The spices, the smells in a kitchen were comforting to him all of his life. When he was particularly upset, he always headed to the kitchen to cook. He could work out his problems when he cooked. He hadn’t thought about the influence his grandmother had on him. He’d spent too much time thinking about the lives his grandfather, uncles and father had destroyed—ultimately, the lives he’d helped to destroy. None of them were good people, but that didn’t matter. He had lived in the underbelly of the world so long he had come to realize there were layers of scum. Layers of bad. His family had been one of the worst.

“Honey, you’re going far away from me,” Siena said softly.

His gaze jumped to her. She was beautiful. All his. “I’m never going to be far from you, baby,” he replied honestly. “I was just remembering my grandmother. I thought I just had my sister, but I had her. She gave me this.” He gestured at the food, at the kitchen.

“Do you use her recipes? Because this is really delicious.”

He nodded. “I have them all. She kept them in a book. I like looking at her handwriting. Some of the recipes were her mother’s.”

“I want to learn to make them for you. For our children.”

“I can teach you. I don’t mind trading off cooking. Although, Siena, you want me to bring in a chef . . .”

“No. We don’t need that. I always wanted to learn to cook. I’m good at picking things up fast. I’ll try a few recipes out of the book.”

“It’s in Spanish,” he pointed out. “But I’ll get it translated for you.”

“Thanks,” she said softly. “I have to get to the winery and see what’s happening with that. I can’t neglect that. Too many jobs are at stake. I grew up around the grapes and the winery. I went to school for it. I don’t want to lose that business because of the rest of it.”

He didn’t hesitate answering her, but inside his gut coiled into hard knots. “We’ll take care of that, mi corazon.” He didn’t want her anywhere near her grandfather’s estate, not until he’d ferreted out Paolo and buried him deep. The man was never going to lay a hand on Siena, and he was going to pay for what he’d already done to her. And he was going to pay hard.

She flashed him a smile. “Just thought you should know. My leopard is pretty eager to see her mate. I thought maybe they could run this evening.”

He nodded. “Sounds good to me. Keeping my male mellow helps.”

Her green eyes jumped to his face. “Is it difficult?”

“I’ve been controlling him all of my life, baby. I’m used to the way he snarls.”