‘Right. And so?’
‘But in order to inherit, I must.’
He compressed his lips. ‘Then screw it. Walk away from the money.’
‘I can’t do that.’
‘Why not? You’d rather take the money even when it means allowing your father to dictate this to you from beyond the grave?’
‘I’d rather take the money than let him win.’
‘Isn’t marrying for the sake of the will handing him that victory?’
Her eyes sparked with his. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because of what I intend to do with the money.’
‘Which is? Burn him in effigy a thousand times over?’
‘Something much more satisfying,’ she promised. ‘I’m going to donate the money—all of it—to a charity that works with domestic violence survivors, enabling them to start over.’
He considered that for several beats. ‘As revenge on your father?’
‘When I’m feeling mature, I think of it as simply doing the right thing.’
Alejandro’s eyes scanned hers, probing her, reading her, and she thought, for a moment, that he was going to say something, but he held himself back, lifting a finger to her cheek instead, the contact sending a thousand shock waves through her body. ‘And you believe this is why my friend married your sister?’
‘Oh, I know it’s why they married. The question is, is it why they’re still married?’
‘I do not believe so.’
‘No?’
‘Luca told me he loves her. He told me he would die for her. In fact, he told me that it is only since meeting your sister he has realised that he was never really living at all. I believe him fully capable of marrying a woman to help her escape poverty and oppression, but not to gilding the lily to that extent. He loves her, querida.He would not lie to me about this, or anything.’ And for a moment, the light went out in Alejandro’s blue eyes, so they looked almost grey, and tension flooded his body.
Sienna didn’t take too much notice. She expelled a soft breath, relief wrapping around her. ‘I hope you’re right.’
‘I am.’ And after a small pause, a brief hesitation, he kissed her, gently, the warmth from the sun and the water and his lips pushing all unpleasant thoughts from her mind, leaving only, for a little while, happiness.