After a second’s hesitation, she said reluctantly, ‘My sister is six months’ pregnant. She’d insist on flying out here, and the trip would exhaust her. I’m sure you and the doctor are only thinking of my wellbeing, but I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself. You don’t have to feel any sort of responsibility for me.’
‘Possibly not, but the hotel management said they were not equipped to deal with someone convalescing, and it was agreed that this was the best solution.’ He allowed that to sink in, ignoring her mutinous expression to finish, ‘You will spend several days at my home—which is big enough to give you all the privacy you desire—and once the doctor has given you the all-clear you can go back to the hotel.’
After considering this she said briefly, ‘In that case, I should let Count Gastano know where I’ll be.’
Rafiq controlled the curl of his lip, despising himself for wanting to believe she was just a naive New Zealand girl entangled by the count’s deceptive charm. His brows drew together. This wildfire, highly inconvenient attraction couldn’t—wouldn’t—be allowed to distract him from his reason for keeping her tucked safely away where she couldn’t contact the self-titled count.
‘Gastano has already been told about your accident.’ Rafiq let that sink in, then said, ‘I believe he has business here that will keep him occupied for some days. Then you can join him again.’
Steadily she said, ‘It doesn’t sound as though I have any choice in the matter.’
‘I’m sorry if my decision conflicts with your independence.’
‘Well, it does.’ Her voice was crisp and cool. ‘However, I’ve never thought banging my head against a wall was a sensible way of working through a situation. Thank you for the hospitality. I’m sure you won’t mind if I avail myself of it for as short a time as possible.’
Lexie hoped the final snide comment might pierce his armour-plated inflexibility, but when he gave her a smile that almost banished her justifiable resentment she realised he was still fully in control.
And that smile was an epiphany—filled with charm and sexual magnetism, it was the sort of smile that led to broken hearts and despair.
Grimly, Lexie concentrated on the scenery until her body stopped singing.
Fortunately the scenery was worth looking at, with everything that was exotic about the tropics—brilliant sky, deep aquamarine lagoon, vivid flowers and the intense green of the countryside, coconut palms bending gracefully over white sand, and mountains purple with heat haze…
Determined not to be impressed, she decided it was just like a picture in a travel magazine.
Besides, if it came to a competition, New Zealand had some of the best beaches in the world. And pretty good mountains too, jutting into as blue a sky, and displaying every bit as much boldness and drama as these peaks did.
The man beside her said, ‘I have never been to New Zealand, but I believe it’s very beautiful.’
Was he a mind reader? ‘It is,’ she said woodenly, and let the conversation lie there, dead on the floor.
His smile was wry. ‘So what particular part of the country do you come from?’
‘I grew up in Northland.’
‘It’s a long way from there to Moraze.’
Dampening down her impulse to use the manners her mother had drilled into her, she confined her answer to a few noncommittal words. ‘Indeed it is.’
If he had the nerve to mention that kiss, she’d—she’d tell him straight it was a one-off, an indiscretion she had no intention of repeating.
He didn’t. Instead he asked, ‘Do you specialise in a certain sort of animal in your veterinary practice?’
‘Domestic animals,’ she said, adding reluctantly, ‘But it’s a country practice, so I also deal with a lot of farm animals.’
‘Horses?’
‘Sometimes,’ she admitted.
How did he know she was a vet?
She tried to remember where her profession was given in her passport, then recalled writing it in the arrival form she’d filled in as they came towards Moraze.
So he’d checked her travel documents—or more likely had ordered someone else to check them.
All right; security was a concern to those who were rich and famous enough to attract obsessive or downright dangerous people. Nevertheless, the thought of anyone poking around in her life gave Lexie an uneasy feeling.
Keeping her gaze defiantly on the view outside, she was about to observe tartly that as he knew all about her there was no need for further conversation, when she realised she couldn’t be rude to a man who’d gone out of his way to be kind to her after the accident. Also, he was going to be her host for a few days.
She searched for something innocuous to say and finally came up with a subject. ‘I went diving the day I arrived. The reef fishes are absolutely gorgeous—like living jewels.’
‘You are interested in jewels?’ he commented dispassionately.
Perhaps that was the way everyone referred to the fish here and he found it trite. Well, she didn’t care.
Of course, Moraze was famous for the rare and exquisite—and extremely valuable—fire-diamonds found in gravel beds washed down from the mountains. Perhaps he thought she was hinting; no, how could he?
‘Most people are. Off Northland’s east coast we have a very interesting mix of sea life. A warm current sweeps south from the tropics, and we get a mixture of tropical and temperate fauna.’
OK, so she sounded like something out of a textbook, and was probably boring him to bits. It served him right. If he’d taken her to the hotel, instead of conspiring with the doctor behind her back, he’d have been rid of her by now.
‘It sounds most intriguing,’ he said smoothly, returning the waves of a small group of children walking down the road.
A few metres further on he turned into a drive and the big car passed between gates that had slid back silently at the press of an unknown button. Lexie looked around for a sentry box, but clearly security nowadays was much more technical and far less conspicuous. Ahead, the drive began to climb steeply through a tangle of greenery.
‘We’re almost there,’ Rafiq told her.
He lived in a castle. Perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the lagoon, it frowned down over a scene as beautiful as it was deserted.
Lexie drew a sharp breath. ‘I don’t know much about the architecture of castles, but that looks like something out of the Middle East.’
‘It’s a mixture of Oriental and European styles.’
The car eased to a halt outside a huge set of what appeared to be bronze doors, sculpted and ornate, with a grid of iron spikes poised above to grind down in case of an attack. Rafiq switched off the engine.
In the silence the sound of the waves on the reef echoed in Lexie’s ears. A manservant came swiftly out through a side door and went to the boot of the car, and one of the big bronze doors swung slowly open.
Rafiq looked at her, heavy-lidded eyes narrowing as he scanned her face. ‘Moraze was known to Arab sailors, but because it wasn’t on their trade routes and had nothing they wanted they rarely came this way. The first settlers were led by a distant ancestor of mine, a French nobleman who had the temerity to conduct an affair with his monarch’s much-prized mistress. Nowhere in Europe was safe, so he travelled farther afield, and eventually found refuge here with a somewhat motley crew of adventurers and sailors and their women.’
Fascinated, Lexie said, ‘I wouldn’t have thought the King of France’s mandate stretched