Читать книгу Hot Nights with a Spaniard: Bedded for the Spaniard's Pleasure / Spanish Aristocrat, Forced Bride / Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge - Кэрол Мортимер, India Grey - Страница 9

‘FOLLOW him, Rafe!’ Cairo cried anxiously behind him as the man saw Rafe’s approach and quickly broke off his conversation with Daisy to turn on his heel and hurry out through the back entrance of the restaurant.

Rafe didn’t need any encouragement—he had every intention of going after the other man.

‘Take care of Daisy,’ he instructed grimly, before hurrying out the back entrance himself.

But no matter how hard Rafe looked both ways up the street and in several shops, he couldn’t find him, the other man having apparently disappeared. He knew where the man’s car was, of course, and debated whether or not he should just go straight to the car park and hope to get there before the other man did.

But Rafe’s first concern had to be Daisy and Cairo, so he returned to the restaurant.

‘I lost him.’ Rafe scowled as Cairo looked at him, her face having taken on a greyish tinge, her hands trembling as she held Daisy tightly against her. ‘I’m pretty sure it isn’t what you think, Cairo,’ he added more reassuringly. ‘I’ll explain later.’ He shot Cairo a warning look before going down on his haunches beside the little girl. ‘Okay, Daisy-May?’ he prompted gently.

‘Can we have lunch now, Uncle Rafe?’ she asked hopefully.

He gave an appreciative chuckle. ‘Sure we can. Okay with you, Cairo?’ He looked up at her.

Cairo felt too sick with reaction to answer him immediately.

She hadn’t even realized there was anything wrong until Rafe had stood up and rushed into the restaurant and she had seen the man talking to Daisy.

A man who had seemed strangely familiar….

‘Fine,’ she answered distractedly, knowing from Rafe’s warning expression that he didn’t want either of them to alarm Daisy when she seemed to have taken the incident in her six-year-old stride.

Unlike Cairo.

It was every parent’s nightmare!

They had only taken their eyes off Daisy for a minute or so. What if—

‘It really isn’t what you think,’ Rafe assured her quietly, taking a light hold of her arm as they followed Daisy back to their table. ‘At least, I’m pretty sure that it isn’t,’ he added grimly.

‘You’ll have to give me a better explanation than that, Rafe.’ She gave an involuntary shudder. ‘What if he had taken Daisy? I would never have forgiven myself if—’

‘Don’t even think about it.’ Rafe squeezed her arm. ‘I would never have let that happen.’

Cairo believed him.

After all that had happened between them, the way Rafe had proved so unfaithful as a lover, Cairo still believed him implicitly when he assured her that he would keep Daisy safe….

Rafe wished he could be as sure of being able to keep his promise to Cairo as he sounded! But until he found out who the man in the blue car was, and why he had been following them most of the day, he really had no idea whom he was actually supposed to be protecting.

Daisy … or Cairo?

Daisy was the one to give him part of the answer. ‘I think that man was one of your fans, Uncle Rafe,’ she told him once she had eaten a piece of pizza.

‘Why do you think that, Daisy?’ he asked, at the same time aware that Cairo was picking at her salad rather than eating it, obviously still very shaken by what had happened. Even so, Rafe couldn’t help but admire the fact that she was trying to appear as if everything were normal.

‘He asked me if you were Rafe Montero,’ Daisy explained happily before picking up another piece of her pizza.

Rafe shot Cairo a frowning glance before answering the little girl. ‘And what did you say, Daisy-May?’

‘I said you were.’ She nodded. ‘Because you are, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Rafe agreed with a smile. ‘For my sins, that’s exactly who I am.’

Daisy nodded. ‘Then he asked me the name of my mummy.’

‘Your … mummy?’ Rafe repeated slowly with a quick glance at Cairo.

‘Mmm.’ Daisy gave a mischievous grin. ‘I told him that her name was Margo. Because it is, isn’t it?’ she added with satisfaction.

‘Daisy—’

‘Don’t you see, Uncle Rafe, that man thought Aunty Cairo was my mummy?’ She giggled at the joke she had played on the other man.

Yes, Rafe did see—better than Daisy, in fact. As he knew that Cairo must.

‘He was a reporter!’ Cairo spoke for the first time since they had returned to the table, anger starting to replace her emotional turmoil as she realized Daisy hadn’t been in danger, after all; she had simply been pumped for information about Cairo and Rafe.

‘I had a suspicion that he might be, yes,’ Rafe admitted grimly.

Cairo’s eyes widened. ‘You had a—? He was at the supermarket this morning!’ she breathed incredulously as she suddenly remembered why the other man had seemed so familiar to her a few minutes ago. She also remembered Rafe’s distraction earlier as he’d watched the reporter getting into his car!

Her mouth tightened. ‘How long have you known he was following us?’

‘Not now, Cairo!’ he snapped, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

‘But—’

‘I said not now,’ he ordered harshly.

Cairo clamped her lips together as she continued to glare at him from behind her sunglasses.

Rafe had known that man was following them. He had known, dammit, and he hadn’t so much as warned her….

‘For God’s sake, calm down,’ Rafe told her impatiently an hour or so later as the two of them sat on the golden-white sand amongst the rocks in a relatively private cove, Daisy off building sandcastles nearer the water.

‘Calm down!’ Cairo repeated furiously as she turned to face him. ‘You knew that man was following us. You knew, Rafe, and yet you said nothing!’ She breathed agitatedly.

‘Because I knew you would react like this,’ he retorted. ‘Look, don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll make a couple of calls when I get back to the villa, and—’

‘Oh, you’ll make a couple of calls,’ Cairo repeated sarcastically. ‘That’s all right, then. The arrogant Rafe Montero will just “make a couple of calls” and everyone can once again sleep safely in their beds—’

‘Not everyone, Cairo,’ he cut in.

She scowled at him. ‘I’m really not in the mood for your innuendos just now, Rafe.’

‘Then what are you in the mood for?’ he challenged softly.

Her eyes widened as she saw the intent in his. ‘Don’t even think about—’ She broke off abruptly as Rafe reached out to remove her sunglasses and throw them down on the towel before his mouth came down fiercely on hers.

Cairo kissed him back just as fiercely.

Furiously.

All the emotions of the last couple of hours were in that kiss.

The absolute terror when she had seen that man talking to Daisy.

The relief when she’d reached Daisy’s side and was able to hold the little girl to her protectively.

Followed by this burning, almost uncontrollable rage towards Rafe for not even telling her he had thought they were being followed.

How dared he?

How dared he!

She wrenched her mouth free of his to put her hands against his chest and push him away from her. ‘I thought I told you there would be no repeat of—of this sort of thing!’ she snapped fierily.

‘What sort of thing would that be, Cairo?’ he jeered.

Cairo drew in a ragged breath. ‘I’m sure your lethal charm usually silences a woman, Rafe,’ she scorned, her cheeks flushed, eyes fever-bright. ‘But—’

‘Is my charm really lethal, Cairo?’ he interrupted.

‘Not to me!’ she denied, continuing to glare at him as she sat with her arms wrapped protectively about her knees.

His devilish smile said otherwise. ‘All evidence to the contrary, my dear Cairo.’

‘I’m not your “dear”, anything,’ she came back vehemently. ‘And I don’t care what promise you made Jeff yesterday.’ She shook her head. ‘Now that we know a reporter has tracked you down—’

‘Or you.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘It was you the reporter recognized—’

‘If that’s what he is.’ Rafe shrugged.

‘Whatever,’ Cairo snapped. ‘He’s following you, Rafe. Which means you’re the one who will have to leave—’

‘I’ve already told you I’m not going anywhere,’ Rafe retorted firmly.

He hadn’t meant to kiss Cairo again just now. Hadn’t meant to. But he had been unable to stop himself. She had looked so damned beautiful as she’d glared at him so fiercely. So achingly desirable.

Cairo was right; he should leave. He should get himself as far away as possible from the temptation she still— incredibly!—represented.

But after the incident at the restaurant Rafe knew he had even more reason to stay. If the man who had been following them this morning did turn out to be a member of the paparazzi, then a little thing like Rafe chasing him off earlier wasn’t going to shake him. The man knew exactly who Rafe was now, and, despite what Daisy might have told the man about her ‘mummy’, Rafe knew that if the other man was any good at his job, then it wouldn’t be long before he found out who Cairo really was, too.

But he was sure Cairo must already know that….

His mouth twisted wryly. ‘It’s just one reporter, Cairo—’

‘Who will no doubt quickly be followed by others!’ she pointed out, her voice rising with her agitation. ‘Daisy and I were doing just fine before you arrived.’

‘Sure you were,’ Rafe said sarcastically.

‘And just what is that supposed to mean?’

Rafe’s gaze ran over her with slow deliberation. ‘Daisy is a great kid, but you—you’re too thin, Cairo. You have dark circles under your eyes because you don’t sleep properly. You’re as nervy as hell.’ He heaved a disgusted sigh. ‘I wouldn’t call that “doing just fine”, would you?’

‘I believe I’ve already told you before that when I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it—’

‘No, Cairo, you’ll get it whether you want it or not,’ he told her forcefully as he dropped down onto the sand beside her to take her chin in his grasp and turn her face towards his. ‘What happened to the Cairo Vaughn I knew and loved?’

‘Loved, Rafe?’ She laughed incredulously. ‘You don’t even know the meaning of the word!’ Her gaze was challenging.

Rafe continued to look at her wordlessly for several seconds before abruptly releasing her, knowing he wasn’t going to reach her this way. If there was any of the old Cairo left to reach …

Cairo glared at him with frustrated anger. Rafe hadn’t loved her. If he had loved her, then she wouldn’t have gone to his hotel suite that day eight years ago and found a naked woman in his bed!

‘This beach is slightly different from the one we once walked on together at midnight, isn’t it?’ he said huskily now.

Cairo eyed him warily, not quite sure how to reply to that comment.

She knew exactly which beach Rafe was referring to, of course. Just as she clearly remembered what had happened at the end of that walk. She was just surprised that Rafe remembered it, too, after all this time….

‘I seem to remember I ruined a pair of perfectly good shoes walking across the pebbles and rocks,’ she said coolly.

‘It was worth it,’ Rafe murmured softly.

Yes, it had been, but—

‘Have you ever been back there?’ Rafe asked, quirking up one eyebrow to signal his interest.

‘To the Isle of Man?’

She had only vaguely even heard of the Isle of Man, a small island located between England and Ireland, before she had been there on location during the filming of A Love For All Time. The island’s old-fashioned quaintness had been a perfect spot for the post-war love story, in which Rafe had had the role of male lead and Cairo had had the supporting actress role to Pamela Raines’s female lead.

A situation that had, unfortunately, become echoed in real life!

‘I try not to dwell on past mistakes,’ she dismissed in a deliberately offhand tone of voice.

‘It was damn cold on the beach that night, wasn’t it?’ he said, ignoring her supposed lack of interest in the topic.

Until they’d found the ideal way to keep warm, yes….

‘Rafe—’

‘Life seemed a lot simpler then, too,’ he continued wistfully as if she hadn’t spoken.

Her eyes widened. ‘Simpler?’

He nodded. ‘There was just you and me—’

‘And Pamela,’ Cairo put in dryly. ‘Let’s not forget the beautiful and rapacious Pamela, shall we?’

Rafe’s mouth tightened. ‘I forgot about her years ago.’

Cairo gave a derisive smile. ‘How convenient to have such an—accommodating memory!’

His eyes narrowed and his voice turned positively icy. ‘Pamela meant nothing to me.’

‘Has any woman ever meant anything to you, Rafe?’ Cairo enquired hotly.

How could he sit and claim Pamela had meant nothing to him?

The other woman had been naked in his hotel room that day, her hair all tousled, that look—that look of sleepy satisfaction on her face the result of Rafe’s lovemaking that Cairo had seen so often on her own face when she’d looked in the mirror.

His gaze became hooded now. ‘Just the one,’ he murmured, his meaning obvious as he steadily held her gaze.

‘Oh, please!’ Cairo muttered in disgust as she stood up and moved away from him. ‘I’m not that naïve twenty-year-old any more, Rafe. So don’t even think about trying your seduction routine on me again—’

‘It isn’t a routine, dammit—’

‘Of course it is!’ She turned on him angrily. ‘You sailed into Douglas Bay that day looking like a Spanish pirate captaining his ship and completely swept me and every other woman on the island off their feet!’

Cairo could remember it as if it were yesterday, standing at the window of her hotel room, watching as the three-masted sailing ship came round the headland and anchored in the bay, a small launch leaving the ship minutes later, the man at the wheel—looking every inch that Spanish pirate!—clearly the darkly handsome Rafe Montero.

Cairo had lost her heart to Rafe’s dark and rugged wildness before she was even introduced to him an hour later.

And she wasn’t going to fall for it again.

Ever.

‘I’m going for a swim,’ she told Rafe abruptly as she took off her T-shirt before peeling her skirt down over her hips and legs and revealing that she wore a brief white bikini beneath.

Rafe stood and watched Cairo as she ran down the golden sand to wade thigh-deep in the water before diving smoothly beneath its surface, his hands clenching at his sides as he appreciated how the white of her bikini emphasised the golden tan of her skin. Smooth, silky skin he could still feel against the palms of his hands.

Cairo was right; she was no longer a naïve twenty-year-old. Just as he was no longer twenty-nine and bowled off his feet by her beauty the moment he was introduced to her.

But a part of him wished that he were….