The Disobedient Virgin

He’d deliberately faded into the background as soon as they’d arrived, though he hadn’t taken his eyes from Cat. He was determined to protect her, to make sure there was no repetition of what had happened with Lucas the last time.

There wouldn’t be.

Lucas had changed. He was treating Catarina with the care he’d have accorded a piece of fine crystal. He hadn’t left her side, no matter how many admirers she drew. He had his arm around her waist, lightly enough to seem polite, but possessive enough so that his intentions were clear.

He was staking Cat out as his own.

Jake clenched his jaw and contemplated the pale amber liquid in his glass.

It was the best thing that could happen. Lucas was wealthy. He wouldn’t give a damn about Cat’s inheritance. He was a good guy, even if he hadn’t seemed it before. He’d been on the make then. Tonight, when he’d phoned with the party invitation, he’d made it clear that his intentions were honorable.

“Catarina is a special young woman,” he’d told Jake solemnly. “The man who wins her will be most fortunate.”

Meaning Lucas had thought it over and was considering being that man.

Jake swallowed some more whiskey.

Of course that might change once he knew that Cat wouldn’t be his wife in the real sense of the word. That she’d marry Lucas only if he agreed to a divorce ahead of time.

That she wouldn’t sleep with him.

Four acres on the Pacific would be the trade-off. Lucas, an astute businessman, would surely accept such a deal. Any man would.

Except me, thought Jake.

He wouldn’t trade the right to claim Cat as his own for acreage on the moon. She was more precious than that. She was—

Damn.

His glass was empty. He took one last look at Cat, then crossed the room to the bar, reached for the bottle of Scotch and poured.

Soon she’d belong to Lucas. Even if she never lay in his arms she’d belong to him. To another man. Not to him. Never to—

Jake took a long mouthful of whiskey, felt it burn cleanly down his throat.

It had to be like this. Cat wanted her inheritance. Her freedom. He wanted to find the two men who were his brothers. He had to find them. Knowing they were out there, that he could pass them on the street and not realize they shared the same blood, would be a torment he could not endure.

Enrique must have known that when he wrote his damnable will. What else had he known? Had he laughed, planning this? Had he known Jake would lose his heart to Catarina Mendes? That he’d fall in love with—in love with—

Jake’s hand trembled. He put down the glass.

That kind of thinking wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He had to concentrate on the things that mattered…and, damn it, where had Lucas and Cat gone? A couple of minutes ago they’d been standing on the other side of the room. Now they’d vanished.

Jake walked through the arched doorway into the dining room. People were clustered around the table, helping themselves to the lavish buffet, but not Cat and Lucas.

The kitchen, then.

No. They weren’t there, either.

His pace quickened. The door to Lucas’s study was closed. He started to knock but he got a funny feeling, flung the door open…

And found them.

Cat and Lucas. Cat, standing in the loose circle of Lucas’s arms, her face turned up to his. Cat, swinging around to stare at him as the door banged against the wall, her cheeks flushed, her eyes dark with an emotion that could only be guilt.

Lucas, the son of a bitch, didn’t look guilty at all. He looked like a man who’d just hit the jackpot.

“Jake,” Cat said. “Jake—”