Page 21 of One More Sleepless Night

But before she could even begin to work out whether she ought to offer him some sort of explanation for her lack of response, Rafael broke the excruciating tension.

‘I do apologise,’ he said with an icy cool formality that knocked her off balance for a second and had her suddenly wondering if maybe she’d got it all wrong. If maybe she’d imagined the scorching heat and the passion that had been pouring off him only a minute ago because there was absolutely none of that left, was there? Nor was there any sign of the raw, out-of- control desperation she’d sensed in him when he’d been kissing her. In fact the man standing in front of her with the blank expression on his face, the shutters down over his eyes and the air of tight self-control surrounding him was almost unrecognisable, and to be honest she found the abrupt switch perplexing and not a little disconcerting.

‘Whatever for?’ she said, dragging herself back to what he’d said and thinking that if anyone had to apologise, surely it was her.

‘Assaulting you,’ he said flatly. ‘It was unforgivable. I’m sorry.’

What? ‘Assaulting me?’ she echoed her eyebrows lifting as the feeling of having stepped into an alternate reality grew. ‘You didn’t assault me. You kissed me. There’s a difference.’

‘Is there?’ The flatness of his voice suggested he didn’t agree.

‘Of course.’

He shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts and his jaw tightened. ‘You didn’t respond.’

And that made him think he’d assaulted her? Hmm, however unpalatable an in-depth explanation for her lack of response might be, she couldn’t let him think that. ‘Well, no,’ Nicky admitted, ‘but that wasn’t your fault.’

‘Wasn’t it?’

‘No.’ She shook her head vehemently and gave him a faint smile. ‘I mean, let’s face it, you’re gorgeous and most women would have swooned at that kiss.’

‘But not you.’

Her smile faded. ‘No. But really, it’s not you. It’s me.’

She didn’t think it would be possible but Rafael went even stiller and his jaw tightened even more and she inwardly cringed because it might be true but it was still one of the most hackneyed lines on the planet. ‘It really is me,’ she added, but that didn’t sound any better.

‘Forget it,’ he said with a dismissive sh

rug.

‘I can’t,’ she said, ‘because you have no idea how much I want to find you attractive.’ He winced and she sighed in despair because instead of making things better she was only making them worse. ‘If you’d just let me explain…’

‘You don’t have to explain anything.’

‘I do.’

‘There’s really no need.’

‘I think there is.’

And then his stonily blank mask slipped for a second, his eyes suddenly flashing as he glowered at her. ‘Look, Nicky,’ he snapped and she jumped. ‘For the briefest of moments I found you attractive. Maybe it was the heat. The wine. Or the sun. Whatever. It was an error of judgement on my part, a mistake and an aberration. I apologise for it and you can be sure it won’t happen again, but it really doesn’t warrant discussion.’

‘Yes, it does—’ she began, but broke off when he whipped up his hand to put a halt to whatever she’d been about to say.

‘No. This morning you asked me to leave the subject of your nightmare alone. Now I’m asking you to return the courtesy. So please. Just leave it.’

‘But—’

‘Now.’

At the hard, unyielding tone of his voice Nicky fell silent. She looked at him for a long few seconds and then gave up. What was the point of trying to force an explanation and an apology onto him when he was in such an unreceptive frame of mind? There’d be plenty of time for that later anyway, once they’d both had a chance to cool down and reflect. Although frankly, if Rafael got any cooler he’d qualify for cryogenic preservation.

‘OK. Fine,’ she said grudgingly. ‘I’ll drop it.’ For now.

‘Good,’ he said curtly and swiped up his T-shirt. ‘Now please excuse me. There are things I need to see to.’

*

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