“Charlotte!”
“Hi, Rebecca. How’s it going in Madrid?”
Rebecca sat back and sighed softly. “It’s going well. How about you?”
“Work is busy. Lots of conferences to pull off. I’ve been designing centerpieces for an upcoming tech conference, and I just booked in a party at Francois. It made me think of you. I’m sorry you aren’t in New York anymore.”
Francois was the award-winning restaurant located in La Belle Amelie. Heather Livingston, who Charlotte worked for, often used Layton properties for her events. That was how Rebecca and Charlotte had met. Somehow, in spite of their vastly different lives, they’d become fast friends. Rebecca was probably the only person in the world who knew about Charlotte’s brief romance with Crown Prince Luca De Santis of Iria. A romance that had broken her heart and sent her far from Iria to start over again.
“Me too. But at least La Belle Amelie is mine. Let me know how Pierre and the staff do for the party, okay?” The hotel was still a part of the larger Layton International chain, but it was hers now. If she wanted to disassociate with the brand, she could. But that wouldn’t be wise, especially now that she was no longer in New York.
Charlotte laughed. “Of course I will. Are you okay otherwise? I know it’s been hard to lose the company your family built.”
“It has, but that’s business.” Plus, she had other things to worry about.
“And the baby?”
Rebecca put a hand over her stomach. “So far, so good. Alejandro makes sure I get to all my appointments. He is very attentive.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yes.” Rebecca hadn’t told Charlotte how angry Alejandro had been, or that he’d basically ordered her to Madrid. It was too embarrassing, too pitiful, and Rebecca hadn’t been able to admit the truth to anyone. Charlotte thought everything was going well and that Rebecca and Alejandro were reuniting and working out their issues. Rebecca almost came clean, but she didn’t like how it made her feel to tell another soul that Alejandro mostly ignored her and was planning to marry her simply to secure his rights to his child. It was all so cold and unfeeling.
But she had to say something about the marriage now that it was imminent. “He doesn’t want to delay any longer. He wants to get married as soon as possible.”
“It makes sense, really. Are you excited?”
Rebecca twisted the fringe on a throw pillow she’d pulled across her lap. “My head is spinning. I don’t think I’ll be excited about anything until it’s over. Everything is happening so fast.”
“Aw, honey, it’ll be okay. He came back for you, and he clearly loves you. He wants to get married. Not every man does, you know. It’ll be fine.”
The lump in Rebecca’s throat was huge. “I know. I wish you could come.”
“I wish I could too.”
“Maybe after the baby is born you can come for a visit. We’ll go shopping and lie around the pool and eat lots of paella. It’s so good here.”
“I’d like that,” Charlotte said, her voice a little smaller than before. It hit Rebecca that Iria was a lot closer to Spain than New York. Charlotte was probably thinking about the last time she’d been to Iria, and the heartbreak she’d suffered. She would not want to be anywhere close to where Luca De Santis was. The sexy prince often appeared in the tabloids, and that was bad enough for Charlotte. But to be in the same time zone?
“We’ll pencil it in,” Rebecca said lightly, not wanting to prod Charlotte about her feelings for Luca. They’d gotten drunk together one night at Rebecca’s place a couple of years ago and spilled all the details about their tragic love affairs with two powerful and handsome men. They’d both agreed that stunning men like Alejandro and Luca weren’t worth the trouble, no matter how exciting they were at first.
The conversation moved on to other topics, and by the time they hung up they were both laughing. They promised to stay in touch now that they couldn’t get together for drinks or dinner every once in a while, and then Charlotte had to go and deal with a last-minute crisis in decorations.
Rebecca set her phone down and lay back on the chaise, flipping the channels until she found a cooking show. Her eyes were heavy, but she didn’t move to the bed. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but when she opened her eyes sometime later, the room was dark. Had she turned off the television?
Before she could work it out, she was floating in the air, then falling gently down, her back landing on cushiony softness. A blanket covered her, and she realized she’d been cold as she snuggled into its warmth.
“Alejandro,” she breathed, knowing it was he who had moved her. She could smell his expensive soap, feel the warmth of his hard body as he’d carried her. She reached for him before he could escape, wound her arms around his neck. “You’re here. With me.”
“I am here, querida. Why were you on the chaise? It cannot be comfortable enough for the whole night.”
“Bed’s too big,” she replied on a yawn. She was so sleepy. Maybe she was dreaming, and he wasn’t there at all. It was certainly possible. After her conversation with Charlotte, she’d been thinking about Alejandro and wishing it really was a happy reunion and not this mess she’d found herself in.
“You have to sleep in the bed, Rebecca. It’s better for you. More comfortable.”
“Stay with me….”
Did he groan? “I cannot,” he said, gently pulling her arms away from his neck.
She’d been so lonely without him. Was it wrong of her to want him? To want to feel needed by him, even if only for a short while?
“Why don’t you want me?” She didn’t mean to say it aloud, but the words spilled out, the
