The Maid's Spanish Secret. Dani Collins

in the air, not to punish, but because he was finding her candor so refreshing.

      “It seemed like the wedding was going to be really beautiful.” She sounded apologetic. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

      He wasn’t. That was the naked truth, but he deflected by saying, “I’ve heard that Canadians apologize a lot. I didn’t believe it.”

      “We do. Sorry.” She winked on that one.

       Was she sorry?

      Rico came back to the tap of a dirty spoon against the back of his knuckles.

      Poppy had been twenty-two, disillusioned after being shortchanged on chasing her dreams, yet willing to come home to fulfill family obligations. He had understood that pressure and had confided his own reasons for going along with family expectations.

      That affinity had led to a kiss and his feet had somehow carried her to the sheet-draped furniture hidden amongst the jungle of fragrant lilies.

      Since learning about Lily, he’d been convinced Poppy had somehow tricked him the way Faustina had, for her own nefarious ends.

      That suspicion wasn’t playing as strongly now that he was here. Her home was unpretentious, dated and showing signs of age, but neat and well cared for. Her bond with her grandmother and daughter seemed genuine and from the reports he’d commissioned, she was this side of financially solvent. She didn’t even have a speeding ticket on her record.

      He’d picked up two on his way here, but that was beside the point.

      In the past, he had seen what he wanted to see. He couldn’t allow himself to be so credulous again.

      He made himself take a cool moment to watch Lily’s concentrated effort to touch the end of her spoon into the soup and bring the taste to her mouth. She grinned as she succeeded, spoon caught between her tiny white teeth.

      He had no proof, but he was convinced she was his. He had to claim her.

      As for Poppy, he was still absorbing the impact she continued to have on him. He still reacted physically to her. One look at her in jeans and a loose pullover and his mouth had started to water. No makeup, hair gathered into a messy knot of kinks on her head, wariness like a halo around her, yet he’d had to restrain himself from reaching for her. Not to grab or take possession, but simply to touch. Fill his hands with the textures of her.

      Was her skin as smooth and soft as his erotic dreams replayed? Would her nipples tighten if he licked then blew lightly again? Did her voice still break in orgasm and would that sound once again send pleasurable shivers down his back?

      That chemistry was a weakness, one that warned him to keep his guard up, but it didn’t deter him from his plan one iota.

      In fact, it stoked a fire of anticipation deep in the pit of his belly.

      * * *

      Poppy’s tension remained through dinner, even though Rico went on a charm offensive against her grandmother, breaking out levels even Poppy hadn’t realized he possessed, asking after her health and offering condolences over Gramps.

      “I’m very sorry to hear you lost him. I remember Poppy saying he wasn’t well, just before she left Spain.”

      Poppy released a subtle snort, suspecting he only recalled that detail because she had reminded him of it an hour ago.

      He frowned with affront. “I asked you why you weren’t using the money you’d saved to see more of Europe. You said your grandparents needed help moving into a care facility.”

      For one second, she saw glints of blue and green in his irises, telling her he remembered everything about that day.

      A spike of tingling heat drove sharp as a lance through her. She crossed her legs, bumping her foot against his shin in the process and sending a reverberation of deeper awareness through her whole body.

      “We were talking about moving,” Gran said, forcing Rico to break their eye contact. “I couldn’t look after Bill myself, but having Poppy here bought us an extra year in our home.” Gran squeezed her hand over Poppy’s, the strength in her grip heart-wrenchingly faint. “He would have faded all the faster if we’d been forced to leave this house. I’ll always be grateful to her for giving us that. I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t been here in the months since he’s been gone, either. She’s been our special blessing her whole life.”