She sighed with resignation. ‘What time do you want us to be ready to leave?’
His eyes gleamed with satisfaction. ‘Two o’clock should do it. We— Who the hell is that?’ He scowled darkly as he stood up to glare down at the car driving up the private road to the villa.
Cairo stood up to stand beside him, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought she knew exactly who it was.
Either another enterprising reporter.
Or, more likely, it was Lionel …
He had left three messages on her mobile during the night. The first had been pleasant as he told her how nice it had been to see her again yesterday evening.
The second one had started out pleasant enough, too, with him asking her to meet with him so that they could talk. Unfortunately, as so often happened, it had deteriorated into insults after that as Lionel, obviously the worse for champagne, accused her of having been involved in an affair with Rafe all the time they had been married. As if! Cairo hadn’t even been able to bear being on the same continent as Rafe for the last few years, let alone share the same bed after what he’d done to her.
Also predictably, the third message had been Lionel apologizing for the previous abusive one!
Cairo hadn’t returned any of those calls. What was the point? She might still feel a certain amount of guilt where Lionel was concerned, had always felt that her lack of love for him had contributed to his addiction for gambling, but all the guilt in the world couldn’t change the fact that they both knew their marriage was over.
‘Do you want me to deal with this if it’s another reporter?’ Rafe asked grimly, turning to look at Cairo as she made no response.
She was staring intently at the car as it slowly came up the service road, her dark eyes shadowed above hollow cheeks.
‘Cairo …?’ he prompted.
She drew in a ragged breath before turning to look at him. ‘I— Would you mind taking Daisy down to the pool or something?’ she muttered.
‘Why on earth would I—’
‘Because I think our visitor is Lionel, that’s why,’ she explained wearily.
Lionel Bond was coming here?
Rafe turned his attention back to the car, his gaze narrowed as he tried to identify person behind the wheel. Yep. It was Bond, all right.
He glanced down at Cairo. ‘Do you want to speak to him?’
‘Not particularly.’ She grimaced.
‘Then don’t,’ Rafe rasped.
She gave a wistful smile. ‘It isn’t as simple as that, Rafe.’
‘Yes, Cairo.’ Rafe nodded. ‘It really is.’
She looked up at him quizzically. ‘Maybe for you it is, Rafe.’ She sighed. ‘But I’ve never been able to be quite that cruel.’
He shrugged. ‘Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind,’ he said curtly.
‘Like you were with me eight years ago?’ she challenged.
Rafe’s mouth thinned at the accusation. ‘I don’t believe we were talking about you and me.’
‘No, of course we weren’t,’ Cairo said immediately. ‘Forget I said that.’
Rafe wasn’t sure he wanted to forget it. He had been so stunned when Cairo had ended things between them so unexpectedly, quickly followed by her announcement of her engagement to Bond, that the two of them had never got to talk about the abrupt end of their own relationship.
Now probably wasn’t the best time to have that talk, either….
‘Okay, Cairo,’ he acquiesced. ‘Talk to Bond if that’s what you feel you have to do. But at the first sign of trouble I’m coming back up here to knock his teeth down his throat!’
Cairo stared up at him for several seconds before she gave an incredulous laugh. ‘I really don’t think that will be necessary, Rafe, but thanks for the offer!’
‘Believe me, it will be my pleasure.’
How strange that Rafe, of all people, should offer to be her protector, Cairo mused as she walked over to meet with Lionel in the driveway. Not that Cairo would ever ask for his help, but she could still appreciate the irony of the situation.
However, her rueful smile quickly faded to one of weary resignation as she approached Lionel. ‘How much do you need this time, Lionel?’ she asked heavily.
‘So what did he want?’
Cairo turned from packing the suitcase open on top of her bed, her expression becoming guarded as she looked at Rafe as he leant against the door frame.
She straightened. ‘I really don’t think that’s any of your business, Rafe.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I think you’ll find, Cairo, that I don’t really care what you do or don’t consider my business.’
Rafe had spent the last fifteen minutes beside the pool watching from behind dark sunglasses as Cairo and her ex-husband talked together on the terrace, trying to gauge from their body language exactly what was going on. But Cairo’s ultra-calm demeanour and Bond’s animated one hadn’t really told him an awful lot.
He had expected Cairo to join him and Daisy beside the pool once the other man had got back in his car and left, but instead she had disappeared inside the villa.
To pack, it seemed …
‘Well?’ he prompted impatiently.
Cairo frowned. ‘I’m sorry, Rafe, but I’m not telling you anything—’ She broke off, her eyes widening as Rafe crossed the room in three long strides to stand just inches away from her. She swallowed hard. ‘Shouldn’t you be outside with Daisy?’
‘Daisy’s too excited about going home to swim any more and has gone to her room to dress, instead.’
Cairo had no intention of telling Rafe the reason for Lionel’s visit. It was awkward enough that Lionel had tracked down the reporter from yesterday in order to find out where she was staying with Rafe, without going into the details of their conversation.
‘Shouldn’t you be packing, too, if we’re leaving for the airport in a couple of hours?’ she pointed out, inwardly wishing Rafe wouldn’t stand quite this close to her; his proximity was totally unnerving her!
Rafe shook his head. ‘I find Bond’s visit much more interesting than packing.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes—really,’ Rafe drawled. ‘You made an intriguing comment yesterday evening …’
‘Just the one?’ she came back in mock disappointment. ‘And here I was deceiving myself that I’m much more interesting than that!’
Rafe gave an admiring smile as he appreciated the way Cairo was trying to change the subject. But Rafe had no intention of letting her succeed.
‘Oh, don’t worry, you are extremely interesting,’ he assured her throatily. ‘But you implied last night that it isn’t you Bond is interested in. So if it’s not you, what is it?’
Her smile faded as her gaze became guarded. ‘I really can’t discuss this with you, Rafe—’
‘Oh, but you really can, Cairo,’ Rafe insisted softly, his own gaze compelling.
She shook her head. ‘Not without breaking a confidence, I can’t,’ she told him determinedly.
Rafe’s eyes widened. ‘A confidence with Bond?’ he murmured disbelievingly. ‘You divorced the man three months ago!’ he reminded her.
‘Yes,