Kept by the Spanish Billionaire(37)

‘You fall for inappropriate men. You climb trees in the middle of the night. You say exactly what’s on your mind and to hell with the consequences. I think it’s fair to say that you’re the sort who blows her top without too much provocation.’

Amy would have liked to have taken him up on his ‘falling for inappropriate people’ accusation. If what she strongly suspected was true, then this was most definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Unfortunately, without evidence, she would be in his direct firing line, especially as he already thought that she said the first thing that came into her head without bothering to think it out first.

‘I won’t even bother to defend myself against that,’ she said loftily. ‘You’ve got your opinions and you’re welcome to them.’ She sneaked a glance at him and had a sudden vision of him lying naked on that bed of his, spent after love making. He would be a passionate lover. She was sure of it. Dinosaur or no dinosaur. She tossed her head and looked away quickly. ‘It’s not as though you mean anything to me, anyway.’

The taxi was now outside the apartment building, which made her realise two things. The first was that she hadn’t even been aware of the passage of time, so lost had she been in their little spat. The second was that they still hadn’t sorted out what was going to happen about returning to the Hamptons.

As if reading her mind, Rafael, with one hand resting on the door handle, turned to her and said, without bothering to sweeten the pill, ‘It’s far too late to head back to the house now. Sorry.’

Amy catapulted out of the car and counted to ten, then she walked to where he was standing, still doing the gentlemanly thing and paying the cab driver without asking for her share of the trip, and smiled sweetly up at him.

He smiled back down at her and spoke before she had a chance to.

‘Well done. Congratulations.’

‘What are you talking about?’ She tripped after him into the building. After a long evening out, her feet were aching in her new shoes and she slipped them off and held them in one hand, thereby diminishing her height still further.

‘You resisted the urge to rant,’ he said approvingly. ‘Perhaps with time I could yet turn you into one of those so-called boring women who don’t give in to every passing temptation to fly off the handle.’

‘Well, thank goodness you don’t have time on your side,’ Amy said with asperity, ‘because I can’t think of anything worse. Except, that is, for staying at this apartment tonight. Which is out of the question.’

‘No choice.’ Rafael didn’t look at her but he was very much aware of her at his side. For such a diminutive person, she had an overwhelming presence, he was discovering. Of course there’s a choice.’ Now they were in the lift for the three-floor ride up to the apartment. Amy liked it. It lacked the brash newness of everything else she had seen in Manhattan that day.

‘Yes, you’re right, of course.’ The lift bumped to a stop and the doors slid open silently.#p#分页标题#e#

‘I’m glad you agree with me.’ Admittedly she was a little surprised that she had won the argument with such little fuss. He might not like scenes, but somehow, without creating any, he always seemed to get his own way.

‘The choice is for you to make. Stay here or head back to the big house. On your own. Because I, for one, am going nowhere.’ He unlocked the door, pushed it open and strode into the apartment without turning around. If he had, he would have seen that she had not stepped over the threshold. In fact, she stood at the doorway, gaping, like a fish suddenly deprived of water.

‘I can’t go back there on my own at this hour!’

‘Then it looks like you’re stuck with me here.’

‘That’s not fair.’

‘On you or on me?’

Amy ground her teeth together in helpless frustration. ‘I thought you were a gentleman!’

‘Which is why I’m now offering you the bigger of the bedrooms.’

Amy badly wanted to rant. Instead, she straightened her back and strode into the apartment because her choice had been no choice at all and she intended to make the best of the situation, which meant, first off, taking that bigger bedroom he had offered, with its en suite bathroom and dressing area.

‘I accept.’ She headed towards the bedroom, ignoring his surprised silence. Maybe he had expected her to let her pride refuse the offer. ‘What time shall we leave in the morning? Or—’ she glanced at him over her shoulder ‘—would you rather stay here and make me return to the house on my own? Just to test the water, see whether I can live up to your ideal woman who wouldn’t dream of creating a scene whatever the hell was thrown at her?’