Chapter Twenty-Four
“It’s the fault of both of you!” Diego said in Spanish as he unlocked the front door. “You and Carmen did this together. Now what am I to do with her? Hide a rich girl until the law finds us? She—” He broke off when he stepped into the little house. It smelled clean and something good was cooking.
He flipped the switch to turn on the lamp in the corner. The clothes that had been thrown on the furniture were gone. The floor was clean and there was no longer a layer of dust on everything.
Turning, Diego looked at Alejandro in question, but he shrugged. He had no idea who’d cleaned the place. Diego’s eyes said it couldn’t have been the rich girl.
In the kitchen a pot of chili bubbled and beside it was a pan of corn bread.
“Look at this,” Alejandro said. He’d opened the computer to check email and seen that that month’s bills were ready to be sent out.
Diego opened the door to the closet that held the washer. No dirty clothes.
It was dark out, but Alejandro opened the back door and turned on the light. All the trash that had come with the house had been picked up. There were two full garbage bags by the gate. He went to the clothesline and removed the three pairs of socks hanging there.
“Useless, huh?” he said, and pushed past his brother to go into the house.
He found Elise in the bedroom, stretched out on the bed, a five-year-old magazine on her chest. She was sound asleep.
He sat down beside her and gently removed the magazine. “You did a good job today,” he said softly in English. “And you showed us that you’re worth a lot—which I knew. The moment I saw you, I knew that...that you were different.”
He smoothed her hair back from her face. “I will carry the vision of you in that white underwear with me all my life.” He couldn’t help it as he ran his hand down her arm. She seemed so fragile, so beautiful—and so unattainable.
Before Alejandro came to the US, his sister had gained his sympathy with her story of being in love with a man who was being forced into a marriage with a coldhearted rich girl.
He’d arrived in the US believing every word she’d told him.
But then he’d started helping Diego, and Alejandro had seen Elise from a distance. To him, she was beautiful beyond belief. Carmen kept saying that she wasn’t womanly, but he didn’t see her that way. He’d heard her mother berate her, correct her, complain about her. All her father seemed to say was, “Get me another drink, would you, kid?”
Alejandro had made sure Elise never saw him watching her, but then she seemed to be living in a bubble of happiness about her coming wedding.
He had been torn between loyalty to his pregnant sister and wanting to warn this innocent girl of what she was getting into with her marriage. As it always did, family won out.
As he pulled the spread over her, he thought how he liked having her nearby. And he was very glad that she had cleaned and cooked today. Such things went a long way to winning over his stubborn brother. Diego took care of a lot of people and hiding his boss’s daughter was making him nervous.
*
Elise had wanted to be up to make breakfast, but the smell of bacon frying woke her. She had a frantic moment of fear that if she didn’t pull her weight she’d be abandoned. And what then? She had no doubt that her father still had men waiting for her at the airport. The moment she presented an ID, sirens would probably sound, and men in white coats would take her away.
She leaped out of bed, took a three-minute shower, put on her only other set of clean clothes, and went to the kitchen. Diego and Alejandro were sitting at the table digging into plates of bacon, eggs, and toast. Very American.
“I’m sorry I overslept,” she said to Diego. He was shorter than his younger brother, and heavier. He was handsome but not in the same class as Alejandro. “But then, yesterday was traumatic.” She glanced at his closed bedroom door. “Did Carmen come back?” Elise put two pieces of bread in the rickety old toaster.
“No.” Diego kept his head down, not able to meet her eyes since they all knew where his sister was.
As Elise waited for the toast, she looked at the top of Alejandro’s head. Hard to believe, but he looked even better in the early morning light. In that moment, she was pretty sure she was the only woman on earth who’d ever wished she wasn’t faithful to her husband.
When the toast popped up, she got a plate, sat down across from them, and looked at Diego. “I wanted to ask about your brother. No! Don’t look at him. I don’t want him to know we’re talking about him. Is he okay? I’ve heard him talk on the phone to Carmen, but when I’m around he’s silent. Does he hate me?”
Diego gave a bit of a grin. “He thinks you’re pretty.”
“Does he?”
“Yeah. Real pretty.”
Elise tried to keep her face straight. “But he thinks I’m useless, right? That’s what Carmen says I am.”
Diego frowned. “You did a good job here.” He nodded at the house.
“I’m glad you like it. Where are we going today?”
Diego’s frown deepened. “We’re going to the Bellmont house, but you’re staying here.”
Elise took a moment before she spoke. “I know their daughter, Tiffany. I went to school with her. Poor thing. She’s not too bright, but she married well. But then, it’s hard to understand who men will like. The man I was to marry doesn’t like me, but he does like your—Oops! Sorry to bring up the bad.”
Alejandro lowered his head, but she saw his smile.
As for Diego, he was staring at her. He’d been married for years so he knew when a woman was after something. Elise was putting guilt on him for a reason. “You can’t go. The law is after you.”
“For running away from my own wedding? I don’t think that’s an offense that can be prosecuted.” She batted her lashes. “I’ll help with the work.”
Diego snorted.
“I can plant fluffy ruffle petunias.” When he looked blank, she said, “It’s from a movie. Cross Creek? It doesn’t matter. Diego, please. I’m scared here. What if Carmen rats me out? Kent would be here in a minute. Then what? We have a threesome fight? Think I could win against Carmen? Will she—?”
“Let her go,” Alejandro said in Spanish. “She can sit in the truck and listen to music. It’s just for a few days, then I’ll take her to the airport.”
Diego glared at his brother. “I heard about what you said at that fancy hotel. You’d like to take her away to Mexico, wouldn’t you? She’s not for you! She’ll marry some other rich guy, not some teacher of horny women.”
Elise ate her toast and worked not to enter into the conversation, but it was interesting to know who was on her side.
“I want her near me so I can protect her,” Alejandro said. “Those men looking for her had guns.”
“And who do you think they wanted to shoot? Her? She’s the bait her greedy parents used to attract some guy they can control. Do you think this girl’s father will give his daughter away to some Mexican gardener?”
For a moment Elise stopped eating. This was horrible, but on the other hand, it was nice to hear that she was valuable to her father.
When she spoke, she tried not to sound as though she was shocked by what she’d just heard. “Mrs. Bellmont likes really gaudy colors, and she’s so vain she expects people to read her mind. If you’re thinking of putting in pale flowers she’ll get angry. Remember that ghastly red mulch you put on my mother’s flower beds and she made you remove it?”
She didn’t wait for Diego to answer. “My guess is that made you think all the women in the area would hate that mulch. But Mrs. Bellmont would love it. The gaudier the better. I could tell you what to buy so she’ll be happy with your job and not fire you as she did her last three gardeners.” Elise finished her toast.
“What if she sees you?” Diego asked. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“No offense, Diego, but has Mrs. Bellmont ever looked at any of you?”