“You are my business,” Bella said quietly. “You are my sister. I have no other family, just you and my aunt who is in the convent.”
“And Ramón.” Perlita smoothed the other brow.
“Ramón isnotmy family,” Bella snapped.
Perlita raised her perfectly groomed brows. “So vehement.” She peered critically at her reflection in the glass. “Why did you come here? Really.”
“I told you. I came to help you, Perlita.”
In the looking glass, her half sister gave her a skeptical glance. “I do not believe you.” She gave her reflection one last scrutiny. “Besides, I do not need your help. Come, Ramón is hungry and he does not like to be kept waiting.” She held the door for Isabella.
Luke and Ramón waited in the hallway: Prince Charming and the Beast.
Perlita took Ramón’s arm and entered the dining room ahead of them.
Luke presented his arm to Isabella in a cautious manner, as if she were a wild beast who might bite him. His eyes were dancing.
She longed to box his ears. She gave him a severe look and took his arm. “Yes, I’m cross, and do not look at me like that. My cousin isn’t a man you trifle with! You could have been killed!”
His mouth curved slightly. “No need to fuss. Cousin Twice-Removed doesn’t bother me.”
“Fuss?” She hit his arm. “Are you blind? He’s huge!”
“I’m not exactly insubstantial, myself,” he pointed out, six feet of lean, hard-muscled man.
“Yes, but he’s built like a bull and you’re… you’re…” She frowned, trying to think of the right comparison.
“A lion?” he offered. “A stallion? A stag?”
She gave what she hoped was a withering look. “No, a rat.”
They entered the dining room, and Isabella almost bit back a cry. The room was so bare. Just a large, plain table and chairs, none of them matching. Where was the ornately carved dining furniture, handed down in her family for generations, and the matching sideboards?
There were dark patches on the walls. Missing paintings. Her father’s pride and joy, the Velázquez, gone. And the El Greco, and her mother’s favorite by Luis de Morales.
Luke held a chair for Bella to be seated. “Where are all the paintings?” she asked Ramón. “And the furniture?”
Ramón snorted. “Sold.” He eyed Luke sourly, then seated Perlita. Borrowed manners, thought Bella.
“Sold? But—”
“Where do you think I get the money for this?” He waved his hand as servants brought in the various dishes for the large midday meal. “How do you think I pay my workers? Do you think an estate can run on air?” He snorted again. “No, but it can run on art.”
“But those paintings have been in the family forgenerations.”
Ramón gave Isabella a hard look. “Your father, the fine gentleman, ran this estate into the ground with his politics and his private army. And the fine gentleman’s fine daughter ran off with an Englishman, taking her fortune with her. So it is left to the ruffian, Ramón, to do what he can to repair the mess, to rebuild Valle Verde into the prosperous place it should be.” He fell on his dinner, shoveling in his food rapidly and without finesse.
Isabella ate her meal in silence. There was much to digest here.
After dinner, Ramón pushed back his plate and said with satisfaction, “Time for siesta.” He gave Perlita a heated look.
Faint color rose to her cheeks, and she turned to Bella. “I presume you will stay for siesta.”
“Yes, of course, thank you, and would you mind if we stayed the night, as well?” Bella said quickly. She pretended not to notice Luke’s swift sidelong glance.
Perlita glanced at Ramón, who gave an indifferent shrug.
It wasn’t the most gracious of invitations, but Bella accepted it gratefully. “I don’t suppose we could use my mother’s old bedchamber?”
