Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

mother…will all fall through.”
    “But how?” she asked, incredulous.
    “It’s in the codicils of my grandfather’s will,” he answered flatly. “Either I marry my match and we produce an heir by my thirty-second birthday, or the entire estate goes to the Catholic Church of La Esperanza del Corazón.”
    “No,” she said, fascinated and compelled at once.
    “Please, tell me that you’ll help,” he said, meeting her eyes. “My mother is a strong woman, it’s true, possibly as fierce as they come. But this ranch is her home. She buried my father here and longs to have her final resting place beside him.”
    Jess thought of her own mother and each of the struggles she’d endured as a single mom. As harsh as Señora Garcia de la Vega had come off during their lunch, Jess knew the woman was simply being protective of her only son. Jess frankly admired her for raising two children solo. She knew from her mother’s experience that task wasn’t easy. She didn’t know about Fernando’s sister, but the man himself had turned out decently enough. Perhaps better, in many ways, than she’d initially understood. While Fernando could be brash in business, there was a softer side to him she hadn’t been privy to until late last night. When he’d held her in his arms, he’d done so with a tenderness and a passion that no woman in her right mind could ignore. Jess had found it impossible to resist his advances, when—in truth—she ached for him just as desperately as he wanted her. It wasn’t just about sex; it was in the way he looked at her, in the way he promised that one thing she’d longed her entire lifetime to hear… And now there was another layer to him still, that of the caring and devoted son. Jess couldn’t help but find his commitment to family instantly appealing. Still, this notion was absurd. He couldn’t actually believe she’d consider it.
    “There has to be another way,” she said. “Couldn’t you buy the ranch for your mother yourself? You make good money in Madrid.”
    “Not that good.”
    “How good is that?”
    He studied at her sincerely. “This piece of land alone is worth over two billion dollars.”
    “Billion?”
    Fernando solemnly shook his head. “That’s a lot to spend on holy water.”
    “But our…marriage…was so incidental. Surely, you didn’t plan on that.”
    “No, it was an utter, and delightful, surprise,” he said with a warming smile. “In fact, it was the best birthday present I’ve ever had.”
    “Yesterday was your birthday?” she asked, intrigued.
    “Early birthday present,” he said, correcting himself. “My actual birthday’s still eight days away. I’ll be thirty-one.”
    Jess felt an instant flood of relief. “Well, then, you’re still good for another year!”
    He raised his brow at her. “Babies take nine months.”
    “Come on,” she said. “Since you didn’t bank on marrying me, you must have had a backup plan. What’s wrong with that?”
    Everything was wrong with that, as far as Fernando was concerned. He studied her a long while, her cheeks flushed in the early evening breeze. Though he’d always found her attractive, he’d never truly understood her beauty until now. Jessica was unlike anyone he’d ever known. She wasn’t just some pretty face. She was as smart as she was strong, he was betting even as strong as his mother. To date, he’d not met any other woman of that caliber, and it both fascinated and terrified him.
    The fact was, Fernando did have a backup plan—in the form of what most Americans called the little black book. He’d known for some time now that if the right woman didn’t come along on her own, he’d have to start taking serious measures by the time he turned thirty-one. It caused a knot in the pit of his stomach to think he’d likely have to settle. That was why he’d put the idea off, more and more over time. While there were plenty of eligible women who might fit the bill, Fernando deplored the thought of marrying someone for sheer convenience. Though he still held a fondness for some of his old girlfriends, it was hard to imagine fanning those flames into full-blown passion. Perhaps with effort and time, a deeper feeling might blossom over the years. But this was tough to believe when Fernando wasn’t even sure what type of emotion he was capable of. Up until last night, he didn’t think he had sentimentality in him. But when Jessica had turned those beautiful blue eyes toward