Chapter 4

Mason towed Alyssa into the sea of bodies. One person after another rushed toward him. They embraced him with tears in their eyes. They gabbled in Spanish and English. Alyssa couldn’t understand them over the noise even when they spoke English.

Mason motioned toward her, but no one paid any attention to her. He broke away from the conversation to shout into her ear. “Get yourself something to eat and find a table. I’ll find you later.”

In an instant, he vanished into the crowd. Okay. Get yourself something to eat and find a table. She could handle that. At least no one was trying to talk to her.

She filled a plate with roast chicken and steak and stir-fry. Finding a free seat at one of the tables presented a whole new challenge. Eventually, she spotted an empty seat. Four other people sat at the table, and they all talked to each other. Here goes nothing. She couldn’t remain invisible forever.

She sat down and ate a forkful of chicken. For a few blessed moments, the others continued their conversation in rapid Spanish. Half the people she saw around here could be regular Americans. The other half looked Mexican.

The woman to her left aimed her hawk eyes at Alyssa. Her straight black hair hung to her shoulders with the bangs pinned back, but she spoke English with no accent. “Hi there. What relation are you to the family?”

Alyssa swallowed hard. “I’m Alyssa Channing. I’m Ma….I’m Miguel’s wife.”

The woman couldn’t be more surprised if Alyssa slapped her across the face. “Miguel’s wife! Really? You don’t know how long we’ve all waited to meet you.”

Alyssa mumbled into her plate. “Here I am. It’s wonderful to meet his family, too…at last.”

The woman stuck out her hand. “I’m Tina. My full name is Christina, but everybody calls me Tina. I’m Miguel’s older sister. We’ve heard so much about you all these years. When did you get in?”

Alyssa blushed. This woman’s attention embarrassed her. “Thank you. Yes, we just got in today. Yes, it’s beautiful. I love it. We went for a walk on the beach earlier. That’s all I’ve seen of the place.”

Tina pressed her arm. “I’ll show you all around. There’s so much to do here, and it’s all paid for. Miguel paid for the whole resort for this reunion. It was all his idea.”

Alyssa pricked up her ears. So he planned the whole thing, did he? Why would he do that if he knew he’d have to find a pretend wife? How many prospective pretend wives did he interview before he came up with the idea of asking her?

A creeping sensation infected Alyssa’s heart. What if he came up with this whole elaborate event, just for a reasonable pretext to ask her out? What if he wanted to get her alone in a luxury hotel room, and he paid for this family reunion to do it?

That was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Who in their right mind would do a wild thing like that? Certainly not Mason Harwick, the most notorious playboy on the block. He wouldn’t go to so much trouble to ask a girl out when he could have any woman he shot his winning smile at.

Alyssa became aware of Tina talking to her. “Tell me all about your place in Manhattan. I travel to New York for work every six months or so, and I’ve asked Miguel if I could come to visit. He always finds some way to be too busy to let me see his place. He always insists we go out for lunch or something.”

Alyssa thought fast. “I can understand that. He’s always busy. Most of the time, he’s too busy to take me out to lunch.”

Tina shook her head. “You shouldn’t put up with it. You deserve better. These Mexican men think the world revolves around them and their precious projects.”

Alyssa couldn’t help but smile. “He’s all right most of the time. He’s just driven. You know how it is.”

Tina glared at no one in particular. “I’ll say he’s driven. He’s too good for his own family these days.” Alyssa let the discussion drift away from her. “That’s too bad. What do you do for work?”

“I have my own business, too,” Tina replied. “Miguel isn’t the only one who made something of his life. I have my own company. I import goods from China and sell them at stores in Mexico and the States, but I live in Guadalajara.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened. “Have you lived in Mexico long?”

Tina’s head spun around. “All my life. You should know that.”

“Miguel told me he moved to the States when he was seven years old. I always assumed…..”

“He left his family behind,” Tina snapped. “Nothing was every good enough for him, so he ran away. This is the first time he’s come home in twenty-five years, and this isn’t exactly his home, is it? He would never set foot in his hometown. Never! It’s too dirty and low for him.”

Alyssa bent over her plate to hide her embarrassment. What did this have to do with her? Tina acted like Mason’s decision to leave Mexico was her fault. Maybe they all thought he left Mexico to be with her. This could blow up in her face in a thousand ways.

Alyssa got out of answering by taking another bite of her chicken. Tina shot her fiery gaze at Alyssa’s profile. “You still haven’t told me about your place in Manhattan.’

Alyssa knew nothing about Mason’s private life or where he lived, so she made something up. “We have a house in the Roaring Forties.”

Tina stared at her. Then she pursed her lips, shook her head, and stabbed her fork into her steak. “I should have known he would keep something like that hidden. He told me he had a rooftop apartment in Tribeca. He never told me about any house in the Forties.”

Alyssa kicked herself. This conversation was not going her way at all. Was Tina trying to trap her? How could she, when she didn’t know Alyssa wasn’t Mason’s real wife? “Oh, yeah, that. He keeps that for when he wants to work on big projects without distraction.”

Alyssa made a mental note to tell Mason all this malarkey she cooked up so he could go along with it. For all she knew, she was making a much bigger problem for him to solve later.

Tina locked her beady black eyes on Alyssa’s face. She didn’t believe a word Alyssa said. Before Tina could ask another devastating question, though, Mason appeared. He rested his hand behind Alyssa’s neck and rubbed. “Hello, Tina.”

She glared at him. “Hello there, Miguel. I was just having a delightful conversation with your wife here.”

“It’s great to see you two getting along, but I’ll have to interrupt. Come with me, darling. I want to introduce you to my parents.”

Alyssa couldn’t wait to get away from that table, but she remained calm until the crowd swallowed them up. Then she slapped her hand against her forehead. “Holy Christ! What a disaster!”

He faced her. “What’s the matter?”

She waved back in the direction they came. “Your sister! I swear she knows you’re not married. She asked me a bunch of questions about where we live, and I didn’t know so I said we had a house in the Roaring Forties. She said you had an apartment in Tribeca. She knows! I swear she knows. She didn’t believe a word I said.”

He regarded her a moment before he nodded and turned away. “Well, never mind. It doesn’t matter if she does know.”

“Well, what am I supposed to say if she or somebody else asks me something? I should have interviewed you before we left New York. I should have found out every cotton-pickin’ detail of your personal life so I could produce a convincing character.”

His mouth twisted in a grin. “Keep your shorts on. It’s not that big a deal. Just play along. If one person wants to ruin this thing, let them. Tina’s been jealous of me for decades, and now she’ll do anything to bring me down. Ignore her, and she’ll go away.”

Alyssa stiffened. Tina—go away? Not likely, and Alyssa didn’t like her chances if she ever met Tina again. That woman would never give up. She would shake that bone until she found out the truth. Then what would happen?