India Grey - Hot Nights with a Spaniard - Bedded for the Spaniard's Pleasure / Spanish Aristocrat, Forced Bride / Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge

Cairo stood up abruptly. ‘I’ll make arrangements for myself and Daisy to return home immediately—’

‘That’s the last thing Jeff wants you to do!’ Rafe turned to her swiftly. ‘Cairo, he has no idea how the operation is going to turn out, for either Margo or the baby, and the last thing he wants is for Daisy to go back to England and get caught up in the middle of that uncertainty. Even if the operation is a success, Margo and the baby will have to stay in hospital for several days, so there’ll be plenty of time then for you to arrange to get back for her homecoming.’

‘Even if the operation is a success’ was the only thing in Rafe’s last statement that registered with Cairo….

She swallowed hard. ‘Is there— What do they think the chances are of them both being okay?’

Rafe wasn’t enjoying this conversation at all. He knew that the two sisters, having lost both parents in a car accident ten years ago, had remained emotionally close, even though they had lived on different continents for years. It was because of the sisters’ closeness that Rafe had got to know Margo and Jeff in the first place….

‘Cairo—’

‘Just answer me, will you, please, Rafe?’ she said tautly, her eyes gleaming brightly with unshed tears, her hands clenched at her sides as she faced him tensely.

Under other circumstances—with any other woman—Rafe knew he would have taken her in his arms and comforted her. But after what had happened between the two of them earlier, Rafe didn’t dare touch Cairo again!

Instead he remained where he was, several feet away, his expression remote. ‘Jeff believes there’s a good chance that both Margo and the baby will be fine—’

‘Thank God!’ Cairo breathed her relief, some of the tension relaxing in her shoulders. ‘But …?’ she added shrewdly, as if she sensed that Rafe hadn’t told her everything Jeff had said.

Rafe grimaced at her perception. ‘He also asked if the two of us would remain here with Daisy until he knows exactly what’s happening.’ And if Cairo thought he was any happier about that request than she was, then she was completely mistaken! ‘The idea being that, between the two of us, we keep Daisy so busy, at least over the next couple of days, that she doesn’t have too much time to telephone or think too much about what’s going on at home.’

Cairo blinked. ‘Jeff wants the two of us to stay on here together ?’ she repeated incredulously.

Rafe’s mouth tightened at her tone. ‘I can be civilized about this if you can, Cairo.’

As far as Cairo was concerned it wasn’t a question of either of them being ‘civilized’. She had been hoping, once Daisy was in bed, that she and Rafe could finally have a sensible conversation about one of them leaving. Preferably Rafe. And preferably this evening!

But Jeff’s request had quashed that idea and instead her brother-in-law was asking her to stay on here with Rafe. Well, obviously not just with Rafe—if Daisy weren’t here, then Jeff wouldn’t have needed to make the request in the first place.

Cairo knew perfectly well it would be Rafe who would be the dominant presence over the next couple of days; it was obvious the two of them couldn’t even be in the same country without arguing.

As indicated by this conversation alone!

But at the same time she recognized that Jeff did have a point; after only a few hours Cairo could see the rapport between Rafe and Daisy, and that being with him had already lightened the little girl’s introspective mood. That those same few hours had been absolute purgatory for Cairo really shouldn’t come into the equation when it was Daisy’s peace of mind they were all concerned about.

Nevertheless …

She frowned. ‘Do you actually have to stay here at the villa for us to do that?’

‘ I own it, Cairo!’ Rafe reminded her irritably.

She shrugged. ‘Then maybe I should be the one to move to a hotel—’

‘Will you stop being so childish!’ Rafe interrupted forcefully. ‘Or is it just that you don’t trust yourself to be alone here with me even for a couple of days?’ he jeered.

Her eyes glittered with anger as she instantly responded with all the sarcasm of which she was capable. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Rafe!’

‘Oh, yeah, I forgot.’ His mouth twisted with distaste. ‘You’ve had so many lovers the last few years you were probably looking forward to a break for a few weeks!’

‘I didn’t have any lovers during my marriage!’ Cairo protested vehemently.

He shrugged. ‘That wasn’t what Bond said ten months ago.’

‘He was angry at the time, making things up,’ Cairo defended herself a little shakily.

‘Sure he was—’

‘Don’t use that patronizing tone with me, Rafe!’ she blazed at him. ‘I did not have an affair during my marriage to Lionel!’

Rafe’s brows rose. ‘Aren’t you protesting a little too much, Cairo?’ he taunted softly.

She shook her head. ‘I’m merely trying to explain that Lionel was upset when he made those accusations, because I had left him.’ Her chin rose. ‘Besides, your own numerous relationships over the years haven’t exactly been a well-kept secret!’ she challenged.

As his clandestine relationship eight years ago with his co-star Pamela Raines hadn’t remained the secret he had hoped, either …

‘The difference being that I’m not married,’ he pointed out.

‘No, you’ve never made that commitment, have you, Rafe?’ she scorned.

‘Not if it meant I was ultimately going to end up with an unfaithful wife like you, no,’ he rasped.

‘Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve said?’

‘Oh, I listened, Cairo,’ he snarled. ‘I just have great difficulty believing your claim of innocence!’

Cairo swallowed hard. ‘You take delight in insulting me, don’t you, Rafe?’

No, dammit, Rafe didn’t take any delight in talking about the other men Lionel Bond had claimed Cairo had been involved with during their marriage. As far as he was concerned, if the glitter to her marriage had worn off, if Cairo had been unhappy with Bond—and it now appeared that she had been—then she should have just got out, not taken a string of lovers to compensate for that unhappiness.

Rafe’s mouth thinned. ‘Our being here isn’t about you or me, Cairo,’ he growled. ‘This is about a six-year-old little girl that we need to keep distracted so that Jeff can feel free to concentrate on Margo and the baby.’

He was right. Cairo knew he was right. Rafe had just shaken her by talking of the things Lionel had said in anger when she’d told him she was leaving him, accusations he had later privately apologized for. Too late, of course, for the press had already gleefully printed the lies and were not inclined to print a retraction.

It was also disconcerting to realize that Rafe’s affection for her niece was such that he was even willing to stay on here with Cairo when he would obviously rather not. Cairo had never thought of Rafe as being in the least paternal, and yet his obvious feelings for Daisy clearly disproved that….

Again posing the question as to why Rafe had never married and had children of his own. Today had at least shown Cairo that he would make a wonderful father.

It was his role as a faithful husband that would be in question!

‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘I’m willing to—to try and put our differences aside, if you are.’

Rafe’s teeth gleamed whitely in the darkness as he gave a humourless smile. ‘Call a truce, you mean?’

‘Call a halt to the insults and accusations, I mean,’ Cairo told him determinedly.

He shrugged. ‘I’ll behave if you will.’

‘Then we’re agreed. For Daisy’s sake, we will try to give every outward appearance of getting on together for at least the next two days.’