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‘You’re so annoying.’

He’d got under her skin with his humour and the easy, amused self-assurance that was like a battering ram when it came to knocking through her defences.

‘When I first met you, you told me that I’d do well to let my brother come to me instead of hunting him down. Maybe I’m beginning to see your point.’

He curved his hand over her smooth shoulder, cupped the side of her face and gently caressed the satiny soft skin.

‘I like the way you shiver when I touch you. It makes me think that you might want the same thing I do. To stay here for a little while longer. See if my brother decides to come to me before I resume the business of trying to find him.’

‘But you were anxious to find him urgently, in case he’d gone back to his bad old teenage ways and was finding solace in drugs.’

‘Can I ask you something?’ He continued to stroke the side of her face, gently pushing his fingers through her hair.

‘I know what you’re going to say, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Us…this unplanned thing… I know you can be extremely convincing and you make it sound so reasonable, but…’

‘I’m not going to hurt you, Hope. I assure you we’re on the same page when it comes to this. No emotional involvement. Your heart is safe with me but as it happens that wasn’t what I was going to ask you. I was going to ask whether you really think my brother might have been tempted to go back down the road he once travelled all those years ago.’

‘No.’

‘It doesn’t seem as though you had to give that idea much thought.’

‘When you told me about Carlos and his brush with drugs as a teenager, I admit I was shocked. For a little while, I did ask myself whether I’d read him wrong, whether he would have been tempted to do that again. But no, that was just a fleeting concern. I’m absolutely sure he hasn’t done that.’

‘What makes you so certain?’

Because he’s happy now. Because he might have gone away to think about how to deal with the situation with you, the job, telling you about his sexuality but… I know he’s happy.

But she could say nothing to Javier about any of that without revealing truths that weren’t hers to reveal.

For the first time, she felt a twinge of unease at all the things she couldn’t tell him.

‘I know him,’ was all she could say with a little shrug. ‘We have a very honest and open relationship. I would bet my life that he’s not involved in any substance abuse at all. He doesn’t even like the smell of cigarette smoke, never mind anything else.’

‘I believe you,’ Javier said slowly, searching her gaze. ‘So, let’s stay here for a couple more days, querida. I’m not making promises I have no intention of keeping. What you get with me is exactly what you see. I couldn’t be further from the examples that were set for you when you were growing up. I don’t lie.’

Hope could feel the ground shifting beneath her feet. She could hear the soft persuasion in his voice. Temptation beckoned because she wanted him so much.

A couple more days…

Where was the harm in that? She was living a little on the wild side but what was wrong with doing that? He was right. There would be no emotional involvement and without that, there could be no threat of getting hurt or of having her heart broken.

The men her mother had dated had always strung her along with empty promises and self-serving flattery.

Javier wasn’t doing that. He couldn’t have been more honest with her.

I’m not scared of getting hurt, she told herself, I’m scared of stepping out of my comfort zone for five minutes.

This wasn’t a risk. It was an adventure and it was about time she had an adventure. For just a few more days, anyway…

CHAPTER NINE

SPRAWLED ACROSS THE enormous king-sized bed, Javier watched Hope with deep pleasurable satisfaction as she got dressed.

He’d been torn.

This was night two of playing truant from his original plan, which was to find his brother, establish what the hell was going on and then hotfoot it back to work in record time.

What he really wanted to continue to do was what they’d been doing for the past two days. Making love, eating as and when the mood took them, wandering down to his private cove to sunbathe…and then making love there all over again.