Page 33 of The Bastard Heir
He whirled at the sound of Carolina’s soft voice coming from so close behind him. She stood with her back to the room, her eyes wide with concern. A quick glance behind her confirmed that no one was paying them any attention as Hunter and Emmy spoke about the wedding. “I’m fine,” he said, meeting her gaze.
She frowned, clearly unconvinced. “Did you find out anything?”
“What do you mean?” He hated this deception, when all he really wanted to do was talk to her.
“Castillo—” She bit her lip and looked around to make sure no one had heard her. Then she continued in a softer voice, “I know you weren’t in town on business. You don’t have to tell me what happened, I just want to know if you found what you were looking for.”
For some inexplicable reason, an ache welled in his throat. He had to swallow several times to make it ease, and glanced down to the amber liquid in the tumbler he held so that he wouldn’t focus on her eyes. Those eyes saw too much. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“That abrasion on your cheek under your eye. What happened?”
He didn’t want to lie to her, he’d already done that enough in their brief time together, but he couldn’t tell her the truth. “One of the horses got too anxious. Ran me into a post in the stall.”
“That’s a new one.” She gave him a rueful smile and looked back toward the people in the room, trying to appear as if they were having a normal conversation. “I’ve heard it caused by walking into a door, falling against a table, but never once has it been caused by a horse.”
“What are you talking about?”
“An abrasion left by a fist, Castillo. I see many women at my father’s practice, and a few have husbands with unfortunate tempers. I know what it looks like when a fist hits flesh.”
“I don’t have a husband with an unfortunate temper. And any man who hits a woman is a coward who doesn’t deserve his balls.”
There was silence for a moment, and then she laughed. She tried to hold it in and it made her shoulders shake. It was one of those laughs that came from deep inside, and it was apparently contagious because he started laughing, too. A badly needed moment of levity for such a tense topic of conversation. He had to turn his back to the room so no one would notice. She did the same, holding onto the edge of the table as she tried to get herself under control. She pulled off her spectacles, wiping daintily at a tear that had escaped her eye. He watched her fingers move over the creamy skin of her cheeks and felt that rush of arousal come back. He had the strangest urge to brush her fingers aside and feel her silky skin for himself. To delve his fingers into her hair and pull her close so that he could cover her mouth with his. To possess her fiery strength and beauty.
Putting her spectacles back on, she looked up at him and her smile had faded. His thoughts must have been clearly written on his face, because her gaze darted down to his mouth. He was watching her pink tongue so intently that he felt the phantom tingle of it against his own lips.
“You’re worried. I noticed that the men on watch moved in closer to the house today.”
He must’ve had a question on his face, because she nodded out toward the night. There was a tiny dot of an orange glow from a lit cigar just past the stables, halfway to the hills. Castillo had had them move in closer since he was taking some men out chasing Derringer today, and those tracks from the morning had gone unexplained. She was too observant. “Yes.”
She nodded, letting out a breath as if she’d been holding it, then took the last sip of her wine. Forgetting his wound, he reached out and took the empty glass from her to set it on thetable, an excuse to touch her, but he grimaced when his shoulder throbbed from the movement. Reading his face, she looked down for some sign of his injury. “You’re bleeding!” She kept her voice low but her face registered shock at the little bit of blood that had stained his shirt cuff.
He sat her glass on the table and covertly pulled his coat open. The white sleeve of his shirt was streaked red with blood, and it was making its way across the front of his shirt.
“Mierda…” he muttered and closed his coat before anyone else could see it.
“No wonder you look pale. What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter.” He clenched his teeth as he looked from the open double doors leading to the porch to the doors opening into the house, trying to determine which route was best for his escape.
“How long ago did it happen? Have you bandaged it?”
He shook his head, refusing to discuss it here. “I have to go.”
She nodded and seemed to realize this wasn’t the place for this conversation. “Of course. Go upstairs and I’ll follow to bandage it.”
“No. I can take care of it.” The last thing he needed was to be alone with her in his room again. Wounded or not, he didn’t think he had it in him to stop things again if they got out of hand.
“If that were true, you would’ve already taken care of it,” she muttered through a smile she flashed Emmy as the people in the room started to break up into smaller groups for conversation.
“I didn’t have time.” Castillo didn’t know why he was defending himself to her, because he had to admit her concern was nice.
“Go, and I’ll follow you,” she whispered.
“I can do it,” he said, but he turned and slipped out onto the porch, hopeful that she’d ignore him.
***
Caroline had to wait nearly twenty minutes before she could make her escape. The evening had been winding down until Castillo and Hunter walked in, and then it seemed as though everyone got a second wind. As soon as he disappeared, she’d been pulled into a discussion that she couldn’t even remember now as she hurried up the stairs to her room.
