Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels (96 page)

“That’s sad. Families should be a source of strength in troubled times.”

“Ours wasn’t.”

“And this is what’s between you and your brother? You seemed so tense with him.”

“That’s part of it.” Michael’s jaw hurt from gritting his teeth. He didn’t want to spoil their time together by pouring out his bitterness. Ileana didn’t need to hear it. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure.”

• • •

Ileana could only guess at the source of the conflict between the brothers. They were equally intense, but Rick smiled more freely. Of course, he didn’t know about his mother’s cancer. Michael bore that heavy burden alone.

She knew families could be dysfunctional. She saw it on TV and heard about it, but she couldn’t understand pushing away the people you loved during a time of grief. She’d wanted to die with Roberto, but her family had wrapped their loving arms around her. They’d sustained her through those terrible hours, days, and weeks after the car accident. She would not have made it without them. How had the Ziffkins survived?

At the precinct, Rick led them through the warren of offices to a medium-sized room crammed with desks. The walls were covered with tack boards, themselves sheathed with photos and other papers. Rick introduced them to Detective Paul Washington. Ileana couldn’t guess his age from his clothes—black jeans and a multi-colored pullover. He was as bald as a cue ball.

They pulled chairs up to the detective’s cubicle and told their stories. He took notes. He did a computer search for the related case files and printed what he could. With the pieces laid out together, it did seem to have an organized feel to it.

When Detective Washington began to ask Michael detailed questions about his business, Ileana wandered over to the water cooler.

Rick joined her there. “Have you known my brother long?”

“Not long,” she demurred.

“That’s probably why he hasn’t said anything about you.”

“Probably. Michael is intensely private.”

Rick glanced towards his brother. “He’s intense all right.”

Here was a perfect opportunity to learn more about Michael. “Has he always been so?”

Rick looked back at her. “Yeah. I think it’s the oldest child syndrome. You know, it’s just them and the adults until the other kids come along. There’s so much burden on the oldest, expectations and such, and that parental learning curve.”

Ileana smiled at him. “Reading up on fatherhood?”

Rick actually blushed. “Sorry. Analise and I have never been around kids. We want to get it right.”

Ileana was sure he would. “You’re the second son?”

“Right behind Michael, but I’m two years younger. I think Michael was a lot for my mom to get used to. Billy was after me.” His happy glow dimmed for a moment then reasserted itself. “Last is Charlie. Michael was our protective older brother.”

“And you all live in Miami?”

“Now we do. Charlie and I came back home this year. Michael was the only one who never left.”

Ileana wanted to know about the friction between the brothers, but she had to tread carefully. “Do you see Michael often?”

Rick looked over at his brother and frowned. “Not really. He’s gotten very quiet. He used to brood when he was younger, but we’d rope him into playing with us anyway. Now,” Rick shrugged. “I can’t get through to him.”

He glanced at his watch. “I have to go. I don’t want to interrupt. Would you tell Michael I’ll see him at the rehearsal dinner, if not sooner?”

“Rehearsal dinner?”

“For Charlie’s wedding. It’s next Friday night. Are you coming?”

“Michael hasn’t talked about it.”

“Tell him I said to bring you. I’ll see you around.” He strode out the door, taking his ready smile with him.

Ileana refilled her cup of water, got another one for Michael, and slid into the chair beside him. She placed his cup on the desk in front of him. He gave her a grateful smile and returned his attention to his discussion with Detective Washington.

Ileana listened distractedly to them while she mulled over what Rick had said. And what he hadn’t said. He wanted to regain what he’d lost with Michael, but his brother wouldn’t let him in. Michael was the protector, but Rick was the one who’d gone into law enforcement.

Michael had stayed here and protected the home front. He’d allowed his brothers the freedom to follow their dreams. And while they were chasing dreams, one brother had died. The family had fallen apart. His mother had gotten cancer. How did Michael feel about all that had happened? Ileana was sure that was the key to understanding him.

Two more detectives drifted into the room and joined the discussion. They outlined scenarios and suspects until Ileana began to yawn. A glance at her watch showed her it was one-thirty. No wonder she was tired. And she had to be up at six.

Michael noticed her next yawn. “I need to take Ileana home. Have we covered everything, Paul?”

Detective Washington nodded. “We’ll work on the problem some more, and I’ll call you with our plan of action.”

“Good.”

Michael rose and pulled Ileana up. Outside the station house, the late night chill raised goose bumps on her arms. The ride home seemed surreal—traffic was extremely light and the streetlights streamed in her sight as the car sped towards her home.

This wasn’t how she’d envisioned her evening ending. She’d been awake nearly twenty-four hours and felt brain dead. She no longer felt sexy or alluring. What would Michael expect when they arrived at their destination?

Her nerves jangled. Seduction plans seemed so much easier to carry out when she was fresh and hadn’t been faced with a dead body and hours in a police station.

When the car pulled into her driveway, her mouth dried. She licked her lips. Her pulse throbbed in her body. What if Michael wanted more and she was too tired to perform? What if he’d lost interest?

He opened her car door and walked her to her front door. She felt awkward and nervous. She didn’t know what the right thing to do was.

“We’re both tired,” Michael said.

Ileana nodded. Her tongue felt thick, her brain even thicker.

“I’d like to try again sometime. See if we can make it through an evening without a call to the police.”

Her smile felt forced. “That would be nice.”

There was a fraught, awkward moment during which she wondered what Michael was thinking.

“I should go,” he said.

Disappointment seared through her.

“Ileana...”

“Michael...”

They spoke at the same time.

“Hell,” he swore.

He reached for her biceps and pulled her into his kiss. The flame that had been simmering flared up into an inferno. His kiss transported her to another time and place where lips alone were all a person needed to sustain them. She found herself gripping his back, but didn’t recall putting her arms around him.

Michael ripped himself from her arms. Cool air bathed the front of her body where a moment before there’d been intense heat.

“We can’t do this now. You’re exhausted. We both have to work tomorrow. We haven’t even had time to talk about what happened tonight. All we’ve had time to do is react. We’re still reacting.”

Ileana made a sound of protest.

“We are. We’ve had some emotional shocks. It’s normal to want human comfort, to want to lose yourself in a warm body, but I won’t do that to you. I don’t want you to regret being with me...”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I want you to be able to say no if you want to. Right now I don’t think you can.”

Ileana didn’t think she could either.

“So I’m making the best choice for both of us.” He backed up one step and then another. Then he turned and hurried to his car.

Michael waited for her to go inside before he drove away. Despite her fatigue, she wasn’t sure he’d made the right choice for them.

The next morning Ileana dashed through the front door of Calderon nearly two hours late for work and almost ran her father down.

“Papá!”

“Ileana. You missed the staff meeting this morning.”

“I know. Carona called me. I’m sorry. I fell back to sleep after my alarm went off.” She continued walking towards her office. Her father kept pace with her.

He came into her office with her and closed the door. Ileana’s muscles tightened, but she continued putting her purse in her desk drawer.

“Ileana, is there anything you need to tell me?”

She looked up. “Like what, Papá?”

“You’ve never overslept before. Perhaps my job is too much for a young woman.”

“That’s not it at all,” she denied with vigor. “I was at the police station until one-thirty with Michael Ziffkin...”

“Ziffkin? Why?” he demanded, his face reddening.

“If you’d let me finish. We may have determined the reason behind our break-ins. It may be organized crime...”

“The mafia? How can that be?”

Ileana told her father about the dead body and the major crimes unit. The only things she omitted were dinner and the heat between her and Michael.

Her father sputtered, “But you should not have gone anywhere near where someone might have been murdered. What were you thinking?” His voice rose at the end.

“I was trying to do the task you assigned me. I thought there was a connection to the events at both our companies. You told me to solve it.”

“I did not tell you to risk yourself or to involve yourself with Ziffkin.”

“I wasn’t at risk.”

“Why were you with him?” he demanded, his tone authoritative.

She’d never lied to her father, so she couldn’t think of a lie now. “We had dinner together. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be angry.”

“Are you spending as much time with our other suppliers as you are with Ziffkin?”

“No, but he’s our largest supplier.”

“Calderon has always maintained a strictly business relationship with its suppliers. These dinners between two unmarried people send the wrong message. You should have said no when he asked.”

“I asked him.”

“What?” her father nearly roared.

“Papá, you’re so old-fashioned. Women do that now.”

“I won’t have you inviting men to dinner and certainly not Ziffkin. I forbid it.” His face purpled dangerously, and he was visibly perspiring.

“Papá, your blood pressure!” Ileana hurried around the desk to him.

He fought off her attempts to make him sit down. “Forget about my blood pressure. No daughter of mine...”

“I’m calling your doctor.” Ileana reached for the phone, alarmed by his state.

“I do not need the doctor.”

“You need to calm down. The doctor said no stress.”

“You caused my stress. You and your wanton behavior.”

If he only knew. But she’d been circumspect in public. “I’m hardly wanton, Papá.” When he continued to resist, she decided to pull out the big guns. “I’m calling Mamá.”

“Not your mother!”

“Yes. If you won’t be calm, she’ll know how to handle you.”

He poked his thumb into his chest. “I am the head of this family!”

“Not for long if you keep up this tirade.”

Her father huffed several breaths, glaring at her. “You defy me.”

“I don’t want you to die, Papá. Not over this.”

His expression softened a little. “I am not going to die. Your worry is excessive.”

“So is yours.”

Her father narrowed his eyes. “You will obey me in this.”

Ileana said nothing.

Her father seemed to make up his mind about something and nodded. “I will leave you to your work.”

Ileana watched him leave and wondered who had won that round. She didn’t understand why she felt the need to stand up to him over Michael, but she did. She’d only defied her father a few times in her life—when she went to college and lived in the dorm, when she moved into her own home on the very edge of the Cuban neighborhood, when she refused to marry without love, and now over Michael. What did Michael have in common with the major decisions of her life?

• • •

“Esteban Calderon is here to see you,” Michael’s secretary announced over the intercom.

Ileana’s father was here? Michael frowned. He thought the man was turning over the reins to his heir-apparents.

“Send him in.” There was only one way to find out what the head of the Calderon Consortium wanted. Michael stood and straightened his gray suit.

Nadine opened the door to admit a stocky, black-haired man around sixty years old. Michael had met Esteban a number of times since he’d founded Citadel.

“Thanks, Nadine.” She smiled and closed the door. Michael held out his hand. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Calderon.”

Esteban didn’t offer his hand in return. “I do not want you to see my daughter again.”

Michael stiffened. “Pardon me?”

“You heard me. She told me she was with you last night. I have told her to stay away from you, and now I am telling you.”

“Nothing happened with Ileana...”

“And nothing will. She is of a fine Cuban line. When she marries, it will be to a Cuban.”

Michael felt compelled to protect Ileana. “What does Ileana have to say about that?”

“Ileana will do what is best for Calderon. She knows her duty.”

Calderon’s attitude was extremely outdated. “This is the twenty-first century. Women marry who they choose.”

Esteban poked his chest with a thick thumb. “Cuban women marry who their father says they may marry.”

“Ileana has a mind of her own.”

“That is why I have come to you. You will obey me in this because you like my business.”

Michael’s belly went cold.

“You like all the Cuban families’ business. I see you understand. I thought you would. Ileana is not used to being at the top of a company, of interacting with men of power outside the Cuban community. She has a curious mind. She likes to learn new things. She may display interest in you, but she does not mean anything by it. She is an innocent, you understand?”

Michael didn’t think her father knew Ileana at all, and she certainly wasn’t innocent. She’d be angry if she knew her father was here now having this conversation.

But Esteban knew Michael wouldn’t tell her. If Michael had learned anything about Ileana, it was how important family was to her.