“No,” the cousins said in unison. What could Luz Elena possibly smell? Aside from Carolina’s lies?
“Neither of you wear perfume like this. This one is much more floral in nature.” She sniffed again, rather dramatically. “You don’t smell it?” She shuffled dangerously close to Nena’s bed.
“Oh, that! My dear soon-to-be sister-in-law let me try her perfume,” Carolina said, laughing and putting her arm around the nanny’s shoulders. “I think it is time I get dressed, no? I need to look my very best if I want to impress my new fiancé.”
Luz Elena harrumphed. “This is all very scandalous if you ask me. Sneaking away and speaking to a man without an escort. You’re a lady, señorita. Next thing we know, you two will be slipping lovers into your rooms.” She made a sign of protection over her chest.
“Dios forbid,” Nena said.
Carolina cleared her throat. “Yes, well, now we will set it torights.” She swept over to her bureau and thrust open the doors. “What shall I wear? Something bright to accentuate my skin tone? Something modest?”
Luz Elena grabbed the dress on the bench. Her callused fingers brushed the fabric. She harrumphed once more, but with a tone that said she was not so unpleased.
“Mr. Smith made this?”
“I believe he sent for it from the ciudad.”
A knowing smile appeared on Luz Elena’s face. “That makes more sense. That old rat couldn’t make something so lovely. I’d know.” She lifted it up.
There was absolutely no way Carolina could fit into such a thing. That is, if she wanted to breathe.
Luz Elena smiled. “This will do just fine. The green will be lovely on you. I don’t believe you have anything of this color.” She placed it on the bed and tapped her lips. She snapped her fingers. “Your mother’s emerald earrings. They will look exquisite with this.” She turned around. “I’ll be back in two minutes, señorita.”
The door opened and shut. Carolina ran toward her cousin’s bed. Together, she and Nena grasped Fernanda’s hand and heaved her up.
Fernanda was disheveled but had humor in her eyes. “That was brilliant.”
“Thank you.” She grabbed Fernanda’s gown and shoved it into the girl’s chest. “Put this on and fast. We have a dilemma. My family and I are getting ready to head to your house.”
Fernanda’s jaw dropped. “My house?”
“Sí. My family will be making a visit there this afternoon. Your brother should know. He was in the room beside me whenI ran into my mamá. Today’s storm will keep him protected from the sun, at least.”
Fernanda slipped into her gown, making jokes while Nena tied the laces tight. They grinned and giggled at each other. The heat of their flirtation was palpable.
“You are so vastly different from you brother,” Carolina blurted out.
“Because I’m fun and funny, and he is a stick in the mud?”
Precisely, but in an engaging sort of way that Carolina found she quite liked. She knew she should stop herself from liking anything about him. She shouldn’t let whatever feelings stirred inside her take shape because their predicament would never end well. Even if they somehow reversed the vampiro’s curse, they could never be together. They were so unalike. And she was certain he had no intention of continuing this charade of an engagement anyway.
“Can you climb?” Carolina asked, pointing toward the window.
Fernanda smirked. “I’ve been sneaking out of my home since I was fourteen.”
Carolina was further impressed.
She walked toward the shutters and thrust them open, blinking against the rain smattering her face.
“You can scale down the trellises,” she said. “The stables are not far off. The mare you came on is in the second stall to the right. There is a stable boy, Ramón. He will assist you. He’s very discreet, I assure you. We will meet you and your brother at your home in a few hours.”
Fernanda nodded, then pulled on one of Nena’s riding cloaks.She made to leave but stopped when Carolina asked, “Why have you stuck by his side? He’s…”
“A sediento?” Fernanda glanced over her shoulder at Carolina. “What would you do if the only family you had left in the world came home one day cursed and absolutely destroyed?”
Carolina felt like she’d been pierced with a knife in the gut at the mere thought. Her gaze flicked to her cousin. Nena was so silly and wild. What would she do if she’d been turned like Lalo?
The door to Carolina’s room flew open and in swept Luz Elena. “Here they are. They were in the vault, so I had to walk down all those blasted steps. But I was right, they will be lovely with this gown.”
