As she turned away, he grabbed her arm. “Write to them first.”
She turned back to face him. “What?”
“If you show up in person, who knows how they’ll react? What if they shut the door in your face? Do you really want to risk it?”
Callie looked pale, staring at him.
“Write first,” he said smoothly. “It’s the best way to gather your thoughts. And give them time to consider theirs.”
“Well.” She took a deep breath, her expression crestfallen. “Maybe you’re right.” She looked down at her feet. “I would die if they shut the door in my face. Or if they refused to see Marisol. I can’t even imagine it. But then,” she said unhappily, “I thought they would call me before now….”
He put his hands around her shoulders. “Write to them.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
She bit her lip. “Even Brandon?”
Exhaling, jaw tight, he gave a single nod.
She sighed. “All right.”
“All right?”
She looked up. Her green eyes were bright, her cheeks flushed. “Thank you,” she said haltingly, “for helping me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Eduardo had never seen her look so beautiful. Mesmerized, he reached down to stroke her cheek then pulled her into his arms. He felt her soft breasts press against his chest, and breathed in the floral and vanilla scent of her hair. He felt the warm whisper of her breath against his bare chest, and his drawstring pajamas suddenly felt three sizes too tight. “I told you,” he said hoarsely. “I don’t want your thanks.”
“But—”
“Don’t.” Especially since he had no intention of allowing her letters to reach her family—or McLinn. He put his palm against her cheek, his fingers threading through her hair. “You are my woman, Callie. I would do anything to keep you safe and happy.”
Looking up at him, she suddenly blurted out, “Who were you talking to on the phone?”
He stared at her. “What?”
Looking grumpy, she folded her arms. “I wasn’t going to ask,” she sighed. “I was going to be totally stoic and silent about it.”
“Oh, querida.” Smiling, Eduardo stroked her cheek. She was so transparent. He loved that about her. “You wondered if I was talking to some woman?”
“The thought crossed my mind. Every woman wants you….”
“And I want only one woman in the world.” Lifting her chin, he looked straight into her eyes. “I am yours and only yours, my beautiful wife. I will never betray you, Callie.”
“You won’t?”
“I was just talking to a rival … who lives far away.”
“Oh,” she said. With a sigh of relief, she hugged him, pressing her face against his bare chest.
Stroking her back through the soft chenille robe, Eduardo exhaled at how close it had been. She must have heard the end of his phone call. If she’d heard the whole conversation, she wouldn’t have been worried about some imaginary woman. No, it would have been far more dire.
“Try to contact my wife again,” Eduardo had growled, “and you’ll regret it.”
“You can’t keep me from her. We both know you’re not good enough. You’ll never make her happy.” McLinn’s voice had been angry, and with an edge of desperation that had grown over the months Eduardo had blocked the man’s letters and phone calls. Yesterday, there had even been an attempted delivery of a cell phone in a padded envelope. His bodyguard had opened the package while Callie was upstairs getting ready for the Winter Ball.
An hour ago, Eduardo’s anger had finally boiled over. Rising from their bed as Callie slept, he’d used the number from his investigator, and called McLinn’s cell phone in the middle of the night.
The young farmer had actually threatened him, saying he was going to call the police and claim Callie was being held against her will. Against her will!
Eduardo narrowed his eyes. The police he could deal with. But McLinn had threatened to return to New York. He could not guard Callie at every moment in the city, keeping her from any unexpected meeting. Nor could he risk letting her talk to McLinn. He could only imagine what the man would tell her.
He needed a third option.
From the day they’d wed, he’d assigned the same investigator who got dirt on business competitors to keep track of his wife and all her family. Eduardo had burned the angry letters sent by her father, the pleading tearstained cards from her mother. He’d tossed her sister’s bouquet of sappy flowers shaped like a pink baby carriage in the trash.
At first he’d done it because he didn’t trust Callie. Then he told himself he was just trying to protect her. Sure, her father was trying to be nicer now, but even Eduardo’s own parents had had their good days. He wouldn’t allow them access to Callie until he knew for sure they wouldn’t hurt her again.
But deep in his heart, he knew that wasn’t the only reason.
You weren’t even man enough to come and ask me for her hand. The memory of her father’s cold words still rankled in his mind. You might own half our town, but I know the kind of man you really are. You’ll never be a decent husband or father, and you know it.
To Walter, as to many others, Eduardo was just a selfish, demanding tyrant, the foreign CEO that his employees obeyed—but despised.
So be it. Eduardo didn’t need the man’s respect. But he wouldn’t let anyone insult his wife. Or cause them problems that could tear his family apart.
Stroking her back, Eduardo took a deep breath. He was starting to trust Callie again. But he didn’t trust the world. Whenever he let himself care for someone, they disappeared from his life. He wouldn’t let that happen. Not this time.
“Eduardo?”
Callie was looking up at him in the shadowy hallway, her brow furrowed. Her robe had fallen open slightly to reveal her plump breasts, and suddenly he knew exactly what he needed. He pulled her closer, stroking the edge of her neckline as he murmured, “You said something about helping me sleep?”
“Er.” She suddenly blushed. “I just thought …”
“Yes.” Grabbing her hand, he led her back to the master bedroom. Pulling the robe off her unresisting body, he pushed her back against the bed. His wife looked like an angel in the moonlight, he thought, her light brown hair silver twined with gold, her pale skin luminous. Her breasts were huge, their full rosy tips bright and vivid against her white skin.
Eduardo kissed her hard and deep. He felt her respond, kissing him back with equal fire, and wanted her as if he hadn’t already been satiated that night. He wanted her even more than he did yesterday, and all the year before that. Her small hands roamed his body, stroking his naked chest, caressing his shoulders, his back. He exhaled when she ran her fingers lightly over his backside then groaned aloud as she ran her hand questingly over the hard shaft beneath his drawstring pajama pants. Her face was rapt as she stroked his hard length through the fabric. He grabbed her wrist.
“I do not know—how long I can last,” he groaned.
She gave him a smile full of infinite feminine mystery. “So don’t.”
“Querida—”
She unlaced his pants and pulled them down his hips, to his thighs. His hard shaft sprung free from the fabric, and she looked down at him with awe. Reaching out, she took him fully