Free Indiscretion by Hannah Fielding Page A

she felt compelled to set aside her mixed feelings in the face of such impertinence.
    Clearly aware of his tactlessness, the man bit his lip. They returned in silence, an intangible feeling of animosity establishing itself between them. Alexandra sensed that her rebuke had already made an enemy of him.
    Don Alonso de Falla was waiting for his daughter on a stone bench on the lawn at the front of the house. A broad smile lit up his face as she appeared and he rose, folding the newspaper he had been reading as he did so. Alexandra hurried towards him, thankful to put some distance between herself and the steward. Even though it had been only a few months since father and daughter had last spent time together in London, she was happy to see him again and was looking forward to getting to know him on his own turf. Hopefully, he would become an ally: someone who would help her acquaint herself not only with this newly found family but with a land that seemed so different to everything she had known until now.
    ‘My dear Alexandra, you’re here at last,’ Don Alonso declared, kissing his daughter warmly on each cheek. ‘You’re more beautiful than ever. Our Spanish sun agrees with you already, I can tell. Ah,good morning, Fernando,’ he said, addressing the steward who had come up behind Alexandra. ‘I see you have met my daughter.’
    Fernando Lopez nodded.
    ‘Have you shown her around the stables yet?’ Don Alonso asked and then beamed at Alexandra. ‘Are you still riding? Perhaps we can go out after breakfast.’ Without waiting for his daughter’s response, he nodded to the steward: ‘Would you ask Miguelto saddle up two horses? Prince for me, and Chiron for Doña Alexandra.’
    ‘Very well,’ replied Lopez, and he strolled off unhurriedly towards the stables.
    Don Alonso turned to his daughter and placed an affectionate hand on her hair. ‘As you walked up the drive just now, I thought I was seeing your mother again … the same large green eyes, you are like her in so many ways,
querida
.’
    Alexandra hugged her father. She could not help but smile at his obvious emotion on seeing her again. Riding would not have been her first choice of how to spend her first morning with him but she told herself she would find a way to get out of it later. ‘And now you are finally here at El Pavón …’ Don Alonso sat her down on the bench beside him. ‘I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see you with the family at last.’
    ‘Yes,
Papá
. And now that I’m here I’m also hoping to capture the whole flavour of Spain for my new book. Perhaps we could spend some time together and you could help me with my notes on Spanish culture?’
    ‘
Sí
,
sí
, I remember you told me in London you were writing about your homeland. That pleases me too,
querida
. What is it that Lord Byron said? “Oh, lovely Spain! renown’d, romantic land!” An Englishman, but impeccable taste nonetheless.’ Don Alonso grinned and took his daughter’s hand, patting it affectionately as they sat side by side, looking out across the lawn and colour-drenched gardens.
    Since he hadn’t answered her question directly, Alexandra gently persevered. ‘There’s much I’m sure you could show me in the local area that I couldn’t discover on my own.’
    ‘Mmm?’ Don Alonso turned to look at her and, as if carried off on some other thought, he smiled wistfully. ‘You know, I do wonder what it would have been like if your mother had remained in Andalucía and you had grown up here.’
    As Alexandra had often observed with her father during his stay in London, their conversation was going to be like trying to catch butterflies and so she quickly changed the subject.
    ‘How is your family?’ she asked tentatively. ‘Mercedes must be nearly eighteen now. I can’t wait to meet her.’
    ‘They’re your family too, my dear,’ Don Alonso replied. ‘I have told her so much about you and I’m sure she’s just as eager as you