in the past, she'd suspected she was the one lacking the vital element rather than Craig, and he'd said so in their last angry conversation.
Now Rafael had captured her attention as no man ever had, and while she would enjoy dancing with him, the question was how to behave when the music stopped. He couldn't press her for more than she wished to give and risk alienating her father. But still, agreeing to go out with him had to have been a mistake in the first place. Maybe she should take the twins along, and Fox too, and everyone else she could find in the household willing to go.
She wiggled her toes. The bathroom's dolphin fixtures were undoubtedly real gold. The walls were sea-foam green, as was her spacious bedroom. The twins shared the room next door. David Hyde-Fox slept somewhere down the hall, and she assumed Santos must have a room there too. Santos wouldn't be pleased she'd accepted Rafael's invitation, but she hadn't seen him again that day, so perhaps he wouldn't have to know. Then again, she wasn't a teenager sneaking out to meet a boyfriend her parents had forbidden her to see, not that she'd ever done it.
She was also not so na?ve as to believe Rafael's motives were pure either. He admired her father and could be courting the whole family, for all she knew. She wondered what her grandmother and aunt thought of him. When neither of them had made her feel welcome, she imagined they must look right through Rafael without seeing him. Santos had plenty of reasons for disliking him, and Fox didn't appear to like anyone. But her father liked Rafael, and this was his home, after all.
The bathroom's marble floor was heated and the white towels thicker than birthday-cake frosting. She wondered if the twins noticed or if they'd always lived such a lavish lifestyle with their mother that their father's home struck them as merely ordinary.
She kept her towel tightly wrapped while she searched her wardrobe for something appropriate for both dinner and dancing. She'd packed the separates she wore to teach, and while they mixed and matched in numerous combinations, nothing struck her as fancy enough for her grandmother's taste or dancing. She wouldn't go shopping for something new when she'd soon leave for home.
She donned red lingerie for courage and a black sundress with a sheer black jacket. She was dressed, at least, and started down the hall for the front stairs but heard a woman weeping outside her father's door.
She rushed to her. "What's happened?" she whispered, fearing her father might have taken a turn for the worse.
The young woman was tall and slender with beautiful peach-toned skin and huge green eyes. The soft curls of her honey-blonde hair bounced past her narrow waist. She was dressed in beige pants and a matching tailored top as though she wished to pass by in a caramel blur, but Maggie was sure the remarkable young woman could never escape anyone's notice.
She quickly dried her tears on the back of her hand and straightened up. "I'm sorry. I thought I could visit Miguel without making a fool of myself. You must be Magdalena."
"Yes. Would you like to come downstairs and have something to drink? Miss...?"
"No, but thank you. I'm Ana Santillan, one of your father's former favorites. There are so many of us, I'm surprised we haven't worn out the carpet with our visits. Forgive me; I shouldn't have said that."
Maggie recognized her now. "You're even prettier than you are on magazine covers. Please don't apologize. I know my father hasn't led an exemplary life."
"Oh, but he has, only it hasn't been the type of example most would admire." She shifted her tooled leather bag on her shoulder. "Be careful with Santos. He's falling in love with you."
Maggie was too stunned to reply and watched silently as Ana hurried toward the back staircase. She'd only arrived yesterday, so what could Santos possibly have said to give Ana such a ridiculous notion, and when had he done it? Did her father pass along his girlfriends to Santos when he tired of them? Even worse, until he'd fallen ill, did they share the same women? Surely fathers didn't become involved in a menage a trois with their sons. Unfortunately, with Miguel, she couldn't be certain.
Santos didn't appear for dinner, but Fox joined them. He was dressed in a gray suit with a red tie, but his scowl marred his handsome appearance.