Kept by the Spanish Billionaire(33)

Mindful that, to him, he was doing her a good deed, taking her out of herself, and aware that the last thing she wanted would be to give him any inkling that the storm raging inside her had nothing to do with James, Amy gave his proposition some thought. If she really had been reeling from a broken heart at finding the love of her life in the arms of another woman, what would she be inclined to do? Mope? She had never moped in her entire life. She had had friends who moped at the end of a love affair and she had always wondered how they could expend so much energy on doing nothing but wandering around under a cloud of depression, seeking out people to whom they could analyse, for hours, why what had happened had happened and how it could have been prevented from happening.

If she had been nursing a broken heart, she decided, then, yes, she would want to take her mind off things by having a good time, by dressing up and going out. And he had bought that red dress for her, even though it hadn’t been all that expensive and with her protesting all the way to the checkout till. It seemed churlish now to refuse his offer for dinner. For all she knew he might hardly ever get out! It might even be construed, she thought, that she would be doing him a kindness by accepting his invitation.

And of course, she thought with guilty anticipation, she wanted to spend time in his company. Oh, it wasn’t going anywhere and she wouldn’t want it to because, aside from the small technicality of the Atlantic Ocean, he wasn’t a keeper. He was a free spirit. No ties and none wanted. That was the impression he gave and she was pretty sure she was spot on target. But that was fine because she wasn’t looking for a relationship anyway. Just some light-hearted banter and that glorious little sizzle she felt when she looked at him. Also it was fun locking horns with him because the guys she knew were all so frivolous in comparison.

She shrugged and nodded. ‘I can’t believe the perks you have with your job,’ she teased. ‘Company flat. Company fantastic house on great grounds doing not very much from the looks of it…’

Rafael laughed and glanced across at her with amused appreciation. The sun was working on her skin, turning it a light, healthy golden colour and streaking her already pale hair with even paler highlights. She was now asking him how often he stayed at the company flat, making joking noises about wanting a company flat herself, but maybe somewhere hot and sunny like the Caribbean.

‘I think I’ve stayed in the flat once,’ Rafael said honestly, ‘a few years ago.’

‘But you have a key?’

‘There’s porterage. I expect James will call him and warn him of my arrival.’

‘Wow.’

Rafael hadn’t heard anyone say ‘wow’ since he was a kid. His lips twitched.

‘So we just get there, use the place and then disappear for something to eat?’

‘There’s always the option of spending the night there,’ Rafael said casually and he could feel her visibly tense. Again he felt that primitive kick of arousal. The civilised half of him was disgusted by the reaction but the other half was already rising to a challenge he’d never thought he would seek. Where the hell was the urbane, sophisticated, opera-and theatre-loving man now? he wondered. He reached out, hailing a cab, prepared for the gridlock traffic that almost defeated the point of a taxi.

He guided the conversation back to safe waters, sensing her relax so that by the time they finally arrived at the apartment building, which was old and immaculately kept, away from the main drag of the city, she barely reacted to the idea that they would be alone in an apartment together.

Even when they had stepped out of the taxi and his witty anecdotes about life in New York had temporarily ceased as he paid the cab driver, she still didn’t feel any gut-wrenching nerves.#p#分页标题#e#

Why should she? she told herself. It had taken her by surprise but it was no crime to be attracted to him. She would be heading back to London in a couple of days and he would be a pleasant memory. The gardener who was not like any gardener she had ever met. A novel experience. One she would forget on the flight over because that was just the nature of things.





CHAPTER SIX




AMY could hear herself babbling. It was something that usually happened after a couple of glasses of wine, when she was relaxed and expansive in confiding her emotions to whoever happened to be listening. Her friends told her that it was very sweet. She interpreted that, once she had sobered up, to mean that it was an intensely irritating and boring trait that they put up with because they were her friends.

Rafael Vives was not her friend. She wasn’t quite sure what he was, but he certainly wasn’t her friend even though he had bought her a fantastic dress that felt great and looked better, and was now in the process of spending money feeding her. At what appeared to be a very expensive restaurant even though he had assured her that it was in fact very reasonable and part of a chain, making it sound as though it really were on a level with the Pizza Hut she went to every so often for something to eat after work with her friends.