Page 38 of Bride By Mistake
“Still hungry?”
“No, but we need to talk.”
“Talk? Can’t we do that on the road?”
“No.” She waited, and eventually, humoring her, he sat down again.
“Before we go to England I need to go to Valle Verde.”
“Not this again. I thought I made it clear—”
“You did, but apparently I did not make it clear enough to you. I have to go to Valle Verde because—”
“You feel a responsibility to your father’s people, I know, but trust me, there is no point in your going. If you don’t own the estate any longer, you cannot rectify their situation, and even if you did—”
“I could send an agent to do that job?”
“Precisely.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“You think I want to go and play Lady Bountiful to my father’s peasants? I do not. Nor have I any intention of interfering with Ramón’s running of the estate. Knowing Ramón, it would only make him angry and, being Ramón, he would take it out on someone else.”
“So, is it something you left behind?”
“In a way.”
“Then we can send someone to fetch it.”
“No, we cannot.” She swallowed. “It is not a thing.” She met his gaze squarely. “It’s a sister.”
“A what?”
“My half sister.” There, she’d said it.
“I thought you were an only child.”
“I am. The only legitimate child. Perlita, my half sister, is the daughter of my father’s mistress.”
He frowned. “Your father did not make provision for the child and her mother?”
“He did.” She swallowed. It was harder to admit than she’d thought. Up to now, only Father Alvarez knew her sorry tale, and that was under the seal of the confessional.
“Then what—”
It all came tumbling out then, the dreadful thing she had done. “When Papa was dying he sent the message for me to go at once to my aunt’s convent. He told me to take Perlita and her mother with me, but I didn’t. His message was clear, but I pretended I didn’t understand it. And so I left them behind. And that was why I was attacked on the road.”
“What?” He stared at her. “What possible relation could there be between leaving your father’s mistress and child behind, and you being attacked?”
“I disobeyed Papa and abandoned my half sister to her fate, and that’s why it happened.”
“What nonsense.”
She shook her head. “It’s not nonsense. The men who attacked me knew about Papa’s message. I told you they were after jewels.”
There was a short silence as he considered her story. “What did your father’s message say?”
