She continued to carry off the pretense of being her sister quite well, he thought, even going so far as to say she’d discussed some aspects of the new campaign with her by phone before presenting them to him earlier in the week. He couldn’t mistake her acumen for Sara’s, however. Not that Sara was unintelligent—she was completely the opposite—but there was an attention to finer detail that was imminently apparent in Sarina’s observations and suggestions that her sister lacked.
He forced himself to tune back into what she was saying.
“So you see, if we introduce the tapas bar to the pool area of the resort, that will keep guests on the grounds, rather than seeing them travel out farther to find light meals, but it won’t affect the bistro and à la carte restaurants in any way. It’ll also appeal to your younger crowd and I think you need to look at pitching inclusive packages to the twenty-five to thirty-five age group. They have disposable income, they’re more likely to be involved in holidays for comfort and leisure’s sake than extended overseas trip like the, say, eighteen to twenty-fives. Plus, it’ll bring a younger dynamic to the resort and perhaps even encourage them to come back in future years on family packages.”
“It sounds good in principle. Let’s see what the rest of the family says when we go to the castillo for dinner tonight. You can present your ideas for the vineyard and winery, too.”
“The rest of the family—that includes Benedict?” She looked up from the report she’d been referring to.
“Yes, Alex picked him up from the hospital today and brought him back to the castillo to give him some peace. The security at his house is insufficient to give him the privacy he needs right now.”
When news of Ben’s release leaked to the press, both local and European paparazzi had descended on the vineyard and, more particularly, the outskirts of Benedict’s home in the mountains, eager for a photo of the debilitating scars that were said to mar his once perfect body.
If only they knew, Rey thought, that the scars they sought to expose to the world were nothing compared to the news Benedict had only shared with his brothers the night before his release from hospital. Ben had insisted Abuelo not be told—partly because he hadn’t wanted to cause their grandfather any more worry, but more particularly because he didn’t want the old man to have another reason to bring the curse back into family discussions.
It was enough that the media had, hard on the heels of Alex and Loren’s nuptials, exposed the curse for all the world to read about and had drawn their own conclusions about Benedict’s accident. If they discovered Benedict’s injuries had left him infertile, who knew where the media would take things? More importantly, who knew how Abuelo would take the news?
“But he’s just out of hospital. Is he up to a family dinner?”
Benedict’s release from the hospital had been a relief for all the family. That was not to say, though, that everything was back to normal. He was much quieter than he’d been before. Abuelo had waxed long and lyrical about how a man who’d just faced death needed time to make peace with himself and his choices, but Alex and Reynard knew exactly why he was quiet. It was one thing to choose not to have children, but quite another to have that choice irrevocably removed from you. Compounding the issue was Benedict’s adamant refusal to consider the idea of marriage—ever. Who would want him? was his argument. A man who couldn’t give his wife the children her arms ached to hold was no longer a man at all in his eyes. Nothing Alex or Reynard had said to him had been able to convince him otherwise.
Faced with the same situation Rey couldn’t say he’d have felt any different, although his heart ached for his younger brother. And it killed him to see the light extinguished from Ben’s eyes, leaving in its place the reflection of a hollow anger.
“It’ll do him good to be among us properly again and discussing business. If he tires, he can easily go to his rooms. Besides, for the first time since the accident, he will be able to focus on something other than his injuries and getting strong again.”
“Yes, I can see that. Well, I hope he likes what we’ve put together.”