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He drew in a ragged breath. ‘My brother Nick was going out with Molly for years before they married, and I first met Sharla at a party when we were in our early twenties. I’d left university and was a couple of years into my telecommunications business and she’d already done several magazine covers. My career was taking off and so was hers. In many ways it was a very satisfactory relationship.’
‘Satisfactory?’ she echoed cautiously. ‘That’s an odd word to use.’
‘I can’t think of a better one. I was young and horny and she was hot. I thought we were both giving the other what they most needed.’
‘You mean sex?’ she questioned baldly.
‘I mean sex,’ he echoed as he stared at her. ‘Sorry if that offends your sensibilities, Sophie—but that’s the truth.’
He watched her teeth digging into her bottom lip, as if she might be having second thoughts about hearing this, and maybe this was his opportunity to stop and change the subject. But he was on a roll now and the words were streaming out of that dark place inside him, where he’d buried them all those years ago. ‘Right from the start I was honest with her. I said that if she was looking for permanence—for babies and wedding bells—then she should look elsewhere,’ he said. ‘We both had worlds to conquer and we were both so young. I remember she laughed when I told her the door was open any time she chose to walk away. But she didn’t.’
There was silence as he stared at her, but she didn’t break it—she just carried on looking at him with those bright blue eyes. And now the flood of dark memories were swamping him in a foul tide.
‘One day she came to me and asked whether I’d ever consider changing my mind. Whether I thought I cou
ld love her or think about marrying her. To be honest, I was confused. I thought we understood one another. I asked why she was saying all this stuff and I remember the look on her face. The way she said, A woman needs to know these things, Rafe. And because I thought she was being practical and because I knew the rock star was pursuing her, I told her no, and that if she wanted commitment, she was free to go and find it with someone else. And then...’
His voice faltered. With shock? Or surprise? That he, who had always tried to distance himself from the conflict of relationships, had become an unwilling victim of one and as a consequence was plagued by a guilt and bitter regret which wouldn’t seem to go away?
‘What, Rafe?’ she whispered, her soft voice carrying across the room towards him. ‘What happened?’
He swallowed and it felt as if a ball of barbed wire were trying to force its way down his throat. ‘She was carrying my baby,’ he said. ‘But she never told me that. She didn’t give me the chance to change my mind, or come to some mutual agreement which would have worked for us all. I didn’t know and I didn’t find out. At least, not until afterwards, when she told me what she’d done.’
‘Oh, no.’ Her face blanched as the true meaning of his words sank in. ‘Oh, Rafe.’
‘Yes.’ He looked at her quite calmly and then his voice broke. ‘She killed my baby.’
Sophie’s heart squeezed painfully as she heard the rawness in his voice and she wanted to jump up from the chair and wrap her arms tightly around him. To stroke his ravaged face with all the tenderness she possessed until some of his unbearable grief had subsided. But something held her back, some bone-deep instinct which told her to go easy around this damaged man. He had confided in her. Had told her the dark secret it was clear still haunted him. Wasn’t it enough to be understanding and kind and calm? Not go over the top with an emotional response which would help no one, least of all him.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.
‘Yeah. Me, too.’ He swallowed before rasping out the next words. ‘I would have supported her. Provided for her. Even married her. Done any damned thing she might reasonably have wanted. But I never got the chance.’
‘Because you were powerless,’ she said slowly. ‘A man always is in a situation like that. She didn’t want you to know and there was nothing else you could have done. You answered her questions truthfully because you didn’t know why she was asking them.’
‘And maybe I should have guessed,’ he said bitterly.
‘But you didn’t have that kind of relationship, did you? It was supposed to be upfront and honest, but that only works if both parties want the same thing. Was that around the time you left England?’
He nodded. ‘I couldn’t wait to get away. To leave the old, tainted life behind me. I went to Australia and started a new life there. I set up offices in Brisbane and bought the cattle station. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time—because the country was ripe for new technology. The money started pouring in and the work provided a distraction, but whenever I could I would spend any spare time I had at Poonbarra, working on the land.’
It must have been a kind of escape for him, thought Sophie, to muster those cattle and build those fences. To toil and sweat beneath the fierce and unforgiving sun. A new life, far away from the pain of the old one. Just as it had been for her.
She guessed that was why he’d rarely returned to England and why he hadn’t seen much of his family over the years, because the chance of running into Molly’s twin must have filled him with horror. She thought about what he’d said about his mother. Women hadn’t done right by Rafe Carter, had they? No wonder he’d stayed away from commitment and why he regarded them as nothing more than sexual playthings.
But today he had confronted all the darkness of his past. Did that mean he had drawn a line in the sand and could finally leave it behind? ‘Rafe—’
‘No.’ His voice was harsh now. ‘I don’t want to talk about it any more, Sophie. Do you understand?’
Oh, she understood, all right. How could she fail to? She nodded as he began to walk towards her and knew from the dark look on his face that he wanted to take out his pent-up anger and frustration on her and just how he intended to do it. Was he treating her as a convenience, using her to blot out the bitter memories of what another woman had done to him, and shouldn’t she object to that? Yet the moment he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, she didn’t care. Who cared if his passion was fuelled by anger? Was it so wrong to want him this badly?
She acknowledged the brutal hardness of his kiss, but when her hands reached up to cradle his head, he groaned and softened it. He unzipped her skirt so that it pooled around her ankles and she stepped out of it and pulled at his trouser belt, as intent on quickly removing his clothes as he was hers. But she could feel something deep in her heart being tugged as he drew her against his naked body. Some stupid little ache that made her long for something more than the satisfaction of the physical.
The rug in front of the blazing fire wasn’t particularly soft but Sophie didn’t care about that either. All she could feel was the warmth from the flames licking over their bare skin as their bodies met. Wordlessly she moved over him, straddling him. She could feel the hard bones of his hips against the softness of her thighs—and he felt very big as she brought him deep inside her. They’d never done it in this position before and her initial tentativeness was instantly banished by the smoky look of pleasure on his face as he filled her. He spread his fingers over her breasts and played with her hardened nipples as she rode him with a total lack of inhibition. And when her body began to tighten with the now familiar shimmerings of orgasm, his hands anchored her so that he went deeper still until she gasped out loud, in Greek.
* * *
She must have drifted off to sleep because when she opened her eyes, it was to find that Rafe had covered them with a blanket and his naked body was pressed against her bare back. For a moment she just revelled in the feel of his warm flesh next to hers and the way he’d slung his arm over her hips, so that his fingertips rested carelessly in the cluster of curls at her thighs. She remembered the things he’d told her about his past. The way he’d unburdened himself. Did it mean something that he’d chosen to confide in her, or was she in danger of reading too much into the situation? No matter. The future could wait. Lying there together like that was just about perfect and as she stirred a little she could feel his hand automatically begin to drift downwards, when there was a loud banging at the bedroom door.
