Without saying anything he rocked her back and forth the way her husband would have done if he’d been there. The contact caused the floodgates to open. She sobbed against his broad shoulder and clung to him, unaware of the passage of time.
Jillian was crying over so many things she didn’t know where one pain left off and another began. It was all mixed together with Remi’s own pain. He whispered words she didn’t understand, but they comforted her. Somehow—she didn’t know quite how—she ended up lying full length on the bed without remembering being carried there. Slowly the tears subsided and she felt his weight as he sat down next to her. His fingers smoothed the tear-moistened hair off her brow and temples.
“Lie still.” His voice was soft. “I’ll change the dressing on your eye.”
It was like déjà vu. She lay on the ground at the side of the road and he was kneeling over her, urging her to be calm until help arrived.
With aching tenderness he eased the wet strips of tape off her face and pulled the patch away.
She looked up into those black pools tinged with concern and something else she couldn’t decipher. “I can’t see anything out of my right eye. Is it still there?”
That pulse at his jaw was throbbing again. “I’ll prove it,” he said deep in his throat. Then he lowered his head and kissed both her eyes like a benediction. The gesture reassured her as nothing else could have done.
“Forgive me for falling apart on you,” she said, her voice trembling.
Their breath mingled. “I’m glad you did. Now I know you’re not superhuman. For a while I wondered.”
Her eyes filled with liquid once more. “Thank you, Remi.”
“If you start crying again, the new tape I’m trying to put on you will get soaked,” he said, gently teasing her.
She bit her bottom lip. “I’ll be good.”
Remi blotted her eyelids with a tissue, then proceeded to affix the patch. “How does that feel?”
“You do excellent work, Doctor.”
A smile like none other broke the corner of his sensuous mouth. And for the first time, there was no darkness in it. When he looked like that, she could feel herself falling through space.
“You have magic in your touch. I bet your olive trees love you.”
To her chagrin his expression sobered.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No,” he murmured. “You just reminded me of something my father used to say when I was a boy.”
“What was that?” She wanted to know all there was to know about him.
“The trees are alive, Remigio. Be gentle with them.”
“I believe that.”
There was an electric current flowing between them, but all too soon he got up from the bed. The last thing she wanted was for him to walk away.
He checked his watch before staring down at her. “Right now I have a meeting with Diego that can’t be put off. Stay the night, Jillian. Tomorrow we’ll talk about an idea I have in mind that could be good for EuropaUltimate Tours and solve a problem for me at the time same.”
Joy arced through her body. Another night with him, this time under his roof … She knew she shouldn’t, but she was dying to know what was going on inside his head. In the end her curiosity won out over common sense. Since meeting him, she didn’t have any.
“If I’m going to stay, I’d better call the Prado Inn and cancel my reservation.”
Her capitulation seemed to please him. “The phone’s right there at your bedside. See you in the morning. Buenas noches.”
Once he’d left she phoned the Prado, then called her brother’s cell. He answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Dave. It’s moi.”
“It’s about time. I just called your hotel and they told me you hadn’t checked in yet. You should be in bed. What’s going on?”
“Actually I am in bed, just not in Madrid.”
“Where then?”
“I’m being waited on hand and foot at the Soleado Goyo. The Senor put me in the master bedroom.”
There was a long silence. “Jilly … honey … do you know what you’re doing?” he asked quietly. “Is he married?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You mean, you don’t know?”
“No, I don’t, and he hasn’t offered any information.”
“I don’t like it.”
She grinned. “First you tell me I need to start living again and now you think I’m living a life of debauchery. You can’t have it both ways, brother dear.”
“Come on, Jilly—”
“Dave, calm down. I’m in his parents’ old bedroom. He doesn’t even sleep in the main house.”
“What do you mean ‘main’ house?”
“Remi’s full name is Count Remigio Goyo.”
“Count—As in—”
“The Spanish aristrocracy. The Goyo estate is huge and so fabulous you can’t believe it. He has his own house besides the main one, and there’s a third house. I don’t know who lives there.”
He muttered something unintelligible, but she could read his mind.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Just remember he has the master key to the place. The ‘droit de Seigneur’ thing will always be alive.”
“Not in the 21st century! And don’t you know I’m a one-eye monstrosity wearing a patch? That’s how I know I’m safe.” That plus the fact that he was always the gentleman.
“How long are you going to stay there?” He still sounded unconvinced.
“We’re going to talk business in the morning, then someone will drive me back to Madrid.”
“How far away is it?”
She chuckled. “What is this? Twenty questions?”
“Look, Jilly, you just had an operation and can’t come home yet. Naturally I’m concerned.”
“I know,” she said, “and I love you for caring, but honestly I’m fine. If you want to know the truth, he makes me feel cherished.”
“Jilly? How are you? Honestly?”
“I’m much better than I expected to be.” Breaking down in his arms seemed to have accomplished something nothing else could. Three times now he’d kept her from going off the deep end.
“Okay then. Look after yourself. ‘Night.”
“Love you and send my kisses to the children and Angela.”
After hanging up Jillian quickly prepared for bed. Being a tour guide had helped her learn to sleep anywhere with little trouble. However, sleeping in this room was a privilege. Her mind wouldn’t turn off.
After her conversation with her brother, she decided that first thing tomorrow she would ask Remi a few questions and not just for her brother’s sake. It wasn’t fair the Senor knew almost every intimate thing about her. She felt she could tell Remi her deepest secrets, her darkest fears—but she knew nothing about his personal life.
The next