Page 32 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
She spotted a silent maid on her knees, gathering building bricks. The girl—this onewasa girl, quite too young for the wars that had ended six years earlier—stood quickly, bobbed, and pointed toward an open doorway.
Graciela hurried through to another room. Her gaze went to the table in the corner. A low affair, it had seating for at least six in child-sized chairs. Francisca huddled there, knees crammed under the table edge, a spoon poised for entry through Reina’s rounded lips.
She caught the maid’s eye and smiled a greeting. The lines that crinkled the tired corners of Francisca’s eyes went deeper.
“Gracias a Dios,” the maid said.
“Thank God, you are safe also,” she answered in Spanish.
“Y Juan?”
“He is overjoyed and relieved that he was able to punch someone.”
Francisca’s frown eased.
“And how isla Reina?” Graciela asked.
Reina’s faced puffed out like that animal that stored food in its cheek pouches. Gruel ringed her lips.
“Look at you. Will you share with me? I am hungry,” she said in English.
Papa had always spoken to her in English, and Mama in Spanish. Reina would learn both English and Spanish as she herself had, except that Juan and Francisca would teach her the Spanish.
The little girl scowled and looked away.
She shooed Francisca and took her seat next to the child. “I think I should like to ride one of the horses out there.”
The contents of Reina’s mouth oozed down her chin. She jabbed a fist into the air and said “No.”
Graciela swallowed a smile. That reply was clear enough in any language. She grabbed the napkin, but the child jerked away, gruel hitting the bib tied at her neck.
Her heart seemed to cave in on itself, like a sinkhole in a desert place. After only two nights apart, Reina felt abandoned.
“I will request you some food.” Francisca went to the door, exchanged some words with the maid in the playroom and came back. All the while, Reina’s pout didn’t lift.
“What in God’s name are you wearing?” Francisca asked. “We brought you a dress this morning, and you tried it on, and it fit.”
That brought Reina up short and halted the temper that was building.
“The disguise was Mr. Everly’s idea, and an excellent one.”
“Mr. Everly.” The maid clucked and scowled. “It is indecent. What would your father say?Ay Dios. How we have failed you, Juan and I. We promised to look after you. We promised to keep you safe. It is indecent.”
Reina’s face scrunched, easing Graciela’s heart. She smiled at the girl.
“My sweet, I was playing dress-up. We are together now. And I am safe. And you are safe.”
Francisca wrung her hands. “Safe. From the lair of one wolf to the lair of another. I do not think...the way he looks at you—”
Throat-clearing, distinct, loud and male, made Francisca’s eyes go wide. Reina craned her neck at the sound, her eyes narrowing, then brightening.
“Cha.” She shrieked, scooted out of her chair and ran to the doorway where Charley Everly was crouching to receive her.
She is the child of your heart. He understood, because Reina had charmed him too.
Or…he had used his rogue’s powers on her.
The girl ran into his open arms and he lifted her up in the air and they both filled this bright room with laughter.
