‘No. I just knew of them. My mother was more interested in a life of opulence and luxury to think about cosy reunions, or to worry about the fact that she’d abandoned her eldest son.’
A multitude of questions hit Lexie. Why had his mother left him? But then that very first niggle of suspicion she’d had came back. ‘Does that have anything to do with...this?’ she asked carefully.
Cesar frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Lexie wasn’t even sure herself. She only knew that she was feeling increasingly exposed on a level she didn’t welcome.
‘I mean, does the fact that it’s come out about your brothers have anything to do with the fact that you were happy to agree for us to be seen together in public?’
His mouth tightened. ‘I will admit that I saw an advantage in allowing another story to take precedence.’
Lexie had suspected that this might be a possibility. So why was a feeling of hurt blooming deep inside? A snide voice answered her—because she’d been seduced by his touch and his words into thinking his desire for her was his only motivation.
Of course someone like Cesar Da Silva would normally prefer to keep her tucked away out of sight, so that he could make it look as if that first kiss had been some crazy brief aberration. It had been his initial reaction.
Why hadn’t she even questioned it properly at the time? His ready compliance? Because he’d turned her brain to mush exactly at the same time as he’d turned her insides molten.
She thought of the bathroom earlier—when she’d entertained the notion of their becoming lovers for a moment. The dizzying rush of exhilaration that had gripped her. God, she’d been so easily caught.
Lexie looked away from him and blindly picked up her cup again, not even noticing when some coffee sloshed over the rim to fall on her dress. Suddenly she couldn’t stand it—being under his cool assessing scrutiny.
Almost knocking the small table over with her jerkiness, she stood up, any inherent ability to act deserting her. ‘Would you mind if we left now? I’m quite tired...it’s been a long week.’
She whirled away from the table and started to walk. Agitation was rising up from her gullet and also a kind of panic. Panic that she’d not thought more clearly that obviously he’d have an ulterior motive for wanting to be seen in public with her. He’d just been toying with her, while she’d been perilously close to proving how easily duped she could be—again.
She vaguely heard a muttered curse and some change being thrown on the table and just when she’d reached the middle of the golden square which by now was almost empty, her arm was caught in a big hand. She was spun around to face a familiar glowering expression. She welcomed it.
‘What the hell was that about, Lexie?’
She wrenched her arm out of Cesar’s grip, dislodging his coat from her shoulders. It fell to the ground, unnoticed by either of them. Words trembled on her lips, but if she uttered them she only risked exposing herself even more.
His lip curled. ‘You find the fact that I have my own reasons to avoid the press digging into my life unpalatable? That I was left behind like some unwanted luggage, with half-siblings who never even knew I existed?’
‘What?’ Lexie said, his words shocking her out of her own turmoil for a moment. ‘No! Of course not... I didn’t even know anything about your family.’
Cesar’s mouth was tight. ‘My mother hoped to get a good deal by bringing me back to the family home, but she hadn’t banked on my grandparents giving her an ultimatum: just me or neither of us. So she left me behind.’
Lexie’s agitation drained away. She put out a hand, ‘Cesar...I had no idea.’
He stepped back. The huge magnificent square seemed to frame him in a leonine glow, making his masculinity even more impressive.
‘That’s what is about to hit the papers any day now. The full lurid story of Esperanza Christakos—née Falcone, née Da Silva—her rise from poverty to incalculable wealth and fame. And the gory details of the son she abandoned.’
Even as his words touched a painful nerve within Lexie she let out a tiny gasp of recognition at the name. She’d never put two and two together and realised that the world-famous beauty had been related to his brothers—or him.
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t know anything about her.’
Cesar, clearly angry at himself for letting all that spill out, said curtly, ‘Well, what, then? If not that?’
Lexie’s equilibrium was all over the place again. How could she articulate the fact that she was hurt because he evidently hadn’t been motivated to appear with her in public simply out of sheer desire? When all along she’d protested vehemently at his arrogant assertion that they’d become lovers even as she’d pathetically melted whenever he touched her. And yet now that he clearly had another motivation it only highlighted her inner confusion and the tumultuous desires he evoked within her.
She searched his face for any hint of softness. But found none. She realised then just how truly hard he was, and couldn’t stop the tug of emotion at imagining a small child being left in that huge grim castillo without his mother.
Racking her brain for a way not to betray herself, she avoided his question and said weakly, ‘We don’t have to do this...if you don’t want to.’
Right now even the prospect of staying in the castillo to avoid the press was more appealing than the thought of exposing herself like this again.
Cesar moved closer. His face wasn’t so hard now. There was an explicit gleam in his eye that had a direct effect on Lexie’s blood.