His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (20 page)

She snorted. “Did you see the number of bags that were
delivered here? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was broke already. Ruiz told me
not to tell her, but I wonder if she already knows who I am?”

Jackie whistled. “You better hope not, or she’s going to be
a permanent guest here.”

The door knob jiggled several times then the door shook like
someone was trying to push it open. Melody got scared for a moment that it was
Antonio come to demand for the flash drive she was supposed to retrieve for him
when a voice she knew by heart cursed then ranted in Spanish. Ruiz rarely spoke
his native language and apparently he did so when he was drunk. He had to be
drunk not to remember he needed his keycard to open the door. She rushed to the
door and yanked it open and Ruiz followed it in, falling at her feet with a
curse.

“Damn door, I’m going to fire whoever built it!” he slurred
as he struggled to get on his feet.

Melody squatted, placing his arm over her shoulder before
she pulled him up with her. It took a few tries but she managed to get him on
his feet. Well barely on his feet because he leaned heavily on her.

“Ruiz, help me out here or we are both going to kiss the
ground!” she grumbled when he dropped his head on top of hers and weighed her
down more.

“
Tu quién es?
” he mumbled rubbing his
cheek on her hair like a content cat.

“Who am I? I’m your wife and you’re going to crush me to
death with your weight if you don’t help!” she whizzed as she struggled to
hoist his heavy mass straight on his feet.

“Wife?” he dragged his head down pushing her hair into her
face. “Ah, wife, you don’t have a face.”

She screamed inside her mouth then freed one hand for just a
moment to brush her hair back before grabbing hold of him again. “There, I have
a face now.”

He brought his face close to hers, his eyes narrowed as if
he was critically examining her before he leaned back and squeezed his eyes
shut and opened them in several major blinks. “Melody?”

“Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Now walk with me.” She pulled
him forward, but only his upper body moved while his legs remained stuck to the
ground.

“Melody, my Melody?”

She pulled him, dragging his feet forward half a step. “Yes
Ruiz now would you please walk? Just put one foot in front of the other.”

He pushed away from her, falling against the door. “
Traidor!
I’m not going anywhere with you! You betrayed me;
you’re not my wife. You are that toad’s wife!” he sneered, wavering on his
feet.

She reached for his hands, but he drew them away holding
them above his head and far out of her reach. “Ruiz, we’ll discuss that in the
morning, when you’re sober. Unless you want your mother to come out of her room
and see you like this, you’ll let me help you to your room.”

“No! I can get there just fine myself!”

“Oh for goodness sake! Don’t try to reason with him at his
state. Grab his coat and drag him there if you have too!”

Melody glared at Jackie. “It would be easier if you help!”

She shook her head. “I do babies, not drunk husbands.” She
chuckled. “It’s surprising how clear his speech is. If it wasn’t for the
staggering I wouldn’t be able to tell his sloshed out of his mind.”

Melody grabbed his jacket and pulled him forward. He put up
a fight until he missed his step and fell forward right into Melody. She
steadied herself, not an easy feat under Ruiz’s weight, and then turned around
so that he was leaning on her back.

“Okay, just one step at a time. It’s just a few feet to your
room,” she heaved as she moved praying she won’t land on her face with his
enormous weight on her.

“Why? Why did you betray me with
him
?”

The pain in his voice made her stop. He was hurting and it
was all her fault. “Ruiz, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“But you did. Let me go.” He tried to pull away but she held
onto his jacket.

“That will never happen. I love you too much to do so.”

The room fell silent and she stood there close to collapsing
waiting to see what his response to that would be. She guessed it wouldn’t be
good considering how many times she said it before she hurt him.

“I don’t believe you.” His voice solemn. “Let me go, I can
get to my room on my own.”

“Ruiz—”

“Do it, honey. He’s sobered enough to walk the few feet
there,” Jackie said sympathetically.

Reluctantly Melody let him go and though he staggered a bit,
he made it to his room without a glance back, closing his door with a
resounding thud.

Melody was left there again, staring at the closed door and
wondering if it meant something, something she couldn’t bear to imagine. She
felt Jackie’s arms wrap around her from behind and she covered them with her
own.

“Nanny…” she wept.

“Shh, don’t cry. We’ll fix this in the morning. Come on,
let’s go to bed.”

Melody followed Jackie as she led her to her room. She
tucked Melody into bed before she went to her own room promising everything
would be better in the morning. But Melody wasn’t deluded enough to believe
that. The sun rising would have no impact on her relationship with Ruiz. It
would be just another day of being ignored only made worse with Clarissa’s
presence. Unable to sleep, she checked on Esme who slept with little care in
the world, turned on the baby monitor and carried the receiver as she quietly
slipped out of the room and headed straight to Ruiz across from hers, separated
by the living room. She stood at the door for one unsure moment before she let
herself in.

Ruiz was face down on the bed, fully clothed including his
shoes. She smiled at how ridiculous he looked. One day, when they were on good
terms again, she would remind him of this night and mercilessly make fun of
him. One day. She placed the baby monitor receiver on the other side of the
bed, far from him, then went to where he was and began to undress him. First
she pulled off his boots then she climbed on to the bed and rolled him to his
back so that she could get the belt. She undid it, along with his pants zipper
and yanked his jeans down his legs and left him with just his boxers. Thank God
they weren’t tight or the joggling from the pulling would have woken him and
she would have a lot to explain. When that was done, she moved to the head of
the bed, placed his head on her lap and began pulling his jacket off. That was
a task that broke a sweat, but his button down shirt was easier to remove. She
took a moment to admire his washboard abs and hard pecs. It was just a few days
ago she was laying on his chest, touching and kissing him to her heart’s
content. Now, she wasn’t even sure she had the right to look at him.

 
She rolled him
just enough to pull the bed covers down then covered him, tacking him in like
she would Esme. She sat there and watched him for a few minutes, debating
whether or not to leave. After all, she had no right to be there and if he woke
up and found her there, he wouldn’t hesitate to kick her out. But that was
worth a risk just to feel him next to her again. Decided, she climbed into bed
next to him keeping her distance at first before she gave in to her need for
contact and tacked herself into his side, placing his arm over her waist. She
watched his face to see if being this close would wake him, but he kept
sleeping, his chest rising and falling with each deep breath. She placed her
head on his shoulder and closed her eyes hoping against all hope that Jackie
was right that tomorrow would bring a new and better day.

* * * *

Ruiz cursed himself as he strolled to his makeshift office.
He should never have gotten sloshed, especially if he wanted enough done so
that he could leave this place. Losing a day would only increase his sentence
to misery by a day, especially now that his mother had apparently moved in.
When he woke up and found her having breakfast in the dining area he’d almost
lost his head—what was left of it anyway. He told her in no uncertain terms he
wanted her gone by the time he came back and she responded by declaring that
she was a guest of Melody Sinclair. That set off enough bells, that she knew
Melody’s maiden name. He just hoped Melody didn’t volunteer that information
because if she did, they were never getting rid of the woman.

 
He left her
there, hoping that Jackie would be able to handle her as he went to track down
Melody and have her boot her guest out before their lives got more complicated
than it already was. What he didn’t expect was to find her in his office with
Jon Luc bent over the desk as they discussed.

“What are you doing here?”

 
They both looked
up at him. Jon Luc sniggered shaking his head and Melody just smiled tenderly
at him.

“Good morning,” she said moving to the breakfast cart and
picking a glass of water and a saucer before she walked to him. “Here you go.”

With a raised brow he asked, “What’s this?”

“Arsenic,” she responded with a smile. “It will kill the
headache.”

Jon Luc laughed behind them and Ruiz couldn’t help the smile
that commanded his lips. He took the pills on the saucer and washed them down
with water.

“Thanks,” he said handing her back the glass.

“You’re welcome.” She turned away from him and returned them
to the cart. She poured what smelled like strong black coffee into a cup and
returned to him. “This will kill your usual grumpiness.”

He took the cup from her. “Ha ha, very funny. What were you
two talking about?”

“Oh, nothing much.” She began walking back to the desk.
“Just looking over the general managers applications, figures for the new
furniture, my nonexistent second husband and fake second marriage.”

Ruiz wasn’t sure if he heard right, but the smiles on both
their faces told him he probably did. “Would you repeat that please—the last
part.”

“Antonio Otorin and I never married. It was all fake, like
the night I supposedly slept with him. I should have known that leech would do
anything to get what he wanted!” she hissed in response.

Ruiz turned to Jon Luc. “Explain?”

Jon Luc stepped around the desk to come stand next to Ruiz.
“Just like she said. I couldn’t find any documentation pertaining to Melody and
Antonio’s marriage. The ceremony, the judge who performed it, it was all fake.
How he managed to pull that off in a court house has me stunned.”

Ruiz’s head span. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the
news or his hangover. He drank the coffee deeply then stopped and took a moment
to see if his head had stopped spinning. It had, but he still completely
confused so he drank the rest down just to be sure his mind wasn’t alcohol
impaired.

 
He placed the
cup down on the desk and looked at Jon Luc. “I’m moving a bit slow today so
would you please say that again.”

Jon Luc laughed. “Okay, pay attention. Melody’s second
marriage was faked from beginning to end. Pay real attention to this part,
Antonio Otorin doesn’t exist, anywhere. I even had my friend at Interpol help
and they couldn’t find a record of him anywhere. I mentioned that he could be
Italian and there must be some travel details of him and they couldn’t find
anything on that either. You were right from the very beginning. Something
isn’t right with that guy.”

Ruiz stood there and let everything Jon Luc said sink into
his mind. Antonio Otorin wasn’t who he said he was, so who the hell was he and
what did he want with Melody?

“Ruiz, maybe you should sit down.”

He looked down at his left and saw Melody standing there,
his hand in hers, staring up at him with worry in her eyes. Yeah, she had
something to worry about but it wasn’t him.

He shook his head. “I’d rather remain standing, I think
better standing.”

She nodded clearly still worried. “Okay. Do you want more
coffee?”

“You invited my mother to stay?” he blurted out and it
shocked the others just like it did him that he’d changed the subject. He
didn’t mean to, that’s just what he was thinking about when they dropped this
massive bomb on him.

“Well, ahm, she’s your mother. I didn’t invite her I just
told her she should have some breakfast before she left. I didn’t think she’d
translate that to please move in.”

He nodded, rubbing his hand over his face with his free hand.
“Yeah, she does that. Just don’t invite her to lunch or dinner. In fact, go
tell her she needs to leave before she gets a chance to do what she really came
here for.”

“Sure, ah Ruiz, didn’t you understand what Jon Luc just
said?”

He chuckled exhaustedly. “I understood alright. I’m just
trying to wrap my whiskey soaked brain around it.”

“Did you understand what I said before then?”

He turned to her. “Melody, I am in no condition to play
guessing games. You’ll have to spell it out for me.”

She let go of his hand and stepped back averting her eyes.
That was a clear sign of more trouble to come. Ruiz chuckled bitterly and moved
to his seat next to the desk. “Maybe I should sit down.” After he was sited he
looked at her, watched her as she nervously wrung her fingers and chewed on her
bottom lip. He steeled himself and said, “Lay it on me.”

“That day, that I ah, that I came in with Antonio to the
suite, remember that day?”

Ruiz didn’t bother responding. How could he forget the day
she came in bloodied and bruised with her second husband right behind her,
proud to take responsibility for it? So he just stared at her and waited.

“You see, that’s the day he told me he and I—me and him, we
ah, we never…you know.”

“Slept together?” he finished for her, counting to one
hundred in his head.

“Yeah, that. So you see he isn’t—”

“The guy you slept with that night?” he growled. “You mean
to tell me you have no idea who knocked you up?”