last night, his visit today to ask her for money—yet again—told her that wasn’t the case….
But without revealing everything to Rafe—which she had no intention of doing!—she was never going to persuade him of that. Lionel had managed to hide his gambling addiction from everyone for years, and Cairo certainly couldn’t be the one to betray him now. Not even to convince Rafe that there was nothing between herself and Lionel.
Especially not in order to convince Rafe that there was nothing between herself and Lionel! Last night had shown her all too clearly just how dangerously susceptible she still was to Rafe….
‘I really would prefer it if you stayed out of my life, Rafe.’
‘And what if I would prefer to remain in it?’ he challenged.
‘This is ridiculous—’
‘I agree,’ Rafe interrupted.
Cairo scowled at him. ‘Can we just stop playing word games?’
He raised dark brows. ‘What other sort of games did you have in mind?’
She gave an impatient snort. ‘I’ve never particularly liked playing games of any sort,’ she snapped. ‘Even as a child I was always the one that landed on the snake!’
Rafe gave an appreciative grin. ‘I like you in this feisty mood, Cairo.’
‘I don’t want you to like me, Rafe!’ she insisted as she moved away from him to resume her packing, but not as neatly as she had earlier, instead throwing things haphazardly inside the suitcase.
Rafe continued to look at her through narrowed lids for several long minutes.
She didn’t seem overly upset by Lionel Bond’s visit. More resigned than anything else.
But resigned to what?
CHAPTER TEN
‘HE’s absolutely gorgeous, Margo!’ Cairo told her sister warmly as she stood up to hand baby Simon back into his mother’s arms.
They had left the villa and the South of France without further incident, arriving back in England in the early evening, with a car waiting there for them. Rafe had driven them all to the clinic to visit Margo. The proud father was there, too, of course, Jeff looking and sounding much more relaxed now that the danger was over for both Margo and the baby.
It certainly wasn’t the time for Cairo to remonstrate with either of them for failing to tell her of Rafe’s ownership of the villa and his subsequent surprise arrival!
Rafe had brought in Daisy’s small suitcase so that the little girl could return home with her father, leaving Cairo with the uncomfortable feeling he was going to insist on driving her to her flat. A feeling that was confirmed a short time later as he took his leave of Margo and Jeff at the same time as Cairo did, his hand firmly on her elbow as they walked down the carpeted corridor together.
‘I’m sure you have somewhere else to go, Rafe, so—’
‘Don’t even think about trying to get rid of me just yet,’ Rafe warned softly as he pushed the door open for her to go outside into the early evening sunshine. ‘In fact, why don’t the two of us go out to dinner? You weren’t expecting to be back in England for several more days, so you won’t have anything in your apartment for us to eat,’ he reasoned.
Cairo frowned up at him as he unlocked the doors of the sporty black car. ‘Despite what you seem to have assumed to the contrary, it was never my intention to have dinner with you this evening, either at my flat or anywhere else!’
He gave a mocking smile as he opened her door for her. ‘That isn’t very friendly of you, Cairo, after I’ve gone to the trouble of transporting you back to England so quickly and efficiently.’
‘It wasn’t just me, Rafe, you also transported yourself and Daisy back….’
‘Ah, but as you pointed out earlier today, I really needed to stay in Cannes. I don’t even have a hotel reservation for tonight yet …’ He quirked dark brows at her.
Cairo glared at him. ‘That’s your problem, Rafe, not mine.’
‘I’m sure you could make it yours, too, if you really wanted to….’
She stared at him in disbelief. Was Rafe actually flirting with her? It certainly seemed as if he was!
‘But I really don’t want to,’ Cairo told him dryly. ‘So could you either give me my suitcase from the boot of the car so that I can get a taxi home, or drive me there yourself?’
‘I’m driving you there myself, of course,’ Rafe stated.
Cairo continued to eye him suspiciously as she slid into the passenger seat, not trusting him in this mood at all.
But what could he do, really? She didn’t even have to invite him into her flat if—
There was no ‘if’ about it—she wasn’t going to invite Rafe into her flat at all!
‘Very nice,’ Rafe murmured approvingly as he stood in the hallway looking at the simplicity of the sitting-room in Cairo’s apartment, liking the cream carpet and terracotta-coloured suite, the paintings on the walls all bright and cheerful, too.
Cairo stood firmly in the doorway blocking his entrance to the room. ‘Okay, Rafe, you’ve delivered my suitcase, as you insisted on doing,’ she bit out, still irritated that she had lost that particular argument. ‘Now it’s time for you to leave.’
He put the case down. ‘You could show your gratitude by offering me a glass of wine….’
Her foot tapped impatiently. ‘I was quite capable of carrying my own suitcase!’
‘I’m sure you’re quite capable of doing most things yourself, Cairo, but my father brought me up to be a Spanish gentleman. And carrying a lady’s bags for her is one of the things a Spanish gentleman does.’
Cairo wasn’t fooled for a moment by this explanation; Rafe had been determined to wangle an invitation into her flat from the start. She just wasn’t sure why….
‘Very well.’ She sighed heavily. ‘Would you care for a glass of wine, Rafe?’
‘How kind of you to offer, Cairo,’ he accepted sarcastically, before stepping past her into the sitting-room.
Leaving Cairo no choice but to follow him! ‘Red or white?’ she offered, more than a touch disgruntled.
‘Red would be fine, thanks. Have you lived here for very long?’ he asked as he made himself comfortable in one of the armchairs.
‘Six months or so,’ Cairo answered distractedly as she took a bottle of red wine from the rack and uncorked it before pouring some of the wine into two glasses. ‘Here.’ She thrust one under Rafe’s nose.
Blue eyes glinted with mockery as he looked up at her before taking the glass, his fingers lightly brushing against hers as he did so….
Cairo
