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But as Sophie slumped with relief he challenged her angrily, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing out here all alone?’
‘I was only resting for a moment.’
‘Resting?’ he grated incredulously. He turned away from her to rake stiff fingers through his hair, and then turned back again. ‘Where the hell do you think you are, Surrey?’
Suddenly it was all too much for her—Xavier towering over her, blotting out the sun, confirming the chasm she knew existed between her fantasies and the reality of the situation between them. ‘Go away!’ Sophie exploded furiously. ‘Get back in your damn truck! Just leave me alone!’
‘I’ll do no such thing!’ He caught hold of her and dragged her back. ‘I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming back with me, Sophie. For God’s sake, woman! I know what you’ve done!’
His voice was raw and harsh, and Sophie gasped when he brought her close and held her tight against him.
‘Agustin called me from the hospital,’ he said fiercely against her hair. ‘He told me what happened. He was frantic with worry.’ Xavier took a moment to calm himself. ‘You did great, but that doesn’t mean you should ever repeat this—’ He gestured around fiercely, an expression of complete incomprehension darkening his face, and when words finally failed him he just hissed with frustration. ‘Next time, just wake me, OK?’ Xavier rode over her attempt to apologise. ‘You could have had an accident, Sophie! Don’t you understand? When you act on impulse, people get hurt—’
There was a subtle shift in his voice, enough to alert her. And when she looked into his eyes Sophie knew they were both thinking the same thing—and it had nothing to do with her reckless journey back from the village. It concerned a wicked dare made by her own drunken father, a set of keys to a high-performance car, and Xavier’s fatally impulsive kid brother.
She gasped when he dragged her close with a sudden explosion of passion. But even cloaked in his strength Sophie knew, however many ghosts she lived with, Xavier had his own—and they could drive them apart just as surely as they had brought them together.
It was a relentless game that would never end until they both faced up to what had happened years back and found closure. But until all the ghosts were banished and Xavier could talk about his brother, there was no comfort she could offer him, other than the temporary warmth and reassurance of an embrace.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ON A scale of one to ten, Sophie’s stress levels over the next few days went off the chart. Everything that had happened had encouraged her to believe that Xavier’s special brand of therapy would continue…that they might grow closer. But when he kept his distance she was forced to remind herself yet again that he was just a great doctor—and they both had a job to do.
On the morning he made a general announcement at breakfast to say that he was returning to Lima on business, her feelings came to a boil. She had to say something. If he was leaving, then she had a right to know what her job entailed. And if it bounced him into some sort of action on the personal front…
‘It won’t disrupt the rota,’ Xavier said, sweeping the room with his dark glance—a glance that simply included Sophie in with the rest of his colleagues.
Sophie reddened, knowing she had made a huge miscalculation. She wanted Xavier in every way; he wanted her services as a doctor—there was a world of difference between the two.
Determined not to dwell on it, she attacked the filing. So what if Xavier hadn’t mentioned the trip to her beforehand? She wasn’t about to trail after him everywhere he went, was she? She had her own job to do, and she—
‘Filing?’
Sophie looked up, her eyes flashing warnings, her lips still pressed in a tight, angry line.
‘Why?’ Xavier demanded in a voice full of perfectly targeted challenge.
Slamming the drawer shut, Sophie straightened up to confront him. ‘Because it needed doing.’
‘Lola can handle it.’
‘And so can I.’
Closing himself off to her had proved a waste of energy. So he’d throw this idea up in the air and wait to see where it landed, Xavier mused, riding over her testiness in a meltingly dark voice full of reason. ‘But I saw you have a free morning and thought you might like to go for a swim.’
‘Swim?’
‘You seemed to enjoy yourself the last time we went swimming, and you look like you could do with cooling off,’ he observed dryly.
‘Can’t you see I’m busy?’ She saw the look of triumph on his face as Lola walked in. As Sophie smiled a welcome at her she knew she was trespassing on Lola’s domain…knew when she was beaten too.
‘Swim?’ Xavier suggested with a touch more irony.
‘A swim would be great,’ Sophie agreed dryly.
‘You take that man up to the lake and have some fun,’ Lola advised, appearing to miss the undercurrents between them.
‘Why don’t I join you?’
They all wheeled round at the same time.
‘Yes, why don’t you?’ Sophie effused, seeing Anna. ‘That would be great, wouldn’t it, Xavier?’ At least she had the small satisfaction of seeing the glow of victory in his eyes stall.
‘Can we just go?’ he demanded impatiently.
‘I’ll get my things,’ Sophie said obligingly. It just couldn’t get any better, could it? But at least someone was happy about the situation, she mused wryly, glancing at Anna.
At the lake, Sophie pulled off her clothes to reveal the beautiful swimming costume in a shade so similar to her eyes that Xavier had picked out for her at the Rancho del Condor boutique. He was wearing the same swimming shorts as before, she noticed, relishing the sight of his naked back as he stripped off his top.
‘Look at you two,’ a shrill voice taunted from somewhere
over her head. ‘Grandma and grandpa, I presume?’
Shielding her eyes with her hand to fend off the rays of the sun, Sophie gazed up.
Completely naked, Anna stood poised on top of an overhanging ledge surveying them both—and holding her stomach in for all she was worth, Sophie thought, allowing herself an extremely gratifying moment of bitchery.
‘Xavier!’ Anna called, clearly not going to be satisfied until she had captured his attention too. ‘Race you to the other side?’
His answer was to dive in, and there was scarcely anything to show for his entry into the pool, Sophie saw, other than the series of circular ripples spreading slowly outwards. Like the thoughts in her own head, she realised, glancing at Anna. She was trying not to let her imagination run away with her, but it was difficult not to when Anna’s whole attention was so blatantly focused on Xavier.
‘Sorry, Anna,’ Xavier called as he resurfaced and shook his head to clear the water from his face. ‘This is purely relaxation for me. No races…no nothing.’ He proved the point by turning over to float on his back in silence, with only the slightest movement of his hands to steer him and keep him afloat.
Had he noted the prominent breasts, nipples outthrust…or the fact that Anna wasn’t a natural blonde, though she was certainly creative with a razor? If he had, Sophie decided, with a small smile, he was keeping his opinions to himself.
‘Coming in, Sophie?’ he drawled lazily, his voice carrying easily over the limpid water with its sounding boards of sheer, smooth-faced rock.
There was only one way to join him, and that was fast, Sophie thought, remembering how cold the water could be in the mountains. Stopping to think about it was just not an option!
When she reached his side, Xavier reached out and pulled her close. ‘Race you to the bank?’ he suggested in a low, teasing voice.
It was the first hint of intimacy between them since he’d stopped at the side of the road—and she was still feeling the effects of that, Sophie realised, as warmth flooded through her on cue.
