of papers that Hilary had put together.
Wondering what on earth she could hope to achieve by going to such pointless lengths in an effort to convince him that his highly qualified investment consultant was incapable of spotting a rip-off when he came across one, Rauf released his breath in an impatient hiss. ‘I have no intention of studying those documents. By failing to make the agreed sharing of annual profits your father has been in breach of our contract for more than two years. That’s the base line and the only one that counts.’
‘Dad would never default on any contract.’ Alarm gripping her at Rauf’s stubborn refusal even to direct his attention at the papers that she had set on the table, Lily leant forward, frantically swept up the first sheet and extended it herself. ‘This is last year’s account-book entry. A sizeable sum of money was wire-transferred to an account known as Marmaris Media Incorporated at your Turkish bank in London. I have every identifying detail of that transfer. For goodness’ sake, if that’s not proof that a major misunderstanding has occurred, what is?’
His interest now fully engaged by what she had said, for he did not use a Turkish bank in London, but making no attempt to accept the proffered document, Rauf gazed at her flushed and anxious face. ‘This sounds remarkably like a misunderstanding destined to end up in the hands of an international fraud squad.’
Her natural colour draining away, her blue eyes rounding, Lily let the sheet of paper drop back on the pile and gasped, ‘What on earth are you trying to suggest?’
‘That it seems very suspicious that the trading name Marmaris Media Incorporated should bear such a very close resemblance to the name under which my own companies operate—’
‘Which is MMI…Marmaris Media Incorporated!’ Lily argued in bewilderment.
‘No, I rather think that you must know that that is untrue,’ Rauf countered with sardonic cool, for he was now convinced that she was attempting to mount some kind of clumsy belated cover-up. ‘MMI stands for Marmaris Media International and no part of my holdings trades under any similar name. Any cash paid into an account in the name of Marmaris Media Incorporated has nothing to do with me.’
‘Then the money must still be there in that wretched account!’ Lily exclaimed, immediately believing that she had found out where a fatal error might have occurred in Harris Travel’s dealings with Rauf. ‘Don’t you see? Nobody at Harris Travel realised they’d got the name wrong and the payments have gone into someone else’s account…oh, my goodness, suppose they’ve spent it?’
Against his own volition, Rauf was becoming more entertained with every second he spent listening to her spiel. She looked like a live angel and, had he not known what he did know about her, the appeal in her beautiful eyes might have penetrated even his armour-plated cynicism. He lowered his dense black lashes over his appreciative gaze. She ought to be on television creating kiddy-orientated whodunnits of shattering simplicity. That climax of a punchline, ‘Suppose they’ve spent it?’ was priceless and he would long cherish its utterance for he had an excellent, if dark, sense of humour.
Nobody with any wit could have been taken in by so unlikely a tale. He was willing to bet a good half of his vast wealth that were he willing to go through the laborious motions she was trying to prompt him into making, willing to act like her trusting ally in pursuit of an unknown criminal, he would find out…guess what? Surprise, surprise, he didn’t think! The fake account called Marmaris Media Incorporated would be as empty as the old lady’s cupboard in the English nursery rhyme. Switching money between accounts to conceal where it was heading next and false entries in the account books were one of the most rudimentary and common methods of concealing fraud.
‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’ Lily prompted, incredulous at his lack of reaction and actually jumping to her feet to stress her enthusiasm for that possible explanation. It seemed obvious that a stupid but simple mistake had sent the payments that Rauf should have received into the wrong bank account. ‘Either all those payments have been piling up in one of those dormant accounts that you read about or someone’s been having a merry old time for the last two years on money that was rightfully yours!’
‘Thankfully it’s not my problem,’ Rauf responded smooth as silk, but he was operating on two levels again, his brain attempting to disengage from his libido as he tensed with growing annoyance. As she automatically angled her slender body towards him he was maddeningly aware of the tantalising thrust of her lush little breasts beneath the shrouding dress and his body hardened on a surge of instant sexual hunger that inflamed his pride.
‘But it’s your money…don’t you care about that?’ Deflated and bemused by his apparent disinterest, Lily dared to look at him direct and clashed with smouldering golden eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat and in the interim she felt her full breasts shift inside her cotton bra, the soft tips pinching into sudden taut sensitivity. Rigid with shamed awareness of what was happening to her, she lowered her head and dropped back down into her seat again at speed. Could he still sense the appalling effect he had on her? A crawling sense of humiliation engulfed her, for she had never dreamt that, three years on, she might still be vulnerable around Rauf Kasabian. After all, she wasn’t in love with him any more, and he might be a good-looking guy—all right a very good-looking guy—but that was no excuse, was it?
Sheer anger having overwhelmed his arousal, Rauf was reminding himself of what a cruel little tease Lily had always been. Once she had drawn him in with the same languishing looks and responsive body language, only to treat him to shrinking reluctance when he had dared to react to those invitations. But her most effective ploy of all had been three quite unforgettable and very clever little words. “You scare me,” she had once confided in a breathy little voice of apparent apology, shocking and shaming him into the kind of total physical restraint that he had never had to practise round any other woman.
Still raw from the memory of that unjust and wounding accusation, Rauf squared his wide shoulders, his formidable intelligence now fully back in the ascendant. ‘Harris Travel would still be in breach of contract and I do wish you luck in pursuing the dormant account scenario. However, all that is owed to me must be repaid—’
Tense as a bowstring, Lily parted dry lips. ‘Yes, of course I accept that, but—’
‘I don’t like being ripped off.’ The chill in Rauf’s hard dark-as-midnight eyes was now pronounced. ‘In fact, with very little encouragement, I can be a total unforgiving bastard.’
‘I’m just asking you to be reasonable and examine these papers and you won’t even do that for me.’ Lily regarded him with reproachful blue eyes. ‘That’s not so much to ask…surely? Why are you treating me like this?’
‘Like…what?’ Rauf asked in the same cool tone.
‘Like we’re enemies or something….’ Lily muttered uneasily.
‘There’s nothing deader than a dead love affair, except perhaps an affair that never was,’ Rauf spelt out with cutting clarity.
Lily went very still and paled as though she had been struck. She stared with strained intensity at the papers he had refused to scrutinise while she fought to hold back the lowering tears stinging the back of her eyes. There it was, confessed in his own words: the truth of why he had lost all interest in her. An affair that never was. It was so belittling to appreciate that what she had believed they’d shared had meant nothing to him without sex. She had always suspected it but that direct confirmation truly hurt. She snatched up her glass of pure orange and took several sips to ease the aching fullness in her throat. Reminding herself that she had much more important matters to concentrate on, she struggled to pull herself back
