Stand-In Bride's Seduction

“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.

“This is Sara Woodville, my fiancée,” Reynard responded smoothly.

“It’s about time she came back. I was beginning to think she was a figment of your imagination. The governess, she won’t wait, you know. You mark my words. This accident of Benedict’s,” he stated as he waved a mottled hand through the air, “it is no accident, I tell you.”

“Abuelo, enough!” Alex’s voice was sharp. “Benedict endangered his own life every time he got behind the wheel of a car. It was bound to catch up with him sooner or later. It had nothing to do with—”

“You can deny it all you wish, my boy, but the facts remain in front of your face as clear as your nose. Now, where is my grandson? I wish to see him.”

He imperiously stamped the cane he clutched in one gnarled hand on the vinyl floor, and Rina suddenly realized why the brothers had not wanted him at the hospital. He had no idea just how seriously hurt Benedict was.

She looked from the elderly man to his two grandsons, especially Reynard. His face was a mask of concern, his hazel eyes clouded. Clearly Benedict’s injuries were life threatening. Why else would he and Alex be so determined to keep the information from their grandfather? And now, with him demanding to see his youngest grandson, and with the obvious respect they had for him so apparent in their demeanor, how could they tell him the truth?

Without a second thought, Rina stepped forward and tucked her hand in the crook of the older man’s arm.

“Mr. del Castillo, I’ve been traveling all day and I’m exhausted. I need to sit down. Why don’t you come and sit with me over here on one of these chairs and we’ll get to know one another a little better?”

It wasn’t an exaggeration. She was exhausted, and she’d been traveling, or on her feet now, for the better part of two days.

“What is this?” he bristled.

Rina immediately threw a worried glance toward Reynard who merely lifted his eyebrows a fraction.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?” she apologized.

“Rey, explain the meaning of this. Why does your fiancée call me Meester del Castillo?”

A small smile pulled at the sensual curve of Reynard’s lips, giving Rina little insight into what had upset his grandfather.

“Should I have said señor? I’m sorry, my Spanish is—” she broke off. What if Sara’s Spanish had improved past the basic minimum they’d both learned in their late teens on their big overseas experience?

“It is my mistake—I should have introduced the two of you properly instead of only doing half a job. Sara, this is my grandfather, Aston del Castillo,” Reynard interjected.

“You must call me Abuelo,” the old man replied, with a sudden twinkle in his eye. “If you’re serious about marrying my grandson, that is.”

Across the room Rey watched Sara blanch at his grandfather’s words, and felt a brief surge of panic. Surely she wouldn’t expose the capricious nature of their engagement now. He knew they’d entered into the thing as a bit of a lark, neither of them serious about it for now. Even Sara had said they should see where the wind blew them.