They’re supposed to resist each other...
But can they?
A fake engagement to her best friend was meant to save Caitlin’s family from crippling debt. Not lead to a totally off-limits entanglement with Dante Cabrera, Spain’s most eligible bachelor and her future brother-in-law!
Dante doesn’t trust easily. Not after a disastrous relationship left its mark on him. His plan is to not let Caitlin out of his sight until he uncovers her motives. But fighting their intense connection threatens to undo even this notorious playboy’s control...
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
“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 marvelous vista, not really seeing any of it but instead conjuring up an unflattering picture of herself alongside Luisa. 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. 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.”
Cathy Williams can remember reading Harlequin books as a teenager, and now that she is writing them, she remains an avid fan. For her, there is nothing like creating romantic stories and engaging plots, and each and every book is a new adventure. Cathy lives in London, and her three daughters—Charlotte, Olivia and Emma—have always been, and continue to be, the greatest inspirations in her life.
Books by Cathy Williams
Harlequin Presents
A Diamond Deal with Her Boss
The Tycoon’s Ultimate Conquest
Contracted for the Spaniard’s Heir
Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
The Italian’s Christmas Proposition
His Secretary’s Nine-Month Notice
Conveniently Wed!
Shock Marriage for the Powerful Spaniard
Once Upon a Temptation
Expecting His Billion-Dollar Scandal
One Night With Consequences
The Italian’s One-Night Consequence
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Cathy Williams
The Forbidden Cabrera Brother
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EXCERPT FROM CROWNED FOR MY ROYAL BABY BY MAISEY YATES
CHAPTER ONE
SOMETHING, DANTE THOUGHT as he nursed his whisky and stared out at the floodlit manicured gardens that comprised the grounds of his Spanish estate, wasn’t making sense.
Behind him he could hear the muffled sound of voices and laughter—all those people, from dignitaries to old family friends, who had gathered to welcome Alejandro, his older brother by four years, and his fiancée.
It was a star-studded event, even though it had been arranged at fairly short notice. Such was the long arm of the Cabrera family’s influence that an invitation from them—especially, Dante recognised, one that would be hosted at his own sprawling mansion—pretty much guaranteed attendance.
Intricate lanterns twinkled up the long winding private avenue that led to his house. Behind him, on a warm summer night, the bank of French doors at the back of his house had been flung open wide to a vision of exactly what extreme wealth could get. The serving staff on high alert for empty glasses, the blaze of yet more lanterns adorning the strategically placed trees and illuminating the still splendour of his infinity pool, the massive ice sculpture of a couple, which his mother had insisted on having. And, of course, the very elegant, barely noticeable and extremely expensive trio of violinists providing subtle background music. Here, in this setting, the women in their high-designer elegance and the men, formally dressed, were birds of paradise at home in a setting with which they were largely familiar.
His parents, naturally, were bristling with excitement at meeting a woman who, as far as they were concerned, was roughly five years overdue. Tradition was tradition and, as the eldest in the family and now in his mid-thirties, Alejandro should have been duly wed and well on the way to producing an heir or two to the throne.
The vast fortunes tied up with the Cabrera name needed to be kept in the family and Roberto and Isabella Cabrera had been making noises about grandchildren for some time now. How else could the family lineage remain intact if both their sons decided that playing the field was a far better option than settling down to the rigours of domestic life?
Dante was as keen as his parents were for Alejandro to get married and have kids because if he didn’t, then it wouldn’t be long before their parents began looking to Dante to do his duty in that area and he most certainly wasn’t up for that.
So when Alejandro had phoned three weeks ago with the happy tidings that he was engaged, it had been champagne all round, a suitably lavish engagement party hastily arranged and expectations running high.
One small snag, though, was the fiancée.
Where the hell was she?
Shouldn’t the loving couple have arrived together? Holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes with undisguised adoration? It wasn’t as though they had been dating for years and had had time to settle into the comfortable routine of taking one another for granted. Oh, no, the fiancée had been produced like a white rabbit from a magician’s hat, so young love should still be fresh enough for the woman to have accompanied Alejandro to the opulent engagement party happening inside.
Except, she hadn’t and—Dante glanced at his watch before swallowing the remainder of the whisky—it was a mere two hours before the elaborate buffet was set out and the speeches began. Half an acre of lawn had been meticulously roped off so that tables could be laid out with no small detail spared, from the linen cloths to the magnificent arrangements of red roses, as befitting a couple in love. The seating was casual because it was a party, and yet it still managed to feel incredibly formal in its opulence.
He wondered whether the mysterious bride-to-be would deign to make an appearance in time or whether his brother would have to mumble his apologies while the guests tucked into finest prepared rib of roast suckling pig in the absence of his fiancée. Certainly, Alejandro was strangely phlegmatic about the woman’s appalling lack of manners. Maybe he had become a little too accustomed to the behaviour of a high-maintenance woman who felt that drama was some kind of selling point. Dante wryly thought that he had encountered a few of those himself.
> He was about to turn away and head back into the sitting room, where champagne and canapés would be in full flow, when something caught his eye. In the twilight gloom, he glimpsed movement up the winding tree-lined private avenue that led to the courtyard in front of the house.
Standing still, he squinted and there it was again, a movement barely glimpsed between the trees.
He dumped his glass on the broad concrete ledge, straightened up and headed down the sweeping arc of stone steps that descended gracefully towards the open courtyard and then out towards the drive.
* * *
Caitlin could barely see. Up ahead, the lawns and a mansion of unseemly proportions were illuminated by the sort of floodlit extravaganza that could be seen from space. Here, as she half ran up the tree-lined avenue leading to the house, the path dipped in and out of the shadows. Any minute now and her already nightmarish trip would be compounded by an even more nightmarish ending, which would involve her tripping over something, breaking her ankle and having to be carried ignominiously into the house on a makeshift stretcher.
Everything had gone wrong, starting with her mother sobbing down the end of the phone just as she was supposed to be leaving for the airport, and ending with the taxi, booked by Alejandro to fetch her from the airport and deliver her to her own engagement party, for heaven’s sake, getting a flat tyre just when she didn’t need it.
Now, three hours late, she’d decided that creeping into the house and at least having the option of getting ready somewhere private was far the more sensible choice, rather than the screech of a taxi alerting everyone to her lateness.
She shuddered at the thought of all those assembled guests piling out of the front door to witness her dishevelled appearance. In his understated way, Alejandro had warned her that it was going to be something of a bash—which, in Alejandro-speak, meant that there would be ten thousand people there, all waiting for her arrival.
As luck would have it, Alejandro was, as always, nowhere near his mobile phone and her quiet entry through a side door somewhere was disappearing with each reluctant step forward. She’d tried calling him a dozen times and every single time it had gone to voicemail and she was fed up of leaving increasingly despairing messages.
They were supposed to be in love! In the real world, he would be hanging on the end of the line, worried sick about where she was!
Caitlin thought of him and couldn’t help but smile because that was just Alejandro. He would have dumped his phone on a random table somewhere and would have to be reminded that she still hadn’t arrived, which was something of a big deal because the engagement party his parents had arranged had been for both of them.
Not for the first time, she felt a twinge of intense discomfort at this story they had concocted. Back in London, it had seemed almost inevitable because it had satisfied so many disparate concerns, but here...
She stopped in her tracks to catch her breath and gazed at the mansion towering ahead of her, ablaze with lights. The courtyard was massive, as big as a football field, and it was crammed with high-end cars of every description. They were parked at haphazard angles but, when she squinted, she could make out two men in uniform and she guessed that they would be in charge of parking so that any of the luxury cars could be moved at the snap of a finger. She shivered with apprehension.
This was reality now. They weren’t in London any longer. They weren’t sharing their sob stories over a bottle of wine. A plan had been made and she had temporarily turned a blind eye to the fact that plans made in one country appeared completely different when viewed in another.
Posing as Alejandro’s fiancée had been the answer to both their problems and, in London, that solution had seemed a logical conclusion.
But here...
With the sounds of summer insects around her and the grandeur of a sprawling house reminding her that this was where a simple game was always going to lead...
Her heart raced and she half looked over her shoulder with an instinctive urge to run away.
About to speed-dial Alejandro for the umpteenth time, she was only aware of a man stepping out of the shadows when he was practically on top of her and she didn’t stop to think before taking action. It had been drummed into her by her parents the minute she decided to leave Ireland for the streets of London that it didn’t pay to trust anyone. London, they had intoned worriedly, was a dangerous place. Accordingly, Caitlin had learned the basics of self-defence and now those ten lessons at the local town hall once a week coalesced into a blood-curdling shriek as she swung her holdall at the looming figure, striking a direct hit against his shoulder.
She had been aiming for his head, but the man was tall, way taller than her five foot three. She snapped her hands into action and eyed him narrowly for a few seconds as she debated which manoeuvre to take.
If only she were taller! Leaner! Stronger! Instead, she was short, round and it was dawning on her at speed that she probably wasn’t going to land any significant punches because this stranger was built like a house.
She grasped her holdall tightly and took the next most sensible option, which was flight.
She didn’t get far. One minute, she was half running and panting with her eyes pinned to the mansion in the distance. The next minute, a vice-like grip was holding her back, at which point she spun round and kicked.
‘What the...?’ Dante demanded, holding her at arm’s length as she struggled and tried to sling punches at him.
‘Get off me!’
‘Stop trying to kick me!’
‘Stop trying to attack me! You have no idea who you’re dealing with! I... I’m an expert in martial arts!’
Dante released her. He was temporarily stunned into silence. He couldn’t quite make her out because it was dark, but he could see enough to realise that the pint-sized spitfire rubbing her arm was about as expert in martial arts as he was in ballet dancing.
‘I don’t know who you are,’ Caitlin gritted, backing away just in case he decided to lunge at her, ‘but if you don’t clear off, I’m going to make sure that the police are contacted as soon as I get to...’ she nodded brusquely at the house, which should have been a lot closer considering how far she’d walked but still seemed a hundred miles away ‘...that house you can see up there.’
‘You’re going up there? Why?’
‘That’s none of your business.’ She spun round and began walking as fast as she could towards her destination. If the guy lurking in the grounds was up to no good, then he had obviously realised that she didn’t make a good candidate to be robbed. One glance at her dress code would have given the game away. Long flowered skirt, sensible shoes, her favourite flowing blouse over which, because it was cool even though it was summer, she was prudently wearing a cardigan...not a diamond in sight.
She clasped her holdall ever tighter, because you never knew... She didn’t want to look at him, even though her skin tingled because he had fallen into step alongside her. She had no intention of making eye contact.
‘It might be.’ Dante had always had the knack of making people stop dead in their tracks without raising his voice and, on cue, she stopped.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Engagement party? Alejandro? Name ring bells?’ He folded his arms and stood perfectly, watchfully still.
Caitlin turned to the stranger. They had progressed out of the shadowy overhang of trees, into more light, and she could make him out far more clearly and suddenly her mouth went dry and her nervous system seemed to temporarily forget what it was meant to do.
He had stepped back and she saw he was dressed for—yes, an engagement party. Black trousers, white shirt with the top couple of buttons undone as though he couldn’t be bothered with a formal dress code, no tie. He’d shoved his hands in his pockets, dragging down the trousers ever so slightly, and that seemed to emphasise the perfection of his muscular frame.
Her breathing went from fast to slow and back to fast in record time. She blinked, confused at a reaction that was so out of keeping with the person she knew herself to be.
When she met his eyes, she had to try to ignore the impact of a perfectly chiselled face. The man oozed sex appeal. He was also ever so slightly familiar, but she knew that she would remember him if she’d ever met him, or even laid eyes on him. He was not a man anyone could meet and forget.
‘You’re here for the engagement party, as well.’ She finally found her voice and then, because she was irritated with herself for being thrown by him, she belatedly added, ‘In which case why are you lurking in the grounds and jumping out at perfect strangers?’
She began walking, once more, in the direction of the house. Time was of the essence at this point and she couldn’t waste any more of it chatting to someone who made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
But this time her awareness of him, once again falling into step alongside her, was acute. She could feel the rasp of her breathing, and the shadow he cast as the winding tree-lined avenue became ever more brightly lit sent shivers racing up and down her spine.
Only when she was standing to the side, with the massive edifice of the house in front of her, did she stop to take stock, at which point she tried Alejandro’s number once again. She felt sick and out of her depth. She’d always known that Alejandro came from a wealthy background, but to be thrust into the very vortex of it, as she was now, made her stomach clench.
The cars that filled the vast courtyard gleamed with the patina of priceless machinery. Up close, the house, brightly lit, was beyond impressive and the distant thrum of noise was a sick reminder that the part she had undertaken to play was not going to be an easy one.
Predictably, Alejandro failed to respond.
‘Problems?’
‘Why are you still here?’ Her voice was laced with agitation.
‘I thought I’d personally escort you to the premises,’ Dante said.
The Forbidden Cabrera Brother Page 1
