A Touch of Notoriety(55)

‘Physically?’ His next harsh comment completely alleviated that particular worry.

She grimaced. ‘I’m a little sore. But otherwise, no, you didn’t hurt me.’

A frown creased his brow. ‘I did not know—I was a little rough with you, considering your...innocence.’

‘I really don’t want to talk about this any more, Raphael!’ Beth pulled out of his grasp, her gaze avoiding meeting that piercing blue one. ‘I’m pale because I didn’t sleep well, that’s all. I’ll sleep on the plane and be absolutely fine by the time we reach Buenos Aires.’ She hoped.

That nagging pain in the pit of her stomach seemed to have spread to her side, too, now, and increased in intensity. So maybe their depth of lovemaking last night had somehow set off some sort of reaction inside her?

How embarrassing was that?

‘Could we just go now, Raphael?’ Her eyes flashed darkly as she looked up at him challengingly, heaving a relieved sigh as he gave a brief nod before indicating with his hand that she should precede him outside.

And with any luck, Beth could escape into that bedroom at the back of the Navarro plane as soon as they had taken off, bury her head beneath the bedcovers, and just sleep for the whole tedious journey to Buenos Aires.

Well away from the disturbing Raphael Cordoba...





CHAPTER TWELVE



‘BETH?’ RAPHAEL SHOOK her gently by the shoulder as he sat down on the side of the bed in the cabin at the back of the Navarro jet, where Beth had disappeared to, and apparently been sleeping, almost from the moment the plane took off from England. ‘Beth!’ he repeated more firmly as he received no response.

She gave a groan as she turned onto her back and slowly opened her lids, her eyes appearing dark and slightly unfocused rather than the clear and challenging glitter Raphael was used to. ‘Are we there?’ She pushed back the long tangle of blond hair from her face.

‘We will shortly begin our descent,’ Raphael answered her distractedly: if anything Beth looked paler to him now than she had earlier. ‘Are you still...in discomfort?’ he amended tightly as he remembered her angry reaction to the last time they had this conversation.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Raphael...!’ She reacted just as impatiently this time, too, shooting him an irritated glance from beneath lowered brows as she pushed herself up against the pillows.

‘I am merely concerned—’

‘I’m fine!’ Beth glared at him in the hopes of hiding her grimace of pain from him; far from going away, the pain in her side seemed to have got worse! ‘What are you doing?’ She flinched back as Raphael reached a hand out towards her.

‘Checking to see if you have a temperature.’ Raphael scowled at her reaction.

‘I would be flushed, not pale, if I had a temperature,’ she scoffed dismissively.

Raphael ignored her protests as he touched his hand against her forehead. ‘You feel hot...’

‘So would you if you’d had your head buried under the bedcovers for hours!’ Beth swatted his hand away exasperatedly before pulling ineffectually at the bedcovers he sat on. ‘For goodness’ sake, move, Raphael, so that I can get out of bed and come through to the main cabin and strap myself in for landing.’

He remained exactly where he was as he continued to look at her frowningly. ‘Perhaps I should call Cesar and ask him to have a doctor standing by for when we arrive—’

‘And perhaps you should just do as I ask and go away,’ Beth instructed through gritted teeth.

He stared at her in obvious frustration for several long seconds. A penetrating stare that Beth met head on, her chin raised stubbornly.

There was no way, absolutely no way, that she was going to admit to the amount of pain she was in. She certainly wasn’t going to submit herself to some sort of internal examination—along with an embarrassing explanation as to why Raphael felt it was necessary—the moment she arrived at Cesar’s apartment in Buenos Aires. Not only would that be too humiliating, it was likely to cause trouble between Cesar and Raphael.

She might be angry with Raphael, might inwardly wish that he felt the same way about her as she did him, but that didn’t mean she wanted to cause a rift between Cesar and Raphael. As there was sure to be if Cesar learnt just how close she and her bodyguard—former bodyguard—had become these past few days.

Raphael gave a shake of his head. ‘I do not believe this amount of...discomfort is normal, in these circumstances—’