Page 6 of The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
‘That’s quite a statement,’ Dante murmured. ‘You must have gleaned that impression from somewhere... Is that what his brother has told you?’
‘Of course not!’ She cleared her throat. ‘Alejandro never has a judgemental word to say about anyone. Not that I’m being judgemental...just expressing an opinion...’
‘But surely you would be partisan, considering you’re his besotted better half?’ Dante was outraged that a woman who had catapulted herself into the centre of their family, for reasons that were open to a lot of question, should dare insult him in his own house. Actually, should dare insult him, full stop.
‘Sorry?’ Caitlin blinked then blushed. ‘Yes. No. I mean,yes, ofcoursethat’s what I am, but no, I’m not at all partisan. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I still don’t even know who you are!’
‘Oh, haven’t I introduced myself?’ He gave a mocking half-bow and then fixed her with his amazing eyes. ‘My oversight. I am Dante Cabrera, Alejandro’s brother.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHYDIDN’TYOUpick up your phone?’ was the first thing Caitlin demanded when she had finally managed to corner Alejandro, who had already been tipsy by the time she’d located him.
When she and Alejandro had discussed this charade, and it had been a discussion that had not happened on the spur of the moment or even overnight, she had not foreseen the very real stumbling blocks she might encounter.
She knew that she only had herself to blame. An optimist by nature, someone who had been brought up to see the silver lining behind every cloud, she had spent months lost in the unfamiliar world of uncertainty and hopelessness. Misfortune had rained down on her from the very moment she’d found out about her parents’ horrendous financial problems, and from that point on things had only seemed to get worse. Her parents had always been her biggest fans and the very backbone of her life, there for her through thick and thin, always in her corner. They had instilled positivity in her and a belief that things could only get better whenever she’d been a little low. She’d relied on them, and to see her father tearful and broken...to have faced the repercussions as they had unravelled over the past few months...
She had had to step up to the plate in a way she had never had to before. She had had to go into caretaker mode. It had been debilitating, especially as she had been working in London and commuting as often as she could back to Ireland, spending money she could ill afford because every penny she earned now had to be earmarked for the gaping hole the financial catastrophe had left in her parents’ lives.
Alejandro’s suggestion had, at first, fallen on barren ground. The thought of any deliberate deception had been anathema to Caitlin. Every moral code instilled from birth had risen up against the thought of lying, but he had persisted. He had his very pressing reasons, in many ways as urgent as hers, and he had persuaded her that she would be doing him a favour, that in return he, with his limitless millions, would be honoured to return that favour. As a friend, he had insisted, it would be an insult to him for her to turn him away in her moment of desperate need. If friends couldn’t help one another when help was most needed, then what was the point?
He had said all the right things at the very time when she had been absolutely dazed at the speed with which disaster after disaster had been battering her naturally upbeat nature.
From the minute she had accepted Alejandro’s offer, a weight had been lifted and the sun had tentatively begun to peek out from behind the bank of raging dark clouds.
She had been able to see a way forward. The silver lining had been slowly restored and that, she realised now, had been her undoing, because she had contrived to overlook the fact that what had started as a straightforward solution might throw up unexpected obstacles.
She hadn’t banked on the brother.
She’d been apprehensive about meeting his parents but nowhere in that scenario had she given a second thought to Dante, even though there had been sufficient mention of him over the time she had known Alejandro to have joined the dots and worked out that he was ruthless. With a light at the end of the tunnel, she had allowed her optimism to take over and that had been a mistake.
When Dante had disclosed his identity, her brain had done a rapid overview of the conversation they had had from the moment she had attacked him on the walk up to the house and she had realised that she would have to be careful around him.
He had laid bait for her to take and if she didn’t watch out, he would...dowhat? Caitlin didn’t know, because what on earth could the man do in the space of twenty-four hours, after which she would be gone? But that didn’t prevent a shiver of apprehension from feathering along her spine at the nebulous thought that she should be on her guard.
She determined to avoid him for the remainder of the party, which, as she glanced now at her watch, still had a long way to go. And where on earth was her wandering fiancé? He had become close friends with the champagne and, between trying to keep an eye on him and also on Dante, she had had a hellish hour and a half.
His charming parents had almost been welcome relief. They were over the moon that their eldest was finally settling down. She had been so distracted by the tug of war inside her at having to avoid Dante, while watching out for an increasingly inebriated Alejandro, that she had only paid scant attention to their polite but searching questions about what she did and whether she would continue doing what she did once she was married. She had tried to appear focused as she had listened to their gentle but insistent hints about the grandchildren they hoped would be forthcoming sooner rather than later while her brain had conjured up alarming scenarios of what a suspicious Dante might do should he decide to make mischief. Or worse.
She had barely had the chance to feel awkward even though she knew, on some level, that she really didn’t belong with this glamorous, pampered crowd. So many of them, swarming in confident groups. So many beautiful women and expensive men, barely glancing at the waiting staff as they did the rounds with champagne and canapés. To the right, there was the glorious sight of tables laid out for outdoor dining. It should have looked casual and homely but it looked, instead, madly opulent. There was something strangely intimidating about tables formally dressed under the stars, manned by formally attired waiting staff, like a Michelin-starred restaurant in a five-star hotel, suddenly exposed to the elements.
She would have been a lot less nervous had she not been agonisingly conscious of Dante, a tall, brooding presence, glimpsed just enough for her to know that he was keeping an eye on her.
And it wasn’t just the fact that he was an unknown threat that made her jumpy...
She also remembered the way her body had reacted to him, nerves all over the place and pulses racing a mile a minute. She hadn’t known who he was and her response had been instinctive and physical and shocking.
Things felt as though they were getting beyond her control. She’d barely managed to exchange two words with Alejandro, just sufficient to scramble through what had happened en route to the big event.
Now, as everyone made their way through a huge archway of flowers and lanterns into the magical outdoor eating area, Caitlin felt that she had to vent some of her panic and frustration on her so-called erstwhile fiancé, before he tipped over the edge from too much champagne.
Thanks to his absent-mindedness when it came to his phone, and his preoccupation with hurrying along the occasion by drinking as much and as fast as he could, she had ended up in a place she had not banked on and she just wasn’t equipped to deal with it. Subterfuge wasn’t in her genetic code and she was terrified of blurting something out to Dante, who struck her as the sort who wouldn’t release the bone once he had got it between his pearly white teeth. Which he had.
His watchful, speculative dark eyes brought to mind a shark in search of prey.
When she looked at Alejandro she realised that he was miserable, and she prayed that she was the only one to spot his unhappiness underneath the broad smiles and perspiring bonhomie.
Alejandro was not being Alejandro and he was clearly a lot more uncomfortable with the situation than she was. She cornered him.
