Page 18 of Emergency Engagement

She hadn’t forgiven him but shehadeventually disappeared from his life and he had breathed a sigh of relief. To be confronted with her now was a nightmare.

He glanced sideways at Sammy who was beginning to nod off against the door. If he could have waited until she was rested in the morning to have the conversation, he would have.

As things stood... Yes, in a sense he’d bought her, as she’d said, but not just because of the reasons he’d given her, although those were all valid. He’d offered her everything he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist because, after all, he was the root cause of all her problems. It seemed that, when it came to guilty consciences, she was very good at making him rediscover the one he’d assumed he’d buried. Something about her reminded him of a time when he hadn’t yet become the hard, invincible guy he was now. She was a memory of days spent raging against the world whereas now, as an adult, he no longer raged against what he had learned to control.

He half-smiled as he heard the soft sound of her breathing and, when he looked at her, it was to see that she was fast asleep.

Sammy surfaced as the pick-up slowed and then stopped. For a few seconds she was disoriented, without a clue where she was, but she remembered fast enough as she straightened and glanced sideways at Rafael’s profile.

A trip that hadn’t been straightforward to start with had morphed into something she couldn’t have anticipated in a million years.

He killed the engine and turned to her.

‘We’re here, Sleeping Beauty.’

‘I didn’t intend to fall asleep.’

‘Travel has a way of catching up with a person. Still on board for...?’

‘For pretending to be the couple we aren’t? I suppose so.’ She heaved a heartfelt sigh. ‘It would be great to leave here with a plan going forward. Is there...anything I should know before we begin this charade, aside from the fact that your ex has suddenly appeared on the scene? Should we agree on where we met? How we’ve ended up here in this unlikely position?’

‘That’s the beauty of this plan,’ Rafael assured her. ‘We have history. There’s no need to make anything up. We met accidentally after years apart, discovered a connection as we travelled down memory lane and, hey presto.’

‘It all sounds so easy if you ignore the glaring holes in the story.’

‘Let’s not focus on the glaring holes. I find it pays to think positive.’

‘So we meet, chat about old times and suddenly it’s love at first sight and marriage on the cards?’

‘Crazy love. Isn’t it what the world wants to believe?’

‘I’m thinking only an idiot would believe that a guy like you would be a victim ofcrazy love.’

‘That’s because you probably know me better than anyone who’s here. After all, wedogo back a way, and youdohave fond memories of me as a teenager to fall back on. Crazy love was definitely not my motto for the day.’

‘Yes, but...’

‘Don’t dwell on the details. Leave it to me to do the convincing.’

Sammy couldn’t tear her eyes away from his darkly handsome face. She vaguely thought that stuff that seemed too easy to be true always turned out a mess, but that thought didn’t have time to grow legs before he broke eye contact and pushed open his door.

Sammy blinked and actually began to pay attention to her surroundings. She’d slept her way through a drive up a hilland emerged from sleep to an avenue of coconut trees behind her and a courtyard fringed with trees and bushes ahead. Everything was lit with the same beautiful fairy lights that had lit up the terrace where they had earlier sat with their rum punches.

His villa sat squarely off the courtyard. She had envisaged something with a sprawling wooden veranda and a hammock or two, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, it was a solid white house, very, very large, set on two floors, the entrance guarded by two columns that spiralled up both floors to the terracotta roof. It nestled amidst the trees and was uber-modern in its sharp angles and uncompromising lack of frilliness. This was the villa of a guy who didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.

Nerves kicked in fast and she was almost glad of the steadying hand that reached to usher her out of the pick-up, then stayed on her arm as they made their way to the front door.

‘Don’t stress,’ Rafael murmured, flipping a key from his pocket and sliding it into the door. ‘It’s going to be just fine, trust me. The partners will be out during the day doing things on the island; I got my PA to arrange a series of activities to keep them busy. The business associates will be locked away discussing all the complexities of the deal I’m trying to navigate. Dovetailing several companies so that they become one takes a lot of time and patience, hence the fact that we’re all here instead of in a hotel somewhere. We need to focus and relax at the same time. You’ll be in a pretty amazing kitchen, working some magic with food while everyone else is busy elsewhere. Couldn’t be an easier scenario.’

‘Let’s agree to disagree on that.’

Before she could continue, he’d pushed open the door and, on cue, someone appeared to fetch her bags from the pick-up and bring them through.

It was after eight in the evening and she could hear the rumble of noise coming from somewhere towards the back of the villa beyond the hall in which they were now standing.

He’d released her but now it was her turn to grip his arm. She was aware of magnificent furnishings as they made their way through the villa, all white. It should have looked sterile but the white was interrupted by flamboyant tropical paintings on the walls and the rich lustre of expensive rugs on the marble floor. It seemed to go on for ever as they passed various rooms, again all white, all housing local paintings and sculptures. There were various rooms for various purposes. She felt she’d stepped between the covers of a very high-end interior design magazine.

‘Where’s everyone?’

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