Page 40 of The Bastard Heir (The Gilded West #2)

They were back on the boardwalk outside the office in the late afternoon sun a few minutes later.

Castillo found he didn’t quite know what to say to her and suspected that she felt the same.

Instead of speaking, he offered her his arm and they followed their families to the Baroness.

Tanner had booked rooms for the group since Carolina and her family would leave for Boston the next morning.

They had a meal together in the hotel’s dining room. Tanner ordered champagne and made a big fuss about toasts and the importance of families, and for a brief moment Castillo found himself believing him. If he forgot the past and the future, he could believe that Carolina was his wife in every way.

Caught up in the moment, Hunter swigged his champagne and pulled Emmy in for a kiss, and everyone laughed.

Their joy and obvious love for each other was easy to see.

Castillo laughed, too, and for the first time didn’t feel that pang of envy.

When he glanced at Carolina she was smiling, but she’d been watching him.

Her gaze dipped down to his mouth and a spark of heat leaped between them.

He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he didn’t know if that was what she wanted.

When the meal came to an end, Tanner not-so-subtly suggested they retire for the evening.

Castillo agreed because he was greedy to spend time alone with her before she left, no matter what the night would bring.

Castillo pushed the door of their suite open and followed her inside.

She was beautiful in a cream dress that hugged her figure and flared out softly in the back.

Its skirt was pulled up to reveal a matching underskirt that swished past her ankles.

Her back was straight and her shoulders squared, as if she, too, was suddenly uncertain and doing everything she could to hold that uncertainty at bay. She looked feminine and strong.

This was the first time they’d been alone since his proposal in the hallway and he didn’t quite know what to say to her.

She was his wife. The weight of that settled over him again, but it wasn’t suffocating.

It was warm and strangely comforting. He tried not to examine it too much.

After all, this wasn’t real. His life was finding Derringer, and then his life would be at the hacienda.

Hers was in Boston, somewhere there was no place for him.

They hadn’t spoken of what would happen after she graduated, but he had no right to expect her to come live with him.

Her trunk had been delivered earlier and she walked over to it as if to change her clothes, but stopped once she reached it, uncertainty had crept in.

“I’ll give you some time alone,” he said awkwardly, walking into the connected washroom and closing the door behind him.

The room was small, but serviceable, with gleaming white tile.

It was hot, so he shrugged out of his coat and waistcoat, and hung them on the hook on the back of the door.

As soon as he did, the weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying around left him and he leaned his palms on the cool porcelain of the sink.

This marriage felt real. Staring at his reflection in the small shaving mirror, he saw that his eyes were wide and unsure.

He’d stared down men holding him at gunpoint, but this woman who was now his wife scared him.

His wife. Something tightened deep in his gut as a vivid memory of her spread out on her bed flashed behind his eyes.

He could have her now, because she was his.

His stomach dipped at the thought of the night ahead.

Should he have offered her a room of her own?

Mierda. Turning the knob of the faucet, he splashed cold water on his face.

He had no right to expect anything to happen, and he didn’t.

He should’ve asked her if she wanted her own room.

Grabbing a towel from the stand, he dried his face and turned to go back to her.

He’d tell her she could stay and he’d go find another room.

Grabbing his clothes from the hook, he slung them over his arm and opened the door.

She sat on the velvet upholstered bench under the window, staring down at the ring he’d given her.

He paused to admire her, his gaze lingering on the delicate slope of her neck, but she looked up and caught him.

The soft light of dusk painted her in a warm glow.

She still wore the simple but beautiful cream dress she’d said had come from Emmy.

“I didn’t expect anything like this.” She smiled, holding up her hand so he could see the ring. “It’s too much.”

It was a delicate gold band with a ruby surrounded by small diamonds.

“My grandfather gave that to my grandmother on their wedding day nearly fifty years ago, and then it became my mother’s.

Now it’s yours.” He’d carried it around since his mother died, with the expectation that one day he’d find a woman to give it to.

But with everything that had happened with his grandfather, he’d begun to doubt that day would come.

“Oh.” She turned her hand around so she could look at it again. “I didn’t expect to get anything so precious from you. I hope you don’t feel obligated—”

“It’s not obligation, mi corazón. I want you to have it.

” He walked toward her, dropping his coat and waistcoat on the foot of the bed as he passed by.

Coming to a stop before her, he dropped down on his haunches and took her hand.

The ring looked perfect on her finger, and he couldn’t help the pride that welled up within him when he saw it. “It’s beautiful on you.”

“I’ll treasure it.” She gave him a shy smile and closed her fingers around his. “But…I want you to know that…” Her gaze skittered off to the side and she took a breath. “If you want it back some day, I’ll understand.”

Her words hit him like a knife in the chest, reminding him anew that this was just an arrangement.

They’d spoken the vows, but they hadn’t meant for them to be real.

He rose to his feet, but she didn’t release his hand.

His leather satchel with a change of clothes sat next to her trunk, mocking him.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly when we checked in downstairs, but the room is yours.

I can go and see if they have another room. ”

“No, Castillo, that’s not what I meant.” She tightened her grip on his hand. “Forgive me, I don’t know the rules. I only meant that if…” She laughed, releasing the tension that held her back rigid. “I don’t know what I mean. I’m nervous.”

Something about her anxiety relaxed him. Brushing a strand of golden hair from her cheek, he smiled back at her. “You don’t want your own room?” But he knew the answer without her even saying it. She sobered and her eyes darkened as her gaze dropped to his mouth.

His entire body tightened in response, heat prickled down his spine.

“No, I don’t want my own room.” She licked her lips and her gaze flicked to the bed and back. “I’d hoped that since we’re married now you’d want to….”