Kept by the Spanish Billionaire(18)

‘I know.’ She was inspecting her sandals as if hoping that they might reveal themselves as wearable after all. But no. The dainty straps, like strings of cleverly positioned tan spaghetti, were mangled beyond redemption. She picked them up with a little sigh of resignation and looked at Rafael. ‘Everyone will have left at nine-thirty. Walking along the golden sands, having a fun barbecue on the beach…well, who needs that when you can slink back to an empty house and spend the day on your own by a deserted pool?’ Amy said mournfully.

‘I don’t think you’ll be slinking anywhere on those shoes,’ Rafael said, his lips twitching. ‘I’m afraid I slung them in with the clothes thinking it would do the trick.’

‘That would have worked if they’d been made out of cloth,’ Amy told him, with a reluctant grin. ‘Don’t worry. They were useless anyway. James didn’t look at me twice when I had them on.’

Rafael made his mind up. To hell with the work. It would keep. ‘Come on. We’ll take the car.’

Amy wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She accepted the ride with alacrity.

What was less easy to swallow was the car waiting for them when they finally hit the path that circled the vast grounds. No muddy four wheel drive. Instead a low-slung sports car, Rafael’s own tribute to a recklessness that his very controlled and highly organised life lacked.

‘Don’t say a word,’ he warned her, beeping it open from the key ring in his trouser pocket.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ She allowed him to open her door for her, appreciating the display of good manners, which she wasn’t accustomed to seeing, and slid in. Inside was as gleaming as outside, from the spotless cream leather bucket seats to the walnut dashboard in which she could see her reflection if she peered hard enough. She turned to him with a grin and couldn’t resist adding, ‘Although I’d love to be a fly on the wall when you do meet that soul mate gardener of yours, the one you say you’re not looking for!’#p#分页标题#e#

‘I won’t even bother to ask you what you’re on about because I know you’re going to tell me anyway.’ He felt a sudden rush of carefree abandon as his car roared into life and he began eating up the perimeter road, heading out of the estate towards…the town centre? One of the beaches?

Amy, giving him her undivided attention, was blissfully unaware that he was driving away from the direction of the house. In fact, she was blissfully unaware of pretty much everything aside from his strong, determined profile, the slight smile tugging the corners of his mouth, the hand resting lightly on the steering wheel, a man in complete charge of his machine.

‘Well, if you insist on knowing, and please don’t give me a long, boring sermon on infringing your personal space when you’ve given me permission to tell you what I’m thinking…’

Rafael flicked her a wry, sidelong glance.

‘…but I’d love to see you when the time comes for you to part with this sports car…boys and their toys…’

‘I’m not following you.’

‘Well, you can afford all this stuff now because you have no responsibilities…aside from the gardens, of course,’ she added hastily, because it infuriated her when other people downgraded her own job just because it didn’t involve wearing a suit or working in front of a computer, ‘but believe me this will be the first thing you’ll have to jettison when you get a wife and start having a family.’ She sneaked a look at him and something peculiar happened in her stomach when she imagined what his kids would look like. She looked away hurriedly.

‘Just another reason why I’m not on the lookout for the soul mate.’ Rafael grinned and looked across at her. ‘And by the way, we’re not heading back to the house just yet…’

‘We’re not? Why not?’ She felt something akin to a prickle of excitement and explained it away as sheer relief that she would be spared having to spend the whole day on her own, moping about James.

‘I feel morally obliged to replace the shoes I destroyed,’ Rafael told her gravely so that Amy didn’t know whether he was being serious or not.

‘There’s no need,’ Amy told him quickly. ‘Honestly. I have my trainers and I can always borrow some of Claire’s shoes. We’re the same size.’

‘I wouldn’t hear of it.’

‘But what about your work? You were busy on the computer this morning. I wouldn’t want to interrupt…whatever it was you were doing…’