Catching sight of her expression, he smiled crookedly. ‘I think Alicia must have left it here last time she came. It’s not my usual thing, but I realised I’ve been complacent in my habits and I thought it was about time I stopped judging a book by its cover.’
Her pulse scampered as his gaze rested on her face and she replayed his words inside her head.
‘Do you like reading?’
She blinked. After so many tense, panic-inducing conversations it felt strange talking about something as ordinary as reading.
‘Yes, but I’m really bad at choosing books.’
He looked up at the shelves, frowning, his gaze narrowed as if he was searching for something specific.
‘Here, try this one.’ He pulled a book free and handed it to her. ‘It’s a translation, but a good one. I think you’ll enjoy it.’
‘And why’s that?’ She glanced at the cover suspiciously.
‘It’s a well-written contemporary novel.’ His eyes were steady and unblinking on her face. ‘Oh, and it has a heroine who’s been wrongly condemned by society.’
She kept on staring at the cover, his words repeating inside her head. Wrongly condemned. He had definitely said ‘wrongly’. Her heart bumped against her ribcage. Was he trying to say something? Or was she reading more into it than was there?
Looking up, she met his gaze. ‘Is that your way of saying sorry?’
He stared at her for a moment and then sighed. ‘I’m not often wrong.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I guess that must be why you’re so bad at apologising.’
There was a pulse of silence and then he spoke again. ‘I’m sorry.’
Her chest tightened. ‘For what? Being bad at saying sorry or for thinking I was part of the criminal underworld.’
‘Both.’ Basa’s mouth twisted into something between a smile and a grimace. ‘I’m sorry that I’m so bad at apologising, but mostly I’m sorry for lumping you in with your stepfather and uncle. You don’t deserve that.’
His eyes were fixed on her face as if her reaction mattered to him, as if he cared what she thought of him. She felt an inexplicable lightness fill her body.
‘I was wrong.’
He took a step closer, close enough that she could see the rise and fall of his chest, and her heart squeezed tight with panic. Suddenly she wanted to throw his apology in his face, to stay good and mad with him. Because if she let herself feel tenderly towards this man she would end up getting hurt, just like two years ago. It wouldn’t matter that she didn’t love him—she was still too vulnerable where he was concerned. For he was both a symbol of her hopes and dreams and a reminder of her failures.
‘I accept your apology.’
He stared at her for a moment. ‘In that case would you like to join me for breakfast? I know Claudia, my housekeeper, is looking forward to meeting you.’
He was speaking with a kind of detached courtesy, as if she was a guest at his hotel, and she stared at him warily. It was at least something that he no longer saw her as public enemy number one, but in another way she almost preferred the intensity of his anger. Anything would be better than this careful politeness.
But it would sound utterly mad to say any of that out loud, so instead she just nodded.
Breakfast was delicious, and she ate hungrily.
Across the table, Basa drank coffee. He seemed distracted, and she guessed he was trying to work out how to tell her that they would be returning to Buenos Aires without losing face.
Thankfully the view from the dining area was as spectacular as the one from her bedroom.
It was not hard to see why Alicia was so excited to be having her wedding here, she thought, her eyes drawn to the smooth blue lake and then up to the vast blue sky. Getting married here would be like receiving nature’s blessing on your life together.
‘Would you like to go for a walk?’
Basa’s voice brought her head around and she turned towards him, her eyes finding his. And with thoughts of Alicia’s happiness uppermost in her mind, it was easy to nod and say, ‘Yes, I would—very much.’
* * *