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She’d asked whether he’d locked his emotions away and thrown away the key.

Maybe he had.

It was a question he rarely asked himself. But if that was something he’d done, then who could blame him?

Only idiots went through life without heeding lessons learnt along the way. Grief had taught him the anguish that could come from loving. The death of both his parents had left him rudderless and drowning. He knew he had gradually shut himself away from anything that could bring him hurt like that again. He loved his brother but there was a part of him that was resilient enough to have learnt to withstand the thanklessness and disappointment that had come from that relationship.

And women?

The very thought of ever opening himself up to the vulnerability of loving a woman who could wreak havoc with his heart was enough to make his blood run cold.

This distance between them… It was perfect.

Hope wasn’t interested in him as anything other than Carlos’s unpleasant brother whose company she had to stomach for a few days because she cared about what happened when they found Carlos. And because he’d paid her.

He needed her onside so that they could provide a united front if Carlos was in a mess.

He was in the last chance saloon when it came to having any relationship at all with his brother. It would be over if he’d hunted him down and yet again had to force him onto the straight and narrow.

Hope could help by smoothing the way for him and Carlos to reach some kind of understanding that would be acceptable to both of them.

Javier was suddenly exhausted.

Exhausted by a mission he hadn’t asked for and from a life that, yes, had been handed to him with all options to reject it removed. He rubbed his thumbs wearily over his eyes.

‘Of course I have emotions,’ he said gruffly, turning to look at her. ‘I’m not a complete monster, despite what my brother may have told you. What Carlos has never understood is that…’

‘Is that what?’ Hope prompted.

‘Our parents both died in a car accident that should never have happened. The weather was poor and my father was driving his Maserati on the way back from the opera. Normally their driver would have been on duty but it just so happened that he was in hospital visiting his wife. My mother died instantly but my father… He was in hospital for a few days. Long enough to tell me that the road I had to take would involve the company and Carlos. Those were my priorities. Carlos was a child. I was not even sixteen and still at school but I understood the importance of both those duties. I made an oath on my father’s death bed. If Carlos couldn’t take care of himself, which was the case when he went off the rails, then it was up to me to do it for him. If that involved taking a hard line to get him back on track, then that was what I had to do because I swore to it before my father died.’

‘That must have been a heavy load to shoulder when you were still a boy yourself.’

Javier felt the barriers begin to slam down. He couldn’t understand why he was now suddenly reluctant to end the conversation.

Was it because he had never opened up to anyone in his life before?

Was it because she posed no threat to him at all?

Was it that there was no hidden agenda between them?

‘What about your own personal life?’

Javier raised an eyebrow. ‘What about it?’

‘Sorry, I forgot about the off limits thing for a moment.’ Hope shrugged apologetically. ‘Your life isn’t my business and I’m not particularly interested, anyway. My business is all about your brother and what we say to him when we find him. I mean, how you choose to deal with the situation.’

Javier frowned.

Her green eyes were open, rueful and, yes, mildly indifferent. Once again, he was piqued by a response he just wasn’t used to.

‘We’ll be landing shortly,’ he said, bringing the conversation sharply back down to earth. ‘I have a driver on standby to deliver us to the villa. If Carlos is there, then the very fact that you’re with me should indicate that I’m not about to drag him kicking and screaming out of the house and back into the life he’s due to settle into in a couple of months’ time. We might be able to have a rational conversation.’

‘I’m guessing the last time you confronted him over something, there was no rational conversation? I’m just asking so that maybe I can get a handle on how I approach things. Yes, I’ll be with you and, of course, I want to make sure Carlos is okay but there’s no way I want him to think that I’m somehow taking your side.’

‘No, we couldn’t have that,’ Javier said bitterly.

He looked away, leaving Hope to her thoughts for a moment.