Free Behind the Castello Doors by Chantelle Shaw Page B

doesn’t matter. I have other news that will be of far more interest to you. As I suspected, the noises we heard last night were caused by a landslide farther down the mountain.’
    Recalling recent news reports of the devastating mudslides in India caused by the monsoon, Beth gave him a worried look. ‘Was anyone hurt?’
    ‘Fortunately there are no houses on that part of the mountain. But it is a significant slide, and the road to Oliena is blocked—which means that we are temporarily cut off. We cannot get down to the town and no one can reach us here—including the doctor who I arranged to carry out the DNA test.’
    She stared at him as the implication of his words sank in. ‘So what can we do?’
    He shrugged. ‘We can’t do anything except wait for the road to be cleared. And that could be several days at least.’ He anticipated her next question. ‘I rode out to take a look. Heavy machinery will have to be brought in to move the boulders.’
    ‘But if the test can’t be done for days, and it takes time for the results to come back, I could be stuck here for weeks.’ The boss of the cleaning company where she worked would not keep her job open indefinitely, Beth thought worriedly.
    Cesario glanced around the sunlit courtyard, and then up to the mountains which encircled the castle. ‘I can think of worse places to be stuck,’ he drawled. ‘Look at it this way—our enforced captivity will give us the chance to getto know one another better, which could be important if it turns out that Sophie is my child.’
    His words evoked a flare of fierce excitement in Beth that her sensible nature quickly quashed. Cesario’s only interest in her was because of her role as Sophie’s guardian. She would be a fool to allow her fascination with him to continue. But her heartbeat quickened when he glanced down at her and his mouth curved into a slow, sensual smile.
    ‘Dinner will be at eight o’clock tonight. I look forward to your company, Beth,’ he murmured, before he urged his horse on and rode out of the courtyard.

CHAPTER FIVE
    B ETH only owned one dress, and like most of her clothes she had bought it from a charity shop. Unlike the rest of her uninspiring wardrobe, however, the deep green evening dress was an exquisite creation from a well-known fashion house. Deceptively simple, with a sweetheart neckline, narrow shoulder straps and a floaty layer of chiffon over the silk underskirt, it was a testament to superb tailoring.
    ‘I can’t believe you paid next to nothing for a couture gown,’ Mel had complained. ‘Have you any idea how much that dress would have cost to buy new?’
    Having never visited a designer boutique, Beth had only been able to guess. Haute couture was way beyond her means, and she had wondered how Mel could afford expensive clothes.
    ‘Sometimes men like to buy me presents,’ Mel had explained vaguely. ‘We both know it’s a tough world, and I’m not going to refuse if some guy wants to spend his money on me.’
    Memories of her closest friend brought tears to Beth’s eyes. The years of abuse Mel had suffered as a child had given her a hard edge, and only Beth had understood that Mel’s brittle outer shell had disguised the scared little girl who still lived inside her.

    ‘We don’t need stupid foster parents,’ Mel had declared. ‘We’re as close as sisters and we don’t need anyone else.’
    Now Mel was gone, and her dying wish had been for Beth to be a mother to her baby daughter. ‘Love Sophie for me,’ she had whispered with her last breath. Beth had given her word. It was a promise she had vowed to keep for ever, and if a DNA test proved that Cesario was Sophie’s father she was determined to convince him that she must play a role in the baby’s life.
    Her stomach dipped at the prospect of having dinner with him as an image of him as she had seen him in the courtyard filled her mind. Even with that cruel scar he was the most devastatingly sexy man she had