The Spanish Aristocrat's Woman Read Online Free PDF Page B

ended, everyone would think Gui hadn’t wanted her.
    “What? Is it true? ” Courtney asked, and for once Kara had no answers.
    Kara shook her head, unwilling to lie to her friend, but the truth…she really had no idea what it was at this moment. “I have no idea.”
    “Um…Kara, dear, you really should know if you have a fiancé.”
    “It’s complicated.” God, she had no idea how she was going to explain this. If she told her best friends that she wasn’t engaged and Gui had used her to make another woman jealous, they’d go after him. And if she said she was engaged…Heck, she wasn’t going to say that.
    “Explain complicated, ” Courtney said.
    “He and I may or may not be engaged. We’re going to discuss it later.”
    “Holy hell.”
    “Courtney!”
    “I think even Sister Rita Lynn would forgive me this once.”
    “What would Sister Rita Lynn forgive?” Katie asked as she and Emily joined them.
    “My saying holy hell. Kara here may or may not be engaged to the Count.”
    “Don’t call him that,” Katie said with a little laugh. “All I can think of is the count from Sesame Street. ”
    “That sexy man reminds you of the Count?” Courtney asked.
    “Enough, you two,” Emily said. “We need to focus on Kara and her fiancé. When did this happen?”
    Kara shook her head. This was the part that was going to sound really strange to her friends. “Today.”
    “The engagement happened today?” Courtney said. “Wow, I guess you really do know him.”
    “Gui is impetuous,” Kara said, having absolutely no idea if that was usually true or not.
    “Well if that’s the case then it’s only you that brings out that side of him,” Katie said.
    “What do you know about him?”
    She glanced around the ballroom then leaned in close to Kara. “See that woman over there—the beautiful one in the center of that group of men?”
    “Yes,” Kara said. Elvira. The one who’d shaken Gui and called him querido. “Who is she?”
    Katie glanced at Kara, and there was something in her gaze that warned Kara she might regret asking. “That’s the woman he’s rumored to have loved and lost. Elvira de Castillo y Perez…She’s married to Count Juan de Cuaron y Perez.”
    “De Cuaron? Is he related to Gui?” Kara asked.
    “They’re cousins by marriage,” Katie said. “Juan is related to the Enfanta of Spain—Gui’s sister-in-law.”
    “So what does that woman have to do with Kara?” Emily asked.
    “Yeah, so what if he loved her and lost her? Clearly that’s ancient history, right?” Courtney asked.
    “It happened over ten years ago. Apparently Elvira tried to use jealousy to force Gui to marry her and he refused, so she married Juan.”
    “Well, then there’s nothing to worry about there,” Kara said.
    “I wouldn’t say so. Rumors are all over the Spanish Court and practically every court in Europe about Elvira and Gui. Seems marriage didn’t stop them from continuing their affair,” Katie said.
    Katie worked for a European news network and was the host of a nightly celebrity show similar to the Ten Spot on E! She always knew the best gossip and usually was able to tell the truth from the rumors.
    “Really?” Kara asked.
    “That’s the rumor. The thing is, aside from Juan’s jealousy, no one else can substantiate anything about the alleged affair. His friends all say that Gui respects the bonds of marriage.”
    “That’s something,” Courtney said.
    “Yes, it is,” Kara agreed. But a part of her wondered if respecting the bonds of marriage was enough to keep Gui from the woman he’d loved and lost. Because she’d sensed there was more to him and Elvira than simply old friends when they’d talked on the dance floor.
    She turned with the crowd to watch Gui at the mike, offering the wedding toast along with Christos, charming the crowd. He was eloquent and a tad romantic without being patronizing. The kind of man she’d dreamed of finding.
    She glanced around the ballroom