AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had to get the hell out of here.
Chapter Twelve
Granda was already sitting up in his massive bed when I went to see him the next morning, a mountain of pillows behind him.
“I wondered when you were going to find the time to come visit me,” he grumbled. “Isn’t that ostensibly why you’re here in Spain?”
Ignoring his complaint, I kissed his papery cheek. “I thought I’d have my second cup of coffee with you,” I said, glancing over at the carafe on a side table.
“Decaffeinated swill,” he grumbled.
“I agree, but it’s better than nothing.” I poured myself a cup and moved to sit by his bed. He eyed me suspiciously.
“What do you want from me, Bella?” he said, and those faded blue eyes were a lot sharper than anyone of his age should have. “Why did you come back to Mariposa?”
“You were sick,” I said.
“I’m dying. That’s never brought you home before.”
“How long have you been dying? Five years? Ten years?”
“Saucy minx. The moment we’re born, we start dying, but I’ll have you know you’re not going to have long to wait for your inheritance. My whole damned body is giving in. I’m ninety-four, damn it. I should live to one hundred, but that’s not going to happen. At least I’ll live long enough to see you married to my grandson.”
“Marcus has already been here,” I said, more a statement than a question.
“He has. What made you come to your senses? Afraid I wasn’t going to leave you any money if you didn’t?”
That was Granda. “I don’t want your money,” I said, one truth in all the lies I’ve been telling.
He let out a hoot of laughter that devolved into a coughing fit that wracked his frail body, and I jumped up in alarm, looking for a way to call the nurse who looked after him, but he waved his hand at me while he slowly regained his composure.
“I’m fine,” he gasped. “For a dying man, that is. Can’t think of a better way to go, dying of laughter. We both know you don’t have a pot to piss in, and you have a great fondness for your jet-set lifestyle.”
“I have a greater fondness for you, Granda,” I said firmly, the truth for once, and I was certain Bella would feel the same way.
“Bullshit,” he said. “If you’ll pardon my French. But I’m forgetting—you’ve seen the error of your ways and you’re marrying Marcus, as you should. You know—I would have thought you’d choose Ian.”
It was my turn for a strangled laugh. “Ian the Wretch? Why would you think that?”
“I’ve seen the way you look at him. Even worse, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. How does he feel about your marriage plans?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Happy, I suppose,” I stammered. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. What was Granda telling me? I didn’t need him to be feeding my crackpot fantasies.
“Far be it for me to interfere,” said the interfering old man. “Just so long as you marry one of them, then your inheritance is safe.”
“I’m not marrying... I didn’t get engaged to Marcus because you’re blackmailing me into it,” I said.
“Hmmph. Women love Marcus. You always did have a stupid crush on him when you were a girl. I thought you might have grown out of that, but I’m glad you haven’t.”
If anyone had had a crush, it was Marcus, following Bella around like a dazed puppy, but I didn’t bother to correct the cantankerous old man. “Are we just going to sit here fighting?” I asked, channeling some of Bella’s sass. Quiet little Kitty would never be so brash. “Because I can get a better cup of coffee elsewhere.”
“I’ll behave,” he said unexpectedly. “Just tell me about your travels. You must have broken it off with that gangster you were seeing.”
That was a shock, and doubtless more of Granda’s hyperbole. “He wasn’t a gangster,” I said instinctively, wondering what the hell Bella had gotten me into this time.
“He runs half the drugs out of Marseilles and you know it. But you were always blinded by a pretty face. It that over with?”
“Of course.” Bella had said nothing about her current involvements, but she’d always had a powerful sense of self-preservation. I couldn’t imagine her risking everything for a handsome man. “I’d hardly get engaged to Marcus if I were involved with someone else, would I?”
