Hidden Agenda by Rochelle Alers Read Free Book Online

tall, thin, and serenely elegant, with a head of wavy, snow-white hair, cradled his much younger pregnant wife at his side.
    Eve’s gaze was downcast as she held on to the hand Matt extended; he stood up, pulling her to her feet. Her embarrassment was short-lived when Carlos released Alma, grasped her free hand and placed a light kiss on the knuckles.
    “Welcome to Mexico and to the family,” he said softly in lightly accented English.
    She was charmed by the man, whose dark eyes burned like blazing coal in a weathered face the color of golden, aged tobacco.
    Carlos extended both arms to Matt. “
Congratulación, primo
.”
    Matt slapped the older man on the back, causing Carlos to wince slightly. “
Gracias
.”
    Alma looped an arm through her husband’s. “When are you getting married?” she asked her cousin.
    “In a month,” Matt answered. “And Carlos, I’d like you to do the officiating.”
    Alma’s gaze widened. “You’re not getting married in Texas?”
    Matt shook his head. “It’s going to be a couple of months before I get back to Texas, and I wanted a commitment from Eve before she changed her mind.”
    Eve, curving an arm around Matt’s waist inside his jacket, smiled. “He’s right. He’s lucky I agreed to a month. If it were up to me I’d marry him tonight.”
    “As a federal magistrate I can get a special license for you,” Carlos offered solemnly.
    “That’s all right,” Eve protested, smiling up at Matt. “
We
can wait a month.”
    Carlos inclined his noble white head. “If that’s the case, then I’ll be more than willing to marry you.”
    “Carlos, we’re forgetting our manners,” Alma scolded in a soft whisper.
    “Of course,
Niña
.” He waved his hand. “Let’s sit out on the loggia and open a bottle of prized sherry to toast this very special occasion.”
    It has begun
, Eve thought as she followed Matt out to the loggia. It was so simple that it frightened her. Matt had fooled his cousin, and she wondered how many others they would deceive before the curtain came down on their staged performances.

Chapter 5
    M att stood behind a seated Eve, sipping a glass of smooth Spanish sherry, his left hand resting lightly on her shoulder. He felt the warmth of her flesh through the fabric of her dress and the delicate bones of her collarbone as he savored the hypnotic fragrance of her perfume.
    Una mariposa
, he thought. Eve Blackwell was a fragile, velvet brown-and-black butterfly.
    He wondered if he would have been as attracted to her under another set of circumstances, if Harry Blackwell had not forced them into a liaison. The notion of being attracted to Eve summoned thoughts about women from his past.
    For one thing, she was taller and slimmer than the others; she was also less submissive. He had known her for less than three hours and he already knew EveBlackwell would challenge him over and over, despite her promise to follow his orders.
    A wry smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he stared at Alma and her husband. His American cousin had found happiness with a man old enough to be her father, and in another three months Alma would make Carlos a father for the very first time.
    His fingers curved around the slender column of Eve’s neck, causing her to shift slightly and stare up at him. There was enough light in the loggia to note her questioning glance.
    “Carlos, Alma, I’d like to impose on your hospitality,” Matt began in Spanish before he remembered Eve was not fluent in the language.
    “What is it you want?” Alma questioned in English.
    “Can Eve stay with you and Carlos instead of her living at the—”
    “Of course,” Alma interrupted. “There’s no need to ask, now that Eve is going to be family.” She made an attractive moue. “Being in love has changed you,
primo
,” she teased.
    “Wait until your wife’s belly swells with child,” Carlos said, gathering Alma closer to his side. “Then you’ll become a…
cómo se dice marshmallow