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“Who told you about Dupont coming here, Mikel or your father?”
“I get the same written briefing from Mikel that you and my father do.”
Mikel left a lot of details out of those briefings, like the fact that Dupont had requested Quinn’s presence at their meeting. “You and Tío Luis must discuss the developments, though.”
“Por supuesto.” Raul shifted in his chair. “Get to the point.”
Gabriel pulled the guitar strap over his head and set the instrument in its case on the floor. He and Raul used to talk about everything before the kidnapping. He’d trusted his cousin then. He should trust him now.
“Do you know about Quinn’s background?” he asked.
Raul’s expression turned neutral. “What do you mean by ‘background’? I know Mikel considers her a genius at tracking down criminals.”
“I mean before she came to Caleva. She told me about her past. Has your father told you?”
His cousin’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank God she told you. Yes, I know about her criminal record. Honestly, I thought Mikel was crazy to hire her, but he was right. Look at the results she’s gotten.”
“Do you also think I’m crazy to have fallen in love with her?” Gabriel didn’t bother to hide the sharpness of his question.
Raul held up his hands, palms out. “Truce, primo. I didn’t know her before Mikel hired her.”
“And now?” Gabriel let the words crack like a whip.
“Now I understand what Mikel saw and what you see. It’s hard to imagine her committing a crime. Did she tell you why she did it?”
“No.” But he didn’t intend to discuss that with Raul. “She thinks her past will be an embarrassment to me and to our family. That your father would not accept her as anything more than my temporary girlfriend. I cannot convince her otherwise.”
Raul’s eyebrows rose. “How much more than a temporary girlfriend are we talking?”
“I love her. She understands not just the easy parts of me but also the dark ones. I can be all of myself with her.” He had never put that into words before, even to himself.
“That makes you a very fortunate man.” Raul’s response held a quiet longing. “Maybe her concern is also about herself. If you publicly announce that you’re serious, the press will dig into every aspect of her life. She might not want that.”
“Quinn is no coward.” It was possible she wouldn’t want to endure the hell the media might put her through. She said she loved him, but her voice always held a trace of sadness when she said it.
“Perhaps she’s protecting someone else.”
If she was protecting someone else, who was it?
“How much would it bother you if I wanted to marry her?” Gabriel asked point-blank.
“My opinion doesn’t matter,” Raul said with careful neutrality.
“It does to me.” Gabriel pressed his hand to his chest. “You think like a prince, as well as like a brother.”
Raul tilted his head back to gaze up at the wooden beams of the ceiling. “You’re asking me to wear a lot of hats here.”
“Wear a different hat for each answer, then.”
His cousin lowered his chin again. “As a prince, I wince at the potential for negative publicity. She’s an American, which has its pros and cons. Some Calevans love having the U.S. military base on our island. Some want it gone. That faction would make her a target. Her criminal record would be a blot on our escutcheon, but she went to prison, so we could spin it that she’s paid her debt to society. The crown has weathered far worse scandals.” He sent a hard look at Gabriel. “However, if there’s more to it than what we know, I can’t speak to that.”
“Granted.” Gabriel had gone through the same thought process.
“More important is that you deserve happiness,” Raul said.
Anger surged through Gabriel. “Leave the kidnapping out of this. I’m tired of being pitied for what happened.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” his cousin said. “I want you to be happy because you’re the brother of my heart. Pater and your parents want you to be happy because they love you. They’ll do everything in their power to get through any issues about Quinn’s past.” Raul took a deep breath. “But, Gabri, I feel like none of us knows Quinn as well as we would like.”
