His Forbidden Passion

‘Yeah, right.’ Cleo felt a sudden sense of apprehension at the sudden possibility that it might be true. ‘That’s why I looked a bit—spaced-out when I came in, I suppose. It’s not every day someone tells you you’re not who you’d always thought you were.’

Norah bit her lip. ‘But you think she’s lying?’

‘Damn right!’ Cleo stared at her emotively. ‘Of course she’s lying. How can you ask such a thing? You knew my parents. Did they strike you as the kind of people who’d keep a secret like that?’

‘Well, no.’ Norah sighed. ‘All the same, I have sometimes thought that you didn’t look a lot like them, Cleo. I mean, OK, your skin is darker than mine, but you’re not a blonde, are you? And you’ve got that gorgeous straight black hair.’

‘Don’t go there, Norah.’

Getting to her feet again, Cleo turned abruptly away, heading for the small bedroom that Norah had had decorated for her when she moved in.

She didn’t want to consider that there might be even a grain of truth in what Serena Montoya had said. To do so would tear the whole fabric of her life up to this time apart.

She should have asked more questions, she acknowledged. She should have asked the woman outright what proof she had to substantiate her claim.

Instead, all she’d done was keep on denying something that she now saw in retrospect had to have some meaning. Maybe not the meaning Serena Montoya had put upon it, but a reason why she’d contacted her.

Dominic Montoya was standing staring out of the hotel’s fourteenth-floor windows when Serena strode into the suite. The lights of the capital were spread out below him, a teeming, noisy metropolis, much different from his family’s estate back home.

The door’s automatic closing mechanism prevented Serena from slamming it, but the oath she uttered caused her nephew to turn and regard her with mocking green eyes.

‘It must have gone well,’ he remarked, as Serena charged across the room to where a tray of drinks resided on a bureau. He watched as she splashed vodka and ice into a glass and raised it to her lips before adding, ‘I assume you found her.’

Serena swallowed half her drink before replying. Then, her lips tightening, she said, ‘Yes, I found her.’ Her blue eyes sparkled coldly. ‘But you can go and see her yourself next time.’

Dominic pushed his thumbs into the back pockets of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his leather boots. ‘So there is to be a next time,’ he remarked casually. ‘Have you made that arrangement?’

‘No.’ Serena was stubborn. ‘But one of us will have to bite the bullet, won’t we?’ She shook her head. ‘Your grandfather’s going to have a hissy fit.’

Dominic’s dark brows drew together enquiringly, and Serena thought, not for the first time, what a damnably attractive man he was. A small core of resentment uncurled inside her. Whatever happened, her father would never blame him.

Ever since her brother, Robert, had found the infant, Dominic, wandering the streets of Miami when he was barely three years old, it had always been that way. Dominic was that most fortunate of beings: the favoured grandchild. The only grandchild until now, Serena reflected irritably. Although her brother had married when he was in his early twenties, she never had. She’d had offers, of course, when she was younger. But their mother’s premature death when Serena was in her teens had persuaded her that her father needed her as his hostess, and she’d never looked back.

Now, discovering her brother had had an adulterous affair with Celeste Dubois had really thrown her. She’d always thought they were close. She’d been shattered when he died. But recently, her father had revealed the circumstances of the affair, how he—and he alone—had helped Robert keep the child’s existence a secret.

She shook her head and Dominic thought he could guess what she was thinking. He knew she’d never forgive Robert for deceiving her and Dominic’s adoptive mother, Lily. It was the fact that Lily couldn’t have children that had made his own adoption so much easier.

And he knew how lucky he’d been to find such loving, caring parents. His own biological mother had never wanted him, and she’d been only too happy for someone else to take responsibility for him.

He had once tried to find his mother, when he was a teenager and curious about his roots. But he’d discovered she’d died of an overdose, just weeks after he’d been adopted, and he’d realised again how fortunate he was that Robert had found him.

Perhaps that was why he viewed the present situation with much less anguish than Serena. OK, it had been a shock to all of them, particularly his mother, who, like Serena, had trusted her husband completely.

And it was going to be hard for her. The old man—his grandfather—had a lot to answer for, bringing the girl to their attention all these years after Robert’s death. He must have had an attack of conscience, Dominic decided, brought on by the sudden discovery of prostate cancer earlier in the year.

‘So why is my grandfather going to have a—what was it you said—a hissy fit?’ Dominic questioned now, and Serena turned resentful eyes in his direction.

‘Because she’s the image of her mother,’ she retorted shortly. ‘Or the way she used to look before she died.’ She shook her head. ‘You know, I knew Celeste had had a baby, but I never dreamt it might be Robert’s child.’

‘Obviously, no one did. Except perhaps my grandfather.’

‘Oh, yes, he knew.’ Serena was bitter. ‘But how could Robert do that to Lily? I thought he loved her.’

‘I know he did.’ Dominic’s tone was mild. ‘This woman— Celeste—was probably just a momentary madness.’

‘A momentary sexual madness.’ Serena wasn’t prepared to compromise. ‘Or maybe to prove he wasn’t impotent, hmm?’ She flopped down into one of the tapestry-covered armchairs that flanked the pseudo-marble fireplace. ‘How could he, Dom? Would you do that to a woman you professed to love?’

‘Uh—no.’ Dominic was indignant. ‘But we’re not talking about me, Serena. And your brother’s dead. Someone has to defend him. He wasn’t a bad man, for God’s sake. Can’t you cut him a little slack?’

Serena sighed. ‘It’s not easy.’

‘Anyway, I doubt if Robert would approve of what your father’s doing, if he were alive.’ Dominic was persuasive. ‘And I dare say at the time he thought what he was doing was right.’

‘Getting rid of the evidence, you mean?’

‘Oh, ’Rena…’ Dominic came to squat on his haunches beside her chair. ‘I’m sure he had the child’s best interests at heart. Her mother was dead and I doubt if my mother would have welcomed her into the family then.’

‘I doubt if she would either,’ agreed his aunt forcefully. ‘So what makes you think Lily will feel any differently now?’

Dominic sighed and pushed himself to his feet again. ‘I doubt she will,’ he admitted honestly. ‘But it’s not her call, is it? It’s your father’s decision.’

‘Well, I think the whole thing is disgusting. I don’t know how I kept my temper when that—that ignorant girl refused to believe me.’ She snorted. ‘She has no idea what she’s being offered.’

‘Perhaps she doesn’t care,’ suggested Dominic quietly. ‘So—did you manage to convince her?’

‘I don’t know.’ Serena got up to pour herself another drink and then resumed her seat. ‘She may think about what I’ve said, but I don’t particularly care. She’s not at all what I expected.’

Dominic’s brows rose. ‘Because she looks like the Dubois woman?’ he probed shrewdly, and Serena turned an indignant face up to his.

‘Of course, you would think that,’ she said crossly. ‘You’re a man. Men always made fools of themselves over the Dubois women. Or so I’ve heard.’ She sighed. ‘But all right. Perhaps I am a bit jealous. One thing’s for sure, she doesn’t look a lot like Robert.’

‘Not at all?’

Serena made a frustrated sound. ‘Well, obviously she does a little,’ she admitted. ‘She has his nose and his mouth and his height.’

‘But she’s black?’

‘No.’ Serena shifted a little uncomfortably. ‘Well, not obviously so. She’s just—beautiful. Slim and dark and gorgeous. Just like her mother, as I say.’

Dominic couldn’t suppress a grin. ‘No wonder you didn’t like her,’ he teased and a rueful smile tugged at his aunt’s mouth.

‘Well, she was arrogant,’ she said defensively. ‘Like she was doing me a favour by speaking to me at all.’

‘Oh, dear.’ Dominic was amused. ‘But let’s face it, you are a complete stranger to her. She was probably suspicious of your motives.’

Serena considered. ‘She really believes the Novaks were her parents, you know.’

‘Well, I suppose they were.’ Dominic shrugged. ‘The only parents she’s known, anyway. For the past twenty-odd years, she’s believed she had no other relatives.’