Читать книгу Modern Romance Books September Books 5-8 - Кэтти Уильямс, Annie West, Cathy Williams - Страница 18

‘I THINK I’D like to see...the company.’ Sofia was stretched out on the bed, her hair spilling across the pillow, watching as Rafael got dressed to leave for work. She caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror as he adjusted his tie.

Despite his confidence that the annoying Freddy situation would be sorted within weeks, her father’s stepson was still a thorn in Rafael’s side and it was frustrating the hell out of him.

His level of incompetence was astounding, as he had confided only days previously, but the way he arrogantly strode through the office made it difficult for anyone to take issue with him.

Rafael was now involved in the painstaking process of trying to unpick some of the more stupid decisions Freddy had taken and somehow managed to get past the board of directors, primarily because of his process of dispatching the ones who might have stood in his way.

The whole process was taking Rafael away from his own responsibilities, handling his own sprawling empire, and he was fast losing patience.

‘Why?’ He swung round to look at her and she leapt out of bed, scooping up clothes along the way and heading towards the en suite bathroom.

‘Do I have to have a reason?’ she paused to ask him and he raised his eyebrows and dealt her a crooked smile.

‘You don’t have to,’ he drawled, ‘but I’m curious as to why. I didn’t think you were interested in the company.’

‘I wasn’t but...it’s been a few weeks since all that business with my mother emerged and ever since...well... I feel closer to him. We chat on the phone. He texts often. Have I told you that he’s teaching me how to play chess?’ She gazed at Rafael. By now, she could recreate every line on his beautiful face, every ingrained habit he wasn’t even aware he had. ‘And that’s why I’m suddenly interested in seeing what goes on there. Will you wait for me while I have a shower? I won’t be long.’

‘Want me to join you?’ His voice deepened and he moved an inch closer to her.

‘I think I can manage a shower on my own, Rafael.’ She placed her flattened palm against his chest. The slightest encouragement and he would whip off the hand-made suit, the silk tie and the pristine white shirt with the discreetly embroidered initials on the cuffs, and he would join her in the shower and they would make love again.

‘Sure?’ He covered her hand with his and tugged her towards him. ‘You told me that you loved me soaping you...something about the thorough way I did it...’

‘Honestly!’ But she laughed, blushing furiously. He was shameless when it came to saying exactly what was on his mind. The things he whispered into her ear when they made love made her ears burn in the light of day.

‘I adore the way you blush, cara.’ His eyes were serious and he stroked her hair away from her face. ‘Sweet and innocent, even though you set the sheets alight with your passion.’

For a second their eyes tangled and she felt that familiar thudding in her heart, as though they had merged, become one in a moment of unity that went far, far beyond the physical.

He was the first to draw back, frowning as though suddenly perplexed, suddenly at odds with whatever was going through his head.

‘I’ll get changed. I’ll be quick. Time is money, as you once said.’

‘I hate it when you quote me back to myself.’ But he was smiling, relaxed, back to his usual self.

Twenty minutes later she emerged from a quick shower to find that he had already left the bedroom, and when she went downstairs there he was, waiting for her in the kitchen. He looked up from whatever he had been doing on his computer when she walked in.

‘Sofia the businesswoman,’ he murmured, standing and snapping shut the computer. ‘I like it. Do you think I could be the sort of guy who enjoys a woman in a uniform? Or maybe I’m turned on by the buttoned-up-to-the neck look...’

She had twisted her long hair into a bun and was wearing a white blouse, a pair of navy trousers and a jacket. Separately, each item was okay. As an ensemble, Rafael was right in that it screamed ‘office’.

‘Maybe I’m Sofia the accountant in the making,’ she said lightly, leading the way out of the kitchen and waiting for him by the car.

‘I’ve never known an accountant as sexy as you.’ He opened the passenger door for her and then swung around to the driver’s side but, before he started the engine, he turned to look at her. ‘I’m glad you’re coming,’ he said seriously. ‘You’re right. David’s headquarters is a part of him and, yes, a part you should see. He would be delighted.’

Pleasure bloomed inside her, and for a second she was lost for words, caught up in that side of him that could be incredibly gentle and incredibly perceptive. If she were to say how she felt, though, she knew that he would laugh, teasing her away from a place that could become too serious too fast. She’d learned how to manage him, had learned how to steer clear of places she knew he wouldn’t want to visit.

‘I thought I’d surprise him—tell him when I next see him.’

‘Nice touch.’

Sofia looked at his arrogant, beautiful profile and wondered how she had ended up in this mess, wanting what was out of reach, hoping to get it just right so that she could grasp what her heart craved, always wondering whether that would ever be possible.

The question had barely been posed before the answer rose to the surface. She’d overestimated her ability to separate sex from love. She had assumed herself clever and cool enough to deal with a man who was leagues ahead of her in the sophistication stakes. She’d idiotically thought that she’d learnt all the lessons she needed to learn from the experiences of her mother and was therefore well equipped to withstand anything.

Now here she was, hoping that some of what she felt might eventually be returned in kind, while the clock ticked, time passed and the year they had set began to ebb away, like sand sifting through an hourglass.

When that year was up, she could of course tell him that she wasn’t ready to quit the marriage but she cringed to think that by then he might be ready to quit what they’d started, having accomplished what he had set out to achieve. Her relationship with David was thawing by the day, as she came to realise just how much he had loved her mother and just how keen he was to get to know her. And as for Freddy... That business would surely be sorted one way or another and, if not, if it was just destined to be an ongoing problem on which Rafael would have to permanently keep an eye, then it was still a pretty good trade-off for all the bits of the company that had been signed over to him and for the happiness David derived from knowing that the problem was being dealt with.

By the time their year was up, he would probably have packed her cases and changed the lock on the door.

‘I’m just curious,’ she said eventually. ‘David has talked so much about how he started with the hotel business and I guess, yes, it’s another facet to him that I’m keen to learn about. I’m not about to wade in and try sorting out the accounts department, so no need to worry about that!’

‘Why would that be a worry for me?’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Sofia said lightly. ‘Maybe because I get the feeling that my role is to commute between London and the countryside and do not much of anything because I don’t have to?’

‘Have I ever said that?’

‘No, but...’

‘You’re free to do whatever you want, Sofia. I don’t own you, despite what you might think.’ His dark gaze slid to her face, a fleeting glance. ‘I certainly have no inclination to tell you what to do.’

Sofia bit down the impulse to take him up on that and run with it. He was just so stubbornly accustomed to dominance, to rejecting without preamble anything he wasn’t interested in pursuing—such as an awkward conversation. And yet, he was the first to insist that she always finish what she started. In his own infuriating, endearing way, he was very happy to tell her what to do.

‘I’m carrying on with my accountancy work, as well you know,’ she confessed, ‘but it’s not as important as it once was. The money. The no longer having to work at it. Maybe part of me wants to get into an office environment to test the waters—see whether I’m still energised at the prospect of having a career.’

Rafael’s dark eyes glanced across at her. ‘That’s the problem with money, though, isn’t it? It’s a blessing but it can also be a curse. Feel free to breathe in the heady fumes of my godfather’s offices. At any rate, they’re the height of luxury, so perhaps not quite representative of the average office environment. I can’t picture you burying yourself behind books and ledgers once this year is up, actually.’

Once this year is up... A tight knot of tension balled in her chest.

‘You might be right.’ Her voice was non-committal. ‘What is happening about Freddy? David doesn’t really mention that side of things.’

‘I think,’ Rafael said, brows knitted as he gave it some thought, ‘there might be an element of guilt that things were allowed to slip away from him when he was preoccupied with all his health worries.’

‘I never thought of that, but you might be right.’

‘I’m always right.’ He shot her a sideways glance, full of laughter, and she relaxed. This light-hearted banter was what she knew. It was sexy and lazy and, for her at any rate, warmly intimate.

‘Except when you’re not.’ She smiled.

By the time they reached her father’s imposing office in West London, she had swept past her unease about where her relationship with her husband was going.

The building was impressive because, Rafael told her, it was a redevelopment of an old government building, the outside of which had been kept true to its period, solid red brick with a certain prison-like appearance that belied the complete modernisation on the inside.

‘You’re right,’ she breathed, taking in the marble and the giant plants and the banks of lifts to one side. ‘Nothing like the average office block.’

‘Want me to show you around?’

‘You have things to do.’

‘I’ll get Paula to do the honours. David’s PA left when he retired and since then there have been a string of young girls. Paula is the latest in line. I have to stop a deal Freddy has been trying to consolidate before we kiss goodbye to yet more capital. I’ll meet you here in an hour and a half.’

She could see that his mind was already on what he had to do, but she didn’t have to wait long before Paula came to fetch her. She was five-foot-nothing and as pretty as a doll, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were friendly and cautious at the same time.

She was a good guide, yet there was a caginess there that Sofia couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she was too busy breathing in the place to pay much attention to that.

One entire section was devoted to the rise of her father’s boutique hotel business, with colourful photos of his first hotel all the way through to his last, with Argentina featuring somewhere in the middle. She was peering at an album, recognising one or two places, when she heard a voice behind her.

‘Wondered when you would make an appearance, my dear stepsister... Is that what you are? Hmm...difficult with your being off the scene for such a long time. Hard to know what to call you. Somehow, sis feels all wrong.’

Sofia turned round to find that Freddy had stolen into the room and shut the door behind him without her having heard him.

He was impeccably dressed and groomed to within an inch of his blond locks, but there was a cruelty in his eyes that she had clocked the very first time she had set eyes on him.

‘Freddy.’ She offered a stiff smile and remained where she was. Her nerves had kicked in and they went into overdrive as he moved towards her before pausing and then circling her, eyes roving up and down in the process.

‘So.’ He completed the circle and then stood in front of her. ‘David’s long-lost daughter. Touching. Can’t tell you how surprised we all were.’

‘We?’

‘Of course!’ His eyebrows shot up. ‘You didn’t think that you could make a grand entrance—fille prodigue, no less—without raising a few questions, did you? And no sooner are you here than the big, bad wolf, your newly acquired husband, is rushing along playing trouble shooter. Hmm...now, let me think...perhaps we is an overstatement. You’re not visible enough to raise any eyebrows. I have to admit that you’ve given award-winning performances whenever you’ve been out in the public domain. But, my dear sis, you don’t fool me.’ He sighed elaborately. ‘That story of love at first sight...whirlwind romance with Mr Eligible Bachelor dispatched to bring you back to your dear papa... Call me sceptical, but it doesn’t wash with me...’

‘I think I’ve seen all there is to see in this room,’ Sofia countered politely. ‘Paula’s waiting for me to carry on with the tour.’

‘Sadly, Paula has had to deal with other business. It’s just the two of us and, before that nosy, over-zealous so-called husband of yours begins wondering where you are, I should tell you that it’s not going to work.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Nosy? Over-zealous? Because he was trying to get a grip on this man’s destructive management? Rage boiled inside her but diplomacy won out over emotion.

‘He’s been running around checking up on some of my decisions and meddling. Probably trying to dig up dirt on me as well, not that he’s going to find anything. I’m as pure as the driven snow. And, just putting it out there, I wonder what tongues would start wagging if the rumour somehow started that the loved-up couple was all a fake...? I could spice things up a bit. Shares have a nasty habit of responding to rumours...up one minute, down the next...’

Sofia’s lip curled and then, before she knew it, he was so much closer to her, standing right in front of her, and the atmosphere shifted. He reached out and stroked her bare arm. For a few shocking seconds she couldn’t react, was catapulted back to a time when the unwanted attention of men had made her heart beat faster with apprehension, then she drew back sharply.

‘Feel free to pass the message along, my dearest prodigal stepsister.’ He moved away, back towards the door. ‘He’s wasting his time. I’m here to stay and I intend to get fully involved in running this show, whatever Mr High-and-Mighty may think on the subject. Sooner or later, he’ll get bored trying to figure me out, and then he can ride off into the sunset, back to his own company. In the meantime, good luck to him!’ He half-saluted, pulled open the door and was gone.

Sofia only realised how tense the interchange had made her when she released one long, indrawn breath on a shudder. Sure enough, when she got her legs moving and peered out of the room, Paula was no longer around. Sofia had left her outside on a phone call and, yes, she had been dispatched while Freddy had done what he had wanted to do.

Which was what? Warned her to warn Rafael? She shivered, because there had been more to that twenty-minute exchange than a simple case of intimidation.

She sped through the rest of the company simply because she happened to be on a tour, even if it was a tour without a guide, and because she refused to be cowed by Freddy.

She’d met types like him before. Maybe without the power but he was definitely a type.

The thoughts clarified in her head but she had already joined Rafael, left the building and was sitting in a small restaurant with him with a menu in front of her before she said, hesitantly, ‘You’ll never guess who I bumped into...’

Rafael carefully dropped his menu and relaxed back in the chair to look at her with brooding intensity.

‘I must be psychic because I could sense something was wrong within five seconds of meeting you in the foyer.’ He beckoned the waitress across while keeping his eyes pinned to Sofia’s face. It was a talent she had noticed he possessed. There was never any need for him to beckon for anyone’s attention when they were in a restaurant or a bar. He just seemed to emanate some kind of invisible aura that did the talking for him. Or maybe serving staff had special antennae for guys like him. At any rate, the waitress had tripped over before Sofia had time to launch into what she wanted to say.

‘Will I need anything stronger than a glass of wine to deal with what’s bugging you?’

‘It’s no big deal.’

‘Tell me.’ He ordered a bottle of wine and waited until they had chosen what they wanted and the waitress had vanished. ‘Who did you bump into?’

‘Freddy.’

Rafael stilled and for a few seconds he didn’t say anything. ‘Interesting. I was hoping to do the same but he couldn’t be located for love nor money. The man has a peculiar talent for evasion when it comes to facing me down. What did that waste of space have to say for himself?’

‘Well...’ She sat back as a selection of tapas was placed in front of them, light and tasty and perfect for a late lunch. ‘For a start, I can tell you that he’s not your biggest fan.’

‘I think I came to that conclusion a long time ago.’

‘Aside from the business with work...and he’s very smug that you won’t be able to stop him from doing what he wants to do...he also told me that he didn’t believe in this, in us, and that he might just decide to share that with the rest of the world.’

Rafael regarded her narrowly. ‘Quite the conversation the pair of you had. How did this come about, bearing in mind you were supposed to have had a dedicated tour guide showing you the highlights and lowlights of the company?’

‘I went to the room where there’s a potted history of the company and its expansion. Paula had already shown me around various departments. I left her outside taking a call and the next thing I knew Freddy had entered the room and Paula had disappeared.’

‘And I’m thinking that the two things are somehow connected. Did he think that he could use scare tactics on you because he’s not man enough to face me himself?’

Sofia didn’t say anything. She realised, with some surprise, that she had nibbled away at most of the little dishes and drunk a glass of wine. Her mind had been a million miles away.

‘Do you plan on returning to David’s company after this?’

‘I hadn’t planned on it. You haven’t answered my question, Sofia. Did the man frighten you in any way?’

‘We weren’t having a conversation in a dark alley miles away from anyone.’ She tried to laugh but, thinking about it, he had creeped her out.

Rafael leant forward and took both her hands in his. The gesture was so tender and so unsolicited that her heart leapt inside her and she felt that thing again, the thing she cautioned herself against—a feeling of being cared for somehow.

She knew that it was an illusion but that was where hope always broke free and did its own thing. Hope that all her cynicism might one day be proved wrong. Hope that he would realise that, in the end, she was more, than a business transaction.

They made love, they talked, she made him laugh on occasion...they communicated...and then there were these instances of tenderness, a tenderness she knew he didn’t even realise he was indulging. Surely all of that must amount to something?

Sofia knew that that was why she just kept on hoping. Kept on hoping that he was interested in a whole lot more than just sex, if only he could see it with his eyes wide open.

‘Not the point,’ he was telling her now, his eyes pinning her to the spot. ‘Did he frighten you?’

‘What would you do if I told you that he had?’ she returned lightly, but then she wondered what she would achieve by mentioning that he had made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and if that wasn’t a certain amount of fear then what was? ‘He didn’t, as it happens. Men like Freddy don’t scare me.’

‘Men like Freddy? Join the dots for me, Sofia.’

‘He...yes, he did waffle on a bit about you wasting your time rooting around for something to use against him, and I got the feeling that he was probably telling the truth. He might not be too bright but he’s bright enough to know that anything fraudulent would spell the end of his career at my father’s company, however many shares he was given in the divorce settlement.’

‘He’s read the fine print,’ Rafael said thoughtfully. ‘And you may well be right. I’ve shot down a few dead ends, even when I’ve smelled something fishy, something that might have compromised our man. All I’ve got to show for my hard work is a trail of semi-incompetence and a lot of shuffling and wheedling and machinations to get rid of people who might be inclined to block his crazy ideas and install a bunch of no-hopers who would do whatever he asked them to.’ He shrugged. ‘I might have to resign myself to taking what has been signed over to me and then just keeping a watchful eye on the rest. Damage limitation.’

He sighed with frustration and she could read him so well by now that she knew where that frustration stemmed from. He had assumed he would be able to sort everything out in record time and to find that his efforts might well result in nothing would make his pearly whites snap together in rage. He loathed Freddy, thought he was sly and devious and ultimately capable of ruining the company David had built. Maybe not overnight, but incompetence would eat at the foundations and eventually the whole structure would topple to the ground. And would Rafael be able to stop that? It would be a full-time task and he had his own massive empire to run. Time was not his friend.

‘There is something, though, Rafael,’ Sofia told him quietly. She sipped some water and then, when plates had been cleared away, she leaned towards him, elbows on the table, hands clasped, fingers entwined. ‘He... I’m not sure how to say this...but he touched me. Please don’t think that he frightened me, because he didn’t, but he did touch me.’

The silence that greeted this was so deep and so dense that a shiver of apprehension raced up and down her spine. Rafael’s face was inscrutable but his eyes were narrowed and for a few seconds she was privy to a vision of the ruthless steel that lay beneath the velvet glove.

‘Not,’ she repeated, ‘in any way that was scary. He just ran his fingers on my arm.’ She laughed but Rafael didn’t return the laugh and his body language was so taut and still that she wanted to demand to know what was going through his head.

‘Did he now?’

There was a sickness rising up inside Rafael that he barely recognised. He clenched his fists and controlled a powerful and bewildering urge to punch something. Was this what jealousy tasted like? No, couldn’t be. He’d never been jealous before. He’d gone out with women who graced the catwalk, and commanded second, third and fourth looks wherever they went, and he’d never had a problem with that. And if some guy had made a pass at any of them? He’d certainly never felt this roar of rage inside him, this pounding in his head and throbbing in his temples.

Was it because she was his wife? Maybe it was because of that. In name only but perhaps he was more of a dinosaur than he’d ever imagined and the fact that he was married to her had evoked some kind of primal, possessive streak he’d never experienced. That surely must be it?

He thought of Freddy, pictured that weak face, his manicured hand on her arm and one thought ran though his head—he was going to sort him out one way or another. Things had just got personal.

Sofia tugged his hand gently so that he was once again looking directly at her and she could judge something of his thoughts in his stunning dark gaze. He was clever at keeping concealed what he had no intention of revealing, but she had to try and read his expression, and she wasn’t going to do that if he was looking away.

‘When I said that I’d met men like Freddy before I wasn’t kidding. The way I look...?’ She rolled her eyes with self-deprecation, because it was always embarrassing to discuss her looks. She’d been accused, nastily, of vanity too many times as a teenager, and had learned to shy away from drawing attention to her appearance. Blending into the background had been one of her greatest aims. ‘Men have always thought that they could try it on but I learned how to separate the wheat from the chaff at a very young age. Most guys are obvious but the ones to watch out for are the ones who sneak up from behind and Freddy is one of those. He’s a sneaker-upper kind of guy.’

She paused and then took a deep breath. ‘He might not be guilty of out-and-out embezzlement or whatever but you should try talking to some of the young girls who work in the company.’

Rafael was staring at her and she could see the dawning comprehension in his eyes. He said, in a low voice, ‘Tell me more, my darling. I’m all ears.’

My darling...

For a few seconds, Sofia lost track of what she had been saying. He’d called her his darling. Not cara, but darling, and she thrilled inside. Then she collected her thoughts and licked her lips, thinking of the best way to say what she had to say.

‘I think he might be more than just an office pest. He’s a guy who has a lot of power within that company and, from everything you and David have said, he’s been systematically getting rid of the old-school employees who might have had the wherewithal to stand up to him. Have you had a look at the girls in the main admin department?’

Rafael slowly shook his head. ‘I don’t tend to venture down there,’ he murmured. ‘I’ve been too busy dealing with the books to see whether any cooking has been going on. Too busy trying to stall ill-conceived deals that should never have kicked off in the first place. I’ve really only had dealings with the CEOs.’

‘They’re all young and attractive,’ Sofia said bluntly. ‘And a lot of them have only been there a short while.’

‘I’m joining the dots.’ He looked at her thoughtfully but he wasn’t looking at her. His mind was somewhere else. Sofia could see that. Then he was looking at her again, eyes sombre. ‘You said you were accustomed to men like Freddy,’ he murmured. ‘By that you mean seedy creeps who have tried to prey on you?’

Sofia looked away and shrugged. ‘It’s life.’

‘Any of them succeed in doing what you tell me Freddy didn’t do?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Any of them frighten you?’

Sofia reddened, suddenly restless and feeling exposed. Opening up was one thing when you were doing it with someone who truly cared about you. It was a different matter when you were revealing yourself to a guy who didn’t really care.

But there was something in his voice, a questioning gentleness that pierced right to the very core of her.

‘My mother was a very sexy woman. Very beautiful. Men chased after her and sometimes, when they saw me, they thought that I might come as part of the deal. Most just looked. Surreptitiously, making sure my mother didn’t notice. She could be a tiger like that. But I noticed and always made sure to take evasive action. But one night...well...there was a party and I was in bed. Someone came into the bedroom.’ She shivered, living the memory. ‘I was terrified,’ she admitted. ‘He was disturbed before anything could happen but I always knew that that was luck on my side and if luck had been busy somewhere else...’

Rafael reached out and took her hand in his, linking fingers. ‘Shh...’ His voice was low and persuasive. ‘That time has passed. You’re here with me now. Safe.’

Her eyes flickered to his.

Safe? She almost wanted to laugh. She’d stopped being safe with him a long time ago. She’d given her heart and was wandering in alien territory and, the last thing she was was safe. If only he knew...