Page 31 of Wicked Intention

Her stomach twisted as she considered how long herfriend had been missing. What if a day or two was the difference between life and death for Mari?

“Señor Garcia had dinner at the inn last night,” Tia Izel said, breaking the quiet. “He mentioned you ate with him on Sunday.”

“I did,” Zo said, her lips curving at the memory. “Is he well?”

“Sí,” Tia Izel said. “He had interesting news to share, though.”

“Really?” Zo buttered another slice of bread. “What did he say?”

Tia Izel paused long enough that Zo looked up from her task. It was only after their gazes met that the older woman spoke again. “He said you’re engaged to the mercenary, the one who stayed at the inn last weekend.”

Zo had a moment to be grateful she hadn’t been eating when Tia Izel spoke, or she would have choked. “What?” she asked stupidly, unable to get her brain to unfreeze.

“You heard me.”

She had, but Zo couldn’t believe her ears.

There was no way anyone in town should have heard the lie of an engagement. The only people who knew about it were her, Tom Finley, Henri Silva, and Silva’s men. She hadn’t said anything, and she doubted Finn had either. That left the arms dealer and his minions. She couldn’t begin to guess why they’d share it.

And Señor Garcia. Zo sighed. Señor Garcia was sweet, but despite being retired from the presidential brigade, he was the town’s biggest gossip—a fact that was common knowledge. Had someone planted the information with him, knowing he’d pass it along?

Zo shut her eyes for a moment and fought the need to grimace. The entire town would have been regaled with the news by now. Señor Garcia knew everyone, and he loved to talk.

“How could you agree to marry a mercenary, mija?” Tia Izel asked, and her disappointment came through loud and clear.

Zo trusted Tia Izel completely, but she would behave differently if she knew the truth, and so would Tio Luis. Maybe the information getting out was innocent, but Zo couldn’t take the chance. If Silva knew she’d lied, and that Finn had backed her up, both of them would be in danger.

And he would be meeting with the arms dealer again, probably soon.

Competing loyalties warred inside her, but ultimately it came down to disappointing Tia Izel versus Finn’s life.

Lying had never been easy for her. Not that she didn’t shade the truth from time to time, but being outright deceitful to someone she cared about made her stomach knot. Zo put down the bread and reached for her coffee, taking a sip.

“Zofia,” the older woman prompted.

Reluctantly, she put down the mug. “You’ve seen him, Tia. He’s sohermoso.” Zo didn’t have to feign interest. Just thinking about Finn wearing nothing except a towel—those broad shoulders, his narrow waist, his thighs, and the rest of his hard muscles—made her warm. Everywhere. And in all honesty, it wasn’t only his looks and body. She felt alive in a way she never had before when they were talking. Or sparring with each other.

“You expect me to believe you are marrying a man because of his pretty face? I know you better than that.”

Her heart jumped to her throat. For a moment, her brain sputtered, and she desperately sought a better answer. She recalled their kisses, the way she’d lost her sense of everything except what he made her feel. If Tio Luis hadn’t knocked and if the car hadn’t backfired, she would have had sex with him already. She’d been that enraptured. “He makes my body sing,” she admitted softly. Zo’s cheeks heated over the admission.

Tia Izel stared at her without expression for an eternal second before saying, “Then go to bed with him, and be done with the man.”

Zo’s eyes widened. Tia Izel was staunchly Catholic. “What?”

Instead of answering, Tia Izel met her gaze without blinking.

Shaking her head, Zo said, “I didn’t expect you to offer that suggestion.”

“If it’s sex drawing you to him, go to bed with the mercenary and get him out of your system, but don’t tie your life to a man who beats you.”

“What?”

“Does your hearing not work at this time of the morning?”

“I heard you, but I don’t know why you’d think Finn—” Zo stopped short. The bruise. She’d forgotten about it for a moment. “He didn’t do this, Tia,” she brushed her fingers over her lips as she rushed to exonerate the mercenary. “I was caught by Silva’s men the other day. One of his bodyguards hit me. Finn shielded me and made certain nothing worse happened.”

The expression that settled on Tia Izel’s face told Zo she’d leaped from the frying pan into the fire. “You were caught by Silva’sguardaespaldas, beaten by them, and you continue to go to Trujillo? Have you no common sense?”

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