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The wedding breakfast was nearly over, so she was surprised when Gabriel tapped his glass and stood up. He looked down at her and then he said, ‘I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Leonora into the family, and also to welcome her parents and her brother Matías.’ He looked at her and raised his glass. ‘You’re the future of this family, Leonora—you and our children.’
He took her hand and kissed it and the dull ache inside her was forgotten. She was curiously touched by his public endorsement of her, and the welcome he’d offered to her family. But she could see that his parents didn’t totally approve, and they wasted little time in leaving once the party started to break up.
Gabriel had told Leonora that they would be leaving after the wedding for a short honeymoon—again, not something she would have expected of him, having assumed he’d waste no time in getting back to work.
She knew she should be grateful for this time to get to know him better, but as they set off for the airport later that day she couldn’t control the butterflies in her belly at the thought of time alone with her new husband.
CHAPTER SEVEN
PARADISE. THAT WAS the only word Leonora could think of as she took in the sight before her. Gabriel had brought her to a paradise that had only ever existed in her imagination. It had a name of course. Costa Rica. They’d flown into the lush tropical country, bordered on two sides by sparkling oceans, late last night, and had then taken a smaller plane to the west coast, where Gabriel owned a villa.
They’d arrived so late and Leonora had been so exhausted that she’d barely noticed Gabriel taking off her outer clothes and laying her down on the softest surface imaginable. But now she was awake. Or was she still dreaming? She wasn’t sure.
She’d woken in a massive four-poster bed, with muslin drapes gently moving in the warm breeze. When she’d pushed them back she’d seen the bedroom—wooden floors, rustic furniture. Then wide open doors leading out to a terrace and a glimpse of what could only be described as heaven.
A robe had been laid across the end of the bed, and Leonora had realised she was in her underwear. The strapless white bra she’d worn under her wedding dress and matching lace panties. Refusing to linger on thinking about Gabriel undressing her, she’d pulled the short robe on, and now she stood on a wooden deck, with an infinity pool in front of her, overlooking a forest and beyond that the sparkling Pacific Ocean.
‘Not a bad view to wake up to, hmm?’
Leonora started and turned around with a hand to her chest. Gabriel was standing a few feet away, holding a cup in his hand. His hair was damp and he wore casual board shorts and nothing else. All she could see was that impressive expanse of hard-muscled chest.
She fought for composure. She was still disconcertingly in that space between waking and sleeping, and the view in general was not helping to bring her back to reality. Either view.
‘It’s absolutely stunning.’ She turned back to the other view.
He came and stood beside her. ‘Did you sleep well?’
Leonora smiled a little sheepishly. ‘Like a baby.’
‘Good. You deserve a break...’
Leonora didn’t like the little warm glow near her heart when Gabriel said things like that. It was too...seductive.
She forced a breezy smile. ‘I’m fine—why would I need a break?’
‘Because you’ve been carrying the weight of your family’s responsibilities for years.’
She rushed to defend them, but Gabriel put a finger to her mouth before she could.
‘I’m your husband now, Leo. You’re not on your own any more. It’s not down to you. It’s down to us.’
Leonora looked up at him. It would be so easy to lean on this man. So easy to let him just take her burdens and anxieties. And it was already happening. Her parents had told her that he’d already set up a meeting for them to talk with his assistant with regard to carrying out renovation work on the castillo and hiring staff again. And she knew their association with the Cruz y Torres family would soon have them accepted back into Spanish society.
Familiar anxiety knotted her belly, though. ‘What if my father—?’
Gabriel shook his head. ‘He won’t. I spoke to him and he’s agreed to get counselling to try and figure out why he became addicted to gambling. He’s learnt a harsh lesson. I’m sure he won’t go down that route again.’
Leonora was shocked that he’d discussed it with her father, who had always turned to obdurate stone when she’d tried to broach the subject of counselling or therapy. Perversely, she felt slightly jealous that he’d made more headway than she or her mother ever had.
As if reading her mind, he said, ‘Sometimes it takes a person on the outside to communicate a little more effectively. Your father is ashamed of what he’s done.’
Leonora swallowed her defensiveness. She realised that after living her life solely in service to her parents and her brother and their huge unwieldy home it would be a challenge to let someone else into that space.
‘Thank you for talking to him. I think he does want to get better.’
‘They’re all thousands of miles away and being perfectly well looked-after. Forget about them now. Breakfast? Or would you like to work up an appetite first?’
Leonora’s heart sped up. ‘An appetite?’
