A Touch of Notoriety(50)
The question as to why she had chosen him to be her first lover was the least of Raphael’s concerns at this moment. Getting Beth home—at least, back to Cesar’s estate in Hampshire—and far away from any breath of scandal being attached to her name, because of the time she had spent here with him tonight, was Raphael’s main priority. Everything else could be discussed at a later date.
Or not, if the challenging tilt to Beth’s chin was any indication...
‘Get dressed,’ Raphael instructed harshly as he bent to collect up his own clothes.
She focused on him with effort. ‘Dressed?’
He nodded abruptly. ‘We are only about an hour away from the estate, and in the circumstances it would be best if we returned there tonight, after all.’
Best for whom? Beth wondered heavily as Raphael turned his back on her to begin pulling on his own clothes, and leaving her with no choice but to go back into the adjoining bathroom, where her clothes were, and lock the door before redressing.
Not that she thought there was any chance of Raphael entering the bathroom uninvited; he had made it more than clear that he had no intention of remaining in this hotel bedroom with her for another minute longer than he needed to!
Raphael didn’t speak to her when she came back into the bedroom a few minutes later to find him once again dressed in his three-piece suit, white shirt and meticulously knotted tie—and looking absolutely nothing like the sensual and predatory man who had made love to her such a short time ago. And whom she had made love to.
Instead he looked grimly remote as he opened the bedroom door for her to precede him out of the room and down the stairs, handing her the keys to the car so that she could continue outside as he disappeared to settle the bill with the landlord.
Any dignity Beth might have managed to salvage, after Raphael’s rejection of her when he realised her physical innocence, completely evaporated at the realisation she had just spent two hours in a hotel bedroom with a man before checking out again.
Oh, God...
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BETH’S TOTAL MISERY continued during their silent breakfast together the following morning, after a restless and sleepless night on her part. Although Raphael, apart from that brooding silence, behaved and appeared as coolly distant as ever, his expression harsh, despite his casual appearance in a pair of black denims and blue shirt.
Not that either of them ate any breakfast, the aching pain in the pit of Beth’s stomach robbing her of any appetite for food, and Raphael seeming equally uninterested as the two of them just drank several cups of coffee together in that total silence.
Raphael finally spoke as they cleared away at the end of the meal. ‘Cesar sent the jet for us overnight, and it is now refuelling and waiting at the private airport in preparation for flying us back to Argentina today.’
That Raphael couldn’t wait to get back to Buenos Aires, before no doubt discharging all responsibility for her, was more than obvious from his frostily aloof manner and the arctic chill of his gaze as he looked down his arrogant nose at her.
Beth gave a tight smile as she straightened from loading the dishwasher, ironically wearing similar clothes to Raphael: black denims and a green cotton shirt. ‘I guess those alterations to my house weren’t necessary, after all!’
Raphael’s eyes narrowed. ‘They will be very necessary when you decide to return to England.’
‘And when do you think that will be?’ she came back dryly. ‘If Cesar has his way, his little sister will never be allowed to leave Argentina ever again!’
Raphael scowled darkly. ‘I had thought you had more self-determination than to allow Cesar to dictate your movements in future.’
Beth rounded on him fiercely, her eyes flashing darkly and her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
‘How dare you talk to me like that? I haven’t finished yet,’ she added warningly as Raphael would have spoken. ‘How do you have the nerve to stand there, talking down to me because I’ve decided to at least try to be Esther and Carlos’s daughter, when your relationship with your own father is so obviously non-existent?’
Beth had spent quite a lot of the previous night sitting in a bedroom chair staring out of the window as she thought about her future as Gabriela Navarro—when she wasn’t thinking about Raphael and reliving the humiliation of his rejection of her, and his terse goodnight to her once they were back at the estate, that was! For all her words of rebellion before she and Raphael left Argentina, Beth simply couldn’t see the Navarro family happily letting her trot off back to England, and her house and job here, once Grace and Cesar were married.