Free Beverly Jenkins by Destiny's Surrender Page B

might be an option for some men, but not for him.
    “Would you like something else to eat or to sip on, Senora Ruiz?”
    “No.”
    He turned to the duenna, who he’d come to like very much. “How about you, Senora Martinez?”
    She shook her head.
    He bowed. “Then Rosaline and I will see to our guests and return shortly.”
    Senora Ruiz offered a terse acknowledgment and he squired Rosaline away, vividly aware of the hostile eyes boring into his back.
    L ater, Drew and Rosaline said their good-byes to their guests. The three-day celebration had come to an end and everyone would be returning home, if not that evening, then in the morning. On the day she arrived, Senora Ruiz made it clear that she and her contingent preferred not to be housed in Alanza’s home, so they’d been offered Logan’s home instead. He and Mariah and their year-old daughter, Maria, were back East visiting Mariah’s aunt. The arrangement worked perfectly because Alanza didn’t care for Emmalina Ruiz any more than Emmalina cared for Alanza.
    But before driving Rosaline and her mother back to Logan’s, Drew invited them to join him in the parlor. Alanza entered and took a seat as well.
    “What is this about?” Senora Ruiz asked suspiciously.
    “The business that took me away from the guests earlier this evening.”
    “The woman and the child?”
    “Yes. I’ll be honest. The child is mine. I had no idea he’d been born until he and his mother arrived this evening.”
    Rosaline looked stricken and her eyes, searching his, reflected shock. Her mother’s lips curled. “So, you’ve sired a bastard.”
    Alanza’s face tightened angrily.
    “The child is mine,” was his reply.
    “You father a bastard and expect my Rosaline to do what?” Emmalina demanded caustically to know.
    “That’s up to Rosa. I will tell you that none of this changes how I feel about her. The baby’s mother and I will work out an agreement as to his care because that is the honorable thing to do.”
    “Honor?” Emmalina Ruiz snorted angrily. “You talk to me of honor!”
    Drew wanted Rosaline to say something, anything. Instead she sat staring off into the distance, tears coursing down her cheeks. “Rosa?”
    “Don’t speak to him,” her mother warned angrily. “Don’t even look at him. The engagement is dissolved. There will be no wedding. Please make arrangements to get us back to your brother’s home and then to the station in the morning. You are never to come near her again.”
    His fury masked behind his manners, he inclined his agreement. “I’ll get the coach.” As he made his exit, the beautiful woman who until a few minutes ago had been his novia silently wept.
    I n the grim afterwards, Drew sat sprawled in a chair in the parlor while his silent mother looked on. He wondered how long it would take for him to get stinking drunk. He was broken and angry; angry at Billie and the baby, angry at Emmalina and his spineless novia , but mostly angry at himself for being so cavalier about sowing his oats he hadn’t spared a thought to what might occur if his chickens came home to roost. What a mess he’d made of things. He’d been unfair to Rosaline, thinking of her as spineless. Although he’d wanted her to push back against her mother’s authority she hadn’t been raised to do so. More than likely she’d never escape her mother’s rabid clutches now. Consuela opined that Rosa would learn a lot at the feet of his own mother, Alanza, but that would never come to be. He glanced over and saw sadness mirrored in her eyes.
    “Save your pity, Mama. It’s all my fault.”
    “I know, but I still feel your pain.”
    “Always count on family for the truth,” he replied with a bitter smile.
    “Glad you can smile.”
    “What’s the alternative?” In reality there was none.
    “Do you want me to let the family know the wedding is off?”
    “That’s probably something I should do. Not sure how though.” He could only imagine the gossip that