Page 29 of Shock Marriage for the Powerful Spaniard
‘It’s not the road you walk but the fact that you get there,’ Rafael drawled. ‘But back to you. You’ve barely eaten and you’ve probably drunk a lot more than you’re accustomed to. Dispatching you back to the cottage to fend for yourself isn’t on the cards. Besides...shouldn’t the blushing bride spend the first night in the same county as her newly acquired husband at the very least?’
‘Ha-ha, hilarious.’ She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she glanced sideways at him, it was to find his dark eyes resting on her face and she flushed.
She deliberately held her hand out and reminded herself that the ring on her finger was worth as much as she would have got in a year of dutiful nannying.Business transaction, she told herself.Keep it real.
‘Very nice,’ Rafael drawled, and he took her hand in his and looked at the ring, which made her heartily wish she hadn’t drawn attention to it in the first place.
‘All in a day’s work,’ she responded, quick as a flash, and he burst out laughing and dropped her hand.
It burned and tingled where he had briefly held it.
‘You don’t give in, do you,cara?’ His eyes rested on her face. He was still grinning. ‘A man could either be scared of that or turned on by it.’
Which are you?The question sizzled in her brain before she accepted that he was just teasing, playing a game, definitelynot flirting.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Her voice was hurried and breathless in her eagerness to change the subject and escape the frantic tug of unwanted sensations flitting through her like quicksilver.
‘Fire away.’
‘You said you wanted to lead a single life, adiscreetsingle life...so is there anyone waiting in the wings for you now that this marriage is out of the way?’ She thought of the eager-to-please English roses and wondered if those were his type.
He looked momentarily staggered and she fuzzily thought,Why the big show of ruffled feathers when you lied to me about who you really were and what you really wanted? Since when do liars have any right to look shocked at being asked whether they were having an affair with a married woman?It felt strangely comforting to be antagonistic.
‘Tell me that you’re kidding?’ Rafael exploded with incredulity.
‘Why would I be kidding?’ She shrugged and made to look away but he held her chin in his hand again and she shot him a sullen look from under her lashes.
‘We’re here,’ he gritted, ‘but this conversation isn’t finished.’
His driver disappeared as seamlessly as he had appeared and they entered his sprawling place in silence. She could feel the simmering tension inside him and defiantly told herself that it was a perfectly reasonable question to have asked, given the circumstances of their relationship.
He slammed on lights and then spun around to look at her.
‘Sorry,’ Sofia said stiffly, keeping her distance, ‘I don’t know what made me ask that. None of my business, as I’m sure you’ll rush in and point out, and if you don’t mind I think I’ll go upstairs and go to sleep. Will I be in the same room as before?’
‘Apology not accepted,’ Rafael returned, standing with his arms folded, as immovable as the rock of Gibraltar and as menacing as a bouncer facing down a vagrant outside a posh night club.
‘Actually, I don’t feel too good.’
‘Too bad.’
‘I need to have some water. I need to sit down.’
‘You can have a bottle of water and sit by all means, but you’re going to tell me what the hell you meant by that.’
‘Or else what?’
She looked at him and felt a slow burn as his dark eyes travelled from her mulish gaze to her parted lips.
‘I just think I have a right to know who to steer clear of. Those women at the restaurant were stunning.’ She ploughed on recklessly. ‘Who knows if you’re having fun with one of them?’
‘They’re wives of friends. Jesus, this is getting more unbelievable by the second.’
‘Since when does that make a difference? I’ve had married men hit on me in the past.’
‘Don’t go there, Sofia...’
Suddenly the fight went out of her. Her stomach was back to churning and she could feel a headache coming on.
