Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

Given that you may never go there again, I’d hate for you not to take full advantage of the trip.”
    “What are you suggesting?”
    “Only one thing.”
    She waited expectantly.
    “That before we go to the magistrate, you allow me to show you something.”
    “Like…?” she pressed.
    “Just something,” he said, holding firm.
    There was plenty he intended to show her. Given her devout nature, starting with the Cathedral of Seville. Then there’d be a long walk by the river. Perhaps a lazy lunch in the Barrio de Santa Cruz… Oh! He’d forgotten the Giralda, a lovely Moorish tower adjoining the Cathedral and once belonging to the ancient mosque that had previously stood in its place. There was also the Tower of Gold, the Archives of the Indies, the Royal Alcazar…
    “All right,” she agreed, “but how long will that take?”
    “That’s hard to say,” he offered. “Better pack an overnight bag.”

Chapter Nine

    Jess didn’t have a whole lot to put in an overnight bag. When she’d run off with Fernando to La Esperanza del Corazón, she’d left most of her things in the business apartment in Madrid. She’d been flying back and forth so frequently, the home office had set her up with a semipermanent spot. The neat little efficiency apartment was a short walk to Retiro Park and a block from the Prado, not that she often had time to take in the sights during her hurried business trips. There were so many meetings to attend, with principle players and corporate affiliates all vying for her attention. Global Financial Telecom was in the come home to papa business, and everyone in the industry knew it. Smaller entities absorbed by GFT were favored by a worldwide reach and saw their stock values double overnight. Jess didn’t really mind being in the takeover business when the other parties were all so eager to jump. Besides, she’d enjoyed the people she’d met, all of whom were intelligent and interesting. Only one had been devastatingly handsome, and had made her heart skip a beat each time he’d met her eyes with his piercing green gaze.
    While she never let on, the truth was that, over time, Jess increasingly looked forward to her little jaunts to Madrid. She and Fernando didn’t just converse, they verbally jousted. And she’d found herself more aroused, and her interest more piqued, by each sparring encounter. He just may have been trying to talk up his firm’s market price, but he did so in a way that Jess found unbearably enticing. She’d never seen a wedding band and had heard rumors on both sides of the Atlantic about the ultra-eligible man being single. Still, she never would have considered making a move. That simply wasn’t her. Besides, how messy that would be, becoming involved with a business colleague who lived an ocean away! Given her abysmal track record with men, anything more than a simple flirtation wasn’t worth the risk. Now, she was married. Married.
    Jess folded her cream-colored slacks in half and tucked them in her bag. Given the pitcher of sangria or two she’d downed in preparation, it seemed stunningly prescient that she’d packed a wardrobe exclusively in shades of white. She hadn’t known straightaway they were going to La Esperanza del Corazón to get hitched. Fernando had asked her only two questions. One, did she feel like doing something wild. And two, would she like to see where he came from. Both sounded unbelievably reckless and exciting. They left late-night voice mails to their respective offices saying Jess was touring the south with Fernando to evaluate some of his business holdings. In a way, that had been true, Jess decided, thinking of the vineyard.
    Why Fernando had whisked her into town and wanted to show her that little church courtyard in the middle of the night, she couldn’t anticipate. It seemed as if he hadn’t totally planned it either. Because his bumping into Father Domingo there had appeared a legitimate surprise. Not half an hour later, Fernando was asking her to marry him, and she’d be damned if, at that moment, it didn’t seem exactly right. He was so handsome standing there in the moonlight. And when he held her and made her promises… Jess felt her knees weaken at the memory of that very first time. She was glad she’d had the foresight to pack several nighties, two of which she tossed in her suitcase now.
    Jess stared down at the heap of clothes in her bag, thinking it didn’t precisely look like she was packing for