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Life had been cruel and hard for his nosis had been confirnant and her choice at that tiot to spend a few years with her new daughter Max hated the nored his sister once he’d been told the full truth of her illness, but his mother had talked him round, made him see it had been her choice and then extracted his proelina He was now her fiercest protector, although he knew she thought of hi brother At least it didn’t involve emotions that way

He refocused his et sidetracked by the past ‘Lisa and I spent last Christive Lisa the Christmas she has always dreamed of’

‘Very romantic’ Raul’s mother smiled at Lisa and he felt her body freeze next to him, as if the hardest frost of the winter had descended Lisa obviously had no intention of being romantic with him, but would his planned surprise soften her? Would it show her he could play the role of dutiful husband and protective father without the need for love to complicate it all?

‘It will be fun, if not ro anywhere but at hiht have ht him to look beyond mere words, to look for uard hierous emotions that only caused upset and pain The kind of eain

Raul’s mother reached out and laid her hand on his arainst the instinct to pull away, avoid any kind of contact It was his default setting, but so to decipher as really going through her mind

‘I don’t bla directly and earnestly into his eyes, just as his mother had done the day she’d told hi Savagely, he pushed that to the back of his mind ‘And neither must you blame yourself’

‘There is only one person to blaer with us to accept that blame’ The harsh words rushed from him in an uncustomary display of hurt He took a deep breath, determined to lock himself back behind his barrier, his wall of protection She was getting too close The only other woot that close to his emotions since his mother had died was Lisa And that had done neither of theood

Raul’s ain, this time in fluid Spanish Was it because she didn’t want Lisa to knoas it because it was trulywith other guests, the pain of his childhood began to resurface

‘I’ood’ Lisa’s voice jolted hi away the past, the pain and knowledge that he didn’t deserve the kind of happiness she’d been looking for when they’d married

‘Apparently I am like my father, but I don’t have to be’

Lisa’s perplexed expression reassured him that he wasn’t the only one as unable to decode whatever e ithin that statement, but her next words threw that into disarray

‘You are also like your brother,’ she said tentatively, her green eyes ever watchful

Was she still holding out for love and happiness, the kind that sparked around the bride and groo in London that he didn’t do emotions and that had been the fine thread that had pulled the them to bond Two brothers rejected by the saood actor

He shook his head in denial ‘We ht look similar, but that is where it ends’

He looked over at Raul as he lowered his head to kiss Lydia and even he could see the love between them From the other side of the room he could feel it, heavy in the air The ood one He did do emotions and the most painful one of all

‘Are you sure?’ Lisa’s breathy whisper irritated him, sure as he was that it was intended to evoke e him to admit? That he loved her, that they too would find the happiness Raul and Lydia had? Well, she’d be disappointed

‘Absolutely, noe are to arrive in England on tied the subject, diverted her attention, hoping to distract her from the destructive course the conversation had veered to after Raul’s mother had left them