Caitlin was drawn like a magnet towards one of them and inspected it minutely, lost for a few moments in the exquisite mix of colours and recognising the somewhat obscure artist behind it. It was the artwork of a connoisseur.
‘It’s a lovely piece.’ She turned to Dante, her eyes gleaming with appreciation.
‘You know about art?’ Dante raised both eyebrows questioningly.
‘Why shouldn’t I?’ Caitlin stood back. ‘I’m a photographer but I studied art at college. I probably know a lot more than Alejandro’s brother, even though he owns this house. I’ll bet he hasn’t got a clue who this artist is.’
‘Why would you say that?’ Dante asked silkily.
‘He’s a businessman,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I gather making money is his number one priority. I’d say that if that’s the case, then he’s probably commissioned someone to bulk-buy a fortune’s worth of valuable artwork that will do its job and appreciate over the years and make him yet more money.’
‘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, of course that’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
‘WHY DIDN’T YOU pick 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...do what? 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 wit
h 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.
‘This is a nightmare.’ Alejandro was busy relieving the waiter of another flute of champagne as he leant into her. ‘And I’m sorry about the phone, Linny. No idea where I left it. Still haven’t found it. It’s probably buried under a cushion somewhere. There was a lot of sitting around earlier today. Talking. God, this is a nightmare. And I can’t believe your bad luck running into Dante on your way to the house.’
‘Slow down on the drinking!’ was Caitlin’s anxious response to that.
‘I can’t. It’s the only thing that’s propping me up.’
‘Oh, Alex.’ She sighed and rubbed his arm sympathetically. ‘You need to be honest with your family.’
‘I will. Just not yet. Once Dante finds a woman and settles down, then the pressure will be off me and then...’ His voice drifted off. It was a conversation they had had before. ‘Are you going to be all right?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘People can sit where they please but close friends and family members are at the top table. Wedding style. Look at where you’re sitting.’ He’d been propelling her along on unsteady legs and now he nodded to the one and only table with a seating plan. It occupied an exalted position on a makeshift podium that was adorned with striking flowers in urns of various sizes.
‘Why have they stuck me next to your brother?’ Caitlin was appalled and panic bloomed inside her. She had optimistically thought that she might have seen off Dante for the remainder of the evening. She had planned on vanishing with Alejandro at a respectable hour, when the guests started drifting off. A flight had been booked. He had assured her that his parents wouldn’t bat an eye because they were used to work commitment cutting short all kinds of family gatherings, usually courtesy of Dante.
Still reeling from the prospect of sitting next to Dante, she raised her eyes to spot him heading in her direction. His gait was leisurely, his body language was relaxed but he was a man on a mission. She shivered. The shark looked in the mood for a meal and she quailed at the thought of being the tasty morsel. She was barely aware of Alejandro. She was too busy telling herself that the evening would be over soon enough.
‘I suppose,’ she surfaced to hear Alejandro muttering gloomily, ‘the intention is for you to get to know the nearest and dearest. Don’t worry, Uncle Alfredo to your right is okay and Dante has Luisa next to him on the other side.’
‘Luisa?’ She was riveted at the sight of Dante weaving his way through the crowd, so graceful, so dangerously, darkly beautiful. He was compelling. She felt a little sick and wished all over again that she had stuck to her guns but, when she thought about her parents and the mess they were in, she could see why she had done what she had.
‘Not here yet. She enjoys making an entrance. My hopes are high for Dante and Luisa to do what everyone expects they’ll eventually do.’
‘What’s that?’ she asked vaguely.
‘Tie the knot. They dated a year or so ago and broke up but everyone thinks it’s just a matter of time before it all kicks off again. Anyway, I have to go, Caitlin. You’ll have my moral support from across the table. Feel for me. As the guest of honour, I will have both parents on either side so it’s going to be an evening of the Spanish Inquisition. I just can’t cope.’
‘You’ll have to,’ Caitlin said sternly.
There was a bewildering array of wine glasses in front of them and she only hoped that his nerves wouldn’t propel him to have them all filled so that he could duly empty them. He wasn’t a drinker. Frankly, she was surprised that he was still standing.
When she shifted her attention away from him, it was to find that Dante was settling into the chair next to her and she shivered and began a hurried conversation in broken Spanish with Uncle Alfredo, as he wanted to be called, who was very happy to carry the conversation.
The night air was balmy and the sky was velvet black, dotted with stars. It was a perfect setting and were this a real engagement party, it would have been heavenly. She thought back to that distant time when it had looked as though marriage might have been hers for the taking and felt a rush of sadness. It had ended and it had been for the best, but sitting here, in this wonderful, magical setting, she could almost airbrush away the expensively dressed people and imagine what it might be like to be celebrating a true engagement to a guy she loved, under the stars, with the gentle sound of violins harmonising with the chirping of invisible summer insects.
‘We meet again...’
Caitlin blinked and landed back on Planet Earth with a resentful bump. ‘You should have told me who you were,’ she said stiffly, bypassing small talk, which seemed irrelevant now, considering they were already acquainted.
‘Is that why you’ve spent the evening avoiding me? Because you were embarrassed?’
‘I wasn’t avoiding you.’ While there was a buffet service for the guests, this select table benefited from an array of assiduous waiters whose duty was to make sure they were fed and watered without having to exert themselves at all.
It was over-the-top luxury that Caitlin could have done without. No opportunity to take her time hovering in front of tables groaning with food. No opportunity to duck Dante’s dark, fascinating, menacing presence.
There wasn’t even Luisa there to distract. Whoever she was. Caitlin had paid scant attention at the time, but there was an empty chair next to him so the woman was obviously going to be a no-show.
‘I, naturally, would have told you who I was but you gifted me a unique opportunity to get to know the real you. The real Caitlin Walsh, mystery fiancée.’
‘There’s nothing mysterious about me.’ Her heart was racing and her mouth was dry.
‘Which, in itself, is something of an enigma. I’ve watched your interaction with Alejandro and, yes, I can see that you two are close. He seeks you out with his eyes when you’re not around.’
‘Like I said,’ Caitlin said, sotto voce, picking at an arrangement of appetisers on a plate that had found its way in front of her and pointedly making sure not to look at Dante, ‘we’ve been friends for ages.’
‘Yes, the friend bit,’ Dante intoned smoothly, his low murmur matching hers, ‘is evident. It’s the other bit I’m not seeing.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Where’s the touchy-feely, loved-up, starry-eyed, can’t-stand-a-metre-apart-from-one-another couple?’ His voice oozed concerned curiosity and Caitlin gritted her teeth together and wished he would just disappear.
‘We’re not those people.’ She shifted back as a waiter bowed to remove her plate. There seemed to be an army of them, moving as one, making sure that everything went to plan. ‘We don’t believe in public displays of affection. Not everyone does
.’ Refusing to be threatened, Caitlin peered past him to the empty seat on his left. ‘And speaking of which, where’s the guest who’s supposed to be sitting next to you? Luisa, I believe? That’s what Alejandro told me. He said that you two are practically engaged?’
Dante’s lips thinned and he turned so that he was looking directly at her. ‘Is that so?’ he said in a sibilant murmur that would have served as a warning shot to anyone else.
‘Yes...’ Caitlin tilted her head to one side, considering his rhetorical question as though it were deserving of an answer ‘...but, of course, he may have got it all wrong. He said something about you two being an item in the past and everyone assuming that it’s going to end in marriage even though you’re on a break?’ She couldn’t help herself. She’d never thought that she could take pleasure in watching someone squirm, but for the first time since their paths had crossed Dante wasn’t calling the shots and she liked it.
‘This conversation is going nowhere,’ he growled, under his breath.
‘Lots of people go on breaks,’ Caitlin murmured wickedly. ‘Sometimes, taking a step back from someone can make you realise how important they are in your life. We don’t know one another at all, so I hope you’ll forgive me for saying what’s on my mind.’ She didn’t give him time to do any such thing. The last thing she intended to do was stop saying what was on her mind. ‘Marriage and tying the knot can be scary. Are you scared, Dante? I would say that you should let go of all those apprehensions and show Luisa how much you really care about her.’ She wondered what this mystery woman was like. Beautiful, captivating... She would have to be if she’d managed to get to a guy like Dante Cabrera.
‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this. No one—no one—has ever dared address me in this way!’
‘In that case, please accept my apologies,’ Caitlin said without a hint of apology in her voice. ‘But you feel free to ask me whatever you want to so why shouldn’t I return the favour?’ Their eyes collided and she felt such a rush of weird sensation race through her body, like the surge of an electric charge, that she blinked in utter confusion and for a few seconds couldn’t say anything at all.
The Forbidden Cabrera Brother (Mills & Boon Modern) Page 3