A weight pressed down on him. Yesterday afternoon she’d looked at him with such gratitude and admiration—as if he were a superhero. Nobody had ever looked at him like that. He didn’t want to lose it so quickly.
Not even for Carla’s sake?
He straightened. He’d do anything for Carla.
He opened his can of soft drink and took a long swallow before setting it back down. ‘I’m ashamed to admit this, but over the last twelve months I’ve neglected Carla shamefully. She and Thierry have only been dating six months, and the news of their engagement came as a shock. This will probably sound ridiculously big brotherly, but... I’m worried she’s making a mistake.’
Mia stared at him for a moment. ‘You and Carla seem very close.’
‘We are.’
‘So why haven’t you spent much time together recently?’
How much of the truth did he have to tell her?
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. ‘There’s an older family member who I have...difficulties with. It’s impossible to avoid him when I’m in Australia, and I’ve wanted to avoid a falling out, so...’
‘So you’ve spent a lot of time overseas instead?’
‘Rather than putting up with said family member, I flitted off to organise parties. There was a Turkish sultan’s sixtieth birthday party, and then a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration for a couple of members of the British aristocracy. I did some corporate work on the Italian Grand Prix. Oh, and there was a red carpet film premiere that I did just for fun.’
She blinked, as if he’d just spoken in a foreign language. In some ways he supposed he had.
‘So there you have it—I’m a coward.’
He lifted his arms and let them drop, waiting for her eyes to darken with scorn. She just stared back at him and waited for him to continue, her gaze not wavering.
He swallowed. ‘I came home for Carla’s birthday...and for two days over Christmas.’ It hadn’t been enough! ‘That’s when she announced her engagement. That’s when I realised I’d spent too long away.’
But Carla had finally seemed so settled...so happy. She’d refused to come and work for FWE, preferring to focus on her charity work. Nothing had rung alarm bells for him...until he’d met Thierry.
Mia didn’t say anything, but he could tell from her eyes how intently she listened.
‘When I heard what he said to you in the reptile house I wanted to knock him to the ground.’
She halted mid-chew, before swallowing. ‘I’m very glad you didn’t.’
It had only been the thought that Gordon would somehow bring the blame back to her and she’d lose her job that had stilled his hand.
‘What he said to you...’ His hand clenched and unclenched convulsively around his can of drink. ‘I’m sorry you were put into a position where you were forced to listen to that.’
‘It’s not your responsibility to apologise on behalf of other people, Dylan.’
Maybe not, but it felt like his fault. If he’d taken the time to get to know Thierry better before now...
She reached out and placed a sandwich in front of him. ‘And you need to remember that just because he dislikes me, and my background, it doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person.’
Dylan was far from sure about that.
‘Even if I didn’t have a criminal record, there’s no law that says Thierry has to like me.’
‘Mia, it’s not the fact that he doesn’t like you or even that he was rude to you that worries me. What disturbs me is the fact that he threatened you.’
‘I can take care of myself.’
She said the words quietly and he didn’t doubt her. He wished she didn’t have to take care of herself. He wished she was surrounded by an army of people who’d take care of her. He sensed that wasn’t the case, and suddenly he wanted to buy her a hundred chocolate bars... But what good would that do?
No substance, Dylan Fairweather. You don’t have an ounce of substance.
The words roared through him. He pulled air in through his nose and let it out through his mouth—once, twice.
‘I have less confidence,’ he said finally, ‘in Carla’s ability to take care of herself.’ He met Mia’s dark-eyed gaze. ‘What if he talks to her the way he spoke to you? What if he threatens her in the same way he threatened you?’
DYLAN COULDN’T KNOW it, but each word raised a welt on Mia’s soul. The thought of a woman as lovely as Carla, as open and kind as she was, being controlled and manipulated, possibly even abused, by a man claiming to love her...
It made her stomach burn acid.
It made her want to run away at a hundred miles an hour in the other direction.
She recalled how Thierry had trapped her against the wall in the reptile house and her temples started to throb.
She set her sandwich down before she mangled it. ‘Have you seen anything to give you cause for concern before now?’
Those laughing lips of his, his shoulders, and even the laughter lines fanning out from his eyes—all drooped. Her heart burned for him. She wanted to reach out and cover his hand, to offer him whatever comfort she could.
Don’t be an idiot.
Dylan might be all golden flirtatious charm, but it didn’t mean he’d want someone like her touching him. She chafed her left forearm, digging her fingers into the muscle to try and loosen the tension that coiled her tight. She wasn’t qualified to offer advice about family or relationships, but even she could see what he needed to do.
‘Can’t...?’ She swallowed to counter a suddenly dry throat. ‘Can’t you talk to Carla and share your concerns?’
‘And say what? Carla, I think the man you’re about to marry is a complete and utter jerk?’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘She’d translate that as me forcing her to choose between her brother and her fiancé.’
From the look on his face, it was evident he didn’t think she’d choose him. She thought back to the way Carla had clung to Thierry’s arm and realised Dylan might have a point.
‘How about something a little less confrontational?’ She reached for a can of soda, needing something to do with her hands. ‘Something like... Carla, Thierry strikes me as a bit moody. Are you sure he treats you well?’
He gave a frustrated shake of his head. ‘She’d still read it as me criticising her choice. I’d have to go to great lengths to make it as clear as possible that I’m not making her choose between me and Thierry, but the fact of the matter is—regardless of what I discover—I have no power to stop this wedding unless it’s what Carla wants. And if she does marry him and he is cruel to her... I want her to feel she’s able to turn to me without feeling constrained because I warned her off him.’
His logic made sense, in a roundabout way, but it still left her feeling uneasy. ‘You know, you don’t have a lot to go on, here. One incident isn’t necessarily indicative of the man. Perhaps you need to make a concerted effort to get to know him better.’
‘I mean to. I’m already on it.’ Her surprise must have shown, because he added. ‘It doesn’t take fifteen minutes to buy a few sandwiches, Mia. I made a couple of phone calls before meeting you here.’
She