His Brother's Son

As director of the Clinica Valdez, his say-so was needed before any decisions could be taken. Oh, he had some excellent people working for him, but he preferred to keep his finger very firmly on the pulse. He knew that his staff considered him to be something of a control freak, but they didn’t understand. The Clinica Valdez was not only his greatest achievement—it was the main focus of his life. He had worked too hard and made too many sacrifices to take a chance on anything going wrong.

A frown drew his thick, black brows together because that thought had caused him more than a little pain. He tried not to think about the mistakes he had made in his life, but sometimes it wasn’t easy to block them out. Now, as he looked out of the window at the sunlit grounds of the private hospital, he felt a familiar ache settle in his heart as he thought about his brother Antonio.

If he hadn’t been so busy opening the clinic, he might have realised that something was wrong with Antonio. Maybe he would have been able to make his brother understand that he had to continue to receive proper medical care. Antonio should never have been allowed to leave hospital when he’d been so ill. With the right kind of treatment he could have lived for another six months at least.

Not that he blamed Antonio, of course. He had been too ill to realise what he’d been doing, too ill and too much under the influence of that woman. No, if anyone was to blame for Antonio’s premature death, it was Rebecca Williams!

Felipe’s mouth thinned. With his austerely handsome features he looked even more forbidding as he stared out of the window. He tried not to think about Rebecca Williams very often because it was pointless getting upset. However, sometimes he found himself wishing that he’d gone to see her in London after Antonio’s funeral and told her exactly what he thought about her.

Only close family and friends had attended the service in Mallorca. Rebecca Williams certainly hadn’t been invited so they’d never met. He had seen a photograph of her, however, and even though he’d torn it up he could still recall every detail, from the long blonde hair falling softly around her oval face to those huge grey eyes. She had looked like every man’s vision of a ministering angel, but he knew how misleading appearances could be. Was it any wonder that poor Antonio had been deceived?

A woman suddenly walked along the path beneath his window and Felipe blinked. Just for a moment he felt his mind spin as he stared at her. Her blonde hair was caught up into a knot on the top of her head and her face was in profile, but there was something strangely familiar about her…

His heart began to pound as he turned and strode to the door. He wrenched it open, startling his secretary who had been about to knock. Felipe shook his head when she opened her mouth to speak.

‘Later!’ he ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.

He hurried into the corridor, taking the stairs two at a time as he raced down to the ground floor. There was a queue of people in Reception but he didn’t pause as he made his way to the entrance. His heart was pounding, the blood drumming painfully in his ears, the need to check if he’d been right urging him on. If it had been Rebecca Williams walking past his window just now then, by God, he didn’t intend to let her escape!

She was sitting on a bench outside the main doors. Felipe ground to a halt, feeling his breath coming in laboured spurts. There was something almost tragic about the way she sat there so still, so alone. When a wisp of pale blonde hair blew across her face, he was shocked when he saw how her hand trembled as she tucked it behind her ear.

He was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of compassion that stunned him because it was the last thing he’d expected to feel if they ever met. She looked so sad, so lonely, so deeply unhappy that his heart was immediately touched before he forced himself to remember who and what she was.

This was the woman who had hastened Antonio’s death because of her own greed for his money. Did he really have any sympathy to spare for someone like her?

He must have made some small sound of disgust because she suddenly glanced round and he saw the colour drain from her face. She rose to her feet and he could see the tremor that passed through her slender body and was pleased. He had no idea why she had come to see him but it didn’t really matter. It was enough that he would have the chance to tell her what he thought of her at last.

‘You’re Antonio’s brother, aren’t you?’

Her voice was low and surprisingly sweet. He frowned because it surprised him that he should have noticed a thing like that.

‘I am Felipe Valdez,’ he said harshly, and saw her flinch. He took a few quick steps and stopped in front of her, surprised once again when he realised how tiny she was. For some reason he’d imagined that she would be much taller and far less fragile-looking, so it threw him off balance for a moment to realise that the image he’d formed of her hadn’t been wholly accurate.

‘You probably don’t know who I am,’ she began in that low, sweet voice, but he curtly interrupted her, irritated that his mind should start running off at tangents at a time like this.

‘You’re Rebecca Williams. My brother’s girlfriend, for want of a better description.’ He smiled thinly when he saw her surprise. ‘Antonio sent me a photograph of you. He said that he wanted me to see the most important person in his life.’

‘I didn’t know…He never told me…’ Her grey eyes filled with tears and she turned away while she hunted a tissue out of her bag.

Felipe’s hands clenched because the urge to touch her then was so very strong. It shocked him to the depths of his being that he should feel such a need to comfort her, shocked and angered him because wasn’t it an indication of her power? If he could be manipulated like this, how much easier must it have been for her to persuade Antonio to do what she’d wanted?

The thought was just what he needed. Placing his hand under her elbow, he briskly steered her away from the main entrance, ignoring her murmured protest as he led her along the path until they reached a sheltered spot well away from any prying eyes. He had no idea what she wanted but he preferred to keep their dealings private if possible.

He had never spoken of his feelings about this woman to anyone, and certainly hadn’t shared the contempt he felt for her with any of his colleagues. He preferred to keep his own counsel when something affected him deeply. Only once in his life had he ever opened his heart to anyone, and look how badly that had turned out.

He was surprised when that thought crossed his mind because it had been years since he’d thought about his engagement to Teresa and how it had ended. He had no time to dwell on it, however, as Rebecca Williams wrenched her arm out of his grasp. There was a touch of colour in her face and a glint in her grey eyes that told him she was angry about the way he’d behaved towards her, but she had forfeited her right to be treated with courtesy after what she had done to Antonio.

‘I don’t know what you think you’re doing—’ she began hotly, but he brusquely interrupted her once more.

‘What precisely do you want, Miss Williams?’ He smiled sardonically when she fell silent and stared warily at him. ‘You must have had a reason for coming here, so why don’t you tell me what it is? What is that wonderful phrase you use in England? Ah, yes, beating about the bush. I can see no point in us beating about the bush. Sí?’

‘Who said that I wanted anything?’ She walked a little way across the grass then turned to face him. ‘I might have come here purely and simply because I wanted to meet you.’

‘You might, but I don’t think so.’ Felipe folded his arms and studied her closely, knowing that all the contempt he felt must be clear to see in his sherry-brown eyes.

She was beautiful, all right, with that silky, pale hair, those delicate features, that air of innocence, but he wasn’t fool enough to be taken in. Rebecca Williams was a cold-hearted, mercenary gold-digger, and it broke his heart to know that his brother had fallen into her clutches when he’d been at his most vulnerable.

Anger burned hotly inside him but he’d learned a long time ago how to use it to its best effect. He continued to study her, watching the play of emotions that crossed her face before her head suddenly bowed. When she spoke this time her voice echoed with a pain that sounded almost real—if he’d been foolish enough to believe that a woman like her was capable of any genuine emotions.

‘You hate me, don’t you? I can hear it in your voice, see it in your eyes.’

She suddenly looked up and Felipe felt his stomach clench when he saw the bewilderment in her beautiful grey eyes. ‘Why? I don’t understand why you should feel like that. I’ve never done anything to hurt you. We hadn’t even met until today. So why do you…you loathe me like this?’

‘Why do you think, Miss Williams? The answer isn’t all that difficult, surely?’

He closed his mind to the swift stab of guilt that had speared through him. Rebecca Williams was a consummate actress. She must be if she’d managed to fool Antonio for all that time. How long had it been that she and his brother had lived together?

He was rather hazy about the details because it had been a while before Antonio had written to tell him the address where he was staying in England, and even then all he’d said in the letter had been that he’d met someone and that they were living together in London. Felipe hadn’t heard from him again for many months, not until after Antonio had signed himself out of hospital after refusing further treatment. By the time that letter had reached him, his brother had been dead.

‘Because of Antonio, you mean? But why? I don’t understand. I never did anything to harm your brother. All I ever wanted was to help him!’

He pushed the memory to the back of his mind because he couldn’t deal with it right then. Rebecca Williams was staring at him, and if he’d been gullible enough he might have believed that she really was as shocked as she was making herself out to be.

‘Really? How touching.’ He treated her to a contemptuous smile and saw her flinch. ‘So you had Antonio’s welfare at heart, did you?’

‘Of course! I don’t know why you need to ask me that. Everything I did was aimed purely and simply at making his life more…more bearable.’

Her voice broke and she looked away. Felipe’s hands clenched because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake her or hug her at that moment. She’d sounded so sincere and yet how could he believe a word she said when he had indisputable evidence to the contrary?

It shocked him that he should feel this strange mixture of emotions when the situation was so clear cut. He knew what she’d done so maybe it was time he let her know that rather than allow the situation to turn into a complete farce.

‘And the fact that you managed to greatly improve the quality of your own life was your reward for making my brother’s last few weeks on this earth bearable? Is that what you are saying, Miss Williams?’

‘I don’t know what you mean…’ she began, then suddenly stopped. He saw her take a deep breath that made her small breasts rise and fall beneath the soft cotton of her blue dress, but her voice sounded strangely thin when she continued, as though the accusation had sucked all the strength out of her. Maybe it was difficult to be forced to admit the truth, even for a woman like her.

‘You’re talking about Antonio’s will, aren’t you? And the fact that he left me all that money?’

Becky could feel the tremor that was working its way through her body but she made herself stand rigidly still. Felipe Valdez was watching her and the contempt in his eyes should have hurt or angered her, but in a funny sort of way she suddenly felt detached from what was happening. It was as though she had stepped outside herself and was watching the scene that was being played out in the sunlit grounds of the hospital.

There she stood in her best dress—the one she had chosen especially because she’d hoped it would make the right impression—and there was Felipe standing so tall and straight, his mouth curled into that arrogant smile which a moment ago had seemed to chill her soul.

She found herself wondering what would happen if she blinked—if she would open her eyes and find herself back in the flat in London, waking to the sound of Josh’s noisy shouts as he clamoured for her to lift him out of his cot…

She closed her eyes then opened them again, but the scene was just the same. The only difference was that Felipe was now speaking. It was an effort to make sense of what he was saying.

‘I see we have made a breakthrough at last. This reluctance to talk about money is so very English. But why pretend that it means nothing when we both know that it is the driving force behind so much that people do?’

He shrugged, his broad shoulders moving lightly beneath the fine wool of his dark grey suit. It was obviously expensive, Becky thought inconsequentially, because it fitted him to perfection, the jacket tailored to accommodate the width of his shoulders and chest, the trimness of his waist.