Again, he took his time before speaking. “She...uh...she...”
When Elise’s phone rang, he looked like a weight had been lifted off him. “You’d better get that.”
“It’s not important. Did something awful happen to Carmen? Is that why she changed?” Her eyes widened. “An American didn’t do something bad to her, did he? Or she? Is that why Carmen suddenly seemed to think that I was an elitist and a—?”
“Your phone! It keeps ringing. Maybe something is wrong.”
Frowning, Elise wiped her hands on her middle and picked up her cell off the towel on the grass. “It’s my mother,” she said with a groan, then accepted the call. “Yes, I’m here.” She listened. “Now? This minute?” She let out her breath. “Yes. Of course I will.” Elise’s eyes brightened. “It so happens that one of the gardeners is here. No, I’m sure he won’t mind. Yes, I’ll tell him to take off his shoes.” Elise shook her head. “Mother! He won’t get dirt on anything. If I have to, I’ll make him strip naked and when he goes up the stairs, I’ll watch his every step to make sure he touches nothing.”
Alejandro coughed to cover his laugh and Elise held the phone away as her mother bawled her out.
She turned back to the phone. “Yes, I apologize for my rude, vulgar remark. It was insensitive of me. I will make sure the gardener is clothed and clean. And yes, I’ll be there in minutes.” She clicked off. “We have to go to the house.”
Alejandro looked down at his bare chest. “I need to get a shirt.”
“No!” She blinked. “I mean, you don’t have to get one. My parents are leaving to spend the weekend in the Hamptons with some friends. I have to go back to the house and gather roses for my mother to take with her.”
“And you have to cut them for her?”
“Mother doesn’t like the thorns.”
“When do I walk up the stairs?”
“After they leave, of course.”
Alejandro looked at her with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m not old enough for you so quit hoping. Mother wants you to move a chair to my house and she’s worried you’ll get dirt all over everything. Come on, I have to go now or she’ll make my life miserable.”
“I’m not sure your mother would like to see you and me together.”
“She won’t notice, and besides, you have to take the thorns off the roses.” He was frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“I think I should get a shirt out of the truck.”
Elise narrowed her eyes. “If you want to cover up for them, does that mean you’re half-naked for me?”
“You think your bare legs are going to get burned?”
“Touché. We—” Her phone was ringing again. She looked at the ID. “It’s Mother. Race you there!”
Alejandro outran her but just as they reached Elise’s mother’s big rose garden, he faked a leg cramp and let her win.
Laughing, she went to the little shed on the far side and got out gloves, secateurs, and the wooden trough.
“Funny little basket,” Alejandro said.
“It’s an English trug.”
He said the word a couple of times. “So what do you want first? Damasks? Hybrids? Grandifloras?”
“Show-off. I want fat pink smelly ones.”
“Your mother has some nice bourbons.”
“My mother doesn’t know half what you do.”
“About roses or her daughter?”
“I’m not answering that,” she said. “Here! You hold the trug while I cut, then we’ll sit down over there and take the thorns off.”
As Alejandro followed her down the rows, he glanced back at the house. “Are you sure your parents won’t mind that I’m here? Your mother doesn’t like us getting too close to the house.”
Elise felt a pang of guilt at her mother’s callousness, at her snobbery toward most people.
It took them twenty minutes to cut the flowers and another twenty to remove the thorns. Elise stabbed herself twice and when Alejandro looked like he was about to kiss her hand, she glared at him.
“Can’t blame a man for trying.”
Between them was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t step over the line. She was married and therefore off-limits. But their teasing of each other let them know they were wanted—and oh, how good that felt! To know that a man thought she was pretty and desirable made Elise stand up straighter and put her chin out. She chose her clothes more carefully, was concerned about her hair and makeup. That it was all for the wrong man was something she didn’t want to think about.
“I’d better take these to her,” Elise said. They were sitting side by side on a wooden bench in the shade, and she was reluctant to leave him. “You should go with me.”
Alejandro stretched his arms across the back of the bench. “Call me when you’re done so I can do some stair climbing.” Obviously, he didn’t want to face her mother.
Laughing, Elise went to the front of the house, where one of her parents’ staff, Edward, was loading the back of the big SUV. “Hi. They ready to go?”
Edward smiled at her. He’d worked there since she was a baby. “Your mother has changed her clothes about a dozen times. So who’s the naked guy you’ve glued yourself to?”
“Him? He’s Diego’s brother. I’ve told him over and over to put on some clothes but he won’t do it. I think the poor boy has very low intelligence.”
Edward grinned. “That’s why you were sweating in the sun beside him? I was shocked to see that you know how to use a shovel.”
“He’s my new gay friend and he showed me how.”
“Gay! That’s a good one. That boy’s eyes are eating you up.”
Elise got serious. “How much has Mother seen?”
“None. I told her Diego sprayed the grass with poison to kill the snails. She hasn’t stepped outside once. I don’t know if she fears the poison or the snails.”
“Thank you.”
Edward closed the van door. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Just trying to keep my sanity.”
“I think—” Edward began, but the front door opened.
Her mother looked her up and down. “What a disgusting outfit you have on. You look like a farmer. And is that sunburn on your nose? Really, Elise, you are an embarrassment to our family.”
Behind her, Edward rolled his eyes. He’d always been a strength to her in surviving her mother’s diatribes.
“Your roses.” Elise held out a deep basket full of them. “And we removed every thorn.” She drew in her breath at her slip. Would her mother ask who “we” was?
Her mother didn’t take the basket. “I think the least you could have done was put them in water. We have a long drive ahead of us. Oh no! I forgot my pearl earrings.” She went back into the house.
It was several minutes later before the car pulled away and Elise went back to Alejandro. He was still sitting on the bench. The sun had moved enough that a ray of sunshine touched his face. His eyes were closed, and she stood there looking at him. The black whiskers on his cheeks, his hair down the back of his neck. The color of his skin, the way his chest curved out, then was flat.
She knew the strength of him, the speed of his movements. Earlier, she’d stepped wrong and had nearly fallen. In one swift movement, Alejandro had dropped the shovel and caught both her arms before she fell.
But the instant she’d looked up at him, he’d released her. She understood. It was one thing to tease and flirt but another to actually touch.
“Are they gone?” he asked, but didn’t open his eyes.
He is as aware of me as I am of him, she thought. “They are. The staff took the afternoon off for a well-deserved rest. The house is empty.”
Alejandro stood. “If my brother hears that you and I were in a house alone he’ll send me home.”
“To marry the girl next door?”
“You heard that, did you? You go up, toss the chair down, and I’ll carry it away.”
“Come on, coward. What are you doing?” He’d unfastened the button at the top of his trousers.
“The stairs. I’m to be naked, remember?”
Laughing, Elise told him to keep his pants on and to follow her.