Late last summer she and Kent returned from a trip that was supposed to have been a second honeymoon, but he’d spent most of the time on the telephone. While they were away, Diego had finished her little patio. The beauty of it had cheered her up considerably. “These are lovely,” she told Diego as she touched the vines that trailed down the low wall. “You are a plant genius.”
“It wasn’t me. My brother, Alejandro, did this.”
“Tell him thanks from me,” Elise said, and went back inside the house. She had to sort out the household accounts and take care of the mail and do the laundry and go to the grocery and... She had to do all of it.
The rest of that summer she’d been overwhelmed with all the things Kent gave her to do. Dinner parties and barbecues and Kent’s clients stopping by for cocktails.
Sometimes she got fed up. “Why can’t you take them to a restaurant?”
“Everyone takes them to restaurants. They want to feel like they’re part of a family, our family.” He put his arms around her, clasping his hands behind her back. “Come on, baby, all of this is for us. For you and me. So we can get closer to the time when we start that family you want so much.”
Kent held the promise of a baby in front of her like a carrot before a donkey. It always made her back off.
This was the beginning of the third summer they’d been married and Elise was determined that this year would be different. She had to get something to do besides pick up Kent’s dry cleaning. As for cooking, she’d taken enough classes to know that it wasn’t a skill she wanted to develop further.
She stretched out on one of the thickly padded chaises and opened her book, but she didn’t see it. She needed to figure out what to do about her marriage.
“You look like you’re fascinated by that book.” The voice dripped sarcasm.
Elise tried to keep from showing an expression of horror. Tara! The school gossip. The girl who found out secrets and happily blabbed them. She lived in New York City, but her mother had a house nearby. “Hi,” Elise managed to say. “What brings you out to the boonies?”
“Mom wanted New York bagels and whitefish salad so I had to drop everything and take them to her.”
Elise understood. Tara’s mother subsidized her daughter’s New York apartment—with the stipulation that her daughter be at her beck and call.
Tara plopped down on the chaise next to Elise. “So what’s up with you other than staring into space? Recovering from the night? With a hunk like Kent you must have a great time in bed.”
Elise gave what she hoped was a mysterious smile. “Yeah, sure. We never get enough.”
Tara seemed to be satisfied with that answer and looked back toward the little wall.
Behind it was lawn and trees that Diego and his men kept trimmed. Suddenly, Tara sat upright. “Good Lord! What was that?”
Elise looked but saw nothing. “I don’t know. Sometimes we get foxes, but—”
“No! Him. The man.”
“Diego? One of his men? They’re the gardeners.”
Tara got out of the chair and looked along the side of the house. “Hey! Yeah, you,” she shouted. “Come over here.”
“Tara, let the men work.”
“He can work on me,” she said under her breath.
“Most of the men are married and have children. I don’t think you should—” She broke off because a truly gorgeous man was standing at the top of the wall. He had on dirty cotton trousers and heavy boots, but from the waist up he was naked. Long, lean muscles, stomach divided into ridges, honey-colored skin. But as beautiful as his body was, his face was from the cover of a magazine: high cheekbones, full lips, dark eyes surrounded by thick black lashes. His coal-black hair reached down the back of his neck.
Elise had no idea who he was.
&nb
sp; “Do. You. Speak. English?” Tara asked loudly.
He jumped down to the patio with the grace of an athlete, then oddly, turned his back to Elise as he looked at Tara. Elise’s face was about a foot from his sun-warmed skin. If she put her hand up, she could touch him.
When he reached behind him, it took her a second to see why. Tucked into his waistband was a copy of The Lord of the Rings. He was showing her that he could indeed speak English.
Elise moved around him to stand beside Tara. She was looking up at him like he was a meal and she was starving.