Page 12 of Hidden Raphael
"I'm sorry." She gazed up and stared into his dark eyes. Her body melted. "I sometimes push when I shouldn't."
He shrugged. "We all have issues."
"And yours are?" She blinked. She shouldn’t have asked that. She wiped her wayward hair behind her ear. "As I said, I'm pushy."
He kept his mouth closed. She struggled to stay quiet. Then he finally said, "I'm not trustworthy."
He must be modest and not want her thanks. She shook her head. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You saved me."
His breaths were labored and he twisted the water glass. "I hurt others."
She buttered her bread. "Raphael, whatever happened doesn't matter."
He gulped his water and swallowed. His Adam’s apple bopped. Then he clenched his empty glass. "Some sins should never be forgotten."
"Did you kill someone?" The question flew out of her mouth, but she rolled her shoulders back.
"Not that I know of." He gazed at her. "I was a marine, ma'am."
The Marines weren't a secret to keep. She poured him more water and then placed the cup next to his seat. "Is it something you did during the war, on duty?"
"No. It was before." He clenched his jaw.
He didn’t say anything as the seconds ticked past in the clock. Kimberly coughed. "What do you want to talk about, Raphael?"
“I went to the crash site.”
Her mind flashed back. The pilot saluted them as they waked on the plane. She rubbed her head. She hadn't gazed at the pilot at all. She polished her plate a bit, but Raphael squeezed her arms. "Milady, did you hear me?"
What? The images faded. Her brow wrinkled and she shook her head. "I'm hardly qualified as a lady. They have too many rules guarding them, and I've never been a fan of rules."
"Rebel, then." He winked at her, then he froze. She tilted her head and her heart raced. What happened to him? She listened to the thump in her chest. He dropped her arm, lowered his attention to the biscuits, and told her, "As I said earlier, I went to the crash site and checked the island. I found no trace of the man who almost killed you."
"You said you found a camp." She stared at the wine and decided to pour them each a glass. The redness of the liquid swam before her eyes like blood. She rubbed her forehead and found her voice. "What happened that you didn't say?"
His eyes became almost black, though they kept the green hue, and his skin paled. "Two bodies, burned.”
Her stomach clenched. She was going to be sick. She clutched her waist and hoped she didn’t.
“I’m sorry, Kimberly. I brought them closer to the castle and dug a grave. The ground will get too hard soon. Tomorrow, I'm going to survey the plane in the water before the Atlantic swallows it." He grimaced. "I videotaped everything I saw first, and took a few pictures to turn into the police come spring."
She tried to catch her breath, but it was stuck in her throat. Eileen and Ali were dead. She needed to see the grave, to pray for her friends. She blinked. "If you're calling the police, that means you're not a criminal."
"In this you can trust me. I’ll keep you safe as long as you stay in the castle." Raphael’s green eyes stirred awareness inside her. "I'll find him, and he won't get in here. You'll be safe."
She dropped her arms to her lap and tilted to stare at his full lips. A spark coursed through her, urging her to kiss him. He'd taste like forbidden fruit. A smile formed on her lips.
“Your bruise is fading and your eyes seem bright. Take advantage of the library while you’re here.” He leaned back in his chair and the moment was gone. "What do you want to talk about now, Kimberly?"
Her body trembled at how her name sounded in his baritone voice. Then the words rolled around in her head and a flash of the memory surfaced. This time she stared at the feet; bodies and faces of all three people on the tarmac as the pilot passed them to get into the small plane. She puckered her lips, remembering an older man.
The scene changed to the second Eileen was shot in the head. Kimberly had screamed, but then arms threw her back off her chair. The plane plummeted and then the pilot spoke in harsh sounds that weren't English, before he shot Ali in the head. The images spun around, giving her vertigo. Strong arms threw her out of the plane. Saving her? She blinked.
Raphael leaned closer again. "Are you getting sick?"
Her stomach was queasy. She nodded. "I just remembered something else."
He put down his fork. "What?"
