MISTRESS OF THE GOWN

CHAPTER 6

Juliana Mariano stared at her closely, studying her face with much interest. She smiled at her. “Raphael was right, your beautiful.”

               She blushed. She can’t understand why would a handsome stranger like Raphael Marquez called her beautiful. “I’m sure your betrothed was just being polite.”

               Both Maya and Juliana laughed. She was surprised by their reaction. “Have I said something funny?”

               Raphael’s fiancée blushed, “I’m sorry to offend you. We just found it funny that Raphael was being polite. He always believes in saying it straight, whether you like it or not. He can offend people at times and come out as arrogant, but he is a wonderful man.”

               “They say love is blind.” Gabi quipped.

               “I’m sorry, but I’m not blind to his traits.” The fiancée glanced at her, “You seem not to like him.”

               She blushed, “I’m sorry it comes out that way. How could I say such things to my savior?” Gabi remembered him raking her body dismissively.

               “Never mind, I will tell him to treat you a little nicer.”

               “No! Don’t tell him anything.” Both of them look at her strangely. “I know this sounds stupid, but I prefer he won’t be nice to me; I mean, don’t tell him I found him arrogant, impolite, and blunt---” The two girls stared at him in horror.

               Juliana fan herself with a lacy fan, which was fashionable during the era, “You don’t like him? But he saves you.” The beautiful woman seated across her was upset.

               Gabi slapped her forehead in dismay. What has she done? She sounds like the most ungrateful guest in this era. Even in modern times, it’s bad manners.

               “So, you found me arrogant, impolite, and blunt?” All of them were shocked to see their discussion subject casually leaning on the door jamb, watching her particularly.

               The floor seemed to open up and swallowed her whole. She lost words on how to react to the man who heard her. “What lost for words Senorita Gabi?”

               His fiancée’s face lit up and glided towards him. She watched in fascination how Juliana gracefully walked towards him in an elegant but very feminine way. In her world, she would call it a subtle flirtation, in this era, coyness. Raphael did not waver his gaze at her. Did he think he would answer that question? She doesn’t want to dig her own grave.

               “Rafa---” the endearment was not lost on Gabi. How strange, it felt like the past, and her presence seemed entwined. “Please forgive her. She did not mean it.”

               Gabi cleared her throat and defiantly said, “Pardon Senorita Juliana, but what I just said was completely true.”

               He walked towards her. Completely ignoring his fiancée, “A girl with spirit. I wonder how long it will break such defiance.”

               “Senor, I don’t mean to be rude. It was supposed to be between us, women.”

               He smiled, “You mean gossiping about me, in my own home and calling me names?”

               She wondered if she was about to be thrown out of his home. Where would she go? Her life depended on her following words. She sighed and said, “Forgive me, Senor, but the first time we met, you showed me exactly what I said you are. My judgment might be muddled, but I could not allow myself to lie to you. I value my honesty. I have respect for you because you save my life. Therefore, I cannot lie to you to please your ego.”

               The room seems quieter. Raphael stared at her eyes long and hard. Whatever he was thinking, she could not tell, but it gave her heart a reason to beat and her stomach churning unnecessarily. “I like honesty.” He smiled then and touched her cheek.

               The other two women watched speechlessly. The maid looked away while Juliana’s color seemed to pale.  She pushed his hand away and tried to distance herself. “I think I need to change for your party.”

               Raphael winked at her. “Yes, be pretty for all men tonight.” Then, she looked at Juliana, “My love, it seems you’re going to have a competition tonight.”

               His fiancée blushed, “I’m not going to play your game, Rafa.” She strode out of the room. Gone was the grace that fascinated her but a woman walking out, mad.

               “What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to make your fiancée hate me? Is this your revenge?” Gabi glared at him.

               “I’m trying to give you leverage, Gabi.”

               Gabi? He seemed too casual to her, and he treated the other women with respect made her angrier. “Raphael, your kind of leverage does not help. You’re making me look like the girl who was trying to steal her fiancée.”

               “Are you?”

               “Are you what?”

               “Trying to steal me from her.”

               Gabi gaped incredulously at him. “You’re surely pushing the wrong button here, Senor.”

               “Raphael.”

               “What?”

               “You call me by my name; then you switched to formality. I don’t like it.”

               Gabi bit her lip. The man in Infront of her was watching her like she was in a microscope. If this man was going to give her a hard time, she resolves to end it. “Senor, let me make myself clear---I’m not interested with you or any other man in this age. I want to go home.”

               “Is there someone else back home?”

               She did not even realize it, but Raphael was closing on her, and she could not move because she was trapped at the edge of the bed. She also didn’t realize that Raphael had given Maya a silent signal to leave. She was too preoccupied with trying to explain herself.

               “Yes. My heart belongs to the man back home. So, I can’t be involved with anyone, especially in this era.” Oh, God, why does he look at me like that? She stared at his chest, realizing how thin the material is and his body clearly showed how sexy he was. Sexy! Gabi guiltily pushed the thought away. But the combination of him being very close and the strange heat emitting from both their bodies made her realize that she was significantly affected.

               “Do you know the first time I saw you running towards our horse was that an angel must have dropped from heaven and ran to me? I forgot anything else but you.”

               “Raphael, please stop!” her hand pushed him away, but he covered it with his and drew her towards him. She lost her balance, and together they stumbled to the bed.

               She pushed herself up, but he rolled and pressed her to the bed. “Be still.” He commanded. Gabi was tense at first but relaxed when he saw his face. His brown eyes were gently looking at her. He is not a man who was about to take her forcibly. She realized that Raphael might be superior on almost all levels, but he was not an opportunist.

               “Listen, Gabi. I don’t know where you came from or who put you on my path, but I know one thing---I want you. “

               “But you are engaged. Are you going to hurt Juliana because you took fancy of me?”

               “Our family has a betrothed agreement, but it doesn’t mean that what I feel for her was the same as how I feel for you.”

               “What are you trying to say?” Gabi asked, panicking inside.

               Raphael took a long breath and said solemnly, “Gabi will you take me as your husband?”

               She stared at him shockingly. The face of the man pinning him to the bed looked at her anxiously. Gabi was blank at first. His words did not sink in, but when it does the reality hit home. She realized just now that the owner of the wedding gown was someone else and it could be her.