A Dangerous Taste Of Passion

Lily chewed on her lower lip. ‘I suppose you guessed I hadn’t gone for a walk?’

‘I did not give it a great deal of thought,’ retorted Rafe not altogether truthfully. But he knew exactly what she meant.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, Lily didn’t know whether to believe him or not. He was wearing black this evening, or some dark colour anyway. It accentuated his disturbing appeal and, despite her irritation, Lily was not immune to it.

‘Are you going to tell my father I was lying to him?’ she persisted, and Rafe made a careless gesture with his hands.

‘Why should I?’ he asked indifferently. ‘You are not a child, Ms Fielding. If you choose to behave recklessly, that is your...um...funeral, no?’

Lily’s expression was mutinous. ‘So why did you offer to look for me?’

Rafe shook his head. ‘I could say I was concerned about you, but in all honesty I was more concerned about the poor bastardo who might be arrested as a—what do you say?—a Peeping Tom, no?’

Lily held up her head. ‘There was no one else around,’ she insisted.

‘You are sure?’

She wasn’t. Remembering her nerves when she’d heard the drums earlier, and her belief that there had been someone hiding in the trees, Lily had no answer to that.

‘Well, as you can see, I am safely home,’ she said stiffly. ‘Don’t let us keep you.’

Rafe’s teeth ground together in frustration. ‘Do you think it is wise to alert your father to your return until you have had time to change?’

‘I’m sure Daddy is working in his study. He’s probably forgotten all about my absence by now.’

‘You think?’ Rafe’s dark eyes swept down her body. ‘Having met Father Fielding—’

‘It’s the Reverend Fielding, actually.’

‘Bien.’ Rafe allowed himself to be corrected. ‘No obstante, having met Reverend Fielding, I would not put my faith in that belief.’ He gestured to the house behind him. ‘I am of the opinion that he is waiting for us both to return.’

Lily’s face flamed. ‘Well, so what? He’s unlikely to ask what I’ve been doing while you’re here.’

‘Possibly not.’ Rafe thought he was being extremely patient in the circumstances. ‘But, perdón, is that not part of your bikini dangling from your fingers? It is, as they say, a dead giveaway, no?’

Lily caught her breath. She’d forgotten she was carrying the briefs. And how revealing was that?

Rafe sucked in a breath. ‘I assume you are aware there are certain—illegal—activities taking place at this moment in the old slave cabins at the end of the beach.’

Lily suppressed the urge to cross her legs. How did he know what was going on in the old cabins? It increased the possibility that someone else might have been watching her? she thought uneasily.

She shivered. There was something disturbingly intimate about this conversation.

‘I... I’d better go and change, señor,’ she said, deciding she might have misjudged him. But when she attempted to go past him, Rafe stepped into her path.

‘You should not take your safety for granted, you know,’ he said softly, and Lily suddenly found it difficult to take a breath. He put out his hand and lifted a strand of her wet hair, rubbing its silky texture between his thumb and forefinger. ‘It would be very easy for...someone...to take advantage of you.’

Lily swallowed a little convulsively and Rafe’s hand fell to his side. Whatever vibes she’d been giving off, he’d evidently thought better of the impulse to touch her.

Which was a shame because, for a heart-stopping moment, she’d wanted him to pull her into his arms.

And how crazy was that?

He stepped back, spreading his hands again in a gesture of acceptance. But when Lily moved to leave, he said softly, ‘Please, when next we meet do not address me as señor. My name is Rafe.’ His lips twisted. ‘I wish you would use it.’

The air left Lily’s lungs on an uneven breath. Had he sensed what she’d been thinking? It was difficult to know. But one thing was certain—on an island as small as Orchid Cay, the chances of them meeting again were almost unavoidable. And she should remember that.

‘I must go,’ she said and hurried past him, her flesh tingling uncontrollably at the brush of his taut muscular frame against hers.

He followed her inside, intercepting her father, enabling her to make her escape upstairs. And for that she was grateful. But if he hadn’t turned up as he had, her father would probably have been none the wiser.

He was gone by the time she came downstairs again. She’d taken a quick shower and changed into clean shorts and a tee shirt. But her father was standing in the doorway to his study, and one look at his face as he bid her to join him warned her that he expected an explanation.

‘Where have you been?’ he demanded at once and, although Lily knew he must have been worried about her, she resented his domineering tone. ‘You didn’t say you were going for a walk on the beach. You’ve been gone more than an hour!’

Lily pressed her lips together, silencing her indignation. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘That’s not good enough, Lilian.’ William Fielding frowned. ‘You know how I worry about you.’

‘I am sorry.’

Lily didn’t know what else to say, but fortunately William Fielding had other things on his mind.

‘We’ve had a visitor,’ he said abruptly. ‘A Señor Oliveira. From Orchid Point. I would have liked you to meet him.’

‘I did meet him,’ began Lily, not knowing what Oliveira might have said and determined not to prove herself any more of a liar than she felt already.

But her father wouldn’t let her finish. ‘I know that,’ he interrupted her shortly. ‘He offered to go and find you. I don’t know what you were thinking, Lily. You must know what goes on at the other end of the beach after dark.’

She was contemplating her response when her father spoke again. ‘You’ve changed your clothes,’ he said, having just noticed her damp hair. ‘Wasn’t it a little late to have a shower?’

‘I was hot,’ declared Lily, refusing to be provoked. She paused. ‘What did Señor Oliveira want? I didn’t know you knew him.’

‘I didn’t until this evening.’ William Fielding’s brows remained creased. ‘I assume he introduced himself to you when he found you.’

Lily sighed. ‘Actually, I’d already met him. He came into the agency a few days ago looking for Ray.’

Reverend Fielding frowned. ‘I wonder what he wanted with Myers.’

Lily shrugged. ‘To hire a boat, maybe.’

‘Oh, I think not.’ Her father shook his head. ‘I’m sure a man like him will have his own yacht.’

Now it was Lily’s turn to frown. ‘A man like him?’ She echoed his words. ‘Who is he? What do you know about him?’

‘Only what I’ve read in the newspapers,’ replied her father defensively, retiring behind his desk. ‘You must have heard he used to run a successful group of companies in New York.’ He stared at her, his eyes intent suddenly. ‘I can’t believe that piece of gossip slipped either yours or Dee-Dee’s notice.’

Lily tried to control the warmth that flooded into her throat as he spoke.