He leered at his brother and said, “You look like crap, Alistair Connor.”
Alistair sighed, two full days of no information had done nothing, but make him more miserable. He knew there were huge shadows under his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well. He hadn’t been sleeping at all. Now, if he wasn’t mistaken, Tavish was there to lecture him about Sophia.
“Thank you, Tavish Uilleam and good morning to you, too. Is there something else you wanted to say, other than to give me an update on my looks?”
“You did it again, didn’t you?”
Tavish’s turbulent personality was diametrically opposed to his own. Alistair could see he was angry and that he was spoiling for a fight. If Alistair didn’t control himself, they would be at each other’s throats in a few minutes.
“I beg your pardon?” What did I do now?
“I was in your office when Baptist’s email came through. It flashed on your computer screen.” Tavish’s lips curled up. “You should be more careful.”
“And what did you see?” Alistair raised an eyebrow. “Just a name and the fact that I had incoming email. No one has ever broken into my computer.” He fisted his hands, irritated. He had been estranged from Tavish ever since Heather had entered his life. After Sophia, they were beginning to get closer again, but at that exact moment Alistair’s patience was wearing thin.
Don’t go there again, Alistair Connor. He is your brother. Listen to him. Maybe he wants to tell you something important. Alistair grimaced as another thought complemented the first. Like he tried with Heather. Tavish Uilleam has good instincts. “You were telling me about my looks and Baptist.”
Tavish crossed his long legs and demanded, “I want to reread her letter.”
Alistair fished Sophia’s letter from his desk and handed it to Tavish, slouching in his armchair again. He sighed and watched Tavish glowering at the letter as he reread it. “Sophia is in Argentina.”
“I know,” he smirked. “I spoke to Sophia this morning.” Tavish dropped the bomb without warning.
“You-” he halted in the middle of his living room. “Come again?”
“I spoke to Sophia this morning,” he repeated slowly. “Around eight. She was worried about you.”
“She called you?” Alistair was openmouthed, jealousy gripping his heart, and he whispered, “What for?”
“She was worrying about you, at four o’clock in the morning Rio time. Can you believe it? Worrying. About. You.” Tavish shook his head, as if horrified by the thought.
He cursed under his breath. Tavish Uilleam, stay out of this. You think you’re the sole detainer of the truth- Stop, Alistair Connor. Just stop. He’s right and you know it. If you’d been more like your old self, Sophia wouldn’t have run away. But she ran away because she’s also keeping secrets from me. “Call her. I want to talk to her.” He closed his eyes and breathed twice before pleading, “Please.”
“I warned you, Alistair Connor. How many times? She doesn’t want to talk to you. She doesn’t want to see you.”
Alistair clenched his hands to control his temper. When Tavish rose from his chair and leisurely walked to the windows, standing with his hands on his back, he lost it.
“Fuck, Tavish Uilleam!” He punched the arm of his seat. “How. Is. She?”
Tavish slowly turned on his heels, so slowly that Alistair wanted to punch him and break his nose again.
“Sophia is unhappy. Confused. Lonely. Hurt,” he said. “You know, the typical things one feels when betrayed by someone one loves.”
“I didn’t betray her,” Alistair was astonished at his brother’s words.
“There are many forms of betrayal, Brother.” Tavish handed the letter back to Alistair taking a last look at the creamy sheets of paper filled with Sophia’s neat and feminine handwriting. He glared at his brother. “She is brokenhearted and confused. And she thinks she betrayed you. You lied, Alistair.”
Who would have guessed that Tavish and Sophia could form such a close friendship? Then a thought hit him. He wasn’t so sure it was only friendship. They have too much in common. They have lost too much, in a very similar way.
He shoved a hand into his hair and studied his brother’s face trying to understand, to perceive any kind of desire in it. He was a master at discovering other people’s feelings, but it seems that when it came to Sophia his senses were all jumbled. “She lied too. She equally betrayed me.”
“I’m sure, given her letter and everything we talked about, that Sophia hadn’t had the smallest inkling of what your preferences were,” said Tavish without acknowledging his brother’s answer. He opened his wallet and took a folded sheet of paper from it. “You left her in the dark. You lied. You betrayed her. It seems Sophia and I have the same opinion about moral and ethics. And, Alistair Connor, you’re so fucking lucky,” Tavish muttered and gave his brother the sheet of paper. “This is where Sophia is. The woman who is in love with you. Madly in love with you. If you so much as hurt a hair on her head, if you don’t marry this woman and be as happy as you should have been from the beginning... I am going to break your nose so bad, you’ll always remember what you lost when you look in the mirror.”
Alistair’s lips curled up. “You are right, you know? I lied, but I’m going to make it right.”
He turned and entered his bedroom to finish packing with Tavish Uilleam at his heels.
Chapter 24
Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia.
Los Cauquenes Resort & Spa.
Friday, April 9th, 2010.
9.01 a.m.
Alistair knew that all he wanted was waiting for him beyond the locked door. He breathed deep, willing some strength into his tired body. In spite of the sixteen hour flight and the four hour time difference, he’d only managed to sleep a few hours on the plane.
He knocked firmly on the large door and had to wait a long time before it opened. Zareb’s big body blocked the entrance.
“Good morning, Mr. MacCraig,” the bodyguard politely acknowledged Alistair, waiting for him to state his wishes.
Alistair mused that appearances could be deceiving. Zareb’s permanent wide smile hid an impressively alert and expeditious man.
Alistair drew himself up to his full height towering over the bodyguard, who smiled even widely seeing through Alistair’s posing.
“Good morning, Zareb. I would like to talk with Mrs. Leibowitz.” And I’m not budging from here until I do.
“I’ll handle this, Zareb,” a mellifluous male voice said from behind the broad bodyguard.
He instantly recognized Felipe, Sophia’s brother, as he stepped out of the suite and closed the door behind him.
Alistair cleared his throat, conscious of Felipe’s cautious gaze studying him from head to toe.
“Alistair Connor MacCraig, I presume,” Felipe stretched his hand with a small curl on his lips.
Aye. The bastard that scared your sister away. Alistair sagged inwards. “And you are Felipe Espírito Santo,” he replied.
“Guilty.” Felipe smiled as he shook Alistair’s hand. “How do you do?”
“How do you do?” He was looking at an older male version of Sophia. Come on, Alistair Connor, charm the guy. “I couldn’t have mistaken you for a second. You are Sophia’s twin.”
“I like to think that I am.” Felipe’s smile opened. “Sophia is still sleeping. Let’s get some coffee while Maria finishes dressing Gabriela.”