Page 33 of The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
‘Why you’ve never slept with a guy.’
Instantly Caitlin stiffened. ‘I should never have told you that.’
‘But you did and I’m glad you did. The pieces are falling into place. So talk to me, Caitlin. Tell me why.’
‘I already told you. I was hurt. I picked up the pieces and moved on.’ She looked at him narrowly, alert for any show of mocking cynicism, but he was listening intently, his lean, beautiful face interested and non-judgemental, and she had a sudden fierce urge to confide. When she had left for London, she had locked away her past but now it was clamouring at the door, begging to be released. ‘I just lost faith in relationships.’ She paused. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’
‘You might be surprised. I had a bad experience myself once upon a time.’ Dante was shocked by an admission he had never shared with another living soul.
‘Really?’ Caitlin had never been more curious. ‘Was it Luisa?’
That made Dante laugh, banking down his natural unease with sharing anything of a personal nature with anyone.
‘I was nineteen,’ he mused, ‘and she was...older. With a child. I foolishly flung myself into something I thought had legs only to find out that she was not who she claimed to be. She was after my money and I had a lucky escape because I found out before I’d committed to something that would have ended up more than just a major headache. Nevertheless, I managed to squander a substantial amount of money in the process.’
Caitlin nodded, instantly understanding that, for a man as proud as he was, such a miscalculation would have been a source of bitter humiliation, even though he would never admit as much.
A low stirring began deep inside her. She felt hot and restless, her senses heightened in a way they never had been before in her life.
‘But it wouldn’t have occurred to me,’ he continued, without breaking stride, ‘to have given up on sex.’
‘We’re all different,’ Caitlin said quietly.
‘Know what I think?’
‘I don’t think I want to know what you think.’ But she was frightened at just how much she really did.
‘You know you do.’ Dante tipped his finger under her chin so that she would focus on him and that simple gesture felt like something way more intimate, daringly intrusive even. Mesmerised, she could only stare at him. ‘I think you’re scared,’ he said softly. ‘I think my brother was the easy way out for you. Maybe you want a family and you can just about see your way to coupling with a man who couldn’t possibly hurt you because you’ve handed nothing over to him, at least not the searing passion of real, complicated love. And perhaps my brother, who knows the weight of parental expectation, is prepared to buckle and accept what is on the table... Is that it?’
Caitlin said nothing. He had fumbled his way towards an explanation and, while he had hit the spot with certain assumptions, he was way off target with others, but then he was not to know the complexity of the situation.
One thing she was realising, though, was there was no way she could continue the pretence of an engagement to Alejandro, not to Dante or his family. He had forced her to recognise that passion was there; she had tasted it. The only problem was that the fruit she had tasted was forbidden. Dante was not the man for her.
‘Stop asking me to talk about this,’ she whispered.
‘Are you really going to go ahead with a farcical engagement and a marriage that is going to eventually end in tears, whatever your reasons for instigating it?’
Caitlin could look at him now and say, truthfully, ‘No.’ She sighed. ‘Are you satisfied?’
‘Areyou?’
‘I need to go up now. I... I’m tired. I just want to have a long, hot bath and go to sleep.’ She stood up because if she remained sitting, remained in his orbit, she knew that the urge to reach out and touch would be too powerful. ‘I’m going to talk to Alejandro tomorrow and then...then... I’m going to head back to London...’
She talked to Alejandro. She’d thought that she might bump into Dante the following morning, and after the conversation they had shared she had been dreading that, but when, at a little after nine, she stepped into the taxi she had ordered to take her to the hospital, he was nowhere to be seen.
She wasn’t sure what to expect but Alejandro was subdued, though very much with it and itching to leave the hospital. He was going to recuperate at his parents’ house, he told her. The bones would heal and he would be on crutches within a week. Mobile. They got past the formalities of two people circling what they both knew was going to be the main event.
‘I know you must have feelings for him.’ Alejandro was the first to cross the Rubicon. ‘You forget how well I know you. You need to be careful. He has a terrible reputation when it comes to women.’
‘I’m not about to get involved with him, Alejandro.’
‘But you’d like to?’
‘No.’ She’d thought of the way her body went up in flames whenever Dante was near her. She thought of those taboo images that had flashed through her head at regular intervals, hot and sharp and leaving her weak.
They’d spoken, Alejandro had said awkwardly. Dante had talked to him, openly and honestly, thinking him to be out of it. He had talked about how much he regretted the passing of time when they had had so little to do with one another. Caitlin could see that the Alejandro who had emerged from his deep sleep was a different Alejandro.
The engagement was no more. He would, he told her, break it to his parents and hang the consequences. But he was still going to send her the money he’d agreed on, even though Caitlin was horrified and downright forbade it.
