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Santos used his crutches to slide by Rafael. “I don’t want to scare her twice. I’ll be on the patio.”
Linda gulped the water. “I’m sorry, I know Miguel’s dead, but I didn’t expect his double. I should go to my room and rest before I make a bigger fool of myself.”
“No one thinks that, sweetheart,” Peter assured her.
Julian entered, carrying their drinks, and Patricia reached for hers. “Let’s rest a minute here, Mom. We can unpack later.”
Peter handed Linda her iced tea and took his own. “Thank you.”
Julian nodded and, with a last lingering glance toward Patricia, left the room.
“He’s cute,” Patricia whispered.
“You may not flirt with the servants,” Linda emphasized. “I do so wish you’d come home, Maggie. It would have made everything so much easier.”
“I’m going to make certain Santos is all right,” Rafael said and left the room.
“Wow,” Patricia enthused. “He’s so hot.”
“Patricia, please,” her father cautioned. He moved to the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. “Is he really the man you want?”
Maggie joined him and couldn’t contain her smile. “Yes, he’s as serious a man as he looks. He’s going to med school in the fall, and there wasn’t time to come home and plan a big wedding. Neither of us wants one anyway.”
“Med school?” Linda repeated. “He’s given up being a matador?”
“It was a childhood dream he outgrew.”
Peter failed to hide a yawn. “Maybe we should go up to our room and rest.”
“I’m not tired,” Patricia interjected. “Where did Rafael and Santos go?”
Libby stood to give their parents time alone with Maggie. “I’ll show you.” She walked her sister to the doorway behind the wide stairs and paused. “Don’t flirt with Rafael, because he’s Maggie’s. As for Santos, he’ll take more than you mean to give, so keep clear of him too.”
“Now I’m intrigued. Have you s
lept with him?”
“No, and I’m not going to and neither are you.”
Patricia twisted into a playful pose. “After coming all this way, I should sample the local culture.”
Libby pushed open the door leading outside. “Don’t say you weren’t warned.”
The ocean view caught Patricia’s eye, and she pulled off her flip-flops and walked toward the sand. “I want to step into the ocean first. It’s the Mediterranean, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’ll wait for you on the patio.”
Patricia’s fair curls caught the afternoon light as she skipped over the sand, and Libby feared Santos would see her baby sister as a voluptuous cream puff he couldn’t resist. She’d have to set him straight fast. Confident Patricia couldn’t get lost, she joined the men, but neither looked happy to see her. “I’m sorry my parents’ visit got off to such a poor start.”
Santos’s glance followed Patricia. “I’m the one who might have fainted. My mother hanged herself when Miguel married your mother.”
Libby reeled from the shock. “Oh God, she didn’t!”
Rafael nodded. “She did, out at the ranch. Your mother probably doesn’t know, so it would be a kindness not to tell her.”
“Kind? I understand. Don’t tell Patricia either. She’s as discreet as a sieve.” Feeling sick for Santos, she took a chair at the table beside him. Talk about abandonment issues. She didn’t understand how a woman could kill herself when she had a baby to raise, and Santos must have been a beautiful child. Maybe it had been post-partum depression, but the diagnosis would be a small consolation to him now. “I thought you were close to Maggie in age but not older. Let’s hope my mother doesn’t ask when you were born.”
Patricia had struck up a conversation with a pretty young woman by the shore, and Libby worried she might wander off. “I better keep an eye on Patricia.”
