Crime Of Passion(29)

‘I could come over all dizzy and go upstairs and lie down,’ she whispered in desperation.

‘We could saddle a couple of horses and get lost.’

‘We could chuck the horses out and just go for the stables.’

‘You are an incredibly sensual woman,’ he muttered thickly. ‘I want to be inside you again so badly… but we are going to wait for our wedding night.’

‘OK.’ Deciding on shock tactics, Georgie dropped her arms, eased free of his hold and strolled across the room to throw herself down on a chaise-longue where she extended her long tanned legs with flagrant provocation.

Incandescent golden eyes flamed over her with such a force of hunger that she ached and stopped playing. I love you, she wanted to say, I love you so much, but the awareness that that information would be seriously unwelcome silenced her. Keep it light, Georgie, keep it light, she urged herself angrily.

According to Rafael, marriage was a lifetime commitment. She had all the time in the world. The last thing she wanted to risk now was scaring him off before she got that ring on her finger. Were Rafael’s emotions so disciplined that he was afraid of letting go and loving her, or had he merely been telling her up-front that while he might lust after her like mad, he just knew he wasn’t capable of falling in love with her?

As he moved forward he frowned, and bent to pick up something from the carpet. ‘Yours?’ He extended a gold charm bracelet.

Georgie got up to accept it. ‘It’s always falling off. I should get the safety chain repaired.’

Rafael laughed. ‘That might be a good idea.’

‘Lucky it dropped off in here,’ Georgie said, carefully clasping it back round her wrist. ‘I’d hate to lose it. Steve gave it to me for my twenty-first—’

‘Had I known, I would have dumped it in the trash.’

Georgie blinked and glanced up. Every shred of good humour had been stripped from Rafael’s expression. He bristled with visible aggression, his expressive eyes cold and hard.

‘Just because Steve gave it to me?’ Georgie asked incredulously. ‘Why are you still so hostile towards him? You know that nothing happened between us, and he is part of my family—’

‘Not in my eyes, and he will never be welcome here,’ Rafael asserted with grim emphasis. ‘Nor will I permit you to meet him except in the company of your parents.’

Georgie was seriously tempted to giggle. It was so ridiculous. Did Rafael have any idea how ridiculous he sounded? Was he jealous? Was that the problem? Four years ago, he must have been eaten alive with sexual jealousy when he believed that Steve had been her lover and now, even though he knew what nonsense that had been, he was still stubbornly clinging to the same closed mind.

How could any sane man be jealous of a single embrace? Or was it that Rafael still suspected that she found Steve attractive, other than as a brother? Now, that idea really did worry her. If Rafael could still cherish such suspicions, he had a real problem. That kind of jealousy was neither amusing nor understandable… it was threatening and dangerous.

‘Rafael… you know that night when Steve grabbed me and kissed me, I was really turned off,’ Georgie confided. ‘I do not find Steve attractive in that way—’

‘I am now aware of that.’

‘In fact, I was so upset and embarrassed—well, that’s why I took off for Danny’s for the night,’ she completed.

‘I have also worked this out for myself.’

‘What a leap of faith that must have taken!’ Georgie couldn’t help her sarcasm. Her explanations had not altered Rafael’s attitude one iota. Freezing austerity still stamped his set, dark features. ‘I’m rather glad I’ve lost touch with poor Danny.’

‘He was merely a friend. Naturally I accept that now—’

‘But not my stepbrother, who is my brother in all but blood?’

Rafael sent her a smouldering look. ‘I do not wish to discuss this matter further.’

Georgie tussled with her hot temper as Rafael banded an arm round her narrow back. ‘We have so many other things more important to discuss,’ he reminded her.

Instantly, Georgie was cooled and stabbed by conscience. Why on earth was she wittering on about Steve when she knew that Rafael was under great strain? Now was not the time to tell him that he was being unreasonable. ‘I’m sorry,’ she sighed. ‘You must be really worried.’

Ebony lashes lifted on golden eyes. ‘About what? Oh…that!’ he grasped, contriving to look suddenly very grave again as his arm dropped from her. ‘But didn’t we agree that we would forget about that until after the wedding?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘No buts.’

‘You must have nerves of steel. The way you’ve been behaving, nobody would even suspect that there’s anything wrong.’

‘It is in the back of my mind constantly,’ Rafael sighed heavily. ‘But I am depending on you to help me to be strong.’

He was standing over by the window, his back turned to her as if he couldn’t quite bring himself to make such a demand and look her in the face. Georgie took the hint and closed her arms round him. He swivelled fluidly and pressed her face into the hard wall of his chest. A tremor ran through him. ‘Let’s get some fresh air,’ he suggested.

It was a wonderful day. He showed her round the estancia, introduced her to everyone and made up ridiculous stories about all his illustrious but deeply boringlooking ancestors that had her falling about in hysterics. She had forgotten what a wonderful sense of humour Rafael had when he let his guard down. They spent the afternoon in the swimming-pool, and were still sitting talking at the dinner table long after Ha and Beatriz had excused themselves to go to bed. And even though Georgie slept alone, she slept like a log.

The second day was even better. The helicopter dropped them at the mouth of the Rio Tuichi, where they were met by a guide and a motorised canoe, and they cruised through a section of rainforest until it was time to go back, and Georgie wasn’t a bit sorry that Rafael was lowering himself to a simple tourist excursion for her benefit. She was well aware that he usually travelled into the Amazon with various professionals in tow and camped out to rendezvous with Indians from the more remote settlements. She was equally aware just how much pleasure he was receiving from showing her a world she had never dreamt of sharing with him.

She went up to her room to change for dinner and was stunned to find the closets and cabinets in the dressing-room, stuffed full of unfamiliar garments. Bewildered, she fingered a shot silk top and palazzo pants outfit with a famous designer label.

‘Like them?’ Rafael grinned at her stunned expression from the doorway. She hadn’t even heard him enter her bedroom.

‘Everything is in my size.’

‘It’s yours. I had a selection ordered. Exquisite as you look in that white dress you wear every night for dinner, I thought you might enjoy a change.’

‘But these kind of clothes cost a fortune!’ Georgie gasped. ‘And I thought you were broke!’

Rafael winced and actually paled. ‘Things aren’t quite as bad as that—not as bad as I initially imagined, that is,’ he added, studying her frowning, surprised face intently.

‘They aren’t? Are you sure?’ Georgie persisted in considerable confusion. ‘Why didn’t you say?’

‘I was about to… Wear that for dinner,’ he suggested in an intimate tone that quite sent her temperature rocketing and blitzed her reasoning powers. ‘Turquoise and green will look stupendous with your hair, querida mia.’

Georgie threaded a self-conscious hand through her torrent of curls and smiled blissfully at him. ‘You think so?’

‘I think so.’

‘Will you be able to keep your jet?’

Rafael’s lustrous gaze narrowed. ‘Perdon?’

‘I just couldn’t picture you travelling economy class,’ she confided.

He lounged back against the door-lintel and treated her to a devastating smile. ‘I do believe that I will be able to save you from such a sight.’

The third day, the day before the wedding, Georgie went out riding with Rafael. When they returned to the house, Rafael was called to the phone, and she found

herself seated alone with Beatriz, “Ha having opted for breakfast in bed.

‘You must be pregnant,’ Beatriz said coldly, right out of the blue. ‘Why else would he be marrying you?’

Georgie stiffened. ‘I am not pregnant.’

‘I was betrothed to Rafael as a child,’ Beatriz told her with icy dignity.

‘I’d be a liar if I said I was sorry it didn’t work out,’ Georgie managed after a long pause, belatedly registering why the brunette disliked her so intensely. She had been far too wrapped up in her own happiness to spare more than the most fleeting thought for Beatriz, who was She most snobbish, moralising bore she had ever met. The other woman was also beautiful, highly intelligent and very accomplished, she had to concede in all fairness, although it went against the grain to do so.

‘His father died, and then mine. He would have married me had he not met you,’ Beatriz said thinly. ‘And I want you to know, before you congratulate yourself on your success on trapping him, that I intend to tell Rafael that your arrival in our country during his sister’s absence was no accident.’