Rafe turned his attention back to the car, his gaze narrowed as he tried to identify person behind the wheel. Yep. It was Bond, all right.
He glanced down at Cairo. ‘Do you want to speak to him?’
‘Not particularly.’ She grimaced.
‘Then don’t,’ Rafe rasped.
She gave a wistful smile. ‘It isn’t as simple as that, Rafe.’
‘Yes, Cairo.’ Rafe nodded. ‘It really is.’
She looked up at him quizzically. ‘Maybe for you it is, Rafe.’ She sighed. ‘But I’ve never been able to be quite that cruel.’
He shrugged. ‘Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind,’ he said curtly.
‘Like you were with me eight years ago?’ she challenged.
Rafe’s mouth thinned at the accusation. ‘I don’t believe we were talking about you and me.’
‘No, of course we weren’t,’ Cairo said immediately. ‘Forget I said that.’
Rafe wasn’t sure he wanted to forget it. He had been so stunned when Cairo had ended things between them so unexpectedly, quickly followed by her announcement of her engagement to Bond, that the two of them had never got to talk about the abrupt end of their own relationship.
Now probably wasn’t the best time to have that talk, either….
‘Okay, Cairo,’ he acquiesced. ‘Talk to Bond if that’s what you feel you have to do. But at the first sign of trouble I’m coming back up here to knock his teeth down his throat!’
Cairo stared up at him for several seconds before she gave an incredulous laugh. ‘I really don’t think that will be necessary, Rafe, but thanks for the offer!’
‘Believe me, it will be my pleasure.’
How strange that Rafe, of all people, should offer to be her protector, Cairo mused as she walked over to meet with Lionel in the driveway. Not that Cairo would ever ask for his help, but she could still appreciate the irony of the situation.
However, her rueful smile quickly faded to one of weary resignation as she approached Lionel. ‘How much do you need this time, Lionel?’ she asked heavily.
‘So what did he want?’
Cairo turned from packing the suitcase open on top of her bed, her expression becoming guarded as she looked at Rafe as he leant against the door frame.
She straightened. ‘I really don’t think that’s any of your business, Rafe.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I think you’ll find, Cairo, that I don’t really care what you do or don’t consider my business.’
Rafe had spent the last fifteen minutes beside the pool watching from behind dark sunglasses as Cairo and her ex-husband talked together on the terrace, trying to gauge from their body language exactly what was going on. But Cairo’s ultra-calm demeanour and Bond’s animated one hadn’t really told him an awful lot.
He had expected Cairo to join him and Daisy beside the pool once the other man had got back in his car and left, but instead she had disappeared inside the villa.
To pack, it seemed …
‘Well?’ he prompted impatiently.
Cairo frowned. ‘I’m sorry, Rafe, but I’m not telling you anything—’ She broke off, her eyes widening as Rafe crossed the room in three long strides to stand just inches away from her. She swallowed hard. ‘Shouldn’t you be outside with Daisy?’
‘Daisy’s too excited about going home to swim any more and has gone to her room to dress, instead.’
Cairo had no intention of telling Rafe the reason for Lionel’s visit. It was awkward enough that Lionel had tracked down the reporter from yesterday in order to find out where she was staying with Rafe, without going into the details of their conversation.
‘Shouldn’t you be packing, too, if we’re leaving for the airport in a couple of hours?’ she pointed out, inwardly wishing Rafe wouldn’t stand quite this close to her; his proximity was totally unnerving her!
Rafe shook his head. ‘I find Bond’s visit much more interesting than packing.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes—really,’ Rafe drawled. ‘You made an intriguing comment yesterday evening …’
‘Just the one?’ she came back in mock disappointment. ‘And here I was deceiving myself that I’m much more interesting than that!’
Rafe gave an admiring smile as he appreciated the way Cairo was trying to change the subject. But Rafe had no intention of letting her succeed.
‘Oh, don’t worry, you are extremely interesting,’ he assured her throatily. ‘But you implied last night that it isn’t you Bond is interested in. So if it’s not you, what is it?’
Her smile faded as her gaze became guarded. ‘I really can’t discuss this with you, Rafe—’
‘Oh, but you really can, Cairo,’ Rafe insisted softly, his own gaze compelling.
She shook her head. ‘Not without breaking a confidence, I can’t,’ she told him determinedly.
Rafe’s eyes widened. ‘A confidence with Bond?’ he murmured disbelievingly. ‘You divorced the man three months ago!’ he reminded her.
‘Yes, I did,’ she acknowledged stiffly. ‘But that doesn’t mean I have to actually hate him, does it? Or discuss his private business with someone he regards as—’ She broke off, frowning.
‘“He regards as” …?’
‘Never mind,’ Cairo said hurriedly. ‘Lionel and I may be divorced, but I don’t hate him,’ she insisted.
Rafe grimaced. ‘In my experience that’s what usually happens when two people divorce.’
‘Well, it isn’t true in my case,’ Cairo assured him firmly.
How could she possibly hate Lionel when she still felt so responsible for what had gone wrong between them? She couldn’t. But without telling Rafe the whole sorry story of her marriage, of the fact that she had married Lionel while still in love with him, she couldn’t even begin to explain her feelings of guilt …
‘I can see that,’ Rafe grated harshly. ‘Why bother to divorce him if you’re going to come running every time the man crooks his little finger?’
Her eyes glittered darkly. ‘It isn’t like that!’
‘Then what the hell is it like?’ Rafe demanded incredulously. ‘Last night you gave every impression that meeting Bond again was an ordeal for you, and yet today the two of you seem to have shared a pleasant conversation together!’
Cairo
