Emergency Engagement

CHAPTER EIGHT

R AFAEL LOOKED AT Sammy from under his lashes as she unpacked the picnic he had had prepared for them. He was playing truant from real life and enjoying it. His guests had left the day before. Everything had been signed, sealed and delivered and he had breathed a sigh of relief. Victoria might have fumed and simmered in the background, but she had heeded his thinly veiled words of warning, and had decided to take on board where her bread was buttered.

Rock the boat, he had implied, and say goodbye to the lifestyle you’ve got with Clement .

He hadn’t worked out what he was going to do about Sammy but, the minute she had become his lover, the rules of the game had drastically changed. There was no longer pretend-touching for the sake of their captive audience—it was real touching, and the real touching was mind blowing.

He hadn’t worked out why she felt so addictive but he guessed that it was because there was no pressure on him to do anything but live in the moment. She made no demands. She never mentioned anything about a future, and never uttered those terminal words: where do we go from here...?

She hadn’t dropped a single hint that she wanted to carry on seeing him once they returned to England. Had she wondered? He had no idea. She was so unashamedly open with him about everything, so unimpressed by his wealth and his status, so sexually curious and enthusiastic...and yet something about her remained carefully concealed.

He would have suggested continuing what they had, but in fact remaining on the island after everyone left had been suggested by Clement, thereby putting him in the fortunate position of just having to go along with it.

‘You’ve worked to produce great food,’ Clement had said the evening before over their last supper. ‘Now you two need to take a little time to yourselves without having to think about us all. You should stay on here for a few days. I’m sure—’ he had winked at Rafael ‘—the world can spare you for a week or so.’

Rafael had laughed and slapped Clement on the back. Sammy, though, had remained silent for a few seconds, seeming to mull over the suggestion. He’d had to damp down his initial irritation at her response, and had had to laugh at his ego, which was telling him that any other woman would have bitten his hand off to stay on for another week.

Since when had his own invincibility gone to his head? he had asked himself. Since when had he had the expectation that any woman would want to put herself out for him? Was he really that arrogant?

So he’d impatiently laughed at himself, even though he’d been stupidly piqued by her deliberation. Then, when she’d smiled, nodded and glanced at him sideways with that sexy little look of hers, he’d wanted to punch the air with satisfaction.

‘Do my humble picnic offerings meet your high standards?’ he asked now, his dark gaze lingering on her face. He was stretched out on the oversized towel they had brought, hands folded behind his head.

He couldn’t have picked a better spot. The cove was a fifteen-minute boat ride away and was completely private. Now that it was just the two of them and his time wasn’t committed to other people, he wanted to show her the best the island could offer, and it didn’t come better than this.

Coconut trees sat against a backdrop of lush, tropical mountains. It was just a tiny inlet but the turquoise water was very calm, like a pool, and the sand was like caster sugar. The boat he had driven was anchored to the left and bobbing gently on the water.

She had oohed and aahed when they’d arrived, and he’d felt a real kick of pleasure, a desire to take her to more places just so that he could see that smile on her face as she looked around.

She was rummaging in the picnic basket and wearing a very similar expression of wonderment. Rafael smiled and propped himself up on one elbow to watch her.

‘It’s perfect. I like the champagne. Can you be done for being drunk and disorderly behind the wheel of a boat?’

She glanced at him and Rafael felt that familiar tug in his groin as his libido kicked into gear. Those eyes...that perfect mouth... Just thinking about how she could turn him on made him horny. He thought about her kisses and how she could lick him in ways that made him lose control within seconds.

‘Thankfully, there’s no traffic in this particular part of the Atlantic. Stop fussing there and come and sit by me. You’re beginning to go pink. I want to rub some sun cream on you—make sure you don’t get burnt.’

‘That’s very considerate of you.’

‘I’m an extremely considerate person.’

‘It’s so beautiful here, Rafael. I don’t know how you can resist coming as often as you can.’

‘Time is money.’

‘And doing nothing is good for the soul. Especially if you’re doing nothing in a place like this.’

‘Are you beginning to think that you might want to stay on and do the six months here after all?’ he teased, eyes darkening as she sashayed towards him.

He intended to have that prissy black one-piece off her before too long, but right now it was pleasant playing with images of what was underneath it: those pale, small breasts; those perfect rosy nipples that he couldn’t get enough of; her flat, smooth stomach.

‘Maybe!’ She laughed back at him.

Rafael watched as she settled on the towel next to him and shoved on her sunglasses so that, when their eyes met, he couldn’t see what she was thinking.

‘Maybe? You’re not being serious, are you?’

‘Why not? Before I came here, I had no idea what it was going to be like, but everyone is so friendly, and honestly...? Who in their right mind could resist the temptation to spend a little time out here? It’s not as though I’d get the chance to come back here any time soon.’

Sammy lay down on the towel and closed her eyes but she knew that Rafael had sat up and was staring down at her.

When Clement had said that they should take a few days’ break on the island to enjoy themselves, having spent the week catering to the needs of clients in their various ways, she had waited to take the lead from Rafael. She’d wondered how he would react to that suggestion. He hadn’t said a word about what would happen next with them and their situation. They’d been ensconced in a bubble, in which the sizzling excitement of touching one another for show had exploded into the real thing, and she’d been carried away to cloud nine.

But she wasn’t an idiot. He was only in it for a bit of passing fun. He wasn’t going to take things any further, and over her dead body was she going to give any hint that the thought of walking away from this fantastic experience made her feel sick. It wasn’t as though she’d invested feelings in him, was it? She’d known the rules of the game from day one and she wasn’t stupid.

If she wanted more of him than a few days out here, then it was just because he’d opened a door in her and she was enjoying the experience. She’d committed to having fun with her eyes wide open, and she wasn’t going to suddenly turn into a martyr and start feeling angst about her decision. He might not fit the bill of her ‘for ever’ guy, but he was making her see that there was no crime when it came to having a bit of fun.

So she’d made a show of thinking carefully when that suggestion had been made before slowly nodding and agreeing, yes, why not stay on a while longer? She wasn’t playing hard to get because there was nothing to get. She was looking after herself because she knew what he was like, and she wasn’t going to end up as another of his casualties.

‘You have things to do in England.’

‘I know.’ She opened her eyes and peered at him from behind the safety of her sunglasses. ‘But you’ve shown me that taking a walk on the wild side can be a good thing.’

‘How so?’

‘Well...’ Sammy sat up so that they were at eye level with each other, and she tilted the sunglasses on her forehead to meet his gaze squarely. ‘When I first saw you again, you were the sort of guy I instantly disliked.’

‘Thank you straight away for the compliment.’

‘You can’t blame me. You’d swiped the rug from under my feet.’

‘Not to mention having spent some of my youth making sure your brother hopped on the bandwagon.’

‘Actually,’ Sammy mused, briefly shading her eyes and staring off at the ocean, ‘I thought about what you said and I think you’re right. You didn’t so much lead Colin astray as allowed his rebellion to find a voice, which was probably a good thing for him in the end.’ She sighed. ‘He may have skipped a year, but it was the best thing that could have happened, because he returned in a better place.’

‘That’s a generous admission from you,’ Rafael said truthfully.

‘You’re a considerate person offering to rub sunblock on my back, and I’m a generous person admitting that you were right about Colin. What saints the pair of us are.’

Rafael grinned, then looked at her in a slightly different way, his eyes lazy and appreciative.

His hands were nowhere near her but her whole body shivered, as though he’d physically touched her. Her nipples tightened and there was a wave of intense sensation that washed through her, making her mouth dry and her pupils dilate. She felt hot and sluggish.

The pull of lust was something she had massively underestimated—that was something she was very quickly realising. Right now, she just wanted to dump the serious conversation, lean into him, feel the coolness of his mouth against hers and put his hands where she wanted them to be. But she could feel the urge to say something that would paper over that cracks of apprehension that he was beginning to matter. Not just as a guy she was having fun with, but as a guy who was complex and three-dimensional, demanding more than just a romp in the sack.

‘You were telling me how much you disliked me at first sight.’ Rafael returned her to the present and to what she wanted to get across to him—that she was as casual about what was happening between them as he was. ‘Or maybe I should say second sight, because you weren’t exactly a member of my fan club back in the day.’

‘The waiting list was long for that particular role,’ Sammy said drily. ‘From what I remember.’

‘And would you have joined the waiting list if it hadn’t been as long?’

‘No.’

He burst out laughing. ‘I like the way you tell it like it is without any consideration for a man’s fragile ego.’

‘You have the ego of a steel vault.’

‘But moving on from the compliments...’

‘I learnt a lot from what my mother went through,’ Sammy told him thoughtfully. ‘She had such a rough ride of it after Dad died and after she married that awful man. She married in haste and repented at leisure. It gave me time to work out that love was something you should never rush into. That you might think a guy is going to be good for you but, unless you really know what you’re looking for, you can so easily end up making a big mistake.’

‘You’re going round the houses here, Sammy.’

He reached forward to stroke a lazy finger over her mouth and then along her shoulders, taking his time. ‘You have amazing shoulders.’

‘Stop distracting me, Rafael.’

‘Why? I like distracting you. In fact, I think I could make a career choice out of doing that.’

‘I’m trying to explain...’

‘Tell me.’

His voice was husky and seductive and didn’t give the impression that he was hanging onto her every word. It gave the impression that the only thing he wanted to do was tug off her swimsuit and make love to her.

Sammy shuddered because she wanted that badly herself. It was unsettling to realise how much of a hold her body had over her brain and how vulnerable that made her feel. She frowned, trying to connect disparate threads of thought, but her head seemed to be all over the place.

He just had to touch her or even look at her with those dark, sexy eyes and all of a sudden she couldn’t think straight. That was a dangerous place to be and the feel of that danger was like a feathery touch against her skin.

‘I’ve been very careful when it comes to guys.’ She cleared her throat and propped her sunglasses back on because it felt safer. ‘I mean, I’ve gone through life not wanting to make any mistakes.’

‘But you had boyfriends...yet you’re not married. So doesn’t that imply that mistakes were made along the way?’ Thankfully he stopped the tactile exploration and looked at her with his head tilted to one side and his expression serious.

‘One serious boyfriend,’ Sammy admitted. ‘I thought it was going somewhere. We both did, but in the end it fizzled out. There were no hard feelings and we’re still friends on social media. I’ll always have a soft spot for him in my heart but he wasn’t the one for me.’

‘It all sounds very flat.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Two earnest people trying to make something work...holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes and waiting for the spark and then nothing...but good friends still, like brother and sister.’

‘It was nothing like that!’ Sammy protested vehemently, thinking that that was exactly what it had been like.

‘Sure about that?’ He raised his eyebrows and grinned. ‘I’m guessing this is where I come in?’

‘As a matter of fact, it is. You showed me that I could have a fling without it meaning anything at all and enjoy myself.’ He was still grinning, which got on her nerves, but at least he’d stopped touching her so that she could get her thoughts in order. ‘You didn’t tick any of the boxes—you still don’t.’

‘The boxes being...? No, let me guess—is reliable one of them? Diligent, hard-working? If you say “considerate”, then you’d have to admit that I happen to tick at least one of those boxes...’

Sammy ignored that interjection. Those boxes were indeed the very ones she had but, said aloud, they seemed dull and boring.

‘You don’t tick any of the boxes,’ she returned, ignoring the grin as she’d ignored the interjection. ‘You’re pure fun that’s not going anywhere, and you’ve done me a favour by making me see that a situation without a future doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a situation I shouldn’t have.’

‘Glad to be of service.’

‘It’s good to be getting that out of my system.’

‘Having fun?’

‘Being reckless.’

‘Am I as reckless as it gets for you?’

‘You are, as a matter of fact.’

‘Good. I like that and, now that you’ve got that out of your system, shall we get down and dirty with the recklessness?’

‘It’s so hot. We could go swim, I suppose—not that I’m much of a swimmer.’

‘I swim like a fish. You just have to hang on to me. We need to get in the right mood for swimming, though. Maybe a little bit of that recklessness you were describing a minute ago? If I’m to be your teacher in all things rash and daring, then I think it’s only fair that I do a thorough job of it before you return to the safety of your comfort zone and Mr Dull waiting on the horizon.’

He tugged down the sensible strap of her swimsuit, traced where the strap had been, and the little indentation it had made in her shoulder, and then let his fingers drift down to circle the jut of her nipple against the stretchy material.

Sammy surrendered.

She opened herself up to him, arm flung over her face as he took his time disposing of the swimsuit. She had to do her fair share of wriggling out of it to help things along, but she did, because need was getting the better of her.

The way he touched her made her feel as though she were being touched for the first time, as though his clever fingers and his questing mouth had managed to access parts of her she’d never known existed. He nuzzled the softness between her small breasts before settling on an engorged nipple and tugging at it so that sighs turned to little cries and whimpers.

‘You’re beautiful; you really are,’ he murmured huskily.

‘You’re just saying that.’

‘I never say stuff I don’t mean. I can’t tell you how much you turn me on. Just thinking of you gives me an erection.’

Sammy sighed happily and let him explore her. He touched her everywhere. In the space of a few days, he seemed to have familiarised himself with every inch of her body. Yes, she knew what to expect, and yet every flick of his tongue on her skin was a revelation.

He held her hips as he contoured her belly button with delicate licks. Sammy groaned and pushed her fingers through his thick, dark hair. She was barely aware of him reaching for protection. He never failed to use it. She could have told him that she was on the pill and he would still have protected himself. He was very, very careful about making sure that no one could pin him down for any reason whatsoever.

She welcomed him in. Her whole body sank into the utter pleasure of feeling his bigness fill her up, and when he came it was with a convulsive shudder. He took her with him, took her to the same soaring heights and left her weak as a kitten afterwards.

When he rolled off her, he lay there for a few seconds and linked his fingers with hers in a gesture that was very intimate and casual at the same time. Sammy stared up at the sky, in tune with him and loving the way he was absently holding her hand.

Thinking that...thinking what?...that this was really paradise? And not just because of the blue sea, the white sand and the swaying coconut trees. She could get picture-postcard stuff all over the world. What made this picture-postcard special was the man lying next to her, seeing the same sky as she but probably thinking very different thoughts.

She looked sideways and her heart constricted. The mantra she had been repeating to herself suddenly felt hollow and different thoughts began creeping in—a different view of what had been happening inside her over the past few days. She thought of the way this man made her laugh. Even before they’d become lovers, when they’d been playing the game in front of his clients, her skin had tingled where he had touched it and her heart had raced when he’d glanced at her.

She didn’t believe in this kind of love, she frantically told herself. She had her checklist—the very checklist she’d only just finished telling him all about! Except...had she done that for his benefit or for her own?

She stood up suddenly and began putting on the swimsuit.

‘Where are you going?’

‘For a swim.’

‘I thought you weren’t a strong swimmer?’

‘I’m going to paddle. I won’t get into any trouble if I paddle.’

‘Wait, Sammy.’

Rafael leapt up behind her and stuck on his trunks as she made her way to the edge of the sea. He circled her arm, tugging her back.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Sorry?’ Sammy shielded her eyes and looked up at him. The water swirling round her ankles was warm and clear. Her pulse was racing, and her head had suddenly started spinning stories about involvement with the last guy on the planet she should be involved with. She resisted reaching out to touch his face.

‘Have I said something to...upset you?’ Rafael raked his fingers through his hair and shifted awkwardly, his other hand still circling her arm.

He looked touchingly concerned but Sammy knew better than to feed into something that wasn’t there.

‘No. Just...phew...it’s baking hot.’

She flapped her hand in a fan-like motion and smiled. Should she start making noises about returning to England? He’d mentioned staying on for a few days, and she’d been happy to go along with that vague timeline, but should she now put a number on those days and take control of the situation instead of drifting?

‘You swim out, Rafael. I’ll sit on the edge here. It’s nice. I can watch you swim and show off how fit you are.’

He relaxed and grinned. ‘Well now, I admit I can rise to that challenge.’

‘I’m warning you, though, that if you start floundering out there you’re on your own.’ He was so beautiful, so smart...so damned irresistible. Was this just fun or was it something else?

‘Understood, but that’s never going to happen. I’m not a guy who flounders.’

‘But you are a guy who brags.’

He was still grinning, all trace of concern at her change of mood gone. ‘If you must know, and to brag a little bit more, I forced myself to learn how to swim as soon as we moved to Yorkshire. I decided that there were no hurdles I wasn’t capable of overcoming, so I went to the pool a few times, listened in on a swimming coach giving lessons to a couple of old ladies and then went to that lake in the woods—you know the one? I jumped in and hoped that I’d remember the instructions from that coach.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘It was a lot more educational than school. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?’

‘Death by drowning?’

‘Yet here I am.’ He burst out laughing and dipped to kiss her on the mouth until her head was reeling. ‘But just in case I do flounder,’ he murmured, ‘you’d better make sure you don’t take your eyes off me.’

Sammy retreated back to the beach, sat on the towel and watched him. He struck out, lean body cutting through the blue, blue water with powerful, even strokes. Surely he hadn’t learned to swim like that from eavesdropping on a swimming coach at the age of fifteen and then jumping in a lake? But then, he was the guy who would never allow himself to fail. He would never flounder.

And that included floundering in his private life. She knew his back story, and knew how it had impacted on him and how it channelled all his decisions about relationships. There was no weakness inside him when it came to women. He wouldn’t have any thoughts about this situation between them that had started as a charade and was now...whatever it was. A pleasant distraction for him...and for her, something that was beginning to feel a lot more than that.

She didn’t want to keep thinking about that.

Instead, she got her phone and was playing on it when it buzzed. Sammy was so surprised that she almost didn’t pick up, but her mother’s name flashed on the screen. Why was her mother calling her? She and her mother messaged daily, but phone calls were usually reserved for birthdays and situations. Situations that often involved her brother and whatever news her mother felt she had to convey urgently —usually, Colin would later tell Sammy nothing had been truly urgent at all—or else to pass on some gossip about a neighbour that likewise ‘couldn’t wait’.

So she picked up the call with some hesitation. She sat up and gazed blankly out to the horizon, into which Rafael seemed to have vanished in record time. He was now making back for land, swimming back as rhythmically as he had swum out. Her mind was drifting but the minute she heard her mother’s voice she sat up straighter.

‘Sammy, darling, I’m so glad I got hold of you.’

She sat up straighter still, then stood up, because she knew from the tone of her mother’s voice that whatever conversation was about to take place wasn’t going to be a good one.

Rafael was heading back, having resisted the temptation to disappear into the great blue yonder. He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d told Sammy that he’d learnt to swim by literally throwing himself in at the deep end. It had all been part of his anger at life all those years ago. He’d loved to push the boundaries, never more so than when it came to swimming; he’d bunked off school too many times to count so that he could go down to that lake and freeze his butt off swimming as though his life depended on it.

He’d never stopped enjoying the freedom it afforded him. He had a magnificent indoor swimming pool in the basement of his mansion in London and swimming in it was the best therapy anyone could have. So it had been tempting to push the boat out today, but he knew that Sammy would end up getting worried about him if she lost sight of him.

He didn’t know how he knew that. He just did, and it gave him a warm feeling inside that was pleasurable, if a little confusing. He’d dated women in the past, and spent months with the same woman, and yet had never felt this weird thing he felt with Sammy.

He knew her. At least, it felt like that to him. It was unsettling but he liked it, even though there was just the merest hint of alarm bells ringing in the distance somewhere.

Now, as he glimpsed her in between strokes, he got the feeling that something was up. For starters, she was on the phone. Who was calling her? He knew that she’d told her mother something vague about staying out on the island for a bit longer, but that everything had been sorted with the work placement. He’d been in the bedroom when she’d made the call. She’d strolled through the room, completely naked, idly pausing to look at something or other and talking in a low, soft, reassuring voice while he’d lain on the bed watching her and making suggestive expressions while she tried not to laugh.

He reached shore just as she was ending the call and the minute he saw her face he knew something was off.

‘Talk to me,’ he said urgently, reaching for a towel and, after a quick dry, slinging it over his shoulders as he walked towards her.

‘I was just on the phone to my mother, Rafael.’

‘And you look as though you need something fortifying. Go sit under that tree in the shade. I’ll bring you some champagne. You’re white as a sheet.’

He felt a sickening jolt of panic as he busied himself with the champagne, which was ice-cold in its frozen sleeve. Whatever was going on, he was going to make sure she knew that she could count on him.

Hell, what if there had been a death in the family? He felt nauseous just thinking about it but, as he approached her with the two glasses and the champagne bottle, his expression was inscrutable.

She was sitting on one of the over-sized towels they had brought with them and had drawn her knees up to her chest. Her short hair was ruffled by the breeze and still dry because she hadn’t actually dived into the water at all. He’d noticed that from the distance, looking back at her when he’d paused for breath, and had absently thought that it might be fun to teach her how to swim. Everyone should know how to swim, and he did have his own private pool, after all.

‘Okay, Sammy. Drink this and then tell me what’s going on with your mother. Is she okay? Colin...is he okay? Has something happened to either of them?’

Sammy leaned towards him, as if sensing his strength and wanting to be supported by it.

‘She’s found out.’

‘Found out what?’

‘About us. Victoria got in touch with her. She phoned really upset because she was told that we’re engaged and that you’re not the kind of guy I should be getting engaged to.’

‘How the hell did Victoria find your mother?’

‘I guess it was just a case of following the clues. In the spiel on my website, I reference my mum quite a bit—that she’s my inspiration. I suppose she got hold of my mum’s name and then just did a little detective work.’

‘So she got to screw me over after all,’ he said grimly. ‘She might not have gone public but going private was just as destructive.’

‘She gave Mum a rundown of your history and the fact that you’ve never committed to anyone, and of course my mother is super-protective when it comes to me. She kind of made it her mission to instil common sense in me when it came to guys. So for her to find out that I’m apparently engaged after five seconds, and to a man who plays the field and is proud of it... She’s devastated.’

‘Jesus, Sammy.’ He held her gaze. ‘What did you tell her?’

Rafael stiffened, every damning word driving a knife deep into a part of him he hadn’t known existed. A part of him that wasn’t as invincible as he had always cared to think. He was that man: the man who had never committed; the man who played the field and had always done so without a conscience. The guy who had figured that to be upfront from the start was to deliver immunity from the consequences of broken relationships. To hear those words delivered casually by the woman now speaking them was to be judged and found wanting in a way that cut to the core.

‘I told her that I could take care of myself and that she wasn’t to worry.’ Sammy drank what was left of the champagne in one long swallow that made her splutter. ‘And when it ends,’ she continued in a rush, ‘I can tell her that it was a learning curve and that I’ll never rush into anything ever again, but that I have no regrets.’

‘No fizzling out? I thought you were a fan of the gradual tapering off when a relationship starts going pear-shaped,’ Rafael said.

‘No—no fizzling anything. I’ll tell her that I discovered, once we left this paradise, that you were someone I couldn’t live with in the real world. I’ll tell her that you were my adventure.’

Rafael gazed at her long and hard. What was really going through her head? What was going through his was terrifying because he knew that more than his body was involved in this dangerous game. His heart had become involved as well. But did she feel the same? It was impossible to tell.

‘We should give her time to digest everything.’ He lowered his eyes.

‘What are you saying?’

‘We stay here for a little longer. I can oversee the hotel and work remotely. We can let the dust settle so that when we return to England your mother is less...devastated and more philosophical about what you... we... might have to tell her. I won’t let you break that kind of news on your own.’

‘We stay here?’

‘And you ...’ he smiled crookedly but his dark eyes remained serious ‘...you might find that I really am the kind of guy you could never live with in the real world...’