Do not believe the worst about me. I will take care of this. Love, Alex
The limo stopped in front of the house, and Alex bounded out of the car. “I will not stay longer than a few hours. I will need a ride back to the airport soon. Wait for me,” he told the driver.
Staring at the wide berth of the double-door entranceway, he drew oxygen into his lungs and tempered the anger bubbling up inside of him. As an experienced negotiator, he knew what he needed more than anything was leverage, and he had a small arsenal to present to his father.
He used his key and entered the house unannounced, walking along the tiled flooring until he reached the breakfast room. He found his father in a plush black bathrobe, leaning back in his chair, sipping coffee and watching soccer highlights on television. “Ah, Alejandro. Why am I not surprised you are here?”
No one entered the estate without being identified, but he understood his father meant it in an entirely different way. “I came as soon as I heard about the takeover.”
Rodrigo stood and walked over with outstretched arms. “First, before we speak of business, greet your papa properly.”
Stiff-shouldered, Alex embraced his father out of respect. But it was a short, abrupt greeting before Alex stepped back.
“Sit, have coffee. You look tired, my son.” His father took his seat again and turned off the television.
“I flew during the night to get here.” Alex grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot still steaming on the counter. When the cook heard his voice, she came quickly to offer breakfast. “Nothing for me. Thank you,” he told her.
He waited until she left the room before sitting down to join his father. He brought the cup to his lips and sipped. The coffee tasted strong and burned his throat a little going down. Alex winced and met his father’s watchful eyes. “Your actions have hurt someone I love,” Alex began. “I have asked you many times to stop your pursuit of Windsor Energy.”
“It is a sound business deal, Alejandro. You, of all people, know that.”
“There are many others you could pursue. It would not hurt you to stop this. I will personally make up the losses you take.”
“What of the beating? The kidnapping? You almost lost your life. How can you forget what Paul Windsor has done to you?”
“I will never forget it. But your revenge will hurt me just as much if I lose Cara over this. I won’t allow you to hurt her, Papa. She has been through enough. I have put her through enough.”
“You won’t allow me?” Rodrigo’s voice elevated to a low roar and he sat up straighter in his seat. “Be respectful of your father, Alejandro. You do not tell me how to run my business.”
“Papa, you are my father and I have always respected you, but I am prepared to break off ties with you. I am prepared to walk away from you and Las Cruces forever if you will not respect my wishes on this.”
Jerking back, his father stared at him, unblinking. For the first time since all of this began, Alex saw a shift in his father’s demeanor. “She is that important to you?”
It’s what he’d been saying all along. “As much as Mama was important to you.”
A humbling climb of color rose up his father’s neck and touched his brown cheeks.
“You have come around with Gabriella’s choice of a husband and reconciled. Your daughter is very happy. It’s good to see. Is it so wrong to want my father to be part of my family, as well?”
“I am your family, my son.”
“You are part of it. Sí. But I love Cara, Papa. She is having my child. The baby is to be your first grandchild.”
Rounding his eyes, his father whispered, “You are to be a father, Alejandro?”
“Sí, in six and a half months. I just found out only a short time ago. I am happy, Papa. I would have you join in my happiness. I would have you be a part of my child’s life, but only if you stop this vendetta. I cannot divide my loyalties any longer. I cannot jeopardize my family. I have already made my choice. Now you must make yours.”
His father stared at him for a good long moment, then he nodded and a small smile graced his hard mouth. “A grandchild?” His aging eyes softened to a lighter shade of black. “If only your mother could be here to see this day.”
“Yes, I wish for that, too.”
His father rose then, and Alex stood, as well. Rodrigo walked over to him and hugged him around the shoulders in a long embrace that seemed to settle things without any further words.
* * *
“Gayle, could you get Mr. Hollenbeck on the phone for me?” Cara asked, sitting at her desk, her gaze trained on the file she was perusing.
“It’s not Gayle, Cara.”
Her heart pumped hard hearing Alex’s voice fill the room. Her eyes lifted to find him standing just inside her office. “Alex?”
“Don’t ask what I’m doing here. Don’t tell me to leave.”
She began shaking her head. “No, I wouldn’t...”
She paused, studying his appearance. His dark eyes were rimmed in red, the skin beneath them pale and sunken. The planes of his face were covered with dark unshaven stubble. His jet-black hair was uncombed—a first for Alex—and his clothes? They hung on his frame wrinkled and untidy.
Cara had never seen Alex looking so unkempt.
“I have cornered three cities in a little over a day to get back to you. Most of that time was spent on a plane, so I know I am not at my best at the moment.”
Even in a scruffy state, Alex would still turn heads.
He didn’t make a move toward her. He stood his ground, determination deepening the shade of his eyes. “When I first came to America, it was for many reasons. You know of my original motives, and I have told you many times that after I fell in love with you I had pressed my father to stop his pursuit of your company. Naively I thought he would heed my request. But he is a hard man to convince otherwise when he wants something. But Cara, believe me when I tell you, I did not know of his plans this week. I would have stopped him earlier, if he had confided in me. He did not. When Gabriella alerted me, I was in California and flew during the night to confront my father once and for all. As you now know, the takeover has been aborted. My father has canceled his plans. Your company will remain intact.”
Cara rose from her chair and walked around her desk to face him from a short distance. “How did you convince him, Alex?”
She could’ve melted in his eyes when they touched softly on her. “I told him the truth. That I could not divide my loyalties any longer and I would break off all ties to him as my father. I would walk away from him and never return to Mexico if he didn’t stop his plans to take over Windsor. Then I told him of the baby you and I conceived out of love, a baby he would never see if he continued his vendetta.”
“You had amnesia when the baby was conceived,” Cara said quietly.
“I never stopped loving you, Cara. Ever.”
Cara’s heart was beginning to open up. She was beginning to feel the truth behind his words. She’d walked into her office early this morning to learn that Rodrigo del Toro had done an immediate about-face with the takeover. It had all happened so fast, and the good news spread quickly through the company.
“I told my father that he had many choices,” Alex went on. “But only one would keep him in my life. Only one would ensure that he would know his grandchild. He is stubborn but not a fool.”
“Would you have followed through on those threats?” Cara asked.
“Y
es. For you not to be hurt again, I would do anything. I mean it, Cara. Perhaps I was not firm enough with my father before. And I know I have not been perfect with you. I did lie to you when we first met and I have been trying to make that up to you. I will do anything to help you right now. Please know that whatever you decide, I will support you in your decision.”
Sweeping joy replaced the sadness in her heart. She took a step toward him. “Oh, Alex.”
Alex put both hands up, stopping her from coming closer. “No, Cara. Not here. I have more to say to you, and I will listen to what you have to say to me, but I want us to be free of all this.” A wave of his hand gestured to her office and she understood his intention. Windsor Energy and del Toro Oil had brought them together, but the two companies, and the men that ran them, had nearly broken them apart, as well.
He sounded weary and spent. She felt the same way. They needed a new perspective. “I want to be free of all this, too.”
Alex gave her a prideful nod. “Do you trust me enough to meet with me tonight?”
She nodded without hesitation. “Yes.”
His bloodshot eyes filled with softness and relief. “I will pick you up at seven.”
“Okay.”
With a nod, he pivoted on his heels and walked out her door.
* * *
Cara glanced in the bedroom mirror, adjusting layers of ruching on her powder-blue dress. The chiffon material flowed over her belly and draped to her knees in a scalloped hem. Alex loved this dress, and she was glad it still fit her around the middle. She pulled her hair back with combs after using a curling iron to add waves to her normally straight blond hair. Turning her wrist, she glanced at her jeweled watch. Alex would be arriving soon.
This was the most important decision of her life and Cara didn’t want to blow it with him. After seeing an unfamiliar torment in his eyes and hearing a resolute plea in his voice, she had come to all the correct conclusions about him. Finally. She’d meant it the other night when she told him she could forgive him. And then the whole mess with the takeover happened and her faith in him had been tested once again.
Now, as much as he wanted to prove to her that he could be trusted, Cara, too, wanted to show him that she believed in him. They needed a fresh start.
She left her bedroom to adjust the lighting in the parlor. The room was tidy, with throw pillows strategically placed on the sofa. A domed dish sat in the middle of her cocktail table. Candles flickered and burned, casting dancing lights on the walls and ceiling.
Yes, it was the best she could do on short notice.
When the knock came, her nerves bunched up. She took a swallow. The man she loved was on the other side of the door. She searched her thoughts, scouring her mind for any doubt or misgivings about what she was about to do and sighed with relief when she came up empty.
She stood behind the door only a second before she opened it. The gorgeous man before her gazed deep into her eyes and smiled. Clean shaven, golden brown and dashing in a stone-gray three-piece suit, Alex no longer appeared bedraggled but handsome enough to outshine any other man on the planet. The only remnant remaining from the Alex of earlier today was the uncertain torment in his eyes.
“Cara, you look beautiful,” he said immediately.
“Thank you. Please come inside.” She reached for his hand and, as he took it, a curious expression stole over his face. She led him to the sofa and asked quietly, “Will you sit down?”
He studied her for a second then gestured. “After you.”
They sat close to each other, Alex turning to face her at eye level. Mustering her courage and summoning the words she’d practiced in her head all afternoon, she began, “I don’t know what you have planned for tonight. But before that happens, I need to say a few things.”
“Go on, sweetheart. I’m listening.”
“Yes, you are listening,” she said, tilting her head. “You listen to me and support me and give me the kind of love a woman can only dream about.” Her voice became a whisper. “But Alex, I was crushed when I found out who you really were and your purpose for coming to Texas. I felt used and hurt and angry. It was a horrible feeling.”
Alex put his head down and nodded. “I will never forgive myself for the pain I’ve caused you.”
Torment marred his handsome face. “But since then, you have done everything in your power to win me back. To show me your love. To make me trust you again. I haven’t made it easy for you, I know, and I haven’t been open-minded, but can you blame me?”
“No, my love. You are not to blame for anything.” The deep rasp of his sincerity warmed her heart.
“Alex, we are having a baby together. Our child deserves to come into this world with two loving parents.”
Alex reached for her hand and entwined their fingers. “Yes.”
“Today, you walked into my office looking beaten up in your concern for me and what I was thinking about your part in the takeover. Then you told me how you vowed to break off all ties with your father...it was a bold move and deep down I believed every word you had to say. I know you were responsible for making that takeover disappear. You put me and my welfare over your family. Something I can honestly say no one, not even my own father, has ever done for me before.
“I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. Even before you walked into my office today, I’d come to the conclusion that you are not like your father, any more than I am like mine. I cannot hold him against you any longer. As you haven’t held my father’s awful deeds to you against me.”
Hope entered his eyes and his lips twitched.
“I think I needed that gesture from you this morning. I needed to feel like I was most important to you. I know you love me, Alex. I feel it when you touch me. I hear it when you speak my name. I see it in the depths of your deep brown eyes when you look at me. Despite our fathers, their companies and all the lies, I have faith in you and me.”
Cara scooted closer to him on the sofa, her arms circling his neck. Her heart light with joy and a deep sense of right and wholeness, she brought her mouth to his and put everything she had into her kiss.
“Dios,” he whispered, lifting his hand to stroke her cheek after the kiss ended. His gaze roamed over her face as if memorizing it. “Do you know how much I love you, Cara?”
She smiled. “Yes, I think I do.”
“Multiply that by millions and you may be close.”
She leaned away from him and his devouring eyes. She was not through. She had one more thing to say and was determined to finish what she’d started.
“Twice now you have asked me to give you something. As Alex Santiago, you asked for my hand in marriage and then later, as Alejandro del Toro, you asked me to give you another chance. Both times we were surrounded by nature, at a place we both love. I couldn’t manage that tonight, but I can give you my answer to both questions.”
She lifted the silver lid on the dish laid out on the cocktail table.
A gasp rose from Alex’s throat as he eyed the decadent brownie smothered with perfectly ripe raspberries. Written in script with white frosting was one simple word. “Yes.”
The engagement ring she’d taken off months ago rested atop the raspberries.
Tears welled in Alex’s eyes for a moment and he took a swallow. Then he dropped onto one knee in front of her and plucked up the frosting-smudged ring. He wiped it carefully with his handkerchief, making it shine to brilliance again, and took a moment to stare into her ey
es. Cara’s emotions bubbled up as love and heat connected their gazes. “Cara, I am a lucky man for getting a second chance with you. I will not abuse that chance. I will always be a man you can count on. A man you can trust. I have said this before but never have I meant it more. I will spend my life making you happy. Marry me, Cara Windsor. Be my wife. Mother to our child. Be my new family.”
“Yes.” Cara nodded eagerly and put out her hand. Deftly, Alex slipped the ring on her finger. “It still fits,” she said, a tear slipping from her eye.
“We fit,” Alex said. He rose from his knee and then brought her up with him to stand together. “We were made for each other.”
His mouth found hers in a kiss that stole her breath and brought her unmeasured happiness. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking her close to his body.
“I have something for you, Cara,” he said tenderly. “We were to go to Claire’s Restaurant tonight. I reserved a corner table for just the two of us where we could speak quietly, but I am too eager to wait any longer.”
“What is it, Alex? You have already put my engagement ring back on my finger. What else could you possibly have for me?”
Alex stepped back and reached into his pocket. He came up with a simple black satin jeweler’s box in his hand. Her eyes touched on it before gazing at him.
THE TEXAS RENEGADE REURNS Page 16