Page 4 of The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
Was this his brother’s fiancée? Dante couldn’t quite believe it, but then how was he to know what sort of woman his brother liked? He had never met any of Alejandro’s girlfriends. Different countries, awkward schedules, fleeting meetings over snatched drinks in random bars. He and his brother had long mastered the art of saying absolutely nothing of any genuine importance to one another.
That said, Dante had always assumed that his brother would go for the same kind of women he did, refined thoroughbreds who moved in the same social circles as they did. When Dante thought about those women, he felt a certain amount of boredom, but the one thing he knew about them, and it was very important, was the fact that they were all independently wealthy. Largely they came from families who, if not in the same category as his, were in a similar ballpark. No gold-diggers and, from bitter experience, he knew that gold-diggers were a breed best avoided.
A memory pushed its way to the surface. He’d lost his heart once, at the tender age of nineteen, to a woman ten years older who had played him so well that he had ended up handing over wads of cash to her. A small fortune. He’d fallen for a tale of a broken marriage and a violent ex and a vulnerable toddler. She had been poor but still touchingly hopeful in the face of personal tragedies, desperate for a new start yet tentative about accepting anything from him, which had made him insist on giving her even more, and of course so breathtakingly beautiful that common sense had been quickly abandoned to a raging libido hooked on the thrill of the unknown. It had been wildly exciting after his tame diet of beautiful, predictable young socialites and privately educated heiresses. When he reflected on what might have been had he not caught her in bed with the father of her child, no less, he was filled with shame at his own stupidity, but every mistake taught a valuable lesson and he had never again strayed from what he knew. Rich, beautiful, well bred. Known territory. If they were self-absorbed and sometimes shallow, then that was a price he was willing to pay.
Caitlin Walsh was not known territory...and whilehemight have the nous to know how to handle any woman who wasn’t known territory, did his brother?
A broken heart, Dante figured, was no bad thing. It made you stronger. But his brother was engaged, and once rings had been exchanged a broken heart wouldn’t be the only thing to deal with. The family fortune had to be protected and Dante had no intention of letting that out of his sight.
If Alejandro was taken in by Caitlin Walsh, then Dante saw no reason why he couldn’t do a bit of probing of his own, for no other reason than to make sure Alejandro wasn’t about to make the biggest mistake of his life.
Wasn’t that what brotherly love was all about?
‘I’ve never been to the house before,’ Caitlin responded tartly, ‘so it would be impossible for me to know the layout. I had hoped that Alejandro...’
‘It’s his engagement party. He’s probably busy entertaining the troops. You’re in luck, though. I happen to know the place very well. You might say that I know it like the back of my hand.’
Caitlin stopped and stared at him with undisguised relief. ‘Would you mind...? I need to change and I would rather not...’ She made a vague gesture to encompass her state of dress. ‘I should have got here ages ago...but with one thing and another... If you know the house, I would really appreciate it if you could maybe...’
‘Sneak you in so that you can change into your finery?’ Dante stood back and looked at her from the towering height of his six feet two inches. The holdall was quite small for finery. ‘Why would I do that when I’ve been accused of attacking you?’
‘You surprised me. Naturally I reacted accordingly.’ Caitlin’s voice was stiff.
‘You could have caused me permanent damage,’ Dante inserted smoothly, ‘what with you being an expert in martial arts.’ Silence greeted this remark. He could see that she was itching to launch a few verbal missiles. His antennae were still on red alert, but the woman was in a league of her own, and what had promised to be something of a tedious social occasion was looking up. When you were someone who could always call the shots, a little bit ofdifferentwent a long way. He was beginning to enjoy this little bit of different...
‘Fortunately,’ he carried on magnanimously, ‘I am not a man to bear a grudge and I would be delighted to secrete you away somewhere private where you can freshen up.’
‘I don’t know how to thank you,’ Caitlin said, in a voice that was far from oozing gratitude.
Dante said nothing but, just for a second, something weird and strong raced through him, heating his blood and tightening his groin. He spun round on his heels and began heading towards the side of the house, away from the brightly lit entrance.
‘You’ll have to be quick,’ he said, slowing briefly so that she could catch up with him. ‘The party’s in full swing. The longer you take, the more dramatic the reception is going to be.’ He glanced at her. The braid was not quite enough to keep her fiery hair in order and wisps floated around her cheeks. She was flushed and breathing fast. His eyes dropped to breasts that were more than a handful. Small-statured and large-breasted.
Infuriated by the sudden lapse of self-control, he stiffened. If the woman was up to no good then he intended to find out before the situation became financially messy, but she was engaged to his brother and he wasn’t going to forget that. Forbidden thoughts would be culled before they could start interfering with what had to be done, and in very little time because if she had angled for a profitable engagement then she wasn’t going to hang around waiting for the wedding ring to seal the deal.
He took her to one of the many spare bedrooms. Each and every one was permanently prepared to a high state of readiness although it was rare for guests to stay overnight. Dante loathed that sort of thing and, indeed, the only time the vast mansion saw an influx of people was when he happened to be away and it was lent out to friends or family members. He valued his privacy far too much.
‘Make yourself at home,’ he drawled as she stood still and looked all around her. ‘I’ll wait outside for you. You won’t know how to find your way down to where the action is.’
As she was busy appreciating a level of luxury she had never seen in her life before, it was a few seconds before Caitlin responded, then she eyed her holdall.
‘I’m sure I’ll manage,’ she said dubiously.
‘I’ll wait.’
‘Why?’
Dante felt a twinge of guilt. He needed to get a feel for her, work out if his suspicions were well founded, and time wasn’t going to be on his side. His intentions could not exactly be called noble and something fleeting in her eyes, an expression of helpless, vulnerable apprehension, made him flush darkly.
‘Call it good manners,’ he said brusquely.
‘Okay.’ She hesitated, then smiled tentatively. ‘I might need a bit of moral support. I’m not accustomed to...events like this... When Alejandro and I...’ She reddened.
‘When you and Alejandro...?’
‘I knew there was going to be a party,’ she said hurriedly, ‘but I had no idea that it would be on this scale.’
‘Alejandro comes from an extremely high-ranking family,’ Dante murmured, his keen eyes taking in everything, missing nothing. ‘With more notice, it would have been even bigger. As it stands, two hundred is reasonably well contained.’
