Hidden Devotion by Lila Dubois Page B

wanted a drink. In response he rose and took the bottle from her, accepting the corkscrew she handed him. Their fingers brushed, and she didn’t move away once he’d opened it. They were standing between the couch and coffee table, too close to one another for casual contact.
    She held the glasses as he poured, a delicious tension mounting each second they spent so close to one another.
    “To new acquaintances.” He tapped his glass to hers.
    “Acquaintances and their secrets.” She took a sip, meeting his gaze as she did.
    Franco battled the urge to grab her and kiss her. The last thing this already-complicated situation needed was for him to muddy the water. With a Herculean exercise of will, he took a seat. Juliette joined him on the couch, tucking one leg under the other in a much more relaxed posture than she’d had before.
    They drank the first glasses too quickly, and when the second glasses were poured, he was able to focus on the reason he was here. “I made a list of questions.”
    “Very logical.”
    “But I think I would rather have you tell me the story.”
    “What story?”
    “Your story. You know all my stuff. I want to know what it was like growing up in a secret society.”
    Juliette stiffened, enough that he knew his request either frightened or irritated her.
    “My story is not a good example. How about I tell the story of your family—at least as much of the story as I know?”
    He was in no position to question her, but something about her reaction to him asking about her life raised that same protective urge he’d felt at the museum when Devon showed up. “That’s fair.”
    She settled into the corner of the couch, propping one elbow along the back. “Your great-grandfather was the son of General Garcia.”
    “You know that for sure?”
    “No, but the photos, along with the last name and the fact that he was targeted for membership, makes that the most logical assumption.”
    “I’ll accept that.”
    “Pedro Garcia Fernandez immigrated to the US in 1900 when he was only sixteen. He spent a year living in a hotel owned by a member of the Trinity Masters.”
    “Not exactly the normal accommodations for a young man just arrived from Cuba.”
    “And in 1901, Pedro came here, to Boston, and was inducted into the Trinity Masters. That I know for sure.”
    Franco shook his head ruefully. “He was only seventeen and had already had a far more interesting life than I could dream of.”
    “I don’t know about that. I’d say this past week your life has been fairly interesting.”
    “Can’t argue with that. So what happened to Pedro after he joined?”
    “He fought in World War One—there’s a copy of his service record in the file I have.”
    “Teasing me again.”
    “You’ll be disappointed, because there’s a lull in the records until 1920, when he was called to the altar.”
    “Called to the altar?”
    “That’s when the Grand Master summons members to be married.”
    “Arranged marriages.” It was both a statement and a question.
    Juliette raised an eyebrow. “I assume you know about the Trinity Masters’ marriages?”
    “Yes, those were always the craziest of the stories my grandfather told. He always claimed that was why he married so late in life. He was waiting to get his two wives from the secret society.”
    “We need to come back to that, because I have some questions for you about your grandfather, but let me finish with your great-grandfather’s story first. In 1920 he married Maria Cruz, the daughter of a prominent family who was herself recruited in 1919, and Lucille Smith, a Trinity Masters’ legacy who lost both her husbands in the war.”
    Franco set his glass down very carefully. “I’m sorry, you said he married a woman named Maria, and then a woman named Lucille?”
    “Not ‘and then’. I thought you said you knew about the Trinity Masters’ marriages?”
    “I thought… I assumed Grandfather made it up…”
    Juliette touched her necklace