Until they did talk, clarified what this new development meant and how she felt about him, he wouldn’t push his luck and risk pushing her away.
Although he’d worried if he’d crossed a boundary by buying her the dress. Now he had his answer.
She’d mentioned the little girl who hid in the shadow of her father, who had continued to hide all her life. But not tonight. Tonight she shone, the yellow of the dress making her skin glow. She’d left her hair unbound, loose curls falling over her shoulders as she made her rounds, whispering a word to a server here and propping up a rose in an arrangement there.
Still the same confidence. Still the same power. Unlike four months ago, though, tonight her shoulders were relaxed. Her movements less rigid, more assured and less tense.
And she smiled. His heart clenched as their eyes met. She glanced down at her dress, then back at him and mouthedThank you.
“You care for her.”
His mother startled him out of his musings. He swung his head around, summoning a jovial grin.
“She’s a good friend.”
“Ah. I didn’t realize you were capable of being so discreet.”
He arched an eyebrow in her direction. “When have I ever not been discreet?”
She snorted. “The Venetian Hotel...”
“Everyone brings that up.”
“The Louvre,” she continued.
“A minor misunderstanding.”
She shook her head. “I worried about you, you know.”
He paused. Her comments had always been sparse on his activities. He loathed the idea that he’d caused her stress. “I’m sorry.”
She waved her hand. “I worried. All mothers do. I wondered if you were truly happy. And,” she added with a twist of her lips, “I didn’t like the insinuations of the tabloids. There’s so much more to you than what the world sees.”
The same words Calandra had spoken to him. Words that warmed his chest.
Had it been just four months ago? Four months since he’d seen Calandra standing in the midst of the chaos left by Adrian’s guests, resolution firming her face even as her shoulders had sagged the tiniest fraction? That night, all he’d wanted to do was help. Be someone’s savior, for once, instead of their curse. And the more time he’d spent with her, the more he’d seen something all too familiar.
Someone hiding behind a mask no one bothered to look past.
Perhaps that’s why they had such explosive chemistry. In those moments, they didn’t just lust after each other and sate their desire with sex. They ripped their masks off for the only other person in the world they could be themselves with.
His eyes drifted to Calandra. He’d felt possessive overLa Reina, but it was a mere flicker compared to the inferno that blazed anytime he pictured Calandra round with his child.
Doubt slithered into his mind. Was it possible, to go from wanting nothing to do with matrimony a week ago to contemplating a marriage proposal? What if his feelings for Calandra, his desire to be a dad, were misplaced? IfLa Reinasucceeded, would he be this focused on being a father?
“Alejandro?”
His father’s voice cut through his dark musings and made his spine straighten. Slowly, he turned.
“Padre.”
If his mother sensed the sudden tension between father and son, she didn’t let on. She crossed to her husband, who took her hands in his and smiled at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.
The look on his mother’s face, one of happiness and love, was the only thing that had made him hold his tongue over the years. Made him hold it now despite the red haze of anger that colored his view of the room.
“Good evening, my dear.”
“Good evening.” Madre kissed him on the cheek, then gestured to the ballroom. “Our son has achieved something wonderful here tonight.”