Her pink upper lip gave a vulnerable quiver. 'I was thinking more along the lines of being served up along with the main course,' she confessed.
He laughed. It was bad of him. But it was a very low, sexily-amused laugh and Rachel laughed too-one of those tense little sounds that jump up unexpectedly from the throat.
The atmosphere changed in that single moment, spinning the tension into a fine thread that eddied across the gap between them then morphed into something else. He moved so fast that she didn't see him coming, and then it was too late when he had taken arrogant possession of her mouth.
'You've stolen all my lipstick,' she protested when the kiss came to an end.
'I know.' He sat back a little, watching her as she fumbled in her bag for a tissue and her lipstick case. 'Keep on reapplying it,cara ,' he advised as she reapplied a coating of pink with a decidedly unsteady hand. 'Because I find I like doing it. In fact I do believe I am becoming addicted to the taste.'
She handed him the tissue. 'It looks better on me than it does on you.'
And he grinned, wiping pink from his lips while his eyes tangled with hers. It was no use pretending that they weren't doing something else here, because they were.
Then suddenly he was being serious. 'Listen to me,' he urged. 'I don't want you to be anyone but yourself tonight, okay? I don't care if you want to spend the evening going on about the pros of organic produce. I don't care if you decide to ruffle your hair into curls or you march off to the kitchens to tout the chef for his business-'
'I'm not quite that uncouth!' she cried.
'You are missing the point,' he chided. 'The point being that I don't give a damn if you are just yourself and act like yourself. The only thing I do care about is that you stick to the main story as to how we met and keep in mind that, when we leave here, we go home to my apartment together as a couple, then to bed and to-this.'
Another kiss was on its way to her. 'Don't you dare,' Rachel drew her head back.
But he did dare-quickly, briefly, not enough to steal her lipstick a second time but more than enough to distract her from what he was about to do next.
She felt her left hand being taken. By the time she had the sense to glance down, the fake sapphire ring had been removed and he was already replacing it with one that looked exactly the same.
'W-what have you done that for?' she demanded.
'The fake might have been a good fake,cara , but it did not stand a chance of fooling the experts we are about to meet.'
'It fooled you when you saw it.' She was staring at the exact copy now adorning her finger.
'I was too angry to notice it then.'
'It's so-gaudy.' She sighed, staring at the ring as it shimmered and sparkled much more than its predecessor.
'Not to your taste?'
'Not to anyone's taste,' she said ruefully. 'It was only meant to grab Leo's attention … How did you get hold of this one so quickly?'
'I am the kind of man who gets what he wants when he wants it,' he answered with careless conceit.
He went to put the fake ring into his pocket.
'No-'As quick as a flash Rachel plucked it from his hand and pushed it into her beaded purse. 'I'll wear the real one when we are out together, but only then,' she informed him stubbornly. 'Otherwise I'll wear the fake one.'
'If you're afraid of losing it, it is insured-'
But Rachel gave a shake of her head. This had nothing to do with losing the real ring, but more to do with the fear that if she didn't hang on to the fake she would lose touch with reality.
'I will only wear it when we are out,' she repeated.
'And in our bed?' he demanded shortly.
Rachel thought about that for a second or two. 'I won't wear either ring,' she decided.
'Meaning our sexual relationship has nothing to do with the rest of this?'
Unless he was able to fake what was happening there as well. Then she nodded, because the sex was the only truly honest part of this.
He said nothing but just sighed and went to open the car door-then suddenly changed his mind. He turned on her, caught her chin in his fingers, then dipped his head for a third, definite, lipstick-stealing, full-blooded, possessive lover's kiss.
'The sexual part of this relationship does not stay behind in the bedroom, Rachel,' he stated harshly. 'Remember that, while you fix your lipstick again … '
He climbed out of the car then, leaving her sitting there trembling and shaken by the anger which had erupted from him.
What was the matter with him? Why should he care which ring she wore, so long as she didn't makehim look the cheap fake?
Her lips felt tender and bruised this time as she reapplied the lipstick. He'd walked around the car and was now standing with her door open, waiting for her to join him on the pavement.
It was chilly outside and her satin jacket had not been made to keep the cold out. She shivered. He stepped closer, fitting her beneath his shoulder and curling his hand into her waist.
Gosh, don't we look the picture of romance? she thought dryly as he walked her towards the restaurant.
'Smile,' he instructed as he pushed the door open.
Rachel looked up to find that he was looking down at her. One of those frozen in time moments suddenly grabbed them, locking them inside their own private space.
'Heavens, Raffaelle,' another voice intruded. 'You were out there so long we were about to lay bets as to whether or not you were going to just take her back home again.'
'As you see, Daniella,' he came back smoothly, 'Rachel's manners are so much better than mine … '
He held Rachel's eyes as he said it. He watched her cheeks warm to a blush when she realised what Daniella had meant. Then he took hold of her hand and lifted it to his lips. The engagement ring sparkled as he kissed it. Her soft pink pulsing mouth gave a telling little quiver that shot an injection of heat down to his groin.
Someone else spoke-he did not know who. When he turned, he could barely make sense of the blur of faces all smiling at them.
What the hell was the matter with him? Was he sickening for something to have double-vision like this? It would be the first germ to catch him out since his childhood, he mused grimly, frowning as he looked back at Rachel.
Her face was in perfect focus. He did not like what that discovery was trying to say to him. With a taut shift of his shoulders, he pulled himself together and turned to face his dinner guests again, then switched on his lazy smile.
'Buona sera,' he greeted. 'My apologies for keeping you waiting when I know you are dying to meet my beautiful Rachel … '
CHAPTER NINE
MY BEAUTIFULRachel …
And so began the worst evening of his beautiful Rachel's life.
Raffaelle's stepsister did not believe a single word that either of them said to her. The others were more than happy to welcome her into their set, but they too were surprised and curious about this complete stranger who had arrived out of nowhere into Raffaelle's life.
Rachel supposed she should be relieved that Daniella seemed to have kept her suspicions to herself-or maybe she was too scared of Raffaelle to actually say what she thought outright. But she quizzed Rachel mercilessly about Elise.
'How is she?'
'Wonderful, taking a holiday in Florida with her husband and son.'
'You two met through Elise?'
'No, we met at a dinner party given by friends of Leo and Elise.'
Daniella had eyes like bitter chocolate which constantly flicked from Rachel to Raffaelle. 'Both of you were very secretive about this romance.'
'Rachel liked it that way,' her stepbrother answered. 'Weliked it that way. Look at what happened the moment we were seen in public. It turned into a witch-hunt.'
'When a woman throws herself at you in front of a reporter, it tends to have that effect. So does standing naked in a bedroom window.'
Rachel flushed but Raffaelle remained completely unruffled. 'Behaving like a spoiled child who does not like to know she has been left out of a secret is very unappealing,' he responded lightly.
Reducing her to the level of a spoiled child may have silenced Daniella but it did not kill her suspicions about Rachel not being who she claimed she was-as she made very clear the moment she got Rachel alone in the ladies' room.
'Iknow he was seeing Elise Castle because it was me who told him she was married with a small son! So don't try to pull the wool over my eyes, Miss Carmichael. That ring is a fake, just as everything else about you is fake.'
Rachel looked down at the sparkling diamond and sapphire cluster adorning her finger and grimaced. 'I don't want to fight with you, Daniella-'