Bound to Be a Bride by Megan Mulry Page A

going?!” Isabella asked through a giddy laugh.
    He pulled them both up short. “What do you mean by that?”
    “I just thought—” She looked around them. “I don’t know, I thought you’d want to stay in Spain, since I wasn’t so despicable after all.”
    “Do you want to stay in Spain, Isabella?”
    She looked to the heavens. Did she? Now that she would actually be this glorious man’s wife, it no longer seemed such a dire alternative. Maybe she could make good on her promise to rescue Anna. Maybe she could begin to rectify some of her father’s injustices, to which Javier had alluded. She tipped her head slowly back down, facing him squarely. “I believe I shall be happy anywhere on this earth, as long as I am with you. But…”
    “But?” He touched her bottom lip with his little finger.
    “But… before, I felt like I was running to something, and now I feel more like I am running from something. That we are taking the coward’s way out.”
    Javier scowled at her. “Coward?” If she had been a man, he might have called her out.
    She pressed her palm against his lapel. “I am not saying you are a coward, my love.” She looked again toward the bay, now in clear view after they’d walked the few blocks from the jeweler’s shop. The Sappho bobbed patiently, waiting for its renegade passengers. “But don’t you think it is a miracle that we found each other? Despite every impediment?”
    Javier sighed with apparent impatience and dragged his hand through his black wavy hair. “Isabella. We found each other, as you say, because we both happened to be in the forest—”
    “My father’s forest—”
    “Your father’s forest—”
    “On the very same path—”
    “Stop!” He smiled quickly, then shook his head as if he did not have time for smiles just then. “My wanting to kiss you all the time is very distracting.”
    “I hope that is always true,” Isabella said softly.
    “I suspect it always will be. But for now, we must address a few other pressing issues. If we stay, I might be in grave danger. You do not know the extent of my… activities here in Spain and to whom I might present a threat.”
    “You are strong.” She grabbed his upper arm as proof.
    “Oh, dear girl. Please, always think so. But I am not stronger than a bullet.”
    Her face paled. “Someone has tried to shoot you?”
    “Many people, I am afraid.”
    “Oh. My.”
    “Yes, oh my.”
    She looked around again as if someone might be about to take aim right then.
    “Isabella, look at me.”
    She turned to do his bidding.
    “I am not going to get shot today.”
    “As if you could know such a thing,” she snapped.
    “It’s much more than that.” He leaned in close and she thought he was going to kiss her again. She flushed with embarrassment when she turned her lips to be kissed and he shifted her head sideways so he could speak quietly, directly into her ear, without being overheard by any passersby. “I cannot go into every detail,” he began, “but I am part of a much larger organization that is working to overthrow the invader, Napoleon. Many of us believe that victory must come from an overthrow of every layer of his empire, from the highest halls of power to the lowliest colony.” He pulled away briefly to check her eyes, to make sure she was listening.
    She nodded solemnly and turned her ear back to him.
    “I have been chosen to assist the revolutionary forces in Mexico that are already in place to repel the despot.” He pulled away again and spoke directly this time. “Do you understand the consequences of what I am suggesting?”
    “Yes,” she answered too quickly.
    “You must think, Isabella. You can take all the jewels back to Badajoz and say that I captured you in the forest, that I held you hostage until I was safely aboard the Sappho , and then had one of my officers escort you back to your father’s castle. You will be safe. I should make you do that, if I were a selfless man.”
    She