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Her strained eyes veiled. She was shaken, for she had not been prepared for that immediate declaration. Violent confusion and uncertainty seized hold of her. When they had been together she had felt amazingly close to him, and wildly happy, but he had turned into the coldest of strangers, retreating behind a wall of reserve where he could not be reached. He had hurt her, and she saw that hurt as a warning slap on the wrist for her own foolishness. ‘I’m not a toy you can chuck in the bin and get back out again when you feel like another game!’
His expressive mouth twisted, for that was a rather apt description of the usual dealings he had with women. ‘That’s not how I would treat you.’
‘I’m sorry…it wouldn’t work.’ Harriet rested troubled blue eyes on him. His gorgeous, dark deep-set eyes held her fast. He seemed totally stunned by the idea that she would not fall back into his hands like a ripe plum.
Experiencing a horribly inappropriate desire to wrap her arms round him, Harriet clenched her hands by her sides and studied her booted feet with fixed attention. Where had her anger gone? She didn’t know. He hadn’t even apologised. She wasn’t even sure that he knew how to apologise. Perhaps those eager to curry favour with a very rich man had always rescued him from that necessity. Say sorry, she mentally urged him. Say sorry…Say sorry…
‘There’s something else you should know about me, a mhilis.’ Rafael regarded her with the ruthless resolve that was the backbone of his character. ‘I don’t retreat from a challenge.’
‘I have to go…I need to change before I head down to the pub,’ she mumbled, slowly but surely backing away towards her vehicle.
‘Harriet…’
‘What?’ Scarcely breathing, she hovered, her entire attention welded to him like top quality industrial glue.
‘You’re extraordinary…not ordinary.’
Pleased pink blossomed in her cheeks. She could feel decent resolution and restraint seeping out of her like water swirling round a bucket full of holes. She could feel temptation knocking louder than thunder on her heart. And it spooked her into beating a very fast retreat back to the pick-up. She could still walk away because she had not allowed herself to get attached to him in any way, she reminded herself staunchly. She wasn’t out shopping for a broken heart, or a bored billionaire who would tire of her extraordinary ordinariness long before she tired of him.
*
At Dooleys, Boyce got up to play with the band. His talent with the flute was marked by the silence of an appreciative audience followed by prolonged applause. In high spirits, he came back to his sister. ‘I can’t believe I’ve only got a couple of days left in Ballyflynn,’ he confessed. ‘I want you to know that I’ve had a fantastic time and made some great new friends. Even if my offer to buy Slieveross is turned down, I’ll be a regular visitor.’
‘I’ve loved having you here.’
Suddenly her brother set his drink down with a stifled exclamation and began to rise.
‘What’s up?’
His frowning look of surprise evaporating, Boyce shook his head and resumed his seat again. ‘I thought I saw a girl I used to know, but it must have been my imagination. The lighting’s lousy in here.’
Harriet looked across the crowded room just as a tall familiar figure appeared in the doorway: it was Rafael. Several people hailed him when he strolled up to the bar to order. Long fingers wrapped round a pint of Guinness, he swung round to view the room and her heart literally jumped—so hard she almost pressed a hand to it. In a husky dark blue sweater and faded jeans, his strong jawline roughened by dark stubble, he looked stupendously sexy. As he glanced in her direction, she whipped round again, her face burning.
Rafael walked over and asked her with the utmost casualness to introduce him to her brother. She was astonished when he then sat down to engage Boyce in conversation. A ripple of perceptible interest passed round the room as attention centred on their table. His dark golden eyes amused by her wonder at his arrival, Rafael lounged back in his seat. A study in graceful indolence, he talked to her brother with sociable ease. Acquainted as she was with Rafael’s reserve, she was impressed that he had made the effort to meet Boyce.
‘You got some pulling power, girl!’ Fergal bantered in a whisper on his way past. ‘The man himself isn’t a regular here.’
Boyce was invited back to the stage to play, but to Harriet’s surprise he demurred, pleading tiredness. A moment later he angled an apologetic smile at Rafael and asked Harriet to take him back to the cottage.
‘I’ll be in touch.’ Something that might have been amusement gleamed in Rafael’s keen gaze.
Her brother turned to her in the car park and exclaimed, ‘Rafael Cavaliere…only Rafael blasted Cavaliere! You weren’t going to tell me either, were you?’
‘Tell you what?’ Harriet was astonished, for she had not realised that Rafael had been so upfront about his identity.
‘That the biggest womaniser in the Western World is your neighbour and your partner in the stables!’ Boyce snapped, tight-lipped with concern. ‘I almost fell under the table when I realised who he was. Let me tell you, no brother worth the name would let his sister fall into the clutches of a guy with Cavaliere’s reputation without saying something about it!’
Harriet got into the driver’s seat. ‘For goodness’ sake, Boyce…I’m a woman, not a kid—’
‘You couldn’t handle him. He’s into fast women. Don’t you read the tabloids? He’ll give you a fantastic time for a few weeks and then you’ll be history. If he’s hunting you, it can only be because there’s a shortage of supermodels and actresses round here!’
Pain sliced through Harriet at that telling comment from her half-sibling. Boyce fell suddenly silent, as if he realised that he had been less than tactful. But Harriet could only acknowledge that it was true: she had no hope of ever falling into the supermodel category. Hadn’t she too wondered if the secret of her attraction for Rafael was proximity and lack of competition?
‘Harriet…I didn’t mean it that way…’
‘No offence taken.’
Boyce released a measured sigh. ‘Luke really chewed you up, and you’re vulnerable right now. The last thing you need is a super-wealthy tycoon running rings round you and then forgetting your name the minute he gets bored!’
