Chapter 10
Dinner that evening was a wonderful affair. There was a great deal of laughter as the six of them talked and joked, discussed politics and business adventures. Astra wasn’t sure if the slight tension around the table was caused by herself and Antonio, or because of Macie’s sporadic glares at Edward. The duke seemed oblivious to Macie’s tension.
Or maybe Edward was stealthily creating the tension, she wondered when she watched an odd hand gesture under the table.
Interesting, Astra thought as she sipped her ice water. It was a relief to have her pregnancy out in the open now. It had been difficult to justify not drinking alcohol when everyone knew that she enjoyed a glass of wine at the end of the day.
In a nod to the old-fashioned rules, Astra, Macie, and Bailey stepped away from the dining room. Not to allow the men time to smoke their cigars, but because Bailey and Astra desperately wanted to quiz Macie about Edward.
However, as soon as they stepped into the great room, Bailey sidetracked the conversation. “I love the feathers up there over the mantle,” she said with a laugh as she flopped onto the green velvet sofa. “So much better than that horrible thing that used to hang there.”
Macie blinked at Bailey, but since she hadn’t been in the friend group for very long, she lowered herself into one of the matching green velvet chairs while Astra asked the question. “Could you give us the scoop on that feather thing? We’ve wondered about that since we arrived, but neither of us had the courage to ask about it.” She looked around, then leaned forward to whisper, “Plus, the staff here don’t like to share secrets!”
Bailey laughed and sat up, carefully balancing her glass of excellent sangria. “Well, I don’t know all of it, but when I visited here right after Antonio’s father was arrested, things were significantly different.” She smoothed her hand over the velvet. “First of all, most of the furniture was painfully uncomfortable except for one chair in each room. That was the chair which ‘his highness’ perched his self-righteous derriere upon.”
“Ricardo? The current Marquesso?” Macie clarified.
“One and the same,” Bailey confirmed. “If only half of the stories Matteo told me are true, the man was a horrifically abusive bastard who should have been arrested for child abuse years ago. However, it wasn’t until Antonio provided the evidence to the Spanish authorities that the father was finally brought to justice, and thank goodness for that!”
“I’ve heard mutterings, and everyone tells me how much better things are now that Antonio is living at the castle instead of his father, but no one tells me why things are better. I’m in the dark about the past, other than the dungeon thing, which was pretty warped, if you ask me.”
“What dungeon thing?” Macie asked curiously, sitting a bit straighter.
Bailey turned and grimaced. “Their father was such a pathetic bastard that he’d have Antonio locked in the dungeon for days at a time without food or water for even the smallest infractions,” she whispered.
Macie gasped, then looked to Astra for confirmation. “No!”
“Yep,” Astra nodded. “Antonio has mentioned that.” Then she pointed to the feather over the mantle. “And that?”
Bailey shivered. “It used to be a leather whip,” she replied flatly. The words were so terrifying, so…horrific, that no one spoke for long moments.
Astra remembered feeling the scars on Antonio’s back and her heart melted even as her stomach churned with fury over what that monster did to the man she…loved?
No, surely not love! She didn’t know Antonio well enough to love him!
“I can’t imagine whipping a child!” Macie whispered, lowering her eyes to her glass. She shook her head. “If that man ever comes back here, then I’ll….?” She didn’t finish the statement since she didn’t have a threat dire enough.
“He’s going to sell it,” Bailey told them.
Astra looked up, startled by the abrupt words. “Sell what?”
Bailey gestured to the large room with her hand. “The castle. Everything in it. He’s going to sell it. He’s already spoken to Matteo, who gave his blessing. Matteo doesn’t want anything to do with the place either. Too many bad memories.”
“I can imagine,” Astra whispered, feeling her throat tighten with so many emotions that she couldn’t distinguish one from the other. Now that Bailey brought it up, Astra remembered Antonio telling her about his intentions. She’d pushed them out of her mind, unable to grasp how someone could want to sell such a magnificent structure.
“On a positive note,” Macie piped up, “dinner was unexpectedly delicious! What happened? Did Eldora have an epiphany or something?”
Astra laughed, then explained to Bailey how the food had been barely edible for the past week. They’d been existing on protein bars and pub food.
“Yes, but the real question,” Bailey asked as she turned to Macie, “has Astra made any cookies?”
Macie pretended to gag, shaking her head. “No! Thank goodness! She’s been too busy with the events down in the village to do any baking!”
“Hey!” Astra argued. “I’m getting better, right?”
Both ladies laughed, shaking their heads. “Not even slightly!” Macie replied, but her voice was filled with compassion.
“Remember those oatmeal raisin cookies?” Bailey prompted. “They were like rocks!”
“The black ones?” Macie laughed and shuddered. “I had to test out her peanut butter cookies. She’d accidentally put salt into the mix instead of sugar. She even topped the cookies with salt!”
“Oh my gosh!” Bailey gasped, laughing so hard, she put a hand to her stomach. “I’m so glad I wasn’t around for those!”
“Hey!” Astra replied with a mock glare, “it was an honest mistake!”
Which only made the others laugh harder. When the men stepped into the room, it was to find the women regaling each other about their own baking or culinary catastrophes, easing Astra’s wounded pride at her baking debacles.
Matteo sat down beside his wife, then picked her up and set her down on his lap. “Did you tell them about my last birthday cake?” he asked, nibbling at her neck.
“No!” she gasped. She turned to the others, pushing Matteo’s nibbling mouth away from her neck. “Matteo’s favorite flavor is lemon. So I got a lemon cake and thought to make it extra moist by adding lemon syrup right after it finished baking. Then I put the cake together with lemon curd for the filling.”
“And?” he teased, kissing her hand.
She looked at him, love in her eyes, then continued. “And lemon sherbet. I think it was the lemon sherbet that made the cake topple.”
“Tell them how you fixed the cake, my love.”
She rolled her eyes, but leaned against his chest. “The cake was higher on one side than the other, so I just…added some…flowers.”
Matteo looked at the others, laughter in his eyes as he said, “She was hoping no one would noticed that the cake was lopsided.”
She gasped and playfully batted at his shoulder. “It wasn’t that I was hoping no one would notice,” she argued. “I was just…trying for a certain aesthetic.”
“Tell them what kind of flowers you put on top.”
Everyone was already laughing, but they held their breath for the next part. “They won’t understand.”
He chuckled, then grabbed both of her wrists when she tried to cover his mouth to stop him from telling the rest of the story. “She topped the cake with foxglove flowers.”
Macie and Astra gasped, both covering their mouths as they stared at Bailey in shock. “You didn’t!”
Edward was still chuckling, but he gave the group a confused glance. “What’s wrong with foxglove?”
Astra turned to the handsome duke and explained. “Foxglove is in the digitalis family. It’s highly toxic and is used to make a very strong heart medicine.”
Edward looked over at Bailey, then threw his head back, laughing at the idea of putting a lethal flower on top of a birthday cake. Everyone was laughing, delighted with the story and Astra was relieved that her baking mistakes weren’t the worst of the night.
When Astra couldn’t hold back her yawns any longer, Antonio stood up, interrupting another humorous story and took her hands. “Time for bed,” he announced. He turned to the others and said, “If you need anything, you’re on your own.” Then he turned and led Astra out of the great room and up the stairs.
Although Astra was grateful for the escape, because she was seriously tired, the tension seemed to sizzle as they walked out of the room and up the stone steps to the second level. Astra was painfully conscious of Antonio beside her, his big, muscular body so close. She ached to touch him, to feel the warmth of him again. But she also knew that Antonio was completely off limits.
Which was a good thing. Right?
Yes, definitely good. She needed to ignore that awareness and focus on getting a good night’s sleep. She had several errands to run tomorrow to be ready for the graffiti art contest. Sleep was the top priority now.
And yet, Astra didn’t turn. In fact, she wanted to let her fingers slide over his chest.
No! Absolutely no staying and definitely no finger sliding on anyone’s chest! Astra didn’t have time to experience the magic of Antonio’s kisses tonight.
Still…! Her breath caught as she remembered his intoxicating kisses. And all of the places he’d kissed her!
Astra forced her feet to turn and walk away.
At her bedroom door, she paused, her heart racing. When she looked up at him she noticed that he’d removed his tie and released several of the buttons on his shirt, exposing a part of his tanned chest and a spattering of the dark hair.
Astra licked her lips, her mind racing with possibilities. She wanted to release more of the buttons and explore the man, but…she couldn’t. She wasn’t his lover. She was simply the mother of their child.
“Are you okay?” Antonio asked, releasing the buttons on the cuffs of his white dress shirt.
Was she? No, Astra definitely wasn’t okay. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones that were making her crazy, but with every inch of skin he revealed, Astra was definitely not okay.
Mentally shaking herself, Astra forced her lips to speak, hopefully to disrupt the crazy thoughts running through her mind. “Dinner was much better tonight,” she stated, trying to break the awkward silence. “I wonder what prompted the improved culinary offerings from Eldora tonight.”
“I don’t know,” he replied, his voice husky. “Will you go for a walk with me tomorrow morning? We need to talk.”
Astra thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. That would be good. What time?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to upset your schedule. So, when would work best for you?”
Biting her lip, she tried to remember her schedule. “I’m meeting with several of the village ladies tomorrow to discuss starting book clubs. You’re buying the books, by the way.” She grinned up at him, but the expression was short lived. “Until the library is refurbished. Apparently, there were a ton of books that were thrown out over the past several years.”
He nodded, compressing his lips in disgust. “I’ll ask my assistant to start ordering assortments of books to restock the library. And I would be delighted to supply the books for however many book clubs you can initiate.”
What an incredibly generous man, Astra thought, her heart beating faster at his munificence. “Thank you. The ladies are the only ones interested in a book club at the moment, but I thought it might be a good idea to start a World War II book club to spark some interest in the men.” She peered up at him, unaware of how her lashes fluttered invitingly. “And maybe a bit of Spanish history?”
He nodded sharply, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “I know several men who would enjoy that,” he told her. “Thank you for thinking of it.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Would you be interested in joining that kind of book club?” she asked. Before he could reject her idea, she continued, “It might help bring the men together. They tend to be the crankier members of the village. I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that they endured more abuse under your father’s tyranny than the women and children.”
He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. I guess I could sit in on the first few book meetings, just to get the ball rolling.”
Her smile brightened and she bounced slightly. “Thank you.”
“Anything else?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Nothing that I can think of right now.” Then she smothered another yawn.
He smiled gently, reaching out to touch her cheek. “Go to sleep, Astra. We’ll talk in the morning.” Then he leaned in and kissed her. Automatically, Astra lifted her face to accept his kiss. When he pulled back afterward, there was a long moment of stunned silence as they stared into each other’s eyes.
A noise at the bottom of the stairs shattered the mounting tension. The others were coming up the stairs, laughing and chattering cheerfully. Astra immediately turned and pushed against the door, relieved when it opened for her. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, wondering why he’d kissed her. And why she’d kissed him back.
It was just a soft, sweet kiss…nothing intense. Thoughtfully, Astra lifted her fingers, pressing them against her still tingling lips.
She stared at the closed door, desperately wanting to call Antonio back for another kiss. Just one more? It could be an experiment! Just to test the waters and see if… the attraction between them was still there?
The commotion in the hallway stopped her from jerking the door open and finding Antonio’s room. The possibility of rejection also kept her still as she listened to the laughter that slowly faded away as everyone found their rooms.
With a sigh of frustration, Astra turned, heading into the bathroom. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and pulled on the nightshirt that she slept in. After slipping between the silky soft sheets, she turned out the light and stared up at the ceiling. It was only then that she remembered she shouldn’t sleep on her back and, in frustration, she growled and rolled onto her side.
She sighed and patted her swelling stomach. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she whispered. “Whatever it takes to keep you safe and healthy.”
Antonio paced his room, running his hands through his hair in frustration. That kiss. Astra hadn’t pulled away from his touch or his kiss. Just the opposite! She’d actually stepped closer, her lips trembling under his.
What did that mean? His mind kept flipping back to her absence the morning after. She’d left him that morning…and then ignored all of his attempts to contact her afterward.
With a muttered curse, he got ready for bed, but he couldn’t stop the thoughts rambling through his head. Had he misinterpreted her oddly timed phone calls?
With a sigh, he whipped the sheet and blanket down, punching the pillow as he tried to clear his head enough to fall asleep. But the image of Astra, ripe and soft with their child kept flitting through his mind. A baby! He was going to be a father!