so began the worst evening of his beautiful Rachel’s life.
Raffaelle’s stepsister did not believe a single word that either of them said to her. The others were more than happy to welcome her into their set, but they too were surprised and curious about this complete stranger who had arrived out of nowhere into Raffaelle’s life.
Rachel supposed she should be relieved that Daniella seemed to have kept her suspicions to herself—or maybe she was too scared of Raffaelle to actually say what she thought outright. But she quizzed Rachel mercilessly about Elise.
‘How is she?’
‘Wonderful, taking a holiday in Florida with her husband and son.’
‘You two met through Elise?’
‘No, we met at a dinner party given by friends of Leo and Elise.’
Daniella had eyes like bitter chocolate which constantly flicked from Rachel to Raffaelle. ‘Both of you were very secretive about this romance.’
‘Rachel liked it that way,’ her stepbrother answered. ‘We liked it that way. Look at what happened the moment we were seen in public. It turned into a witch-hunt.’
‘When a woman throws herself at you in front of a reporter, it tends to have that effect. So does standing naked in a bedroom window.’
Rachel flushed but Raffaelle remained completely unruffled. ‘Behaving like a spoiled child who does not like to know she has been left out of a secret is very unappealing,’ he responded lightly.
Reducing her to the level of a spoiled child may have silenced Daniella but it did not kill her suspicions about Rachel not being who she claimed she was—as she made very clear the moment she got Rachel alone in the ladies’ room.
‘I know he was seeing Elise Castle because it was me who told him she was married with a small son! So don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, Miss Carmichael. That ring is a fake, just as everything else about you is fake.’
Rachel looked down at the sparkling diamond and sapphire cluster adorning her finger and grimaced. ‘I don’t want to fight with you, Daniella—’
‘Well, I want to fight with you,’ Daniella said fiercely. ‘I saw you throw yourself at Raffaelle the other night. I saw his rage. I think you and Elise are trying to blackmail him!’
Apart from the fact that she was so close to the truth it was scary, Rachel had to feel for Daniella if only because she looked and sounded so worried and protective of Raffaelle.
‘And you aren’t drinking alcohol!’ Daniella said suddenly. ‘Are you pregnant, is that it? Did you have a fling with him, as well as your sister, and now you’re demanding marriage?’
Rachel stared at the other girl as if she had just grown two heads. Was she psychic or what? ‘I don’t drink.’ She iced out the lie with as much calmness as she could. ‘And repeat your accusations to Raffaelle, if you dare,’ she challenged.
Then she turned and walked out of the ladies’ room. Raffaelle took one look at her flushed angry face and stood up before she could sit down.
His arms came around her. ‘Problems?’ he asked.
Rachel shook her head, aware of the others listening. ‘Just a—headache,’ she offered as a very weak excuse.
‘Then we will leave.’
It was not a suggestion and Rachel did not argue with him. As they made their farewells Daniella came back to the table. One slicing glance at her stepbrother and her chin shot up in defiance.
To make everything feel even worse, a camera flashed as Raffaelle was helping Rachel on with her jacket. He’d lowered his head to kiss the side of her neck in one of those loving displays he’d been putting on all evening.
‘What was it with Daniella?’ he demanded the moment they were back in the car.
‘She knows,’ she responded.
‘She knows what?’
‘Everything,’ she answered heavily. ‘She thinks I’m blackmailing you over your affair with Elise.’
‘You were blackmailing me,’ he pointed out dryly.
‘She also accused me of being pregnant because I wasn’t drinking tonight, and of having a fling with you at the same time you were with Elise.’ She grimaced. ‘Great reputation you have there, Signor, when even your own family can believe you are capable of swinging it with two women at the same time.’
‘She’s fishing for information, that’s all,’ he answered coolly. ‘And she—cares about me.’
‘Lucky you,’ Rachel mumbled.
‘Do you say that because your family shows so little concern for you?’
That hit her right below the belt. ‘My family care,’ she insisted.
‘Your uncle, maybe,’ Raffaelle conceded. ‘But even he made the quick getaway once he believed he had established that I was not your heartbreaker from Naples. I could have been lying to him. He did not hang around long enough to put me to the test.’
‘He’s a busy man.’ She shifted tensely on the seat next to him.
‘Like your half-sister and -brother are so busy they have not had time to check if I have chopped you into little pieces and dumped you in the Thames?’
‘Sh-shut up,’ she breathed.
They finished the rest of the journey in silence. As they travelled up in the lift to Rafaelle’s apartment, Rachel stared fixedly down at her feet and he—well, she didn’t know what he was looking at but she had an itchy feeling it could be her.
Once inside the apartment she headed for one of the spare bedrooms because there was just no way she was going to sleep with him tonight.
He didn’t try to stop her, which only stressed her out more. She slept restlessly beneath a navy-blue duvet wearing only her bra and panties, woke up early the next morning and remade the bed, then crept back into the other bedroom to get some fresh clothes before Rosa arrived.
The plum-covered bed was empty and, by the look of it, Raffaelle had enjoyed a restless night too. She glanced at the closed bathroom door to listen if the shower was running, hoping to goodness that he’d already got up and dressed and taken himself off to work and out of the firing line.
‘Discovered your sense of fair play, amore?’ a smooth voice murmured.
She spun around to find him standing in the dressing room doorway wearing only a towel slung low around his hips. It was like being hit by that high wattage charge again.
‘I—thought you would have left by now,’ she said without thinking.
He just smiled then began walking forward. Rachel started to back away.
‘Slept well?’ he asked her.
