Chapter 13 Esmeralda
Esmeralda
Esmeralda shoved her mass of curls back from her eyes and glared around the picnic tables. “Are you sure it was him?” she asked the Sánchezes.
Camila nodded. “You said he was tall and had brown skin and a shorn head. And he had a ring with three black gems on his pinky finger.”
“Did you also say he was a real-life heartthrob? Because he is that,” Pilar added.
Esmeralda growled.
Camila smacked her sister on the arm. “You aren’t helping.” She gave a cheeky smile. “But you’re not wrong. He’s easy on the eyes.” The sisters giggled.
Bitter jealousy nipped at the edges of Esmeralda’s heart.
Stop that, she hissed to herself. You have nothing to be jealous about because you do not care about Ignacio Olivera.
But she had to admit, Ignacio was devastatingly beautiful.
If a person was into perfectly honeyed eyes, and perfectly soft lips, and perfectly perfect everything.
Ugh. She could scream. She hated him so very much.
She hated him for making her love him, for making her trust him enough to give herself to him completely, and for then leaving her in the dust.
Finally, she spotted him at the opposite end of the tent.
Her nose scrunched tight as if she were smelling a wet dog. Her fingers clenched around the fork she had dropped onto her tray. She should stake him through the heart. No. He doesn’t have one.
He was the worst sort of boy. One who lured a girl in with his tenderness only to then watch her crack when he was finished with her. Esmeralda wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he hurt her. She would be indifferent. She would pretend he was nothing and no one to her.
Leaving the fork where it lay, she pushed back her shoulders and brushed away the wrinkles on her loose skirts. With the wretchedness of losing half her savings, she hadn’t even thought to ready herself for the parade.
She wore no face paint and hadn’t properly brushed her hair, which was unfortunate.
Dolling herself up had always felt like putting on armor.
But she’d pretend she felt powerful all the same.
Plus, her blouse was draped low over one shoulder.
Ignacio had been a sucker for the curves her body held.
Since he’d abandoned her, her figure had become a thing of wonder.
She wasn’t above using it to snap the boy’s resolve.
“If you’ll excuse me, ladies,” she said to the Sánchezes. “I’m going to go kill this man…” The sisters gasped. “With kindness,” Esmeralda added.
She sauntered forward, trying her best to hold on to her nonchalance as the sisters’ giggles traveled after her. Her gaze met Ignacio’s. Crackling energy buzzed between them. He gulped, looking absolutely horrified.
As he should.
Someone spoke to him from a nearby table. He tore his eyes away from Esmeralda and turned to the right. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. His profile was worthy of a museum.
Stop that.
The rodeo girls tittered and winked at him. They asked him his name. He offered them a tight smile. Told them he was called Ignacio in a silky tone.
He was flirting. Right in front of her. Typical cake-eater. Well, she could return the favor. Let him see how it felt.
“Gabriel,” she said breathily the second she was close enough. She draped her arms around her friend’s shoulders and squeezed perhaps too aggressively. She kissed him on both cheeks. When she stepped back, she batted her lashes slowly and seductively. “There you are.”
Gabriel had the nerve to seem thoroughly repulsed. She kept her doe-eyed smile.
“I missed you this morning in my room,” she said, tapping the bill of his cap.
“Were we supposed to meet there?” Gabriel asked. “I thought you didn’t need me until after the parade.”
She bit down on her lip as coquettishly as she could. “You know I always need you.”
“If you say so.” Gabriel took off his hat and scratched at his greased-back curls. “Esmeralda, this is…” He huffed. “I’m sorry, I still don’t know your name.”
Ignacio started to speak, but she cut him off. “This is Ignacio,” she said.
Gabriel’s brows shot up. “The Ignacio?”
A sly grin tugged at Ignacio’s lips. “You’ve been talking about me,” he said in such a smug manner that the tips of her ears went hot.
Dammit, Gabriel.
“Not flatteringly,” she quipped. She held her composure and toyed with her hair. “Besides, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to tell my dear friend—I’m sorry, I meant lover—Gabriel about the time I pummeled a boy with a golden egg.”
Ignacio’s eyes flared. “You could have killed me.”
She snorted. “You have a thick skull.”
“You had me thrown in a jail cart.”
“I knew daddy would bail you out.”
“I could have been hanged!”
His voice had risen three octaves. The noise and gossip swirling around them suddenly stopped. Esmeralda couldn’t have this drama in her life. Not when she’d already been a disappointment to the ringmaster before she even competed in her first task for the Running.
She ripped the tray from Ignacio’s grasp and passed it to Gabriel. “Excuse us for a moment, love. I need to have a word with this pest in private.”
“Sure thing, sugar plum,” Gabriel said.
Now he gets what I was trying to do.
Clearly, she wasn’t with Gabriel in any fashion. He’d recently parted with the love of his life, Javier, when Javier’s time with the carnival was up. But they had plans to be together soon. Plus, she hadn’t felt that pull of attraction toward another soul since Ignacio the weasel crushed her heart.
She squeezed the weasel in question’s wrist and jerked him forward.
She led them away from the meal tent, down the back alley, and behind the ginormous metal cage that kept Estefan the ostrich from escaping and wreaking havoc.
The bird had quite an affinity for sequins.
And in a carnival full of costumed performers, letting him roam free simply wouldn’t do.
She released Ignacio with a shove.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped. She peered behind the cage. People lingered about. Someone might tell the ringmaster that the officer she’d gotten rid of was back. She lowered her tone. “Are you going to arrest me?”
“Arrest…” He shook his head and chuckled. “I nearly forgot you stole my badge.” His body tensed and the humor evaporated from his face. “The tin box—”
“Is in my possession.”
“You haven’t…Have you…” He gulped. “Did you open it?”
An incredulous laugh escaped her. “Do you think I have time to sit around and peek into your little mint box? I am in the Running to be the lead act of Carnival Fantástico. I have more important things to do with my life.”
“Like flirting with that boy,” he suggested.
She flung her hair back, revealing her neck and collarbone, her shoulder exposed. His eyes slipped over her skin and a gleeful, angry thrill ran through her. Ignacio had grown older and more muscular, but at least not everything had changed. He was still attracted to her.
“Flirting with lots of them, actually. But that is none of your concern. What you should be worried about is the fact that the ringmaster does not take kindly to officers in his carnival. I’ve already gotten myself into a pinch because of you.
So, whatever you’re up to, leave me out of it.
And if you think for a second you can come here and arrest me for skipping town before my indenture to your father was up, you’ve got another thing coming.
There isn’t a single chance in the king’s green—”
“I haven’t come here to arrest you, Dovie.”
A shock of pure heat bloomed over her cheeks at hearing that nickname.
“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.
He had the nerve to appear hurt.
“If you aren’t here to arrest me, then why are you following me like some lost pup?”
His jaw flexed. He crossed his arms. Arms that had become much more defined in their year apart.
Stop that, she reprimanded herself. You do not need to concern yourself with his arms.
“Have you ever thought that my being here has nothing to do with you?” he asked.
She scoffed haughtily. But her arrogance stalled. What if he wasn’t here for her? What if he couldn’t care less about her being here? That somehow felt worse.
“Then why are you here? Surely you aren’t at the carnival for a job.
Looks like you’re following in your daddy’s footsteps by becoming a law keeper.
” They’d had an argument about his future nearly twelve months ago to the day.
She’d never forget it because it was the day after his birthday, which was on the twenty-first of March.
And she only knew that because her birthday was three days after his.
Certainly not because she cared to remember anything about him.
“How little you know,” he said. “And you will continue to not know because you’ve lost those privileges.”
Her body blazed with fury. “I have lost those privileges? Ha! You have lost those privileges with me!”
“That’s not how this works, Dovie. You—”
She shoved her finger into his sturdy chest. “Do not call me that.”
“Esmeralda,” the ringmaster’s voice rang out.
She spun around, attempting to shield Ignacio’s hulking body from ángel Veracruz, but there was no use. Ignacio loomed over her like a clown on stilts.
This was it. The ringmaster was going to think she’d gone behind his back again. There was no doubt he would kick her out of the Running now.
“Senor Veracruz,” she said, smiling shakily. “I didn’t see you there.”
His curled mustache crept upward. “You were rather busy. And it’s ángel, remember?” He grinned and met Ignacio’s eyes. “I see you have found your long-lost friend.”
Esmeralda’s jaw dropped. “Pardon?”
The ringmaster chuckled. “The kid nearly lost his life trying to board my train. He said he was searching for someone.” He leaned forward and dramatically whispered in Esmeralda’s ear. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “A special sort of someone, if you understand my meaning.”
Ignacio had been lying. He was looking for her.
And he thought her special.