to do with this woman could be classed as simple. He had no idea how she’d hoped to extract money from him, but he couldn’t bear to question her further. Finding out more about Rebecca Williams’s sordid life certainly wouldn’t make him feel any better.
‘Becky, can you come—? Oops, sorry. I didn’t know you were busy.’
Felipe ground to a halt when a nurse suddenly appeared. He saw her look curiously at him before she turned to Rebecca and spoke more formally this time.
‘Mr Watts is on his way. I thought I’d better warn you because he’s in a rush. Something about having to go to Leeds to give a lecture this evening, or so Simon said.’
‘Thank you, Karen. I’ll be right there.’
Felipe flinched when she spoke, wondering what had caused that ripple to run through him. He shot her an uneasy glance over his shoulder but she wasn’t looking at him. She took a stack of folders off the desk and went to the door, all the time avoiding eye contact with him.
She smiled as she handed the notes to the nurse, but Felipe could tell the effort it cost her to act as though nothing was wrong. All of a sudden, he wished that he hadn’t come because he’d achieved nothing from his visit. He’d simply upset himself and upset Rebecca, too.
Oddly, that last thought was the most disturbing of all. Hurting Rebecca hadn’t given him any satisfaction, as he’d hoped it would. It was an effort to hide his dismay when Rebecca addressed the other woman in a cool little voice that told him just how difficult she had found the past few minutes.
‘Check that all the obs are up to date, will you, Karen? You know how Mr Watts hates it if everything isn’t spot on.’
‘Do I ever!’ The nurse took the bundle then looked worriedly at Rebecca. ‘You will be there when he arrives? I don’t think I’m up to coping with one of his high-speed ward rounds.’
‘Of course. Dr Valdez was just leaving so I won’t be long.’
‘Valdez! Oh, I didn’t realise.’ The young nurse laughed as she turned to him. ‘What an idiot I am! I should have known the minute I saw you.’
She gave him a considering look. ‘Yes, I can see the resemblance now, especially around the eyes. Josh has exactly the same colour eyes as you have. Isn’t it amazing how something like eye colour can be passed on through a family?’
Felipe didn’t know what to say. He knew that she was waiting for him to answer, but there was no way that he could have formed even the simplest sentence.
He turned to Rebecca and this time she was looking straight at him—staring at him, to be precise. Her eyes seemed to be riveted to his face and the expression in them made his heart race. He had never seen such fear in anyone’s eyes before.
He heard the door close as the nurse hurriedly left, and almost laughed out loud. It was obvious that she was trying to be tactful because she’d sensed that she might have said something wrong, but it was far too late for that now. With a few unguarded words his life had been turned on its head.
‘Who is Josh?’
He didn’t realise the question had come from his lips at first because it hadn’t sounded like his voice. It had sounded too strained, too raw, too full of emotion to be the voice of Felipe Valdez. He saw Rebecca swallow, watched her mouth open and struggled to concentrate because it was vitally important that he heard what she said.
‘Josh is my son.’
She paused and he knew that he was holding his breath as he waited for her to continue. ‘He’s Antonio’s son, too.’
Becky could feel her heart beating, but it felt as though time had suddenly come to a halt. Felipe was standing stock still and the expression of shock on his face would have made her laugh if there had been anything remotely funny about the situation.
She saw him swallow and tried to prepare herself for what he would ask her. He would be bound to have questions—dozens of them—and she needed to decide what to tell him. But it was hard to think when her brain felt as though it had seized up.
‘My…my brother had a child…a son?’
Her heart ached with a sudden, fierce pain when she heard the bewilderment in his voice. For some reason she wanted to make this as easy as possible for him, even though she knew how dangerous it was to consider his feelings. One small slip, one unguarded word and the situation could spiral out of control.
‘Yes. His name is Josh and he’s nine months old,’ she told him quietly. ‘He looks very like Antonio and you, too, I suppose.’
She gave him a tentative smile, watching the rapid play of emotions that crossed his face as he struggled to make sense of what she was saying. ‘He definitely has your colour eyes, as Karen just mentioned. Antonio’s eyes were a lot darker.’
‘Antonio took after our mother,’ he said roughly. ‘I favour my father’s side of the family.’
‘But there’s still a strong resemblance between you both.’ She felt her heart catch because until then she really hadn’t been aware of the similarities between the two brothers. Now it scared her to realise how alike they were. The last thing she could afford was to look at Felipe and see Antonio. She had to remember that they were two very different people.
It was a relief when there was a knock on the door because she desperately needed some time to think about what had happened. She hurried to answer it, shaking her head when Debbie apologised for the interruption.
‘It’s fine, really. Don’t worry. Has Mr Watts arrived?’
‘Yes. Karen sent me to tell you.’ Debbie shot a curious glance at Felipe then lowered her voice. ‘He’s none too pleased because you weren’t there to meet him, I’m afraid, Becky.’
‘I’ll be straight there,’ she assured her.
She closed the door then felt her heart skip a beat when she turned and found Felipe standing right behind her. He was so close that she could smell the tangy scent of his aftershave, feel the heat of his body, and all of a sudden it felt as though her senses were being swamped by him.
‘I have to go,’ she explained, quickly moving away. She went to the desk and picked up a pen, trying her best not to let him see how nervous she was all of a sudden. She had never felt like this around Antonio, never once felt so deeply aware of him as she was of his brother. The idea worried her for a moment until it struck her that it was because Antonio had never presented a threat to her, like Felipe did.
‘I have to get back to work,’ she said more calmly, relieved to have found such a simple explanation.
‘But we need to talk, Rebecca. That is obvious. Sí?’
He had phrased it as a question, but Becky knew there wasn’t the slightest chance that he would let her refuse. He wanted to know all about Josh, and who could blame him?
Finding out that he was an uncle had come as a shock to him, but it was what happened from here on that frightened her most. She was under no illusions as to how Felipe felt about her. He might be struggling to come to terms with what had happened at the moment, but it wouldn’t be long before the implications of it hit him.
How
