It was also disconcerting to realize that Rafe’s affection for her niece was such that he was even willing to stay on here with Cairo when he would obviously rather not. Cairo had never thought of Rafe as being in the least paternal, and yet his obvious feelings for Daisy clearly disproved that….
Again posing the question as to why Rafe had never married and had children of his own. Today had at least shown Cairo that he would make a wonderful father.
It was his role as a faithful husband that would be in question!
‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘I’m willing to—to try and put our differences aside, if you are.’
Rafe’s teeth gleamed whitely in the darkness as he gave a humourless smile. ‘Call a truce, you mean?’
‘Call a halt to the insults and accusations, I mean,’ Cairo told him determinedly.
He shrugged. ‘I’ll behave if you will.’
‘Then we’re agreed. For Daisy’s sake, we will try to give every outward appearance of getting on together for at least the next two days.’
Rafe inclined his head in acquiescence. ‘For Daisy’s sake.’
Cairo hesitated in the doorway. ‘And there will be no repeat of—of what happened in the kitchen earlier,’ she added huskily, still not completely reconciled inside herself to how easily—how fiercely!—she had responded when Rafe had taken her in his arms earlier and kissed her.
No doubt a lot of soul-searching was in order once she reached the privacy of her bedroom!
‘Ah. Now that’s something else, Cairo.’ Rafe folded his arms across the width of his chest as he regarded her with mocking eyes. ‘After all, it may just turn out that you can’t keep your hands off me.’
‘In your dreams, Rafe,’ she scoffed.
‘Maybe. We’ll see, won’t we …’
No, they would not ‘see’, Cairo determined as she stormed off, making her way to her bedroom at the front of the house.
A couple of days, that was all this was going to be. And surely she could avoid finding herself in any compromising situations with Rafe for that short length of time?
CHAPTER FOUR
‘Don’t forget your mobile phone— Cairo, what the hell are you wearing?’
Cairo, about to push her sunglasses up onto the bridge of her nose, instead paused in the movement to look at Rafe over the top of them as he stared at her with a scowl on his face.
She knew it wasn’t the sunglasses he was referring to, or the white T-shirt and skirt she was wearing with flat sandals, so that left …
‘A baseball cap, of course,’ she snapped dismissively as she adjusted the peak of the white cap further down her forehead, her hair gathered up and looped through the fastening at the back to hang down in a loose ponytail. ‘An item of headgear that originated in your mother’s country, I believe,’ she added dryly.
‘So did the Stetson, but that doesn’t mean I’d ever wear one,’ Rafe retorted.
The three of them had spent most of the morning down by the pool until Rafe had suggested a trip out to collect more food supplies from the local supermarket. Daisy had then added her own idea that after they had brought the food back to the villa they could all go down into Grasse and have lunch in one of the many restaurants there before going on to one of the beaches along the coast.
A suggestion Rafe said he was more than happy to go along with, and meaning that Cairo was once again ‘outgunned and outnumbered’!
But that didn’t mean she was willing to go out without the disguise of her baseball cap. ‘I tend to freckle in the direct sun,’ she explained mendaciously.
His mouth quirked. ‘And we mustn’t let a freckle ruin that perfect complexion, must we?’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Rafe, why don’t you—’
‘Actually, Uncle Rafe, Aunty Cairo is famous,’ Daisy informed him airily. ‘She wears the hat because she doesn’t want people to recognize— I’m sorry, Uncle Rafe, I didn’t hear what you said …?’
Daisy might not have been able to discern Rafe’s mumbled response, but Cairo certainly had, and she didn’t appreciate his comment of ‘infamous more aptly describes it’!
‘I’m nowhere near as famous as your uncle Rafe, Daisy,’ she assured the little girl lightly even as she shot Rafe a quelling glance before adjusting the sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose.
And completely hiding the expression in those dark brown eyes, Rafe noted—although it wasn’t too difficult to imagine what it was!
‘Come on, Daisy-May.’ He ruffled the little girl’s golden curls. ‘We’ll wait outside in the car while your aunty Cairo finishes putting on her disguise.’
‘Very funny, Rafe,’ Cairo drawled as she fell into step beside them. ‘Make sure you bring a bag out with you later, Daisy—your uncle is something of a sex-symbol, and we may need to beat off his female fans before the day is out,’ she warned her niece conspiratorially.
‘Now who’s being funny?’ Rafe raised dark brows as he opened the back door of the car so that Daisy could climb inside.
Cairo gave him a sweetly mocking smile. ‘I’m only stating the obvious, Rafe,’ she jeered.
Rafe grimaced. ‘A sex-symbol?’
She shrugged narrow shoulders as she moved round to the passenger side of the car. ‘I seem to remember reading somewhere that you were voted the sexiest man in America last year.’
Not a title he was particularly proud of.
As, no doubt, Cairo was well aware!
‘I’m surprised, with all that was going on in your own life this last year, that you could find the time to read about mine, as well,’ he jibed.
The teasing smile faded from her lips. ‘It made a pleas-sant change from some of the other trash that was being printed at the time!’
Rafe quickly moved round the car to where she stood. ‘Cairo—’
‘We really should be going, Rafe,’ she told him brittlely as she opened the car door herself to get inside and close the door firmly behind her.
Leaving Rafe standing in the driveway feeling like a heel. They had called a truce last night, for Daisy’s sake, and for most of the morning he had kept to that truce, as had Cairo. His present lapse was due, he knew, to the fact that he hadn’t slept at all well last night and that lack of sleep was catching up with him.
But how could he sleep when he knew that Cairo was in another bed just down the hallway? Probably as awake as he was, if for different reasons.
He hadn’t been able to forget how good Cairo had felt when he’d touched her earlier, but Cairo would have been worrying about Margo, something Rafe knew he hadn’t taken too much into consideration during their conversation. But hell, at the time Jeff had just asked him to stay on here and take care of Cairo and Daisy. A request, for Daisy’s sake, Rafe had known he couldn’t refuse.
But that didn’t mean he had to like being here with Cairo.
Any more than Cairo had to like being here with him, perhaps?
‘I’m sorry,’ Rafe muttered as he got in the car beside her and switched on the engine.
Cairo gave him a startled look. ‘What?’
Rafe drew in a sharp breath. ‘I said I’m sorry,’ he repeated more clearly. ‘It was a cheap shot.’
‘Yes, it was,’ she agreed