Santa Fe Fortune & How to Marry a Matador

assignment,” she told Eve as they stepped onto the sidewalk fanning the broad boulevard.
    “The next one may be even better. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get sent to Venice or something.”
    “I think I’ll steer clear of Venice in the summer.”
    “Some people!” Evie teased. “You’ve just become a big jet-setter and already you’re complaining about the perks.”
    But the main perk on Jess’s mind stood about six feet tall and had gorgeous green eyes. She’d never imagined during her initially maddening interactions with the Spaniard that she’d wind up falling in love with him. Wait one minute. Hold the phone. Did she just think love ?
    “Ouch! Watch what you’re doing?”
    “Huh?”
    “Earth to Jessica Bloom,” Evie cried. “You just dropped your whopping suitcase on my foot!”
    “Oh my gosh, Evie!” Jess said, pulling it off. “I don’t know what I was thinking!”
    But clearly she did. She was thinking, mighty hard, about the fact that her heart had just tumbled down about one hundred thousand green grass hills. Over and over again.
    “Evie,” she said, feeling her face flush. “What day is it?”
    “June tenth. Why?”
    Jess glanced at the boarding pass in her hand, then waved it manically in the air.
    “June tenth ? Are you serious?” she asked as the cab pulled up.
    “As serious as a heart attack, unless you’re about to have one for me. Which you look like you might do at any second.”
    Maybe her heart had stopped. It was kind of like getting hit upside the head, only being hit harder. The thing was, while it might have halted for a moment, it was beating briskly now. So rapidly she thought she’d faint from its overexertion. Jess didn’t need her mother to tell her or Evie to advise her or even Fernando to cajole her into something she already wanted to do. All Jess had to do was listen to that not-so-quiet inner voice that practically screamed at her not to get into that cab.
    The taxi driver reached for her bag, but she pulled it back.
    Evie raised her brow. “He just wants to put it in the trunk for you.”
    “I know,” Jess said quickly. “But I think I’ll need it.” And she was going to need a lot more. Her whole wardrobe, in fact. Plus, there were other things in Brooklyn. Perhaps Evie could send them, or maybe she and Fernando could fly back for the move. Move! Jess was moving to Spain!
    She stared at Evie with urgency. “Do you still have that express mail package?”
    “You’ve got it. In the large duffle. Remember?”
    Yes, it was all coming back in a whirl. She’d kept it completely intact, not bearing to break its seal. “Oh, right.”
    Jess unzipped her carry-on, telling the cabbie they’d just be a minute. “Here,” she said, shoving the merger paperwork at Evie. “Do be a dear and drop this off at my office.”
    “You’re not coming with me?” Evie asked, stunned.
    “I can’t. I’m still married…in the eyes of the church.”

    Fernando crossed himself devoutly, then stood from where he’d knelt before his father’s portrait in the study. He was fully dressed for battle for the first time in a decade, and he thrilled at the rapidity of his pulse coursing through his veins. To an outsider, this walk down memory lane may have seemed frivolous, but to Fernando it was deadly important.
    He had failed—and failed badly—at the first real thing in his life, capturing the heart of the lady he loved. That had made him feel more than inadequate; in many ways, it had left him believing he was less than a man. The cape had been the perfect gift. Gustavo knew him so well. While Fernando didn’t intend to return to the corrida, he still needed to prove something to himself. He needed to climb back in the ring and face the beast, most especially the raging animal that scraped about angrily inside of him.
    Fernando had left bullfighting for the love of a woman and now was forced to return for similar reasons. While he’d forgone uncertain dangers in deference to his mother, he needed to confront them now out of respect for himself. If he didn’t, Jessica’s memory would crush him for eternity. Fernando needed to prove himself stronger than that.
    Fernando scooped up the cape and held it in his broad hand, slicing it expertly through the air.
    “Going out?” Gustavo asked, appearing in the doorway.
    “I thought I would.”
    “Then, I’ll come and serve as your second.”
    A matador always needed a watchman, especially in practice sessions