Page 17 of Emergency Engagement

They were walking towards his car, a warm breeze rustling her hair. She’s spent hours travelling and yet she couldn’t have felt more alert.

Alongside her, Rafael’s towering presence made her shiver. She threw a sideways glance at him and all she could take in was formidable, sexy masculinity which made her think back tothe fascination that had held her in its grip all those years ago. Thank God times had changed and she had grown up.

He helped her into the pick-up, swerved round to the driver’s side and, as soon as he was next to her, she repeated her question, curious to hear his answer.

Rafael murmured with a shrug, ‘I’d tell her that we had an argument and were no longer an item. Then I’d just have to take my chances and work things out another way, if such a way exists. And, if old guys get laid off in the process, that would be something my conscience would have to come to terms with.’

He angled his body back against the door, one arm resting lightly on the steering wheel, so that he could look at her.

‘Wow,’ Sammy said. ‘That would be a speedy break-up. One minute you’ve told her that we’re all loved up, and the next minute, it’s all over?’

‘Not that unusual.’

‘I always thought that things just drifted along until one day it all fizzled out...’

‘Maybe for you. Is that how it’s worked for you, Sammy? On the relationship front?’

‘I didn’t think we were talking about me.’

It suddenly felt hot and stifling in the car. Her heart picked up pace as their eyes remained locked. He’d started the engine but rolled the windows down so that fresh air blew through but, even so, she could feel her clothes tight and prickly against her skin.

‘For me,’ Rafael drawled, ‘break-ups tend to be a little more abrupt. I’m not a great believer in the gradual fizzling out of a situation. I’m inclined to restlessness before the boredom sets in.’ He waited a few seconds and then said matter-of-factly, ‘Victoria would have no trouble believing that what was working one minute suddenly failed to work the next.’

He began reversing out of the space. Outside, people were coming and going, walking slowly, laughing loudly and having fun.

‘And the reason for that speed-of-light change of direction?’

‘You suddenly started trying to pin me down,’ Rafael said without batting an eye.

‘Wait. Me—try to pinyoudown? Just for the record, that may pass muster with your ex as a reason for a swift break-up, but I can’t think of a single one of my friends who would ever fall for that as an excuse for this unlikely relationship coming to an end!’

‘So isn’t it a good thing that we don’t have to convince your friends?’

‘I mean,’ she continued, ‘does that happen often with you, Rafael? Women trying topin you down?’

‘It’s been known to happen.’ Rafael looked at her, head tilted to one side. ‘Women not understanding that I’m a free agent, utterly uninterested in settling down, even though that’s something I always make clear at the start of any relationship. I don’t do commitment. So, trying to pin me down? Always a reason for me to walk away. Never tried to pin a guy down, Sammy?’

‘No,’ she scoffed.

‘Then what a good match we are.’

‘You say you don’tdocommitment. Don’t you believe in love?’

‘I don’t believe that this conversation is going anywhere. Have you decided?’

Sammy blinked and grounded herself back in the here and now.

‘What if something goes wrong with this so-called failsafe plan?’

‘Nothing will go wrong. You and I are going out and it’s the only way she’ll get the message that she needs to keep outof my way.’ His voice became husky, the only real indication that the favour he was asking meant more to him than he had volunteered. ‘A handful of days, Sammy, and then your life changes for ever...’

‘Okay.’ She breathed in deeply. ‘I’ll do it.’

Rafael hadn’t been lying when he’d told Sammy that he’d suddenly found himself in a place from where, faced with an ex naked under a bathrobe with a crazy desire forclosurevia a bit of sex behind her husband’s back, the only exit strategy he could think of was to involve her.

The arrival of Victoria, latched onto her much shorter and much, much older new love interest, had sent a shiver of apprehension through him. Even so, he’d greeted them both warmly and ushered them into his villa to meet the other assembled guests without a flicker of concern on his face. At his most optimistic, he’d hoped that she wouldn’t be a nuisance. At his least, he’d wondered just how destructive she might turn out to be.

Truth was, theirs had been a messy break-up. Very quickly into their relationship he had discovered that she was a fragile and vulnerable woman who needed therapy a lot more than she needed him. He had done his best to encourage her into getting help but, the harder he’d tried, the more clingy she’d become and in the end, when her calls had come in every five minutes, he’d had no choice but to begin the process of detangling himself from her.

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