Kept by the Spanish Billionaire(57)

Rafael had planned on working steadily for the next hour or so, even though he was guiltily aware that Elizabeth would be on her own for the evening. However, he hadn’t banked on this little slice of his past dropping in to pay him a visit. And he didn’t know why. He didn’t believe any rubbish about being in the area. Oh, no. She was here for a reason and his curiosity was just too strong to resist. He stood up and nodded briefly.

‘I was on my way out, as a matter of fact, so why not? A quick drink for old times’ sake.’

‘So, nice for you to have your girlfriend here with you,’ Amy said, just as soon as they were in the lift. ‘Although I do find it a bit odd that you would seek me out and ask me over when, presumably, you were thinking about getting back together with your ex. Why would you do that?’

Amy had always left the running to the boys. It was ingrained in her that they should be the ones who did the chasing. But really, she thought, why should they? In every other area of her life she had been taught to believe that if she wanted something, then she should pursue her goal because she was capable of getting anything she wanted. Her parents had given her the gift of self-confidence. Why shouldn’t she use that now to pursue the one thing in life she really wanted, which was him? So it wasn’t going to be easy, but she could try, couldn’t she? She could try and win the man she loved and wanted?

‘Maybe you did me the favour of making me realise that good sex is one thing but long-lasting companionship is something else and long lasting companionship, for me at least, has to be with a woman who doesn’t spend most of her time shouting.’#p#分页标题#e#

Amy took a deep breath and resolved not to shout even though she wanted to. She hung onto the ‘good sex’ bit of his sentence. It wasn’t what she wanted but, having rejected it, she had now discovered that it was, actually, better than nothing.

‘You know, they say that shouting is actually very good for the soul.’

‘Really. I haven’t heard that one.’ They were walking now towards the wine bar frequented by the people who worked in the city. Rafael glanced at his watch and knew that he shouldn’t be doing this. He should be heading back to the house where he would doubtless find Elizabeth patiently waiting for him. They would discuss, sensibly, how each other’s days had gone and she would ask him informed questions about the progression of his current deals. He, in turn, would ask her about the two cases she had left behind and which he knew were bothering her.

She wouldn’t be winding him up.

‘Yep. It’s true. Absolutely. If you don’t shout you lose touch with your id, which is, apparently, the bit of us that’s alive and vital.’

‘I’ve never heard such a lot of nonsense in my life,’ Rafael told her, but he felt like grinning. ‘Do you want a glass of wine?’

‘Okay.’ She watched as he strolled off to the bar. She wondered how she could have reacted so strongly to the fact that he had hidden the truth from her, had led her to believe that he was someone he wasn’t. He had only been trying to protect his brother from someone who could have turned out to be a scheming gold-digger. She would probably have done the same in his shoes! She tried to imagine what it might feel like to be fabulously rich and driven to be suspicious of anyone who hadn’t been carefully vetted, but she just couldn’t get her head around the concept.

Anyway, there was the more pressing matter of how she was going to retrace her steps and try and persuade him into an affair after all. When he was obviously reluctant. And when there was a girlfriend on the scene.

However tenacious Amy was, she couldn’t bring herself to think that all was fair in love and war. She thought how she would feel were she stuck in a foreign country, hoping to make a relationship work, while out there some ex-fling was sharpening her hooks and sizing up her man as a potential target.

But what could be the harm in finding out a little more about this mystery woman? Whether Rafael wanted to admit it or not, he couldn’t be that keen on her, could he? Not if he had already dumped her once! Ha!

Amy clung to this thought like a drowning man clinging to a lifebelt.

‘So,’ she said as soon as he had handed her her glass, ‘what’s she like?’

‘Elizabeth? Why are you interested? Is that why you descended on me out of the blue? To find out why I was still around and whether I was seeing anyone?’ He looked at her carefully.

‘Okay. I’ll confess. I saw your picture in the newspaper a few days ago. There was a long article about you staying on to do something or other…’