Page 47 of One More Sleepless Night

And frankly it spooked the hell out of him.

‘Rafael, are you all right?’

His hands tightened on the steering wheel and he wished they were home already so he could put some distance between them. ‘Fine,’ he muttered. ‘Why?’

‘You’re very quiet.’

‘Just thinking, that’s all.’

‘About what happened back there?’

‘Partly.’

‘Me too.?

? There it was again, that dreamy wistfulness in her voice drifting through the dark, winding through him and twisting his gut into knots. ‘Thank you for coming to my rescue.’

Rafael tensed and felt a bead of sweat trickle down his spine as his stomach instinctively clutched tighter. ‘You’re welcome.’

‘I’ll have to make sure you’re around every time I find myself unexpectedly in the middle of a crowd.’

Her words hit his brain and Rafael went utterly cold, because despite the faint teasing note in her voice he didn’t think she was joking. And if she wasn’t joking, then he was in a whole lot of trouble. And if he was, then it was all entirely of his own making.

The knowledge struck him like a blow and he inhaled sharply. God, he’d been a fool. He’d told Nicky to lean on him and that was precisely what she’d done. And not, he could now see, in a solely literal sense. Nor only back in that square. She’d been leaning on him ever since he’d brought her back down here and like a blind idiot he hadn’t seen it.

In fact he’d been provoking it.

He’d thought he’d simply been keeping an eye on her. Making sure she was OK. Spending time with her, getting to know her and encouraging her to talk about what had happened in the Middle East to help her get over it. But what he’d really been doing over the course of the last week was creating an environment in which she was bound to come to depend on him.

How he could have forgotten that she might not be as fully recovered as she claimed he had no idea. Hadn’t she woken up in the early hours, sweating and trembling, only a couple of nights ago? She had, and without a thought for the consequences he’d gathered her in his arms and held her until she’d stopped shaking with fear and started quivering with something else entirely.

And then back there in the square he’d rushed to her side, and that must have fanned the flames because, God, the way she’d smiled up at him… As if he’d rescued her from more than just a flashback…

Rafael’s blood chilled. He wasn’t that man. He couldn’t be. He couldn’t be responsible for her well-being because he’d only fail and very probably set her back months.

So he could forget any idea of a long-distance, more permanent relationship, he thought with grim resolve. Things had already gone far too far and the minute they got back to the cortijo he’d be putting a stop to this affair, this budding relationship, this whatever it was, once and for all.

‘Rafael?’

‘What?’ he growled, completely lost in thought.

‘I think I love you.’

*

Perhaps Rafael’s car in the dead of night wasn’t the best place to blurt out she loved him, thought Nicky, clinging onto the door handle as the car swerved briefly before being hauled back under control, but really she hadn’t had much of a choice. She’d never been one to tackle things anything other than head-on, so once she’d realised she loved him and wanted something more with him the need to spill it out had bubbled and built until it just sort of erupted from her.

But maybe she should have told him while they were in bed or something because she didn’t know what reaction she’d been expecting but she’d known what she’d been hoping for, and the short sharp curse, the fierce scowl, and the crackling tension that was suddenly filling the space between them wasn’t it.

But it was way too late for regret. Her declaration was out there, the words were echoing between them in the thick darkness and there was no taking it back. All she could do now was brace herself for his response.

Releasing her death grip on the door handle, Nicky swivelled slightly to look at him and, with her heart in her throat, waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But to her growing bewilderment Rafael remained resolutely silent, his jaw tight and his focus fixed on the road ahead, and with every kilometre that the car gobbled up she went a little colder.

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