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‘Nikhil’s brother is still alive??’ Isla exclaimed.
‘Very much so?’,’ Marianna noted, and it took a moment for Isla to realise that her mother was watching her a little too closely. ‘Why? Did he tell you otherwise?’
‘Yes,’ Isla managed. Then she stopped, and shook her head. ‘Actually, no. He told me that he lost his brother a long time ago. I just...assumed.’
‘I see.’ Her mother arched her perfect eyebrows. ‘Well, Nikhil’s brother was certainly alive and well the last time we met. But they “are” estranged, from what I’ve been able to work out.’
‘From what you can work out?’
‘She met him when you two were in Chile together. In fact, he was the one I was trying to set you up with, that last night.’
Isla shook her head, utterly confused. In Chile? When she had met Nikhil?
‘He never said. He never... I didn’t even know his brother was alive.’ She glanced up at her mother. ‘So that’s why you’re really here? To find out about Nikhil and...this Daksh?’
Her mother hesitated a beat, then shrugged. ‘You and Leo are precious to me.’ She offered a soft smile. ‘You know how I think of her as much my daughter as you are.’
‘I know.’ Isla returned the smile instantly. ‘It just... She met this Daksh in Chile, when Nikhil was there?’
‘I understood that the two men were meant to be meeting. Something about a birthday?’
‘Nikhil said it was his birthday...’ Isla snapped her head up sharply. ‘He took me for a meal at Te Tinca, but he never mentioned anything about meeting anyone.’
Clamping her mouth shut, Isla hoped her mother didn’t probe her further on that point. Which meant she was surprised when Marianna closed the gap between them and, placing her hands gently on either side of Isla’s face, upturned it so that she could look into her daughter’s eyes.
‘My eyes don’t deceive me, Isla. You’re blushing, and you never blush.’
Isla opened her mouth to object, but abruptly shut it again. There was little point in pretending to her mother. Not where men were concerned.
‘It isn’t what you think,’ Isla offered at length. ‘Can we just leave it at that?’
‘If that’s what you want.’
Isla chewed on her lip for a moment.
‘It’s...complicated.’
‘Then let me just say three things. One, tonight I’m invited to the Captain’s invitation-only gala ball, and you are my
guest. Two, this man Nikhil makes you blush and I never, not once, saw you blush with that idiot Bradley. And three, never forget that beneath the Sinclair you’re also a Raleigh, which gives you an impressive armoury of practically perfect genes at your fingertips. And the ability to use them.’
Then she dropped her hands and swept towards the door without a backward glance.
* * *
Nikhil wasn’t entirely certain that he’d manage to stay standing when he looked up from his conversation with the Captain to see Isla standing at the gala entrance, a vision in the deepest, most glorious red. Her golden-brown hair tumbled down over her shoulders like a glossy curtain, caressing her skin in a way that made his body ache to do the same.
And that was without taking into account the way the gown hung from one shoulder, making love to her curves as it dropped, until it fell in a cascade of reds to another pair of killer heels.
Judging by the expressions on a fair few of his colleagues’ faces, they were thinking the same, and yet when she looked into the room, her eyes colliding with his—and holding—he felt the most forceful punch of triumph.
It was impossible to tear his glance away. A point which was made clear when he heard the Captain coughing pointedly in his ear.
‘I take it the rumours are true, Nikhil.’
It took Nikhil every bit of willpower he had to drag his gaze from Isla.
‘Say again, sir?’
