He was right, Rico knew. And the answer, it seemed, was simple after all. A King would risk anything for family. And Teresa—not to mention the child she might be carrying—was his family.
Eleven
Another week of her month was gone and Teresa felt as though she was listening to the inexorable tick of a countdown in her head. Every morning she woke up beside Rico and every evening the heat between them sizzled anew. And every day gone was one less that she had with him.
Sitting on a chaise on the beach below Rico’s house, Teresa curled her feet up under her on the floral cushion. She swept her gaze across Rico’s private slice of the Tesoro paradise and sighed. A yacht was docked at Rico’s private pier and the brass fittings winked in the bright sunlight. “Oh, God, I don’t want to leave.”
She loved it here. Loved the easy, relaxed way of life on the island. She loved having the wild beauty surrounding her wherever she went. She loved working in the hotel and she’d already made some good friends here. The hotel staff, Sean and Melinda.
But mostly she loved being with Rico. For so long she’d yearned to be with him again and now it was as if she was living in a perfect dream world.
But the sad part about dreams was that eventually you woke up and the dream shattered.
A wind off the ocean buffeted her, waves crashed against the shore, sending spray into the air, and Rico’s boat creaked noisily as it rose and fell with the surging sea. Out on the horizon, dark clouds gathered, promising a coming storm, and birds in the tree behind her chattered as if in warning.
The wind kicked up, sending grains of sand stinging into her skin like tiny bullets. She hardly noticed since the pain around her heart went so much deeper.
What was she going to do without Rico in her life?
“I was looking for you.”
His deep voice coming from right behind her didn’t surprise Teresa. It was as if she’d conjured Rico out of thin air just by thinking about him. She hoped it would work that well in the coming years, but somehow she doubted it.
“You weren’t worried, were you?” She tipped her head back and shaded her eyes with one hand. “I thought I already proved to you that I’m not going to leave the island before the end of the month.”
He sank into a crouch beside her and reached out one hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. That one slight touch sent shivers of anticipation rattling through her body. He gave her a half smile and shook his head.
“You did,” he said with a nod. “You gave me your word. I wasn’t worried. I just wanted to see if you’d like to take a ride around the island.”
His hair blew in the ever-present wind, the white shirt he wore was open at the throat and the sleeves were rolled up. His black jeans looked worn and comfortable. He was also barefoot and, for some reason, that only heightened his sex appeal. The man was a walking orgasm.
“With you?”
He gave her another half smile. “No. With Sean.”
“Funny.” She nodded, held out one hand to him and let him help her up from the chair.
For the last week, Rico had been attentive, seductive and romantic in a way she hadn’t experienced since they were first together. Every day he had a new adventure for the two of them. They had spent one day out on his yacht, alternately swimming in the ocean and climbing aboard to dry off and make love. They’d had a romantic seaside dinner in the village and finished the evening off by dancing in the moonlight. One day he had even taken her treasure hunting for Tesoro topazes.
There had been picnics on the beach and lazy swings in the hammock. Long walks and sitting together at night in front of a fire built more for romance than warmth.
It had been a perfect week. Perfect in ways that made her miserable to think of losing Rico forever. But in all the time they had spent together, not once had he talked about the possibility of her staying. Not once had he hinted he wanted her to stay. And not once had he said that he didn’t want the divorce he had promised her.
So though she was being romanced, she had finally figured out that Rico was simply saying goodbye to her. A long, drawn-out, incredibly sweet and romantic goodbye.
And that broke her heart.
Still, she wouldn’t let him see that she knew what he was doing. Wouldn’t let him know that her heart ached to be with him. That the thought of leaving made her feel as though she had been hollowed out and left an empty shell.
If he could make these last few days together special, then the least she could do was join him in the pretense. There would be plenty of time later for the tears that seemed to be constantly near the surface. So for now she smiled up at him and let him see only the pleasure she felt at being beside him. “Are we going in a car or on your boat?”
“For what I want to show you, we’ll have to take the car.”
“I’d love to.”
She bent to pick up her sandals and then followed him from the beach and across the manicured lawn to the driveway in front of his home. A small red sports car sat in the shade of several trees, waiting for them.
Once they were in the car and buckled in, Rico fired up the engine and steered the car out of the driveway and down to the main road. But instead of heading toward the hotel and the village, he turned left and sped along the narrow, paved road.
“You’ve been here nearly three weeks,” he said, his voice carrying over the growl of the engine. “And I thought you might like to see the rest of the island.”
Before you go.
He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to. She knew exactly what he meant. A bubble of pain opened up in the center of her chest, but Teresa fought it down. Being here with Rico was too nice to spoil with thoughts of what was going to happen all too soon.
“Thanks. I would.”
She’d seen a lot of Tesoro from his boat and he had taken her to the foot of the hills to search for topaz. But there was still so much she hadn’t seen. Still so much she hadn’t done. Leaving tore at her and she turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the sorrow in her eyes.
Instead, she looked at the landscape as they passed. As they got farther from the village and the hotel and Rico’s house, the land changed, shifted. Stands of jungle were so thick the trees looked like a solid green wall. Even the sunlight barely made it through the leafy foliage. It was like driving through a green tunnel. Then they emerged into the light again and Teresa gasped at the beauty spreading out on either side of the car. Meadows with wildflowers dancing in the breeze. Patches of farmland, even a small vineyard. And at the edge of the island, a beach with sand so white it hurt the eyes to look at it and the ocean beyond.