How to Marry a Matador (Exclusive Sneak Preview) (8 page)

“Hmm,” he said with a smile. “Is that what
you Americans call this?”

Then he lowered his head as Jess gripped the
covers and begged him over and over again not to stop.

****

Two hours later, and after a slightly
embarrassing dinner during which Ana María sent repeated
knowing—
yet approving—looks at the newlyweds, Jess and
Fernando were traveling up steep roads leading to the center of
town. “This is breathtaking,” Jess said, absorbing the beauty of
the tiny whitewashed village as they climbed heavenward. Fernando
had told her that La Esperanza del Corazón was known as one of
Los Pueblos Blancos
in this southern region of Spain. Two
things in particular made this place special: an old monastery and
an ancient castle, both of which perched on the highest points in
these hills.

“I know it seemed different on Friday night.
When we came to the church here, it was under the cloak of
darkness.”

“I seem to recall an awfully full moon,” she
said, warmth caressing her cheeks.

“Yes,” he said, taking her hand. She let him
hold it, sensing a new comfort between them. While Fernando owned
the sort of sports car meant to be driven at great speeds, she was
glad he took his time navigating the hairpin turns of this
precipitous trek.

Big billowy clouds hovered above them,
dotting a brilliant blue sky, as a small river snaked through the
valley below.

“I see Casa de la Vega!” Jess proclaimed,
pointing at the roving vineyards beyond a river bend. “It’s
fantastic. I had no idea of its scope until I saw it from up
here.”

“My grandfather bought quite a bit of land,”
Fernando answered. “His dream was to start a vineyard. He made that
dream a reality.”

“Your mother runs it now?”

“All on her own. I’m very proud of her.”

“Fernando,” she asked suddenly. “What do you
plan to do in your retirement?”

“Well…” he said, drawing out the word.
“According to the grand Garcia de la Vega family plan, I was to
step down from running the business in Madrid and return to run
things here.”

“That’s why you were selling out to
International Global Telecom.”

“Exactly.”

“But you also had to find a wife.”

“Too true.”

“So, if it hadn’t been me, it would have been
someone else,” she said, growing indignant.

“If it isn’t you, then it sadly will be
someone else.” He glanced at her, a wry smile upon his lips. “But
trust me when I say you are my absolute first choice.”

Jessica thought about that all the way to the
monastery. She didn’t really care who Fernando married, did she? If
it wasn’t going to be her, it naturally would be someone else. Even
if it weren’t for the inheritance, a man as attractive as Fernando
was bound to get snapped up. Likely sooner than later, if he
started flashing around that below-the-belt matador scar.

When they arrived at the low brown building
with a large wrought-iron gate, Fernando sprang from the car to
circumvent it and open her door for her. Very few guys did this in
New York. Then again, traditions were more antiquated in Spain.
Outdated. That’s right, Jess told herself, keep recalling the
modern world you come from. A life over here could only feel out of
place.

“When we’re done touring the monastery and
its tapestries, I’ll take you to its
damasquinado
shop.”

“What’s that?” Jess asked.

“It’s an incredible style of jewelry inlaid
with gold and unique to Spain.”

“Real gold?” Jess asked, stuck on that first
part.

Fernando nodded. “The brothers were trained
by the finest artisans in Toledo. They sell their wares here to
help keep this monastery afloat.”

Jess loved creeping through the monastery as
Fernando led her by the hand. Everything here seemed so darkly lit
and holy. She almost swore she heard chanting as they made their
way through the circuitous halls, studying one Catholic relic after
the next, but Fernando said she was imagining it.

Finally, they came to the shopping part,
which excited her a little even though she didn’t plan to buy
anything. The tiny gift shop was nestled in a corner on the far
side of a brightly lit courtyard, sporting fountains and flocked
with birds the good friars kept fed.

“Don Fernando? Is that you?”

Fernando turned toward a shopkeeper who
greeted him with a cheery smile on his plump, round face. “Brother
Emilio! How good to see you!”

The men embraced fondly; then Fernando made
his introductions. “I’m very pleased to have you meet my new
bride.”

Brother Emilio beamed. “Bride, did you say?
Why, what wonderful news. I couldn’t be more happy for the two of
you.”

Jess said her polite hellos while Brother
Emilio gripped her firmly by the shoulders and gave each cheek a
happy kiss.

“Brother Emilio was one of my earliest
tutors,” Fernando told Jess. “He taught me everything I know about
numbers.”

“Lessons that served you well,” Brother
Emilio said proudly.

“When I was bad,” Fernando confessed
confidentially, “my mother used to threaten to send me to the
monastery to live with Brother Emilio if I didn’t behave.”

Jess laughed out loud. Fernando in a
monastery. Hoo. “That would have been a waste,” she said, the words
slipping out before she could stop them. Jess felt her face flash
hot, imagining she'd committed the most egregious faux pas. Poor
Brother Emilio. Would he think she was insulting his chosen path of
celibacy? Luckily, the good man took things in stride.

“I can certainly imagine that,” Brother
Emilio said with a jovial smile. “Now come, you two. Look around
and pick out something you like. Anything at all. Consider it a
wedding gift on behalf of the brothers here.”

“Oh my, that’s so nice of you,” Jess said.
“But we can’t.”

“I insist,” Brother Emilio said.

“He insists,” Fernando echoed with a tilt of
his head.

“Why, thank you,” Jess said, feeling herself
blush. It hardly seemed right to tell Brother Emilio they weren’t
really married—or might not be for long—when the fact of the matter
was they
were
quite hitched in the eyes of the church. For
now, at least.

“Darling,” Fernando said sweetly. “Why don’t
you select a little memento for the two of us while I catch up a
bit with my old friend?”

“Are you sure?” Jess asked, feeling like a
kid in a candy shop with a fist full of change.

“Absolutely. Just get something that reminds
you of us.”

There was a lot of stuff to admire, but most
of it was jewelry. Very expensive jewelry, Jess thought, putting
back a spectacular set of dangly
damasquinado
earrings that
played beautifully against her hair.

One of the other brothers came over to assist
her. “You like these, miss?” he asked, retrieving them back off the
rack. “Very beautiful, yes?”

“Oh yes, totally marvelous.” Fernando turned
his head in her direction as she waved the shopkeeper off. “But not
so much my style, thank you. I’m looking for something more simple,
really.” And she was too. She and Fernando couldn’t rob the good
brothers of such an extravagant piece. Besides, women’s ear-wear
didn’t precisely sound like a couple’s gift.

“I’ll just browse a bit more,” she said,
stepping over to the book section to survey the leather bookmarks.
There were signs in several languages stating the good brothers had
made these by hand too. She picked one up, appreciating its heady
leather scent and surveying its beautiful custom design. “Is this
an olive branch?” she asked the helpful brother, still loitering
close by.

“In the mouth of a dove,” he answered. “It’s
a symbol of God’s eternal love, and peace.”

“And hopefulness?” Jess inquired, thinking
she’d heard that somewhere.

“In La Esperanza del Corazón, one always
finds hope,” the brother said with a warming smile.

“A bookmark? That’s all?” Brother Emilio
asked, slipping the object into a bag.

“I think it’s very fine, don’t you?” she
asked Fernando.

“I find it…fitting, in many ways,” he
agreed.

“Well, good. Just as long it makes you
happy.” Brother Emilio pursed his lips for a pronounced beat. “Are
you sure you won’t take two? One bookmark is awfully hard to
share.”

“But a husband and wife should share
everything, don’t you agree?” Fernando said, taking Jess’s hand.
“Perhaps we’ll place it in the books we read to each other, like
poetry.”

“Or the Bible!” Jess interposed, believing
that sounded right. No harm in earning a few extra points. She
hadn’t set foot in a church in a decade, but she was sure to have
made up for a couple of years at least—just in one afternoon.

“What a lovely, romantic couple you make,”
Brother Emilio said with a jolly grin. “Here, señora,” he said,
handing Jess the bag. “Live long and enjoy.”

“Jessica,” Fernando said as they paused
outside. “Would you mind waiting here while I stop in the men’s
room?”

“Oh no, that’s fine,” she said, thinking
she’d better go as well. “I’ll stop in the ladies too, then meet
you back here.

Fernando stepped around the corner; then,
when he was certain she’d gone, he slipped back into the gift shop
to ask Brother Tomás to point out the piece of jewelry Jessica had
found so marvelous.

“Fernando,” Jess said when he parked his car
in the main plaza abutting the towering structure. “You can’t just
walk up to the door of a castle, knock and say ‘hello, may we come
in?’”

“No?” he asked, playing his best poker
face.

“Well, you said yourself the place is
private. Owned by some family.”

“Yes,” he answered evenly. “Mine.”

Jessica gulped back her surprise. “You
mean…?”

“My great aunt’s, really. My grandfather took
pity on her status as a young widow, so he built her this
marvelous
place here.”

Jessica suspiciously narrowed her eyes at his
emphasis on the word.

“She’s expecting us, I think,” he said,
leading her up the broad stone steps. Fernando delighted in
Jessica’s gaze, filled with wonderment and expectation. She’d
probably never been in a real castle before, at least not one that
was personally owned.

He pulled back the enormous bronze knocker
boasting an openmouthed lion head and pounded it three times
against the twelve-foot door. After a few moments, the large plank
creaked open.

“Don Fernando,” a rail-thin woman said,
kissing him on both cheeks and pinching one extra hard.

“This is Antonia,” he told Jess with a
sideways glance. “She always likes to hurt me.”

“Ha ha!” the old woman said, soundly swatting
his arm. Fernando winced. “This
caballero
is such a
joker!”

“Is she your aunt?” Jessica whispered to
him.

“Oh no,” he whispered back. “Antonia enjoys
her jazzercise. Tía Margarita does not.”

As if on cue, an ancient woman toddled forth
on sturdy ankles, followed by a yapping dog.

“Ah, the happy couple has arrived!” she
cried, sweeping Fernando and Jess into her arms and pressing each
one to an ample breast. She smelled of sweat and rosemary perfume,
a bit heavier on the rosemary side each passing year, Fernando
noted.

“Tía Margarita, Antonia,” Fernando said,
deftly extracting himself from his tía’s embrace. “May I introduce
you to my new wife, Jessica…” Who was still, he saw, plastered to
Tía Margarita’s chest, a hint of desperation in her eyes. Fernando
pried her loose, tucking her under a protective arm. “Isn’t she
lovely?”

Tía Margarita lifted the glasses on the chain
around her neck to her eyes in order to survey her nephew’s prize.
“Oh
sí,
” she said enthusiastically. “Quite!”

Jessica withdrew a tissue from her purse to
dab her neck and brow as Tía Margarita’s mutt darted furiously at
her feet, baring its teeth between barks.

“Does he bite?” she asked, attempting to
sound nonchalant.

“Never more than a little,” Tía Margarita
said. “And there’s so little of you to take, Rudolfo couldn’t take
much, eh?”

“Why don’t we all go inside?” Fernando
suggested, seeing the townspeople in the plaza were starting to
stare.

“Of course,” Tía Margarita said with a smile,
linking her arm through his.

As Antonia flanked Jessica on the other side,
he could have sworn he heard her asking if Jessica was familiar
with the Stairmaster.

Jess couldn’t guess how high the ceilings
were. They were vaulted and tall, like the inside of a cathedral,
enormous chandeliers dripping throughout the halls. There were
oversized, arched windows too, interspersed by large oil paintings
and various works of art. It was more like being in a museum than a
mansion. Not that she’d ever been in a mansion before. But
galleries, she knew. Though those clearly housed less furniture.
Everything was larger than life, huge carved pieces with mirrors
surprising her around every turn. It certainly smelled musty and
was dank as well. She was glad Fernando still had his arm around
her, because the dankness seeped into her bones even at the height
of summer.

“Having fun,
querida
?” he whispered
into her ear, and she shivered, not from the cold but from the heat
of his breath.

The truth was, she was having more than fun.
Jess felt like she’d slipped down the rabbit hole into some
imaginary realm and was enjoying the time of her life. Wait until
she told Evie! Jess felt a rush of guilt, thinking of her best
friend. She didn’t know why, so she pushed the notion aside,
attempting to live in the moment. She’d already committed herself
to this day with Fernando, anyway, hadn’t she?

“This is so cool,” she said, eyes widening as
they stepped into an expansive area opening onto a walled
veranda.