sat up on the lounger. ‘Perhaps I should sit down with her and calmly explain that Margo just needs to rest for a few weeks because her blood pressure is a little high—’
‘And you think a little girl of six will be reassured by that explanation?’ Rafe said sarcastically.
Colour warmed Cairo’s cheeks at his intended rebuke. ‘I think it might be worth a try, yes!’
He scowled. ‘If that’s the extent of your knowledge of children, perhaps it’s as well that you and Bond never had any!’
Cairo gasped incredulously at his scorn, the fact that she had thought exactly the same thing following her separation from Lionel not important at that moment; Rafe certainly hadn’t meant it in the same way she did.
‘Look at yourself, Cairo.’ Rafe’s gaze ran over her with scathing dismissal. ‘Perfect hair. Perfect skin. Perfect teeth. Too-perfect body. Perfect damned everything! At least you looked human eight years ago; now you just look like every other perfect Hollywood actress!’
Cairo felt her cheeks pale at his deliberately insulting tone. It was too much on top of everything else she had gone through the last eight years.
She stood up. ‘When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it— Let go of me, Rafe!’ she instructed between gritted teeth as he reached out to curl long fingers about her wrist.
A too-slender wrist, Rafe decided even as he felt the creamy softness of her skin beneath his fingers, his gaze moving down to her hand now, the long, slender fingers completely bare of rings. Although there was a slightly whiter band of skin on the third finger of her left hand where her wedding ring and that huge rock that Bond had bought her as an engagement ring used to be….
‘I don’t think so,’ he challenged softly, even as his fingers tightened about her wrist.
Dark sunglasses hid the emotion in her eyes, but the pallor of her cheeks and the unhappy curve of her mouth were evidence of her rising anger.
She was angry? After years of deliberately blocking any memory of Cairo from his mind, Rafe had been forced to relive every single one of them during the last hour. It hadn’t improved his temper at all.
His mouth compressed into a thin line. ‘How’s your career, Cairo?’
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. ‘The last time I looked it was just fine, thank you.’
‘Really?’ Rafe taunted.
‘Yes—really!’ she grated.
Rafe shrugged. ‘You can’t live on the publicity of the divorce for ever, you know. At some time in the not too distant future you’ll have to get back to work.’
Cairo’s palm itched, her free hand actually aching from the effort it took to stop herself from slapping that arrogant smile from Rafe’s mockingly curved lips.
He grimaced. ‘I’m just trying to be helpful—’
‘When I want your advice, I’ll ask for it!’ Her eyes flashed an unmistakable warning.
He quirked dark brows. ‘Which would be never—right?’
‘Right!’
‘I’m just interested, Cairo. Relocating yourself to London after your separation doesn’t exactly seem like a good career move, does it?’ Rafe’s gaze was fixed on her face.
‘Mind your own damned business!’
‘Fine.’ He released her abruptly to hold his hands up as he stepped away from her.
Cairo glared at him for several more seconds before giving an abrupt nod. ‘If you’ll excuse me…’
‘Running away, Cairo?’ Rafe taunted her as she turned away.
Cairo paused to look back at him, her chin raised stubbornly high. ‘I believe you said earlier that you would enjoy a glass of white wine…?’
His brows rose. ‘And you’re about to go and get me one?’
‘If it means I get to spend a little less time in your unpleasant company, yes!’ she bit out. ‘But, of course, if you’ve changed your mind—’
‘You should know by now that once my mind is made up about something—or someone—then it rarely changes,’ he said pointedly.
‘Luckily, neither does mine,’ she came back just as pointedly.
They continued to look at each other for several long, tense seconds, a battle of wills that was totally matched in intensity, with neither of them willing to back down.
It had always been like this between them, Rafe recalled ruefully. Cairo might only have been a twenty-year-old actress just starting out in her career eight years ago, but even then she’d had a definite mind of her own, had known exactly what she wanted and how to get it. And eight years ago, she had decided she wanted to become the wife of multi-millionaire movie producer Lionel Bond and unashamedly used her relationship with Rafe as a stepping stone to achieving that goal.
He moved to lie back on the lounger as he looked out over the terraces of orange trees that surrounded the pool. ‘White wine sounds good,’ he said curtly.
He felt Cairo continue to look at him frowningly for several more seconds before she turned sharply on her heel and continued up the steps to the villa.
Rafe waited until he was sure she had left before turning to look at her, his hands clenching at his sides as he watched that red hair cascading wildly down a back that seemed endless and almost sensuously feline, a bottom smoothly curving in the black bikini, and legs that were long and shapely.
Dammit, even after all this time, after all that had happened between them, Cairo was still one of the most seductively beautiful women Rafe had ever laid eyes—or hands—on.
Not a comfortable realization for a man who made a point of never becoming involved with a woman. Not any more!
He looked across at Daisy playing in the pool. ‘Sweetheart, do you want to go inside and get changed now? It’ll be time to eat soon.’
‘Okay, Uncle Rafe.’ Daisy obediently got out of the pool and went inside the villa.
Cairo’s movements were agitated as she collected wine from the fridge and glasses from the cupboard, not forgetting to get some more juice for Daisy, too, in case she fancied a drink.
How dared Rafe even presume to offer her advice?
Rafe had callously broken her heart eight years ago, leaving her completely vulnerable to the face-saving offer of Lionel’s marriage proposal—
Cairo came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the kitchen, her eyes closing as she swayed dizzily.
It was the first time she had ever admitted, even to herself, that Rafe’s actions were the real reason she had married Lionel….
She shook her head as she once again fought back the tears.
No
