His Heir, Her Honor (Rich, Rugged And Royal #3)(27)
Author: Catherine Mann

“We would have called you about this sooner, but you’re ineligible to be a donor because of the damage to your liver from the gunshot wounds.”

A gasp drew his attention. He turned to see Lilah staring back at him with wide—surprised—eyes, the color draining from her creamy skin. Hell. He’d never told her the real cause of his injuries and he hadn’t thought to warn his brothers to stay silent on the subject.

It hadn’t seemed necessary to inform her. There hadn’t been the right moment. And he knew those were just excuses because he didn’t want to revisit that time in his life with anyone.

Seeing the confusion in her eyes, he realized he’d screwed up with her yet again, and that unsettled him as he accepted just how important it had become to have her with him.

Talking with Lilah would have to wait, however. He needed to prepare himself to see his father for what could be the last time.

Nine

Every minute spent on this island only imprinted in her brain how very little she knew about the man who’d fathered her child.

High heels echoing down the marble corridor, Lilah trailed the other women as they gave her a crash course on the Medina mansion, a palatial retreat that felt nearly as large as the Tacoma hospital. They’d already seen the library, music room, movie screening room, pools, more than one dining area and her own suite. Now she was learning where to find the others in their quarters.

Too bad she couldn’t just MapQuest the place.

Maybe as she wandered she could collect clues about Carlos from the priceless art collection on walls and pedestals.

Her heart clenched as she remembered the only painting on the wall in his hospital office—a canvas by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, one of the Sad Inheritance preparatory pieces. She’d always thought the image of crippled children bathing in healing waters to be tied into his own work.

Now she realized how he was connected to that image in a far more tragic way than she could have ever known. Shot in the back? Tears stung her eyes as she envisioned his scars with a deeper understanding.

So far the house wasn’t revealing much more about him other than relaying an utter isolation and wealth beyond anything she could have imagined. Her only other option? Ask.

Passing yet another heavily armed and stoic guard, she eyed the women in front of her. Carlos’s dark-haired sister Eloisa. Then the girl-next-door blonde sister-in-law, Shannon. And the savvy-eyed brunette fiancée, Kate.

The time with them would be better spent picking their minds about the family than memorizing the floor plan of this mansion maze. She just hoped they weren’t as closemouthed as Carlos. Angling to the side, she passed a man vacuuming the molding over a high archway. Given the late hour, she wondered if the staff around here ever slept.

As they walked through a small courtyard, she ran her hand along a sleek jade cat keeping watch over a fountain nestled between the property’s vast wings.

Shannon opened yet another door in their marathon tour. “This hall leads to my quarters.” Her Texas twang coated each word as silk Italian drapes rippled with their passing. “I hope you won’t mind if I check on my son real quick and relieve the nanny. Then we can have that late-night snack I promised.”

“Please, take your time,” Lilah said, waving the younger mother into the room, balcony doors already parted to admit a gusty ocean breeze. “I’m wide awake on West Coast time.”

Soon she would have those same responsibilities, the privilege of a child in her life. Making sure her child had the most stable life possible increased the urgency in settling her confused feelings about the baby’s father.

Her shoes sunk into the Persian rug until the toes blended into the apricot and gray pattern as she followed the other women into the rooms Shannon shared with Antonio. The suite sported two bedrooms off a sitting area with an eating space stocked more fully than most kitchens. Seeming to know her way around, Kate brought a tray with a bone china teapot alongside a plate of tiny sandwiches and fat strawberries.

Lilah lingered by a Waterford vase to sniff the lisianthus with blooms resembling blue roses that softened the gray tones in the decor. Trailing her fingers along the camelback sofa, she hesitated, surprised to find a homey knitted afghan.

Softly, Shannon closed her son’s door and crossed to the sofa, caressing the worn-soft pewter yarn with reverence. “Their mother made this for Antonio shortly before she died.” She looked up, her blue-gray eyes sad. “Antonio was only five when they left San Rinaldo. He told me he thought of the blanket as a shield.”

Five years old.

As the other women settled into fat, comfy chairs, Lilah wrapped her arms around herself, chilled to the core by the image of three young boys fleeing the only home they’d ever known. Dodging bullets. Losing their mother. She squeezed her eyes shut briefly. In the four years she’d known Carlos, she hadn’t a clue just how deep and dark those shadows in his eyes went.

Sweeping her sleek, black ponytail over her shoulder, Eloisa propped her feet on an ottoman, balancing a plate of shrimp and cucumber sandwiches on top of her pregnant belly with a wry grin. “It’s more than a little overwhelming, isn’t it? I’m still growing accustomed to all of it.”

Resisting the urge to touch her own expanding waistline, Lilah focused on the woman’s words instead, eager to learn more about these people who would be family to her baby. “Didn’t Enrique have visitation rights when you were a child?”

“My parents never had an official custody agreement drawn up. I only met him once.” Eloisa leaned forward for her tea, her silver shell charm necklace chiming against her china plate. “I was about seven at the time of my visit.”

Taking a cup of tea from Shannon, Lilah reviewed what little she knew about the Medina history. “That’s years after the last sighting of him.”

Eloisa smiled nostalgically. “I didn’t know where we went when my mother and I flew here. It felt like we took a long time in the air. But of course all travel seems to take forever at that age. I never told anyone about the visit after I left here. I may not have had much of a relationship with my father while I was growing up, but I understood that his safety and the safety of my brothers depended on my silence.”

Shivering, Lilah eyed the blanket made by a mother who would never see her children grow up. “Did you meet them as well?”

She sipped her tea to warm herself in spite of the sultry island air. A burst of chocolate mint flavor surprised her. Had Carlos informed the staff of her recent craving for chocolate mint? The possibility seeped through her more tangibly than the drink.