Her stomach twisted a little more as she recalled hearing them ‘make up’. They hadn’t cared that their ten-year-old daughter was in the house. They’d never cared.
Her entire childhood had revolved around her father’s affairs and her mother’s reactions to them. Those reactions had never been about Cara. Their daughter had been secondary to everything in their sick marriage where sex was a weapon used to hurt each other in the most cruel and demeaning ways.
‘I always swore I’d never get involved with a man who was like my father, so more fool me.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘You,’ she practically spat. ‘How else do you think my dad was able to pull so many women and use them so badly? He’s a charmer, just like you are.’
‘I am nothing like your father.’ His vehemence was the most emphatic she had ever heard him.
‘You use women for your own gratification with no thoughts of them as real people.’
‘That is utter rubbish. I have never cheated on anyone. Ever.’ An ugly tone curdled his words. ‘I despise cheats.’
‘You still use women.’
‘I do not use women. I am never anything but honest with my lovers. Do not kid yourself into believing they are in my bed under false pretences.’
‘You used me. I thought you wanted me in your bed because you wanted me. I had no idea you wanted to get your hands on my stupid phone and not my body.’
It was Pepe’s turn to suck in a breath. ‘I accept that I used you, Cara. I am not proud of what I did but it had to be done. My brother was a man on the verge of a breakdown. It doesn’t change the fact that I found you as sexy as hell. I still do. I wanted to make love to you regardless of the circumstances.’
‘You still used me. You can tell me until you’re blue in the face that you’re nothing like my father but I know better. You’re two of a kind. You make love to women and then dump them, leaving them to deal with the emotional fallout. And the unwanted after-effects. Like babies,’ she couldn’t resist adding.
A screech of brakes and a swerve of the wheels as he brought the Mercedes to a shuddering halt on the verge.
Pepe turned the engine off, his breathing ragged.
Cara took little consolation that she had finally pierced his charming armour.
For long moments the only sound was their breathing.
‘I am going to start driving again in a moment,’ he said grimly. ‘Unless you want me to leave you to make your own way back to Paris, I suggest you do not speak to me, other than to say if you’re feeling ill.’
From the tone of his voice, she knew he meant every word.
CHAPTER SEVEN
IT WAS NO USE. Sleep really had no intention of coming. She could count as many sheep as she liked but they might as well be blowing big fat raspberries at her for all the use they were at getting her off to slumber.
Cara climbed out of bed and reached for her new robe, which was more of a kimono. However much she might tell herself that she was itching to get her well-worn flannelette dressing gown back, there was no getting around the fact this scarlet silk kimono was utterly gorgeous and felt like liquid on her skin.