A Touch of Notoriety(17)

That gentleness, along with Raphael’s reassuring warmth, and the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek, only made Beth cry all the harder.

These past few days had been—Beth couldn’t even begin to describe how awful they had been!

Going back to Buenos Aires with Grace. Seeing her own likeness to the Navarros, most especially to Esther. Even the similarity of her own stubborn determination to Cesar’s impossible arrogance! And the results of those blood tests, no matter how much Beth verbally denied it, had completely unsettled her.

To the point that she had desperately needed to escape, to flee the demand being made of her to accept she was Gabriela Navarro and not Beth Blake.

But returning to England, seeing the alterations being made on her home, arriving at Cesar’s estate, with its high walls and dozen or so security guards, had only succeeded in making the possibility of her really being Gabriela Navarro seem all the more real, not less so.

More real than Beth could emotionally deal with.

It was too much. All of it. The whole idea, of her being—becoming, the Argentinian heiress Gabriela Navarro was so totally off the charts of Beth’s comprehension that, no matter how she might try to pretend and behave to the contrary, Beth knew she was in serious danger of being totally overwhelmed by it all.

Even the name Gabriela was foreign to her.

Gabriela Esther Carlotta Navarro. Esther for her mother, Carlotta in memory of Carlos Navarro’s mother...

And how could that possibly be Beth, when she barely understood a word of Spanish, let alone spoke it?

It couldn’t be.

And yet somewhere, deep inside her, Beth had the uneasy—the unacceptable!—feeling that it really was...

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘Do you believe that I’m her, too?’

‘Yes.’

Raphael was so much like Cesar: no ifs, ands or buts, just that harsh and implacable affirmative! ‘What makes you so certain?’ Beth frowned up at him.

He breathed deeply. ‘You could not possibly remember me, but—I knew Cesar’s sister as a baby.’

Her eyes widened. ‘I didn’t realise that...’

He smiled tightly. ‘There is no reason why you should have done so. But yes, I am as convinced as everyone else that you are Gabriela Navarro.’

‘Why?’

‘Obviously you look so much like Esther and Carlos. And you are as fiercely stubborn as Cesar when you argue,’ he added teasingly. ‘But I can also see traces of that much younger Gabriela in you, too. She was utterly adorable and charming, even at two years of age, but also very determined in her nature, decided what she wanted or where she needed to be, and ensured that she got there.’ He chuckled softly.

Beth eyed him teasingly. ‘You think I’m adorable and charming?’

‘And, do not forget, very determined,’ he reminded her lightly.

‘But what if I still don’t want to be her?’ Beth demanded distractedly, still trying to assimilate the information that she—Gabriela—and Raphael had known each other over twenty years ago. And that Raphael had obviously felt the same brotherly indulgent affection for Gabriela as Cesar had.

‘Is that the reason you are upset?’

‘Yes,’ she admitted huskily.

‘Then I would say that you are unique in not wishing to be the young, beautiful, and very wealthy Navarro heiress,’ Raphael drawled dryly.

Beth sighed heavily. ‘Everyone dreams of being wealthy enough to one day not have to worry about money again. But not at the sacrifice of their other hopes and dreams.’

‘And what are your other hopes and dreams?’

‘To become the best editor I know how to be, and maybe even find and edit that one special book that’s going to take the world by storm!’ she revealed fiercely.

‘And you do not believe you can do those things as Gabriela Navarro?’

‘I know I can’t!’

‘The Gabriela I knew all those years ago would have ensured that she did exactly as she wished to do in her adult life,’ Raphael said softly.

‘Cesar’s answer to that would seem to be to simply buy a publishing company for me,’ she muttered disgustedly.

He smiled ruefully. ‘That is the way Cesar deals with such problems. It does not have to be your way also.’

‘No,’ Beth acknowledged doubtfully.

‘Take a deep breath and learn to deal with one problem at a time, Beth,’ Raphael advised huskily. ‘If you stop and consider, you have already done so. You are here, back in England, as you wished to be, and tomorrow you will return to your job, also as you wished,’ he explained as she looked up at him questioningly. ‘You have free will, Beth, are over twenty-one, and so at liberty to live your life in any way that you choose.’