family. A family—the calm and steady Carlos, the warm and loving Esther, and the coolly arrogant Cesar—who had taken Raphael in as one of their own after a row with his father so many years ago had caused him to leave home.
As such, whether the feisty and stubbornly independent Beth Blake accepted her new identity or not—and she obviously did not—Raphael intended ensuring, by whatever means possible, that she remained safe while on his watch. And, as far as Beth was concerned, his watch now covered the whole twenty-four hours of every one of her days!
Something she had shown him—once again!—by just disappearing from Cesar’s apartment earlier that she deeply resented. ‘Gabriela—’
‘My name is Beth, damn it!’ she corrected, her eyes flashing darkly, two bright spots of angry colour having appeared in her cheeks.
Cheeks normally as pale and smooth as the finest porcelain, her eyes a deep rich brown above her small uptilting nose, her mouth a perfect bow above her stubbornly determined chin. As for her long silky hair…! Raphael had only ever seen one other woman with hair those heavy layers of all shades of blond, from gold to the palest silver, and that was Esther Navarro. The woman blood tests had shown to be Beth’s birth mother.
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘I now think of you as Gabriela Navarro.’ Having been only a precocious two years old when she was taken from her real family, Beth would no more remember having met Raphael before than she did the Navarro family. But he remembered her, had stayed often with Cesar’s family even then, usually during the school holidays, and Gabriela had been Cesar’s beloved baby sister, a golden-haired angel to be petted and spoilt by the two much older boys.
At the moment Beth Blake looked as pettable as a spitting tigress. ‘Well, isn’t it just lucky for me that I have absolutely no interest in what, or who, you happen to think I am!’
‘I do not “happen” to think anything, it has been medically proven as fact that you are Gabriela Navarro. And it is equally lucky for me that I have absolutely no interest in what you may think of me, either.’ Raphael allowed a mocking smile to quirk his lips, knowing by the way those rich brown eyes narrowed that Beth Blake did not appreciate his humour at her expense.
She gave an inelegant snort. ‘You really don’t want to know what I think of you, Raphael!’
As her bodyguard, perhaps not, but as a man? Oh, yes, much as she might wish it were otherwise, the completely carnal glances Beth Blake gave him from beneath those thick dark lashes whenever she thought Raphael wasn’t looking at her told him that she saw him very much as a man. And was attracted to what she saw.
As much as she resented his status as her bodyguard!
A status that Raphael, equally aware of the allure of the fullness of Beth’s breasts and the sensual curve of her gently swaying hips, was determined to keep front and centre in all of his dealings with Beth Blake. To do anything else would compromise his protection of her.
‘Perhaps not,’ he drawled dismissively. ‘Shall we return to the apartment now?’
She shot him a weary glance. ‘Why do you bother asking, when you have every intention of taking me back there now whether I want to go or not?’
‘And why do you bother continually fighting what is, after all, your destiny?’ Raphael eyed her coolly from behind those wraparound sunglasses.
Beth gave a pained frown. ‘Perhaps because I don’t see it as my destiny?’
‘Grace appears to be having little difficulty in accepting the Navarro family as her own.’
Beth Blake gave a rueful smile. ‘It’s different for Grace. She’s chosen to fall in love with Cesar, to accept Cesar’s marriage proposal, and to become a member of the Navarro family and all that entails.’
Raphael arched dark brows. ‘Does anyone choose to fall in love?’ As Cesar’s personal bodyguard until a few days ago, Raphael had been a silent witness to the other couple falling in love, and he did not believe it to have been in the least as smooth and pleasant as Beth’s words implied that it was.
Perhaps it was now that Cesar and Grace had acknowledged their love for each other and were planning their wedding, but certainly not initially, when the sparks had flown and they had argued about almost everything except the attraction building so rapidly between them.
Much as he and Beth now argued about everything…
No, it was not the same at all, Raphael dismissed determinedly. Much as he might be attracted to Beth Blake’s fiery nature and her beauty, and the supple and desirable curves of her slender body, where she was concerned Raphael had no intention of allowing that attraction to become anything more than visual appreciation. She was Cesar’s beloved little sister returned to him, and as such Beth could never become one of the numerous women who had fleetingly shared Raphael’s bed these last fifteen years.
Which were the only relationships with women Raphael allowed in his life, having learnt of a woman’s treachery at a young age, from his own father’s second wife.
‘Probably not.’ Beth gave a grimace as she answered him. ‘But Grace at least has her love for Cesar as reason to try and embrace his lifestyle.’
‘And you do not have love for Cesar, and your parents, as a reason to try and do the same?’
It was impossible for Beth to miss the censure in Raphael Cordoba’s tone. And no doubt, if she took off those damned sunglasses of his, she would find that same censure in those piercing blue eyes. ‘Stop twisting my words, Raphael,’ she murmured instead. ‘And how can I possibly love three people I didn’t even know existed a couple of weeks ago?’ And there, in the proverbial nutshell, was the reason for Beth’s feeling at a loss as to how to deal with this situation.
She wished she could remember Carlos and Esther as having once been her parents, even the arrogant Cesar as having been her brother, but the truth of the matter was that Beth had absolutely no recollection of any of them. Furthering her belief that she couldn’t possibly be related to them, no matter what those blood tests said to the contrary.
Time would take care of that, the two older Navarros had assured her, together and individually. Time they obviously expected Beth to spend here in Argentina getting to know all of them…
‘Not a day has gone by this past twenty-one years when they have not all thought of you.’ Obviously Raphael Cordoba didn’t feel the same degree of patience towards her in that regard. Or any patience at all, judging by the coldness of his expression as he looked down the length of his arrogant nose at her.
Beth sighed heavily. ‘And I’m sincerely sorry for that. But only in the way any third party would feel after hearing of the abduction of the Navarros’ baby daughter, and the heartache they have suffered in the years since,’ she added firmly.
His jaw tightened. ‘You do not consider that Carlos and Esther have already suffered enough heartbreak on your behalf?’
‘That’s hardly fair—’
‘They are also two of the kindest, warmest people I have ever known.’
‘I’m sure they are.’ Beth looked pained. ‘But I’ve already had, and loved, two sets of parents. A third one not only seems unlikely but…well, excessive.’
Raphael’s
