Spanish Lullaby Read Free Page A

London.
    Maybe even back to Spain eventually. His estates there needed his attention.

    * * * *
The soft singing held her mesmerized. The lyrics were in Spanish, so she didn't have the slightest idea of their meaning, but the underlying sadness to the haunting beauty of the song was spellbinding. Juliet stood by the window of her bedroom, one hand fisted in her nightdress as she listened to the voice fade away.
    The man had a lot of infernal nerve to dare to sound melancholy. She was the one left behind as he rode off to war, to possible death. No one forced him to go, he chose it, chose to leave her. It was more complicated than that in his mind, she knew—but when it came down to it, the simple truth was he'd chosen honor over love.
    And she had loved him. She'd always loved him from the moment her mother had brought her to Chedwick to live after her father's untimely death. She'd been four and Carlos eight, and in retrospect, he'd been pretty good-natured to let a little girl follow him around like an adoring puppy. When the time came for him to go off to school she'd been despondent, and his holidays home always a highlight. Naturally, as he'd grown older, he spent more time away from the estate—for any handsome titled young man with significant wealth London held more appeal than the countryside.
    Juliet had also gone off to school, so they'd rarely seen each other. She hadn't thought too much about it, as when their paths crossed, their relationship seemed to pick up where they'd last left it, so comfortable it felt like breathing. So easy. He would tease her, she would laugh and point out his myriad flaws, the banter familiar. They would go for morning rides together, reminisce over mutual childhood adventures ... in short, they were friends.
    It would be forever branded into her memory the day she'd realized her feelings for Carlos were not simple sisterly affection. She was sixteen, just old enough to be included in adult functions.
    Carlos had been home from university, and Lady Braxton, one of the guests at a dinner party, had most certainly noticed his presence. At a guess in her early thirties at the time, the woman in question was a raving beauty with auburn hair and aqua eyes, her voluptuous figure shown to advantage by a daring gown. Apparently Lady Braxton had an appreciation for handsome young Spaniards for she shamelessly flirted with Carlos the entire evening. Juliet had realized to her amazement she was extremely put out.
    Jealous, in fact. Very much so.
    Everything changed at that definitive moment.
    She began to notice ... certain things. The width of Carlos’ shoulders, the length of his lashes over those seductive dark eyes, the straight line of his nose, and most of all, the quicksilver charm of his smile. It was as if the fact he was male and she was female suddenly occurred to her and there was no possible way she could conceal completely the change in her attitude.
    "She's at that age, of course."
    "So is he. Carlos is well aware she's too young, don't misunderstand, not that he talks to me about it but he and Gerald have spoken. Notice he is careful to stay away as much as possible."
    "Avoiding temptation is best, I suppose. Next year she'll be seventeen and he'll be finished at Cambridge. I expect we'll see a great deal of him then."

    "Oh, my dear, from the way he looks at her, I would most definitely say you are right. I will be delighted, of course, to have Juliet as a daughter-in-law."
    The accidentally overheard conversation between her aunt and mother a few days after that fateful dinner had left Juliet open-mouthed with astonishment. They both seemed to think that Carlos would one day wish to marry her.
    Juliet straightened her shoulders, shaking off the ghosts of the past. It wasn't going to happen after all. She was going to marry Frederick Drake, who was good-looking, charming to a fault, and rich as well.
    The day Carlos told her he was going to join Wellington in Spain he'd