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This time I yanked it free. “We do not. I hate to tell you this, Marcus, but I’m not marrying you!”
“Why not? It would solve everything, and you know you’ve always loved me.”
Podge had always loved him. Maybe Bella had too. But I’d come back to Mariposa to lay my troubled past to rest, and my passionate crush had died long ago, without a stray spark remaining. He was a very handsome, very charming man. I’d take Ian before him, any day.
I’d take Ian. The thought was so absurd I should laugh. But for some reason, I didn’t find it funny. I’d take Ian.
“Just hear me out,” Marcus said, crowding in on me. I was a good five feet seven but Marcus was over six feet and a whole lot of muscle looming over me, and I didn’t like it.
“I don’t...”
“I’m not saying we have to get married, though I can’t see what harm it would cause. As soon as Granda dies, we can get an annulment. No harm, no foul.”
“No!”
“Well, consider this. We could agree to get married, act all lovey-dovey, and start planning a giant wedding here at Mariposa, and Granda will die a happy man knowing his precious Bella is tied to this place.” There was something about his tone of voice that surprised me when he said “this place.”
“I thought you loved Mariposa,” I protested.
Marcus shrugged. “I’m not like my brother. I don’t like to work all the time. I’ve put everything into this place for the last ten years and I’m sick of it. As soon as Granda dies, I’m out of here.”
“Leaving the place to Ian to run by himself?”
He shook his head. “He’s leaving this place to the three of us. Ian couldn’t buy us out if we want to sell, and that’s exactly what I’m planning. And I can’t see you spending any more time here than you have to.”
I kept my expression blank as my stomach churned in disgust. Granda loved this place with a fierce passion—it would destroy him to know that Marcus planned to split it up.
Then again, the fourth grandchild wasn’t one of the heirs—it wasn’t up to me to save it. But I wasn’t about to help Marcus gut the place.
I pushed away, starting down the hallway. “I don’t want to talk about this....”
“Come on, Bella,” he said, catching my arm, and a moment later, I was hauled against his big body, his mouth on mine.
For a moment I froze. I had ached for this, with all the lovesick longing in an adolescent girl’s heart. But I was a grownup now, and his big hands were kneading my ass, his tongue was slobbering in my mouth, and his groin was pushed against mine.
“This looks cozy,” came Ian’s drawling voice. “Is the engagement back on?”
Marcus’s grip slackened, and I ripped myself away, surreptitiously rubbing my hand across my mouth. “No!” I said, at the same time came Marcus’s “yes.”
“You make a lovely couple,” Ian said in that snarky voice, but there was an odd expression in his dark eyes. If I didn’t know better, I would have called it anger.
“We’re not a couple and we’re not going to be,” I said, but no one seemed to be listening to my protests.
“Do I get to be best man?” Ian asked his brother, ignoring me.
Marcus was looking pleased with himself, as if his kiss had sealed the deal. “Hell, no. I can’t have a best man who hates my bride.”
“Oh, I don’t hate her,” came Ian’s sinuous voice. “In fact, ever since she’s returned to Mariposa, I find her quite fascinating.”
I was going to throw up. What the hell did he mean by that? Did he suspect something?
I needed to get away from them, Without a word, I stalked away, turned the corner, then broke into a run, wanting to get as far from the brothers as I could. This had become a mess of monumental proportions, with Ian distrusting me, Marcus idiotically convinced he was God’s gift to women, and my inability to escape. Bella was going to come back to a real mess. It would serve her right.
Funny, we never talked about what would happen when she returned. They were used to my face now, and it passed muster given the lapse of five years and my supposed nip and tuck. What were they going to think when the original showed back up?
That would be her problem. All I needed was to get the hell out of there, and that’s exactly what I would do. I had to see the doctor down in Santa Maria de Fe. Surely I could slip away then.
It was a cooler day, a respite from the blazing heat we’d had so far, and while I would have loved to wear one of the new sundresses, I decided I’d better keep it relatively formal if I was going to end the day in Paris. Bella had made me buy a silk tea dress that was the very definition of a “frock”, and I grabbed the large leather satchel that was supposed to hold the iPad that had been part of my gear. I shoved my passport, reservations, credit cards, and wads of extra cash Bella had insisted I carry before heading downstairs for my ride to the village. Maybe I’d be in luck and Maldonado would drive me.
