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“This isn’t love.”
“You seem very sure of that.”
“I am.”
“Then you’d better mount up.”
She looked at him. “Is that all you’ve got to say?”
“Should there be more? Oh, there is one more thing,” he amended after a moment.
“Yes?” Her voice was light and fast.
“Tie your top in a knot to cover for the fact you’ve no buttons. Okay?”
She blinked. “Okay.”
There was a small smile playing around his lips as he sprang into the saddle. This had not gone the way she’d expected. Far from severing the bond between them, she had only succeeded in teasing out a tolerant side to Diego that she had never seen before.
“You’re out of luck,” he said, slanting her an amused glance as if he could read her thoughts as plainly as if she had spoken them out loud. “You didn’t expect to come back from that mission, yet you went anyway. You risked your life to save others. You led our team to the heart of the gang. You truly are a terrible person, Celina.” After gently mocking her, he turned serious. “And you’re also the most courageous person I’ve ever known. Now, get on that horse. He’s hungry, and he wants his bed.”
“Don’t make me out to be some sort of angel,” she said as she swung a leg over the saddle.
“I’m glad you’re no angel.” Gathering up his reins, he huffed a laugh. “I don’t see myself hooking up with a saint.”
“Well, I won’t be your mistress, if that’s what you think.”
His lips pressed down as he thought about this. “So start as my girlfriend and end as my wife.”
“I’m sorry?” Turning her horse, she reined in.
“You heard me. Or are you frightened of commitment?”
“I’m not frightened of anything.”
“Exactly,” Diego confirmed. “So don’t expect me to believe that you’re frightened of love.”
Lost for an answer, she urged the willing bay forward into a rolling canter. She needed time to think. Was he teasing her? “It’s not funny,” she assured him when he rode up alongside.
“Am I laughing?”
“Me, a duchess?” she scoffed.
“My wife,” Diego corrected her evenly, “will actually be a grand duchess.”
“But there’s nothing grand about me.”
“You do have certain other qualities.”
“I refuse to be grand.”
“I’d be disappointed if you said anything else,” he murmured, and urging his big, black stallion forward, he set a brisk pace home.
Their bridles jingled as they rode along. They were almost back in the stable yard when Diego observed, “No one leads me on, Celina. I don’t go anywhere or do anything I don’t want to. I didn’t plan to fall in love with you. It would have been more convenient not to, leaving me free to choose someone easier to handle and far less complex.” And when she huffed with pretended outrage, he added, “I guess I just got lucky. So, however many times you try to make the past an excuse to avoid this happy change in your life, I’m going to block you.”
She looked at him with concern. “What if the past comes back to haunt me?”
“You try again. You’re stubborn. I’ve never seen you give in easily, so why would you start now?”
