It went without saying that Nuria would be invited. Under any other circumstances she would have met his mother already. But there was one blindingly obvious reason why that hadn’t happened.
She was Della’s sister, and it didn’t take much imagination to guess at what Nuria must be feeling right now. Or why Charlie was not rushing to introduce the two of them to one another.
She felt her heart start to pound.
No mother would want her son to marry the sister of her husband’s mistress. But surely Nuria would have to go—would want to go—to her son’s engagement party.
For a moment she thought about asking him, but the thought of introducing something that might jeopardise this easy intimacy between them made her courage fail, and instead she said quickly, ‘No, of course not. I think it’s a lovely idea. Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘I don’t know. I could ask them.’ He seemed surprised, and then he leaned in closer, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. ‘Actually, there is one thing. Do you think maybe you could help them choose the entertainment?’
‘You mean you want to see if I’ve got what it takes before you let me loose on your casino?’
His dark eyes locked on hers and slowly he unbuttoned the front of the shirt. She felt cool air, and then the warm palm of his hand on her skin. It was suddenly difficult to find a breath.
‘I’ve seen everything I need to see, and you’ve definitely got what it takes.’
He was talking about her body, about sex—and yet he wasn’t. Her heart began to pound. Proposing, getting married...that was for Archie. But this was different—a part of it, but separate.
He could have turned down her offer of help, fobbed her off, but he hadn’t. Just as he hadn’t needed to ask her to help with overseeing the entertainment at the casino.
Her pulse was racing; she felt dizzy. Suddenly her heart felt too busy for her chest.
He wanted her in his life.
Wanted her for her.
The dizziness faded abruptly.
No, that wasn’t true. She just wanted it to be true in the same way she wanted to believe that when he held her close it was more than just sex.
She tried telling herself again that she was just confused—tried really hard to shake off the feeling, to push it away. But it had been building like a wave at sea, and now nothing—no logic, no amount of denial—could stop it from crashing over her.
Just like nothing had stopped her from falling in love with him.
Winded by the truth, she stared at him dazedly as he touched her face, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip.
‘You’d be doing us all a favour, Dora. Like I said before, none of them can hold a note—and besides, their musical taste is a little...how can I put it?...vanilla.’
She managed to smile, but inside she was running. Running from the hope and the despair filling her heart.
How had she let this happen?
For so long she had managed to look the other way, and even though there had been moments when she had felt herself turning she had convinced herself that it was just the same longing to belong. That it was just her body watching him, reaching out to him, waiting for him.
But all the time her heart had been following the magnetic pull of his north, drawn not by loneliness but by love.
She managed to smile. ‘I can see that would be a problem for you. I mean, vanilla’s not really your thing, is it?’
‘Not with you,’ he said softly.
He smoothed the skin of her cheek, his dark eyes intent on hers. ‘There’s something else. Saturday is Qingming. It’s a lot like the Day of the Dead. We visit our ancestors’ graves and pay our respects. It’s an important day—the whole family will be there.’
The whole family.
Her heart began beating out of time. ‘You mean me and Archie too?’
He nodded. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask, but I would like you both to come with me.’