His Brother's Son

‘I’m not sure exactly how much my brother left you. Our parents put two hundred thousand pounds in a trust fund for Antonio, for when he reached the age of twenty-five. I doubt he had the time to spend very much of it before he died, so you must have received quite a considerable sum. Yet you have managed to spend it all in a few short months, apparently.’

He smiled thinly, wondering why she didn’t try to justify her actions, although maybe she knew how pointless it would be to try and play on his sympathy. It might have worked in the past because he could understand that many men must have been taken in by her beauty. Even he was aware of it and could feel himself responding on a purely physical level.

No man could look at Rebecca Williams and not want her. Even though he despised everything she stood for, he could feel a stirring in his blood. Her delicate beauty and that air of vulnerability she projected was a potent mixture and he could understand how his brother had been fooled by it. However, that was where he and Antonio differed. He knew that beneath the beautiful outer shell was a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. And what she wanted most of all was money.

‘I almost feel sorry for you, because I’m sure that working for your living wasn’t part of your plan.’ His voice grated because the thought seemed to sear right through him. All she’d ever wanted from Antonio had been his money!

‘Nevertheless, I’m very much afraid that I shall have to disappoint you even further because you won’t get a penny out of me. I am not my brother. I am not as gullible as poor Antonio was!’

He brushed past her, feeling the tremor that coursed through his body when his arm brushed her shoulder. Revulsion, he told himself as he went to the door, simple revulsion—if anything to do with this woman could be classed as simple. He had no idea how she’d hoped to extract money from him, but he couldn’t bear to question her further. Finding out more about Rebecca Williams’s sordid life certainly wouldn’t make him feel any better.

‘Becky, can you come—? Oops, sorry. I didn’t know you were busy.’

Felipe ground to a halt when a nurse suddenly appeared. He saw her look curiously at him before she turned to Rebecca and spoke more formally this time.

‘Mr Watts is on his way. I thought I’d better warn you because he’s in a rush. Something about having to go to Leeds to give a lecture this evening, or so Simon said.’

‘Thank you, Karen. I’ll be right there.’

Felipe flinched when she spoke, wondering what had caused that ripple to run through him. He shot her an uneasy glance over his shoulder but she wasn’t looking at him. She took a stack of folders off the desk and went to the door, all the time avoiding eye contact with him.

She smiled as she handed the notes to the nurse, but Felipe could tell the effort it cost her to act as though nothing was wrong. All of a sudden, he wished that he hadn’t come because he’d achieved nothing from his visit. He’d simply upset himself and upset Rebecca, too.

Oddly, that last thought was the most disturbing of all. Hurting Rebecca hadn’t given him any satisfaction, as he’d hoped it would. It was an effort to hide his dismay when Rebecca addressed the other woman in a cool little voice that told him just how difficult she had found the past few minutes.

‘Check that all the obs are up to date, will you, Karen? You know how Mr Watts hates it if everything isn’t spot on.’

‘Do I ever!’ The nurse took the bundle then looked worriedly at Rebecca. ‘You will be there when he arrives? I don’t think I’m up to coping with one of his high-speed ward rounds.’

‘Of course. Dr Valdez was just leaving so I won’t be long.’

‘Valdez! Oh, I didn’t realise.’ The young nurse laughed as she turned to him. ‘What an idiot I am! I should have known the minute I saw you.’

She gave him a considering look. ‘Yes, I can see the resemblance now, especially around the eyes. Josh has exactly the same colour eyes as you have. Isn’t it amazing how something like eye colour can be passed on through a family?’

Felipe didn’t know what to say. He knew that she was waiting for him to answer, but there was no way that he could have formed even the simplest sentence.

He turned to Rebecca and this time she was looking straight at him—staring at him, to be precise. Her eyes seemed to be riveted to his face and the expression in them made his heart race. He had never seen such fear in anyone’s eyes before.

He heard the door close as the nurse hurriedly left, and almost laughed out loud. It was obvious that she was trying to be tactful because she’d sensed that she might have said something wrong, but it was far too late for that now. With a few unguarded words his life had been turned on its head.

‘Who is Josh?’

He didn’t realise the question had come from his lips at first because it hadn’t sounded like his voice. It had sounded too strained, too raw, too full of emotion to be the voice of Felipe Valdez. He saw Rebecca swallow, watched her mouth open and struggled to concentrate because it was vitally important that he heard what she said.

‘Josh is my son.’

She paused and he knew that he was holding his breath as he waited for her to continue. ‘He’s Antonio’s son, too.’

Becky could feel her heart beating, but it felt as though time had suddenly come to a halt. Felipe was standing stock still and the expression of shock on his face would have made her laugh if there had been anything remotely funny about the situation.

She saw him swallow and tried to prepare herself for what he would ask her. He would be bound to have questions—dozens of them—and she needed to decide what to tell him. But it was hard to think when her brain felt as though it had seized up.

‘My…my brother had a child…a son?’

Her heart ached with a sudden, fierce pain when she heard the bewilderment in his voice. For some reason she wanted to make this as easy as possible for him, even though she knew how dangerous it was to consider his feelings. One small slip, one unguarded word and the situation could spiral out of control.

‘Yes. His name is Josh and he’s nine months old,’ she told him quietly. ‘He looks very like Antonio and you, too, I suppose.’

She gave him a tentative smile, watching the rapid play of emotions that crossed his face as he struggled to make sense of what she was saying. ‘He definitely has your colour eyes, as Karen just mentioned. Antonio’s eyes were a lot darker.’

‘Antonio took after our mother,’ he said roughly. ‘I favour my father’s side of the family.’

‘But there’s still a strong resemblance between you both.’ She felt her heart catch because until then she really hadn’t been aware of the similarities between the two brothers. Now it scared her to realise how alike they were. The last thing she could afford was to look at Felipe and see Antonio. She had to remember that they were two very different people.

It was a relief when there was a knock on the door because she desperately needed some time to think about what had happened. She hurried to answer it, shaking her head when Debbie apologised for the interruption.

‘It’s fine, really. Don’t worry. Has Mr Watts arrived?’

‘Yes. Karen sent me to tell you.’ Debbie shot a curious glance at Felipe then lowered her voice. ‘He’s none too pleased because you weren’t there to meet him, I’m afraid, Becky.’

‘I’ll be straight there,’ she assured her.

She closed the door then felt her heart skip a beat when she turned and found Felipe standing right behind her. He was so close that she could smell the tangy scent of his aftershave, feel the heat of his body, and all of a sudden it felt as though her senses were being swamped by him.

‘I have to go,’ she explained, quickly moving away. She went to the desk and picked up a pen, trying her best not to let him see how nervous she was all of a sudden. She had never felt like this around Antonio, never once felt so deeply aware of him as she was of his brother. The idea worried her for a moment until it struck her that it was because Antonio had never presented a threat to her, like Felipe did.

‘I have to get back to work,’ she said more calmly, relieved to have found such a simple explanation.

‘But we need to talk, Rebecca. That is obvious. Sí?’

He had phrased it as a question, but Becky knew there wasn’t the slightest chance that he would let her refuse. He wanted to know all about Josh, and who could blame him?

Finding out that he was an uncle had come as a shock to him, but it was what happened from here on that frightened her most. She was under no illusions as to how Felipe felt about her. He might be struggling to come to terms with what had happened at the moment, but it wouldn’t be long before the implications of it hit him.

How would he feel about her being Josh’s mother? Maybe he would have to accept it while he believed that Josh really was her child, but if the truth ever emerged it would be a very different story. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Felipe would waste no time trying to remove her from his nephew’s life.

She bit her lip as the irony of the situation struck her. A few days ago she had seen Felipe Valdez as her only hope to stop Josh being taken away from her. Now he presented as big a threat as Tara did.

It was an effort to contain her panic, but she couldn’t afford to give in to it. She carefully wiped all expression from her face when Felipe spoke.

‘This is the address and telephone number of the hotel where I am staying. I shall expect you to call me as soon as you are free.’ He took a notebook from his jacket pocket and wrote down the details then tore off the sheet and handed it to her. ‘We need to arrange a time this evening when we can meet.’

‘But I don’t finish work until six,’ she protested, knowing that she needed more time to work out what she should tell him.

‘Six o’clock will be fine. I shall expect you to call me then. To be perfectly blunt, Miss Williams, I am not prepared to wait while you choose a time that is more convenient for you.’

He didn’t say anything else before he left. Becky heard his footsteps echoing along the corridor and shuddered as reaction set in. She took a deep breath, but the feeling of panic was getting worse.

Maybe it was understandable that he should want to know all about his brother’s child, but she didn’t dare think about how difficult it was going to be, explaining everything to him. How much could she really afford to tell him?

It was an effort to put that thought out of her mind as she hurried into the ward. James Watts, the consultant in charge of the IC unit, was waiting by the door with his party, and he greeted her with noticeable coolness.

‘Ah, there you are, Staff. Good of you to join us. If we’re all here at last, shall we get started? I have to be in Sheffield by five, and the last thing I need are any more delays.’

Becky hastily apologised, feeling suitably rebuked. They went straight to Danny Epstein’s bed and she handed James the boy’s notes. Danny had been admitted a few days earlier with severe endocarditis—inflammation of the internal lining of the heart—and he was still giving them cause for concern.

She waited by the bed while James read through the night staff’s report in his usual thorough fashion. Although the consultant had brought several students with him that morning, as well as his two registrars, it was very quiet. Nobody dared to interrupt him or they would suffer the consequences.

Becky found her thoughts drifting back to what had happened in the office as the silence lengthened. What would be the best way to handle this coming meeting with Felipe? He was bound to have a lot of questions and she had to find a way to answer them without arousing his suspicions—

‘We’ll continue the high-dose antibiotics and hope that they’ll clear things up eventually…Staff?’

She blinked as James Watts paused and peered at her over the top of his spectacles. A wash of colour ran up her face when she saw Simon Montague, the senior registrar, treat her to a conspiratorial grin. It must have been obvious to everyone that she hadn’t been paying attention, and it alarmed her that she had allowed her own problems to intrude on her work.

‘I’ll mark that down on Danny’s card,’ she said, hurriedly thinking back over what the consultant had said. ‘Is the cardio team planning on replacing the damaged heart valves soon?’

‘Once we have the infection under control,’ James replied shortly, making sure she knew that he didn’t appreciate it when members of his staff failed to give him their undivided attention.

Becky breathed a sigh of relief when James turned to the students and began to outline the boy’s case history. She’d got off pretty lightly, bearing in mind that she’d already provoked the consultant’s wrath once that day.

‘This young fellow caught an infection whilst having a tooth extracted,’ James explained. He paused, the students hanging on his every word. ‘Lo and behold, a few days later he came down with endocarditis. We know for certain that two of the valves have been damaged, but we shall have to wait and see how badly the rest have been affected.’

Becky gathered together the notes as the students exclaimed in amazement. They were in their first year at medical school and it was obvious they’d never realised that having a tooth out could be such a risky procedure. James had played up the dangers for dramatic effect, but at least it had helped to restore his good humour when his audience had responded as he’d hoped.

‘OK, so what’s wrong? You look as though you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.’ Simon hung back to talk to her as the others moved to the next bed.

Becky sighed inwardly when she saw the concern on his face. Simon was really nice and if it had been anything else worrying her she might have been tempted to unburden herself. However, there was no way that she could tell him what was wrong that day.

‘Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine,’ she began, then looked round when James coughed. She flushed again when he treated her to another frosty stare.

‘I would like to finish this round some time today, Staff. So if you and Dr Montague would be kind enough to join us, I shall be eternally grateful.’

‘I’m sorry, sir,’ she said, hurrying over to join him. She could tell that Simon hadn’t believed her, but she decided that it would be simpler to let the subject drop. Although she wouldn’t like to offend Simon, he really wasn’t her priority at the moment.

She purposely drove all thoughts of Felipe Valdez out of her head while they completed the round then hurried to the office and busied herself with phoning through an order to the supplies department so that she could avoid having to speak to Simon again. He poked his head round the door and mouthed that he would catch her later then hurried away.

Becky sighed as she hung up. What was she going to do? Felipe now knew about Josh even though he wasn’t in possession of all the facts. But exactly how much should she tell him?

It was impossible to answer that question because so much depended on what Felipe intended to do. However, it did make her see how foolish it would be not to phone him as soon as she got home from work. Felipe Valdez wasn’t the kind of man who would simply disappear from her life because she wanted him to.

She frowned. Was that really what she wanted, though? Did she honestly wish that she would never have to see him again?

The answer should have been a resounding yes. Felipe was undoubtedly a threat to her and Josh, but her feelings towards him weren’t as clear-cut as they should have been.

Felipe couldn’t relax. For the past three hours he’d done nothing but pace his hotel room. Everything he’d learned kept whirling around inside his head and he couldn’t make sense of it.

Antonio had had a child with Rebecca Williams. A son. Was it true? Or was it another one of her schemes, another lie to add to the web of deceit that surrounded her?

He sank onto a chair and picked up the phone then sat and stared at it. He knew the number of the hospital by heart, but should he phone her or wait until she phoned him? He had to decide what he intended to ask her first. If she still maintained that the child—Josh, she’d called him—was Antonio’s son, surely he needed proof. Who knew how many men Rebecca Williams might have slept with? Any one of them could be the child’s father…

Only he had a gut feeling that wasn’t the case. Rebecca’s son was also his brother’s child, the only thing left on this earth that could provide a tangible link to Antonio. By heaven, he wasn’t going to sit there and phone her or wait for her to contact him. He was going to see her again, and this time he intended to find out exactly what was going on.

A thin smile curved his mouth. He only hoped that Rebecca wouldn’t try to lie to him because it would be a mistake.

Becky was late leaving the hospital because there had been a crisis when Danny Epstein had arrested. It had taken the combined efforts of the whole team to stabilise him and he had now been sent to Theatre to have two badly damaged heart valves replaced.

Whether he would survive the operation in his weakened state was in the lap of the gods, but it was his only chance and she applauded his parents’ decision to take it. It wasn’t easy being a parent, as she had discovered.

A smile tilted her lips as she hurried out of the main doors. She loved collecting Josh at the end of the day because he was always so happy to see her. The little boy had a wonderfully sunny nature, which had made him rather a pet of the child-minder who looked after him while she was at work. It was reassuring to know that he was being well cared for when she couldn’t be with him.

‘Miss Williams.’

She stopped dead when she recognised the voice that had called her name. She’d known that Felipe wouldn’t rest until he’d got to the bottom of this situation, but she’d hoped to have a little more time before she spoke to him again. Now, when she turned and saw the uncompromising expression on his face, she felt her heart start to race.

Would she be able to stop him finding out that she wasn’t Josh’s real mother? Everything hinged on her doing that.

CHAPTER THREE

‘I NEED to speak to you, Miss Williams. There’s a bar across the road—maybe we can go there.’

‘I can’t.’

Felipe frowned when he heard the anxiety in Rebecca’s voice. Although he understood how stressful this situation must be for her he couldn’t understand why she sounded so scared.

Once again the idea that she might have been telling him a pack of lies about the child being Antonio’s son filled his mind. After all, why hadn’t Antonio written and told him that he’d become a father? Despite that row they’d had before Antonio had left Mallorca, his brother had never been the kind of person to harbour a grudge. There was something about this situation which didn’t add up.

‘Can’t or won’t?’ he said tersely. ‘I’m having a great deal of difficulty understanding what is going on, Miss Williams. A few hours ago you told me that you and my brother had had a son and now you refuse to talk to me about the child.’

Her lids lowered, effectively hiding her eyes from view. ‘I’m not refusing to talk to you, Dr Valdez.’ She shrugged, but he wasn’t blind to the strain that was etched on her face when she glanced up. ‘However, I thought we’d agreed that I would telephone you and arrange a time when we could meet.’

‘We did, but I can see no reason why we cannot talk now and get this all sorted out.’ He went to slide his hand under her elbow, but she stepped smartly out of reach.

‘I’ve just told you that I can’t talk to you now. I have to collect Josh. I’m late as it is because we had an emergency, and the childminder will be wondering where I am.’

She started hurrying down the path, but if she thought that he was prepared to let her walk away, she was mistaken. Who knew what she might be planning? She claimed that she’d intended to phone him, but could he trust her? What if she took Josh and disappeared? How would he feel if his brother’s only child was left in the care of a woman like her?

He strode after her, his long legs swiftly bringing him level with her. He saw her glance round, saw her pretty mouth compress, but she didn’t say a word. They walked in silence down the path and across the busy London street. It was the middle of the rush hour and the traffic was horrendous, car after car belching out fumes.

He suddenly wished that he was back home in Mallorca, breathing in the fresh, salt-laden air as it blew in from the bay. Had Antonio really preferred to exchange all that beauty for this?

‘Antonio used to love the rush hour. He spent a lot of time looking out of the window when…when he became too weak to go out.’

He heard the catch in her voice and felt his heart ache. He had tried many times to imagine how his brother must have felt, knowing that he was dying. Suddenly, he needed to know how Antonio had dealt with it.

‘How was he toward the end?’ He heard the roughness in his voice and knew that she had heard it, too, but, oddly, he didn’t feel embarrassed. He cleared his throat, deeply disturbed by the thought. ‘It must have been difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that he was dying.’

‘I think by that time he had come to accept what was going to happen.’ She smiled gently. ‘He told me that he didn’t want to waste his last few weeks on earth by feeling bitter. And, of course, having Josh helped tremendously. Knowing that a little bit of him would live on after his death gave him strength.’

‘Did he see the child, then?’ Felipe asked, keeping his gaze averted because he was deeply moved by what she had said. He wasn’t embarrassed, but he was too private a person to feel completely comfortable about exposing his feelings.

The problem was that it was so hard to think about Antonio at the end of his life; he kept having flashbacks to when he’d been born. Felipe had been fifteen when his brother had arrived in the world. His parents had been shocked at first when they’d discovered they were having another child and delighted later when the baby had been born.

Antonio had brought great joy to his parent’s lives, great joy to his own life as well. After their parents had been killed in a car accident when Antonio was ten, Felipe had willingly taken over the task of raising him.

He had done his best to guide Antonio, but maybe he’d been too strict. If he hadn’t been so set on making Antonio do as he’d wanted him to, his brother might never have left Mallorca and certainly wouldn’t have ended up having a child with Rebecca Williams. How strange it was the way everything had worked out.

‘Oh, yes. Josh was born a few weeks before…well, before Antonio died. He was in a lot of pain by then and his medication had been increased because of it. He used to sleep most of the time, but once I brought Josh home from hospital Antonio refused to take more than the barest minimum of pain relief.’

He saw her dash her hand across her eyes and could hear how her voice had thickened with tears. ‘He said that he didn’t want to miss a single minute he had left with Josh. He used to hold him all day long. My one abiding memory of Antonio is seeing him sitting by the window, cradling his son in his arms.’

Her voice broke on a sob and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to take her in his arms and hold her while she cried. In his heart, Felipe knew that he was probably making a mistake, but he couldn’t stop himself wanting to comfort her.

He drew her closer, amazed by the sense of helplessness he felt. He couldn’t assuage her grief and for some reason it hurt to know that she was crying for his brother and that there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

He smoothed his hand over her hair, feeling the silky strands snagging against his palm. Her hair felt like gossamer, so light, so soft, so sensuous. He found himself staring at it in wonderment, watching the play of light and shadow as the pale gold strands rippled beneath his fingers. All of a sudden he wished that this moment could last for ever, that he could keep her here in his arms and never let her go. She would be safe then, because he would be able to protect her from any more pain.