’t beg him to let Kiara and Aurelia come here. Did you know Kiara is marrying him? She’s not demanding you attend her wedding.”
“Because she knows I just had a baby and can’t travel. We texted about it.” She was trying not to let the tendrils of hope she detected in Kiara’s texts fill her with envy. Her friend deserved to be happy. “Besides, her situation is different. She and Val are...” She cleared her throat, then stood tall, refusing to be coy about it. “They’re sleeping together.”
He pointed at the massive bed. “That’s where you will be sleeping. With me.”
Her heart leaped into her throat and thrummed there, making it difficult to talk around it.
“And why would I agree to that?”
“So you can tell me when it’s my turn to get up with him.”
That did sound nice, actually. They’d bumped into each other in the hall a few times in Madrid, but she’d always sent him back to bed and dealt with Locke herself.
“You don’t have to,” she dismissed wearily, too conditioned to do everything alone to seriously consider relying on him. “I’ll manage.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll be sitting at a desk half the night if I’m not there to berate you for it.”
“That was one time! And it was a time zone thing!” She wanted to stamp her foot like a child. “I’m not giving up my job.”
“You don’t have to work. Do you realize how insulting it is that you won’t trust me to support you? You’re acting just like him, hanging on to that rotting pile of gold because what I offer isn’t enough. Exactly how high do your tastes run? Because I make a lot of money.”
“Is that what you think?” She was still angry, but his comparison of her to Niko defeated her. “I’m not saying that at all. Fine. Support me.” She threw out a hand. “In future, I’ll put all my nursing bras and vitamin supplements on your credit card. But I can’t ask you to support my family, Javiero.” She withered into a chair, no longer strong enough to keep this from him. “And that’s why I need to work.”
CHAPTER SIX
HE DIDN’T MOVE, but the dark umbrage in his expression eased to a more concentrated consideration. He pushed his hands into his pockets. “You haven’t said much about your family. Why are they dependent on you? How many are there? Tell me everything.”
“How much time have you got?” she asked with grim humor, glancing at the door in hopes Locke would make his way down here on his own steam. No such luck, however.
“I have all day,” Javiero assured her as he threw himself into the other wingback chair and stacked his feet on the footstool. His one eye packed a punch as he hit her with his intense stare.
She felt him willing her to spill her guts and her middle knotted up. She swallowed the rawness at the back of her throat, but it stayed as a scorched feeling behind her breastbone.
“I don’t want to tell you.” She stared toward the bright blue sky beyond the terrace, eyes stinging. “I don’t want you to hate me more than you already do.” She yearned for him to soften toward her, give her a chance, but this wasn’t the way to do it.
The silence hung between them.
“I don’t hate you,” he finally said. His body was utterly still, his voice quiet and level, yet it wrung her out even more than the silence that had preceded it. “My mother hated my father and he showed very little respect toward her and absolutely no affection. I refuse to raise my son in such a toxic atmosphere. I will never forget what you had to go through to birth him. I’ll never slander you to him or force him to choose between us. But you can’t expect me to trust you. Not until you’ve earned it.”
“Ha.” The sound was knocked out of her. “Such warm sentiments. I’ll be sure to talk you up to him as well, tell him how understanding and generous you were during this difficult time.”
“Don’t test me, Scarlett,” he warned.
She wanted to cry, but weeping was a useless waste of energy. No, she had developed skills and strengths and strategies to get herself through trying times. She just didn’t remember where she’d put them.
Javiero’s feet clapped back onto the floor and he leaned his elbows on his knees, pushing into her space. “You’re the one who said we needed to get to know one another before
