Well, Josephine, I think we all know what you’ve done, but the question now is, what will you do next? You’ve just hit the bump in the road full on, and when you land, will you take the Rake detour or try to get back on the path to Martin?
Chapter Five
Josephine tiptoed carefully across the veranda, avoiding the squeaky floorboard. The front door groaned as she opened it, and she bit her lip, praying that neither her abuela nor her mother had heard the low sound. But as she entered, Zara was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of café con leche. She looked up as Josephine entered, eyed her directly, and said, “I never thought I’d live to see this day.”
“Mami, please. You sound just like Abuela,” she said and glanced around nervously for her grandmother.
“You’re lucky that she had to go to work early today,” her mother said and gazed at her over the rim of her coffee cup. “Want to tell me why you look like you slept in your uniform and are sneaking in at this hour?”
She slogged to the table, her conscience heavy and dragging her down. “I don’t know how it happened, but…” She sucked in a breath, and then the words exploded from her mouth. “I spent the night with Rake Solvino in his railcar.”
“I beg your pardon?” Zara said and shook her head to clear her ears and make sure she’d heard right.
“I don’t know how it happened. One second I was making him sandwiches and drinking champagne—”
“Drinking champagne is probably a good explanation for how it happened,” her mother said dryly, but with an obvious note of amusement in her voice.
Shamefaced, Josephine looked away and shook her head. “Maybe it was that, but maybe it was also that I saw Martin with another woman. I was so confused and hurt, and Rake was so charming and attentive.”
Zara moved around the table and wrapped an arm around her daughter.
“I don’t know what to do. I always wanted to wait to be intimate with a man until I got married. A man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” Josephine said and thought of the petals that had rained down last night, only this morning it was an avalanche of crushed and mangled gardenia flowers.
“Sometimes things happen that we don’t expect. It was that way with me and your father.”
The mention of her father drew Josephine’s attention from her own problems and to the ones her mother must have faced so many years earlier.
“What was he like?” She’d wondered about that for a very long time, but Josephine understood it was something her mother normally didn’t want to discuss.
As sadness crept into Zara’s expressive brown eyes, much as it did at any mention of her father, Josephine said, “I’m sorry, Mami. I know it hurts you to talk about him.”
Zara nodded and swiped at an errant tear. “It does, but maybe it’s time we talked. Your father was so handsome and charming. Talented.”
Josephine shot her a puzzled look. “A talented soldier?”
Zara stumbled as she replied, “He was very good at marching and shooting.”
It seemed odd, but Josephine decided to press about something much more important. “Did you love him?”
With a heartfelt sigh, Zara said, “I did love him. Do you love Martin?”
If anyone had asked her before yesterday morning, the answer would have been an unequivocal yes. As she searched her heart, she wanted to believe there was a reasonable explanation for what she’d seen in the park. That she could get past the unexplainable attraction to Rake and still have a life with Martin.
“I think I do, but I’m so confused, Mami. I made such a big mistake.”
Zara cupped her chin and gently urged her face upward. “When you’re hurting, you sometimes make bad decisions, but they don’t have to define your life.”
As she met her mother’s gaze, shimmering with unshed tears, it was obvious her mother wasn’t just referring to last night. Zara had made her share of mistakes, but she’d picked herself up after every one to follow her dreams and take care of her family.
At her confused hesitation, Zara said, “Say nothing about what happened, Josephine. Not to Martin or to your grandmother. Not a thing, and try to get on with your life.”
Josephine didn’t know what was worse. Martin possibly being unfaithful. Her definitely being unfaithful. Or keeping both of those things from her abuela.
“Josephine?” her mother prompted.
“I have to go and get cleaned up for work,” she said and shot to her feet. “I have to think about this. About what to do. About what’s the right thing to do.”
She hurried away as fast as she could with the weight of her conscience dragging on her leg like a ball and chain.
The server placed the high tea service on the table in Rake’s suite and after the man had left, Rake smiled at the beautiful woman sitting across from him. “It’s good to see you again,” he said.
Now, who saw this coming?
“I’m so glad I came down before Sondra and Father. I wanted to have you all to myself, if only for another day or two,” said his sister, Lucia.
Okay, friends. It’s not as bad as we thought.
Lucia reached across the narrow width of the table and grasped his hand. “I’ve missed you so. Palm Beach is not the same without you.”
“I’ve missed you as well, and I’m so proud of you. My sister, the nurse. Mother would be so happy to see what you’ve accomplished.”
Lucia smiled with pleasure, but then grew serious. “I just had to do it. When I saw how those nurses took care of you while you were sick, I realized I wanted to be able to help others like that as well.”
The mention of his illness stole some of the joy of spending time with his one and only sister. Especially since once his father arrived, things had a tendency to get…difficult.
“And where were you last night? I came by to see you as soon as I got in, but you weren’t in.”
Much like things were going to get difficult if he told Lucia where he’d been, but he had never been one to keep anything from his older sister. “I was with a young woman. One of the concierges in the hotel.”
Lucia’s teacup rattled against the saucer as she set it down. “Rake! Haven’t you learned anything from watching our father?”
He shook his head, picked up one of the delicate ham and watercress finger sandwiches, and jammed it in his mouth. “I’m not like Ernesto,” he said around chews, unable to stay silent. “I have better sense than to chase after every woman in sight and then end up with someone like Sondra.”
“She’s really not all that bad,” Lucia replied and dabbed some clotted cream onto the scone on her plate.
With a shrug, he said, “I’m sorry. I forgot that she was your friend in boarding school.”
It might be time to mention that it was an all-girls boarding school and that when the young ladies got bored, they’d practice kissing with each other like they would do with the boys. Except Sondra and Lucia discovered that they liked kissing each other way more than they liked kissing the boys. Uh-huh.
“She is…my friend,” his sister said, an odd tone in her voice that had him examining her more carefully as if he were seeing her for the first time.
Lucia blushed under his scrutiny and reached for another sandwich, avoiding his eyes.
“Lucia, is there something you want to tell me?”
“I think our father is having an affair. He’s been secretive and distant. He’s been traveling a lot lately, and I worry about what’s happening with him and Sondra.”
“Because she’s your friend,” he said.
She dropped her knife and shot back angrily, “Of course because she’s my friend. And I don’t want her to be hurt, just like I don’t want you to be hurt.”
Rake had no clue what she meant by that. “Hurt? Me?”
“Father isn’t just coming down for a visit, Rake. He wants to see how you’re running the hotel, because he doesn’t believe that you can do it.”
“I can
do it. I have invested too much time and money in this hotel to have it fail.” He needed to prove to his father that he was capable of taking over the family business so he could wash his hands of those other, illicit operations.
Lucia met his gaze directly. “I know you can do it. Do you remember that time father left us for two weeks with that horrible nanny? The one who would lock us in our rooms alone at night even though she knew I was afraid of the dark?”
He remembered all too well. For the first day or so he could hear his sister crying miserably in her room. Luckily his father had gotten him a book on magic that contained instructions on how to pick a lock. He’d stolen a hatpin the next day and picked the lock on Lucia’s door so he could sneak in at night and keep her company before returning to his room in the early morning.
“I’m glad father got rid of her as soon as he came back from Europe.”
“I’m glad, too, and I never forgot what you did for me. If there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know.”
“I appreciate that, Lucia. It means the world that you believe in me.”
His hunger restored, he dug into the high tea with renewed vigor, but found himself thinking of gooey melted cheese sandwiches and the luminous Josephine from last night.
Maybe he was more like his father than he wanted to admit.
The single red rose sat on the concierge spot along with a playing card: the King of Hearts.
Heat rose in Josephine’s cheeks and she looked around, hoping no one would notice as she grabbed the rose and stuffed it into the wastebasket.
She wanted to try to forget the other night and all that had happened with Rake until she could get a handle on what she was feeling and how she was going to deal with the situation. Something that might be hard to do since she worked in Rake’s hotel.
At the desk, she opened her secret drawer and pulled out the snow globe. Josephine shook it and peered at the snowflakes dancing around the smiling couple at the center of the globe, walking hand in hand along a path. Frozen in that perfectly romantic moment, they had no cares or doubts, much like she’d always felt with Martin. But as she’d recently discovered, their relationship was not quite as picture perfect.
Jamming the globe back into the drawer, she saw a folded square of paper. Martin had left another note! She opened it eagerly but it was short, bordering on terse, and said only that he was sorry he’d missed her again last night, but that he’d had a lead in the case and had not been able to come by. He would try to visit today.
But she didn’t want to see either him or Rake anytime soon.
Straightening out the papers on the desk, she caught sight of Rake at one side of the lobby chatting with a woman that Liana had mentioned was his sister, a troubled look on his face. At one point, he glanced in her direction and offered up a weak smile, but then returned his attention to his sibling. When he finished chatting with her, he started walking toward Josephine, but before he could make it across the lobby, an older gentleman came up to the desk, asking her for directions to the solarium.
Josephine snared that opportunity to personally walk the man to the spot, neatly avoiding Rake.
By the time she returned to the desk, Rake was gone, and he didn’t return for the rest of the morning. Near lunch hour, her friend Liana came by, obviously bursting with more news to share. As she stood next to Josephine, she said, “You’re not going to believe what I heard.”
“What did you hear?” she asked, praying it had nothing to do with her and Rake or her and Martin.
“They found a body last night upriver. They think it’s Mr. Slayton.”
“Oh no, that’s horrible! The poor man,” she said and wondered if that was the lead Martin had mentioned in his note.
Liana laid a hand on her arm and was nearly jumping with excitement as she said, “But there’s more. Someone saw Rake with a woman by the marina the other night, and then he got into a carriage with her and they sped off into the night.”
We hadn’t really sped, Josephine thought. “Do they know who the woman is?” she asked, praying that whoever was spreading the gossip had not realized it was her.
“No. It was too dark.”
Thank God, Josephine thought as Liana plowed on with her gossip. “It gets better and…well, here comes trouble,” she said and jerked her head in the direction of the front desk where Lucia was greeting a beautiful young woman who had arrived with a mountain of luggage.
“It looks like she plans on being here a long time. Who is she?” Josephine asked.
“Oh, that’s Rake’s wife.”
The air left Josephine’s lungs and for a moment the world spun around dizzily. She sucked in a deep breath, but it brought on a coughing fit.
Liana clapped her on the back, trying to help her breathe. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” she said in a strangled voice. But as she watched the woman kiss Rake on the cheek, nothing could be further from the truth.
Now, who could have seen this coming? Well, possibly me, but no wonder Lucia thought it was a big problem that her little brother had spent the night with our dear Josephine.
Rake had found himself with the unenviable task of trying to avoid one woman all day long while trying to see another woman who was obviously trying to avoid him.
Since tea with Lucia, he had been preparing himself for the arrival of his father and Sondra, but luckily that had apparently been delayed for several weeks due to something that had come up with his father’s business dealings. He was grateful for the reprieve since, despite Lucia’s friendship with the woman who was his stepmother, Rake couldn’t seem to forgive his father for dallying with a string of women even before his mother died, then marrying one that was his daughter’s age so quickly afterward. Plus, he had always thought there was something slightly off about Sondra.
To add insult to injury, his wife Penelope had decided to surprise him and come for an extended stay at the Regal Sol. It was the last thing he expected or wanted since, as far as he was concerned, his marriage to Penelope was as good as over. If not for the demands and time spent the last few months getting the hotel back on course, he would have long ago started the paperwork to divorce his wife. Even though he had once loved Penelope and she had been at his side during his illness, he had discovered that his wife had been unfaithful with multiple men over a number of months.
And then there was Josephine. Smart, spunky, and surprisingly sexy Josephine.
Something inside him that had been long dead had come alive last night as they’d talked and much later, as they’d made love. It had been more special than he could have imagined.
Only now Josephine had been avoiding him all day long.
Determined to discover what was troubling her, he hurried to the door of his suite and threw it open, only to find the young woman already standing on his doorstep, about to knock.
“I’ve been trying to see you all day,” he said, stepping aside and inviting her to enter.
She hesitated for a moment, but then with a resigned sigh, she walked in, but didn’t take a seat.
“I think we have to talk about what happened the other night,” she said and wrapped her arms around herself, her stance defensive.
He hurried over to stand before her and said, “I agree. I think we have a lot to say to each other. That night was very special to me.”
She raised an eyebrow and straightened her spine as her gaze became steely. “Really? So special that you didn’t think to mention that you had a wife?”
Rake looked away from that penetrating gaze, hating that he’d been less than truthful with her. Shaking his head, he said, “It’s a complicated situation.”
“So you’re saying you’re not married, because there was a woman at the front desk today who says you are.”
He gritted his teeth and forced out, “Penelope is my wife, but our marriage has been over for some time. We haven’t been together for quite a while.”
“Considering
the pile of luggage she came with today, she plans on staying for quite a while,” Josephine countered. She quickly added, “And by been together—”
“Yes, that kind of together,” he said on a rough breath. “I was sick with a tropical fever and discovered afterward that Penelope had been unfaithful to me. I couldn’t stay with her once I found out. That’s why the other night was…so very, very good, Josephine. And not just what happened in the railcar. Everything. Talking. Eating. Just spending time together. It’s been a long time since it’s felt so right with anyone.”
“But it’s not right if it’s based on a lie, Rake.”
“I’m going to end it,” he said and held his hands out in pleading. “I’m going to make it right by you.”
She shook her head vigorously. “Not on my account, Rake. I feel guilty enough about what happened, and I already have a—” She cut off abruptly, then simply said, “You barely know me. And I don’t know you. We just made a terrible, foolish mistake.”
He didn’t get a chance to reply as she bolted past him and raced out the door, leaving him to wonder how he’d made such a mess of things.
Possibly by not telling Josephine that you were married before crushing her flower. And what’s this about his illness again? Could it be we’re in for yet another surprise on that front?
The alligators had done quite a good job making it difficult to identify Richard Slayton. If not for the fact that what was left of the body was wearing a Regal Sol uniform and that Martin had found the waterlogged remnants of a note on hotel stationery addressed to Slayton in the man’s jacket pocket, it would have been hard for Martin to recognize the man.
The state of decay along with the other facts that Martin had been able to put together all pointed to when Slayton might have been killed. He had failed to show up for his shift for the first time a week ago, and no one had seen him after that.
That information combined with a series of occurrences a few years ago all seemed to be directing Martin and his partner to identify one possible suspect as the mysterious Sin Sombra: Rake Solvino. There had been several murders in Palm Beach when Rake had returned there to work with his father. After Solvino’s arrival in Miami to direct the building of the Regal Sol, there had been a break in the activity in Palm Beach, but a few murders had taken place in Miami. Then there was another gap of several months that coincided with Solvino’s supposed illness until his return to health and the recurrence of issues in both Palm Beach and Miami.
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