Stand-In Bride's Seduction Read online

  So what if Jacob had wanted someone more spontaneous, someone who wasn’t afraid to spice things up? Rina bit back tears at the memory of the emotional hurt he’d inflicted. And here she’d thought she’d chosen a life partner who was stable and secure—someone the complete antithesis of her parents and their fiercely intense, competitive and oftentimes combative relationship. Just went to prove how wrong a girl could be. She’d have felt better if she and Jacob had fought—if he’d simply told her that she wasn’t what he wanted, rather than stringing her along for all that time, long after he’d stopped loving her.

  Rina forced from her mind the memory of Jacob’s unrepentant and abrupt withdrawal from the relationship they’d developed over the past five years. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t shed another tear over him. And she wouldn’t. Not a single one.

  She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. Why were promises so darn hard to keep?

  The crowd of travelers she’d arrived with had long since dispersed, and the sidewalks outside the terminal building were nearly empty. Worse, so were the taxi stands. Half an hour later Rina was beginning to wilt as the concentrated afternoon heat continued to build around her. Mindful of her fair skin—the curse of a natural redhead—she’d sought some shade near the side of the building.

  A trickle of perspiration ran down Rina’s back, as she flicked another glance at her watch—a gift from Sara and her only really frivolous piece of jewelry with its crystal embedded bezel and bracelet-style strap. Finally, thankfully, a green-and-white taxi pulled up. Tucking her shoulder bag securely against her side, Rina tightened her grip on the extended handle of her practical black suitcase and rolled it to the curbside.

  “The Governess’s Cottage, please,” Rina said through the open passenger window.

  Was it her imagination or did the driver surreptitiously cross himself as he got out of the taxi and walked around to lift her suitcase into the trunk of his car? Either way, she was too tired to care right now. She could only focus on one thing. Sorting out this wretched mess her sister had left her in.

  Rina watched the departing taxi speed down the road for a few minutes, more than a little startled by the haste with which the driver had taken off. Goodness only knew why he was in such a hurry.

  She grabbed her suitcase handle for what she hoped would be the last time in the next four weeks and trudged wearily through the pretty iron gate set within a stone wall that surrounded the cottage. “Quaint” really was the only word to describe the ancient structure, Rina decided as she followed the path to the tiny front porch with its stone steps worn by the passage of years of foot traffic.

  Pale ocher-plastered brick here and there, the plaster crumbling away, revealing the ancient brick beneath—and with a darker orange tiled roof, it looked like an old-fashioned watercolor. Deep-set mullioned windows, sashed with faded blue wooden trim, gave an insight into sparse, but adequate, furnishings inside. Not entirely Spanish in style, yet not entirely French either, the cottage was a delightfully eclectic mixture of both.

  Inside, she thought she could hear a phone ring before the strident chime shut off abruptly for a few moments then started all over again.

  Rina dug in her handbag for the envelope Sara had left her. The heavy old key fit neatly into the ancient black lock, and the door swung smoothly open. The telephone, coincidentally, fell silent once more as she stepped inside.

  She didn’t take so much as a second to admire the exposed beam ceiling of the main rooms of the cottage, nor the pristine perfection of the charming blue and white tiled bathroom. And she didn’t allow herself more than a single longing glance at the all-too-tempting bed in the room where she’d stowed her suitcase. She was a woman on a single-minded mission. To tell Sara’s fiancé exactly what she’d done. Surely he’d be reasonable. After all, they’d met and become engaged in such a short space of time. They barely knew one another. A certain amount of second thought was bound to occur.

  After her shower, Rina grabbed the first thing off the top of her open suitcase and dragged it over her barely dry body, and headed into the open-plan sitting room where she searched for a phone.

  Ten minutes later she had exactly what she needed. Thanking Isla Sagrado’s multilingual culture, and the high profile of the del Castillo family, not to mention the helpfulness of the information operator, for making the process so straightforward, she made another quick call and ordered a taxi to collect her and take her into the city, Puerto Seguro, and Reynard’s offices.

  By the time Rina arrived at the tasteful high-rise in the downtown section of the port city, she was running on pure nerves. Having been the recent recipient of such a break in relations, she was wary of how to approach this. What did you say to someone you’d never met before when you wanted to tell him that his engagement was very likely on shaky ground?

  She smoothed trembling hands over the sleeveless beige silk dress she’d pulled on in such a hurry and hoped her hair wasn’t already escaping the casual twist. She’d secured it with a couple of topaz-colored jeweled clips she’d found scattered, in typical Sara-like fashion, on the bathroom vanity.

  A quick scan of the floor directory next to the bank of elevators gave her the last bit of information she needed. Rina stepped into one of the elevator cars and pressed the button for the twenty-first floor. Her stomach lurched as the car started its upward journey, and all the while she ran through her head what she needed to say.

  The corridor that faced her as she stepped out was vast and empty. The muted tones of elegant piped music filtered through discreetly placed ceiling speakers. Directly ahead of her was a matched pair of large wooden doors, each one displaying an ornate carving that was, no doubt, the del Castillo family crest. Rina stepped forward and ran her fingertips over the raised edges of the stylized shield divided into three sections. In one was an intricately carved sword, in another a scroll or parchment of some description and the bottom section held an ornate heart. Her patchy Spanish translated the words.

  Honor. Truth. Love.

  She swallowed. If the man she was coming to see lived by the ancient code of his family, then she was definitely doing the right thing by coming here and telling him the truth. It was the only thing she could do.

  Rina pushed against the brass doorplate at the very same moment the door in question swung abruptly away from her. With all her energy moving forward, she stumbled and suddenly fell against an immovable rock of a hard male body clad in a perfectly tailored charcoal gray suit.

  Large, warm hands swiftly cupped her elbows and steadied her. Balanced on her feet now, Rina summoned a smile and looked up. Instantly, her heart skittered in her chest as she took in the perfection of male beauty in the face above hers.

  A broad, tanned forehead, strong dark brows over clear hazel eyes edged with short, dark lashes. A perfectly balanced face bisected by a straight nose that had obviously never been on the wrong end of a tackle in a rugby game, and finely chiseled lips that were even now curving in a smile that held a strange combination of recognition and relief.

  “Thank God you’re here,” he murmured, his voice a deep caress that she felt as though it was a stroke of velvet across her skin.

  “Mr. del Castillo. Your brother says he’ll meet you at the hospital,” the receptionist at the vast modern desk behind him said.

  The young woman’s words sank slowly into Rina’s mind. Mr. del Castillo? This man, who looked like he’d be better suited to the cover of GQ magazine than a conference room, was her sister’s fiancé, Reynard del Castillo?

  Two

  Before she realized what was happening, Rina found herself spun around and, her hand firmly locked in his, was marched swiftly toward the elevators.

  “Sara! I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour! I tried both your cell and your home phone because I wasn’t sure you were back on the island. I don’t know why you refused to tell me the details on your flight information. I could have picked you up from the airport
. Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I—” she began. Her mind raced to catch up with him. Cell phone. Of course, Sara must be ignoring his calls. With her own number being New Zealand based, on global roaming, she knew she couldn’t just say she’d changed numbers. Think, she told herself, what would Sara do or say? Rina latched onto the easiest response. “I’m sorry—I lost my phone while I was away. You know what I’m like.”

  “It doesn’t matter now. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  “But I—”

  The look on his face sent a chill down through her. His eyes, which only a moment ago had been warm and welcoming, were suddenly bleak—a small frown creasing the smooth skin between his brows.

  “I’ve got bad news. Benedict’s been involved in an accident. Alex just called me. We’re meeting him and Abuelo at the hospital. Thank goodness you came here, saves time for us both.”

  “Benedict?”

  “The idiot.” Reynard shook his head slowly. “You know how he drives. Seems the coast road out to the vineyard got the better of him, and that high performance pile of metal he calls a car.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “No, he’s not. We’re not sure how long he was trapped in the car but it took emergency services nearly an hour to free him from the wreck. He’s in surgery now.”

  Reynard’s voice broke on the words and Rina instinctively curled her fingers tighter around his.

  “I’m sure he’ll be okay,” she said with as much calm encouragement as she could muster.

  Inside, though, her stomach knotted on the news. How on earth could she tell Reynard that she wasn’t who he thought she was now? Benedict was the younger of the del Castillo brothers; she remembered that much from one of Sara’s e-mails. She also remembered Sara mentioning that Benedict ran the winery division of the family business.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Reynard said, his hand all but squeezing hers now.

  “I’m glad I’m here, too,” she whispered in response, and in a strange way she really was.

  The last thing he needed right now was an absentee fiancée. Tomorrow would be soon enough to tell him the truth, once they knew that Benedict would be all right.

  Reynard fell silent for the balance of the journey in the elevator. Rina could feel the tension and worry radiating off him in tangible waves and her heart twisted. She knew how she’d be feeling right now if it was Sara in the same position as Benedict. She’d barely be able to function.

  Finally, the elevator doors sprang open to reveal a basement parking garage. Reynard reached into a trouser pocket and she saw the lights flash on a vehicle across the way. Even in the basement lighting, the low sleek car shone as if its surface was mirror finished. The rearing horse symbol on the front grill spoke to its expensive origins.

  Confusion swirled around her. So far Reynard del Castillo hit every one of her sister’s hot buttons. He was deliciously tall, exquisitely handsome and clearly money was no object. Rina had been unable to detect a single thing about him that wouldn’t appeal to her sister on any level. So why was Sara wondering if she’d made a mistake? And why did she feel she had to leave to figure things out? It wasn’t like Sara to run away from anything, either. She was usually more up-front about things than this. So why had she done so?

  Despite his obvious anxiety about his brother, and his eagerness to get to the hospital, Reynard took the time to open the passenger door for her and waited until she was settled before closing her door and coming around to the driver’s side. It took her by surprise. She was staunchly independent, and more than used to taking care of herself. She expected and administered equality in all the spheres of her life. However, the old-fashioned courtesy was strangely appealing.

  And that wasn’t all that was appealing about the man. In the close confines of the car, her senses became finely tuned to everything about him. The warmth that emanated from his body despite the car’s air-conditioning, the capable movement of his hands on the steering wheel and the gear stick as he maneuvered out of the car park and into the blinding sunlight outdoors—not to mention the subtle blend of his fragrance.

  She closed her eyes and slowly inhaled, mentally picking apart the different layers of the scent. It reminded her of the decadence of consuming a succulent mango, slice by luscious slice, and underlying that sensual fruitiness was another scent. Something spicy. Patchouli, maybe? Whatever it was, it was doing crazy things to her insides. Things that her insides shouldn’t be doing given that she’d just been cast off by her own fiancé and was thinking these thoughts about her sister’s!

  Rina forced her eyes open. This was ridiculous. She’d never been the type to be so easily swayed by a man’s appearance and presence. Passionate attraction went against every reasonable, logical instinct she had—and it scared her a little. Even at the height of her relationship with Jacob, when she’d agreed to spend the rest of her life with him, she’d never felt as drawn to him as she now did to the stranger sitting beside her.

  She tried to shake it off. She was just overtired…and maybe a little emotionally vulnerable, after everything that had happened. Yes, that was definitely what was wrong with her. She’d get some sleep tonight and tell Reynard the truth tomorrow, and everything would go back to normal. She allowed her lips to part and forced herself to breathe lightly through her mouth in a vain attempt to rid herself of the disquieting sensation burgeoning to life deep inside her. Suddenly, telling him the truth tomorrow seemed a long, long time away.

  When they pulled up outside the hospital, Rina alighted from the car before Reynard could come around to her side and open the door for her. He did, however, ensure her hand was tucked in the corner of his arm as they walked toward the hospital doors.

  It was all too easy to see why her sister had fallen so quickly for this man. He was what they’d always referred to between them as the whole package. She was no shortie, standing at five feet ten inches in bare feet, but he topped that by almost half a foot and had an air of command intriguingly entwined with an aura of sophisticated sexuality. It was enough to make a grown woman’s mouth water.

  Focus, Rina growled to herself, as they entered the pristine hospital reception area and Reynard made straight for the elevators. All the signs here were in three languages—Spanish, French and English—so she knew they were headed for the surgical floor.

  Sudden nerves assailed her. What if another member of the family recognized her for a fraud? What would she do then? She forced herself to breathe calmly. Why should anyone suspect anything? she rationalized. If Reynard himself, supposedly Sara’s fiancé, didn’t immediately see the difference, then it made sense that no one else would, either.

  On the surgical floor they were shown to a private waiting room. Immediately Rina spotted another handsome man who she assumed was Reynard’s elder brother, Alexander. He stood near a window, his arm around a slender woman of average height, offering her comfort even as his own face bore the ravages of the worry they were all going through. Although his hair was darker than Reynard’s, the family resemblance was still incredibly strong. On closer inspection, Rina realized that, converse to her original impression, the woman at his side was supporting him, rather than the other way around.

  As soon as Alex saw his younger brother, he pulled away from his wife and came across the room. The affection the del Castillo brothers bore for each other was evident in the way they clasped in a long and silent embrace.

  “Any news?” Reynard said as they pulled apart.

  “Nothing,” Alex said, his voice hoarse.

  “The doctor said it could be a few hours,” the other woman volunteered gently. Suddenly, she seemed to notice Rina standing near the door and crossed the room toward her. “You must be Sara. I’m so sorry our first meeting should be under these circumstances.”

  First meeting? Had Sara never met Reynard’s family?

  “She’s only just returned from visiting friends in France. I haven’t even given her time to take a br
eath yet.” Reynard turned to Rina and pulled her to his side. “Alex, Loren, this is Sara Woodville, my fiancée.”

  “Welcome to the family,” Alex said, taking her hand and leaning in to kiss her on the cheeks in European fashion. “As Loren said, I’m sorry we had to meet you like this, but I am glad you are here for Reynard.”

  “Thank you,” she answered, but before she could say any more a commotion outside the waiting room distracted them.

  A volley of voluble Spanish rent the air as the door opened. The del Castillo imprint was obvious on the face of the elderly gentleman who pushed into the room, leaning heavily on a highly polished wooden cane, soon followed by a middle-aged man who looked both worried and apologetic at the same time.

  “I went to visit him at the nursing home to tell him the news in person, and he took my car keys and tried to hijack my car. I tried to stop him, señors, but he would not listen,” the younger man said. “He said he would drive himself here if I did not bring him.”

  “Listen? Pah!” the white haired gentleman spat. “You think I am too old to give support to my grandchildren when they need me?”

  “Don’t worry, Javier, Abuelo will be fine with us. Why don’t you see if you can find us all some decent coffee to drink, hmm?” Reynard suggested while smoothly stepping forward and taking his grandfather’s arm.

  “I know everyone else’s preferences but, señorita, how do you take your coffee?” Javier asked.

  “Strong and milky, thank you,” Rina replied with a smile.

  “You are forgetting your manners,” the old man chastised his grandson. “Who is this young lady?”

  His slightly quavering voice in heavily accented English belied the sharply inquisitive gleam in his eyes as he assessed Rina. For a moment she wondered if he could see right through her, see the falsehood she was perpetrating by masquerading as her twin.