Читать книгу A Dangerous Taste Of Passion - Anne Mather, Anne Mather - Страница 12
ОглавлениеTHE COFFEE SHOP where Lily usually bought herself a sandwich and a polystyrene mug of cappuccino was on the other side of the street.
Breaking free of her escort, Lily started to cross the road. Only to halt in alarm when Rafe grabbed her arm again and dragged her back.
Out of the path of a speeding minibus that had showed no intention of stopping.
She heard Rafe’s angry words in her ear, his hot breath against the nape of her neck and found she was trembling. She was sure his words were not repeatable, but fortunately she couldn’t understand them.
She didn’t think he was speaking to her, however, and she turned to him with a breathless word of gratitude.
‘Idiota,’ he muttered, after she had stopped shaking. ‘He could have killed you.’
‘But he didn’t,’ said Lily, grateful for his vigilance. ‘I don’t know how to thank you. What I did was stupid. I should have looked both ways.’
‘Sí,’ he agreed, his face still dark with concern. ‘But that—that maniac was not about to stop.’
Rafe grimaced and then, realising she needed reassurance, his expression cleared. ‘It would be such a waste to lose you,’ he added with gentle sensuality. ‘Myers would be devastated, I am sure, and the good padre, your father, would never forgive me.’
The way he was looking at her caused all the oxygen to drain from Lily’s lungs. Although he was no longer touching her, she felt breathless, weak. She kept telling herself it was the result of the near-accident, but she couldn’t look away from his disturbing gaze.
What was there about those hollow cheekbones and that thin-lipped mouth that caused such a visceral reaction inside her? she asked herself incredulously. Why, when she knew she wouldn’t like to make an enemy of this man, was she allowing herself to get involved with him?
‘I think perhaps I should go back to the agency,’ she said now, her voice still a little uneven, but Rafe only arched a mocking brow.
‘You disappoint me,’ he said. ‘I was looking forward to spending more time with you.’
Lily sighed uncertainly. But it would have seemed churlish to abandon him after he’d virtually saved her life, she thought defensively.
‘All right,’ she said, looking up and down the street again before adding, ‘The place where I buy my sandwiches is across the road. If you are certain you want to have lunch with me, we should join the queue.’
The queue?
Rafe scowled as he saw that there was indeed a queue of people waiting outside the coffee shop across the street. And, in the present circumstances, he had no desire to spend the next fifteen minutes waiting in line to buy a greasy burger and an indifferent cup of coffee.
‘Are you sure you would not rather find a small eatery and sit down?’ he asked, aware that, for all her defiant courage, she still looked rather pale.
‘Humour me,’ he went on, aware that her eyes had been drawn to the open neckline of his shirt. The brown column of his throat seemed to intrigue her and he was impatiently aware of his own reaction to her. Running a hand over the triangle of dark hair exposed by his shirt, he said roughly, ‘I had quite a shock, too.’
Lily hesitated. There was no doubt that the idea of standing in a queue for several minutes before then searching for an empty bench in the park was daunting.
Besides, the man with the camera was still watching them and, as she glanced his way, she saw him raise the camera towards them. ‘All right,’ she said quickly, expelling an uneasy sigh. ‘Not least because I don’t like anyone taking my picture without my permission.’
* * *
The eating place Rafe chose was not somewhere Lily had ever been before. Which was a relief. Not that she thought anyone would recognise her with Rafe Oliveira, the man who had left New York apparently under a cloud, and who now owned the exclusive villa at Orchid Point.