Page 25 of The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
Dante was finding her lack of interest in pursuing that tiny morsel of information thrown to her oddly annoying.
‘And you?’ he asked gruffly, shifting uncomfortably because he couldn’t seem to look at the woman without his body misbehaving.
‘What about me?’ Caitlin raised her eyebrows with a slight frown.
‘Do you feel trapped in the road you’re going down? What’s life like for you and my brother? What do you do together?’
Caitlin blushed.What do good pals do, she wanted to put to him,except hang out together, listen to each other’s woes, meet up as part of a group...?
The charade stuck in her throat and for a few seconds she didn’t say anything, but he was watching her, waiting for a response, and so she said, eventually, ‘The usual.’
‘The usual? What’s that? Tell me?’
‘What doyouusually do with someone you’re going out with?’ Caitlin threw the question back at him, flustered.
‘I wine them, I dine them, I shower them with whatever they want...’
‘And then you dump them?’ Caitlin was thinking of Luisa, the desperate yearning in her eyes when she had looked at him at the engagement party and the vicious jealousy when she had seen them together at the hospital, chatting. Was that how he handled all the women he dated?
Caitlin took a deep breath. The hot sun made her feel reckless and daring. The intimacy that was sending shivers up and down her spine was unfurling something dangerous inside her and suddenly she was fed up of tiptoeing around the danger. If the shark was going to attack, then why not weather the attack now?
‘You’re suspicious of me, aren’t you? You think I’m after his money.’
‘And if I am?’
‘I don’t know why you would be. What have I done to deserve your mistrust?’
If she cleared the air, then maybe he would back off. She didn’t have to lie. She just had to be tactful. He couldn’t very well call her a downright liar, could he? And if he was forced to tell her why he was suspicious, then she might be able to fudge her way through a few answers that might just satisfy him. She wouldn’t be here for ever. A few days of peace was all she was after.
‘I just can’t picture the two of you together, as an item,’ Dante murmured softly.
Caitlin thought of the leggy Luisa and she stiffened at the implied insult.
‘I suppose you think I should be more like that ex-girlfriend of yours?’ she said coldly. ‘I suppose that, because that’s the sort of woman you like dating, it’s only to be expected that Alejandro should follow the same pattern? The last sort of woman he would ever go for would be someone like Luisa, even if, inyouropinion, that would be the sort of woman you might be able topicturewith him. As an item.’
Dante raised both eyebrows and there was a moment’s silence.
‘Are you insecure about the way you look?’ he asked lazily, and if Caitlin could have gone any redder, she would have.
‘Of course not!’ She whipped her head away and stared out at the marvellous vista, not really seeing any of it but instead conjuring up an unflattering picture of herself alongside Luisa. She thought of the woman her ex-boyfriend had fallen for and hated herself for returning to that unfortunate place, which she’d thought she had left behind. She thought of all those leggy beauties next to whom she knew she often came up short in the eyes of the opposite sex. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she took a deep breath, refusing to give in to the weak temptation to feel sorry for herself.
‘Because you shouldn’t be.’ The words left Dante’s mouth, a silky murmur that was as dangerous as a dark incoming tide. ‘The likes of Luisa Sofia Moore can’t hold a candle to you.’
He raked his fingers through his hair. He’d broken eye contact but he was still alive to her warmth, the feel of her next to him.
‘It’s not just about how you look,’ he breathed, reluctantly turning back to her, ensnared by the pure crystal green of her eyes. ‘So why is he with you? That’s what I find so puzzling. You’re not background, Caitlin. You might not stalk into a room like Luisa, but you still know how to make your voice heard. Nobody has ever talked to me the way you have. So, you and my brother, Alejandro, who has never been known to say boo to a goose? No. I’m just not getting it.’
Caitlin didn’t say anything and, into the silence, Dante continued roughly.
‘Me,’ he breathed, ‘I’m the sort of man who could handle you. Not my brother.’
Those words hung in the air between them and then he leaned forward and so did she, without even realising it.
Her body moved of its own volition. A fractional movement. Her eyes closed drowsily and there was a buzzing in her ears as his mouth hit hers, hard and hungry and demanding. His fingers curled into her hair and she didn’t want to, knew she shouldn’t, but she returned that devouring kiss as though her life depended on it and then, just like that, he was pulling back.
She looked at him, horrified.
‘If I had any questions,’ Dante said in a flat, hard voice, ‘trust me, they have now been answered.’
