Stand-In Bride's Seduction

Rey leaned back on the hard, vinyl-covered seat in the private waiting room and exchanged a look with Alex. Somehow they had to get through this—more importantly, somehow they had to get Benedict through this. Rey didn’t need words to know that he and Alex were remembering their last evening with the three of them together.

It had been weeks ago, the night of Abuelo’s stroke, and they’d all gathered at the castillo for dinner together. Rey had announced his engagement to Sara to his brothers, and Ben had seen right through his plans. Despite the agreement they’d made three and a half months prior, to find brides to calm Abuelo’s fears, Benedict knew Rey had no intention of seeing the engagement through to marriage. Abuelo’s constant harping about the governess’s curse was making him ill and had caused huge concern among the brothers—so much so, it had forced Alex to go ahead with the archaic arranged marriage he’d never planned to take seriously, and both Rey and Benedict to agree to do whatever it took to keep Abuelo well and happy.

The fact that Alex’s marriage to Loren had turned out to be a whole lot happier than anyone had anticipated was beside the point. It certainly had come close to failing completely because of his brother’s pride and stubbornness—a pride and stubbornness that was bred in all the del Castillo men, it would seem.

Rey felt a cold trickle of unease creep under his skin. Perhaps his grandfather had been right. Perhaps the curse really was coming full circle and Benedict’s accident had been yet another reminder that the surviving del Castillo sons had to abide by honor, truth and love with their whole hearts in order to keep the family alive for another generation. His rational side rejected the thought emphatically, but who knew now how much truth there remained in the legendary curse, especially given the problems Alex and Loren had originally faced in their marriage, Abuelo’s stroke and now Benedict’s life-threatening injuries?

Could the crazed words of a scorned woman really have such an effect nine generations later—with theirs reputed to be the last if they didn’t get their act together? Again, that finger of disquiet stroked a chilling line down his neck. He huffed a sigh in frustration and shifted again on his chair. All this inactivity made him uncomfortable. It left him too much time to think.

The doctors only permitted one family member in with Benedict at a time, and only for about ten minutes each hour, at that. Loren had just returned from being with him now and Rey recognized the shell-shocked expression on her face as mirroring his own after his visit with Ben. He had found it both terrifying and frustrating to see his younger sibling so pale and bruised, his body covered with dressings over wounds, tubes and wires coming out everywhere—even a machine that aided his breathing.

Neither he nor Alex felt they could leave the hospital after this morning’s news. Benedict’s condition was too fragile. They had to remain, even if they couldn’t be in the same room with their injured brother, they just had to be here. Their sentiments were strongly echoed by Abuelo who had stubbornly fought to stay at the hospital all day also, but whose exhaustion had finally seen him reluctantly agree to return to his room in the convalescent home for some much needed rest.

Rey shifted again on the seat. Dios, they were so uncomfortable. No wonder the old man tired so quickly. And where the hell had Sara gone? She’d left him a couple of hours ago, with Javier and Abuelo, on the pretext of “sorting some things out.” Just what did she have to sort out, he wondered irritably. Her place was at his side—or at least to be seen at his side.

Now she was back from France, he was even more firmly reminded of the need to portray to his family that he was following the terms all the brothers had agreed upon. That they’d do whatever it took to give their grandfather the peace of mind he needed to stop worrying about the blasted curse. Well, he was doing his part, together with Sara. Now it was up to Benedict to get well and do the very same.

A sound at the door to the waiting room caught his attention and he and Alex exchanged a puzzled look before they both rose to their feet to see what the commotion was about. If it kept up, then soon the charge nurse on the floor would be along, exhorting them to be quiet with her usual quelling glare. To Rey’s surprise the door opened to reveal a crew of maintenance staff with large trolleys—one empty and the others stacked with covered, bulky loads. The men came into the room, closely followed by Sara who had a very smug smile on her face.