by Lynne Graham
Lily was very much on edge with the knowledge that Rauf was within days of making a permanent return to Turkey. Her niece, Gemma, was ill when they arrived. Lily had to offer to stand in for a sick member of staff the following day at the travel agency. Then, Gemma was taken into hospital for emergency surgery and Hilary was frantic and unable to contact Brett. Shutting out that unappealing slice of memory, Lily remembered how she had seen Rauf off at the airport that same evening and not one word had he said about seeing her again or not seeing her again or indeed anything else. But that had been the last time she’d seen or heard from him. Once she had called his mobile phone just to check he was still alive and he had answered and she had not had the nerve to speak.
When Rauf strode back into the bedroom, Lily gave him an aghast look for she had lost track of time. Having intended to be dressed and elsewhere by the time he reappeared, she just dived under the sheet like a little kid, leaving nothing but some trailing hair showing.
Rauf was very encouraged by the fact that Lily was still in his bed an hour after the event. In particular, an event that had been a lot less of an event than it should have been. She was still naked too, which meant she was a captive audience.
‘Lily…’
‘Go away…I want to get dressed!’ Lily launched from below the sheet, feeling exceedingly foolish.
Rauf hunkered down by the side of the bed, inched up the sheet about three inches and met frantic blue eyes. ‘I’ve been a total inconsiderate bastard but I do care about you.’
‘Prove it then…go away!’ Lily urged chokily, thinking that that noncommittal word, ‘care’ had always come very readily to Rauf’s lips around her. But that word promised nothing and while she’d waited on a phone that had never rung at the age of twenty-one she had learned the hard way that his concept of ‘caring’ could mean absolutely nothing too.
‘I can’t stand it when you’re upset and you won’t let me hold you!’ Rauf fired back at her in immediate frustration.
At that, Lily lifted her head a little. He sounded so sincere. ‘I just don’t understand you….’
‘Why would you even want to?’ Rauf asked her, gathering strength by the second on that reassuring piece of news. ‘I’m a guy. I’m supposed to be different.’
‘You’re too different,’ Lily told him helplessly. ‘I don’t know where I am with you.’
‘In my bed beneath my sheet and I’m going to rip you out of there if you don’t come out under your own steam,’ Rauf told her steadily.
Fierce resentment hurtled up through Lily. ‘You do that…and I promise you, I’ll thump you!’
Dark golden eyes arrowed over her angry face in astonishment at that threat. ‘I was only teasing…’
No, she knew he hadn’t been. On that level, she knew him well. Ripping off the sheet would not have cost Rauf a second of hesitation. He was a stranger to patience.
Lily shimmied up from under the sheet, carrying it carefully with her until her head hit the pillows again. She didn’t even think about what she was doing because with every moment that passed a far more engrossing conviction had been growing on her. It was as if time had gone into reverse. It was spooky. Somehow, somewhere between vacating the bedroom and returning to it, Rauf had switched back into being the male she remembered him being in London. More relaxed, less abrasive, not a shade of coldness or scorn or reserve about him and there was warmth in his beautiful eyes again. So what had changed? No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop staring at him.
It was a bad move, she conceded dizzily because, as usual, Rauf looked drop-dead gorgeous. Sheathed in black jeans, he could have sold racks of them to besotted women and his grey tee shirt was designer casual and made him seem much more approachable than a business suit did. And then there was him, the guy in the clothes. Black hair still damp from the shower, the riveting attraction of that lean, hard-boned face and the dark, deepset eyes with only a restive glitter of gold pinned to her with an intensity she could feel.
Rauf sank down on the edge of the bed and spread two lean brown hands. ‘I was really surprised that you were a virgin. I know you said you were but I didn’t believe you.’
At that sudden confession, Lily blinked in slow motion. ‘You mean…you never believed me?’
‘I did when we first met…most of the time,’ he qualified, opting for total truth on that score. ‘But sometimes I did wonder if it was just a clever way of trying to wring a marriage proposal out of me.’
Lily lost colour and studied him in frank reproach even as resentment made her bridle. ‘You told me how you felt about marriage. I knew that what we had was going nowhere.’
Strangely enough, that concluding statement annoyed the hell out of Rauf.
‘There was nowhere for it to go,’ Lily continued helplessly, wondering why his stubborn jawline had clenched as if she had said something offensive. ‘I lived in England. You lived here. All that was on offer was a casual affair.’
‘I don’t do casual,’ Rauf drawled, brilliant golden eyes challenging.
Her lush mouth tightened and her lashes screened her gaze, her lovely face shadowing. ‘You just did…here, with me,’ she breathed unsteadily, her throat tightening because talking about anything so intimate did not come easily to her. ‘I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the way you behaved afterwards—’
Rauf leant forward, closed one hand over hers. ‘I told you that I—’
‘That you were totally wrapped up in yourself as usual,’ Lily sliced in helplessly.
Hugely disconcerted by that condemnation, Rauf tightened his lean brown fingers over hers. ‘That’s not what I said—’
‘But what it comes down to. You didn’t care…’ Lily framed painfully. ‘About how I felt that you were disappointed.’
‘Disappointed? Is that what you think?’ Rauf demanded in disbelief, ‘totally wrapped up in yourself as usual’ still lingering with a sting he couldn’t believe and keen to shift the dialogue into safer channels. ‘How could you think I was disappointed with you?’
‘I don’t want to discuss that…’ Lily became very evasive when it came to the point of sharing how she had reached that conclusion.
Lacing his other hand into her hair, Rauf tugged her forward and devoured her mouth with a passionate hunger that had a megawatt effect on her startled system. Heart banging fit to burst, pulses racing, Lily looked up at Rauf with stunned eyes as he sprang upright, peeled off his tee shirt over his head and unzipped his jeans.
‘Rauf…?’ Lily whispered in a daze.
The boxer shorts landed in a heap beside the discarded jeans. Glorious as a Greek god, he had the additional appeal of being infinitely more hot-blooded for he sported a bold erection. Lily flushed to the roots of her hair but a wanton little throb thrummed deep down inside her in response.
‘Could I persuade you to disappoint me again?’ Rauf asked with sizzling effect.
Lily sort of slid down the bed into a more encouraging position without even thinking about it and ten seconds later Rauf was melded to her like a second skin. And if the first time had struck her as incredible, the second time qualified as wild. Afterwards, she fell asleep in his arms floating high above planet earth, got woken up to disappoint him again at some length. Then with a boundless energy that could only impress her when she honestly thought she would never move again, he answered a phone call, pulled on his clothes, said he’d order dinner for them and that he had to return that call. From the door, he gazed back at her, vibrant golden eyes centring on her again and he strode back, threw himself down on the bed to extract a last lingering kiss and groaned out loud at having to drag himself away.
‘Later…’ he promised huskily.
The sun was going down behind the shutters when Lily tottered out of bed to take advantage of his shower. She felt like a woman lost in an erotic dream. She felt sublime. He made her feel so loved. Wasn’t that strange? It was only sexual love. She knew that, of course she did. She tol
d herself that she was not naive enough to start thinking that Rauf’s incredible passion for her body meant anything more. But she was awash with images of having been held close and showered in endless compliments too.
‘You’re exquisite…’ he had said.
‘You’re perfect for me…’ he had sighed.
‘I find you irresistible…’
For the moment, Lily affixed, reflecting back to that last assurance. She was in love with a male who would never regard her as anything more than a small part of his life, who would never say the love word even under torture and who would always be very, very careful to promise nothing he could not deliver.
Rauf had once described the staunchly traditional Kasabian family to her and Lily sighed at the ironic damage that that trio of matriarchal figures—his great-grandmother, grandmother and mother—had done to their own fondest hopes of marrying him off. For a start, Rauf had been educated at an English public school and literally raised between two different cultures.
But when he was eighteen his family had begun inviting over the daughters of family friends and business acquaintances and telling him that he didn’t need to get married for a few years but that there was no harm in choosing early and settling on a long engagement. Over-protective of him, no doubt aware that with his looks and wealth he would be targeted by designing women in droves, his female relatives had been desperate to get him safely welded to some suitable girl even before he’d gone to university. Of course, given Rauf’s force of character and stubborn nature, all that pressure had had the exact opposite effect. Staying single had become a burning crusade.
When she returned to the bedroom, she discovered that her case had been brought up. Having dried her hair, she was in the act of clipping it back when she recalled Rauf’s preference and then, smiling, she left it loose. As she put on a pale green cotton skirt and a fitted, short-sleeved white shirt she thought about how much stronger she had grown since she was sixteen. At sixteen, naively believing that her long blonde hair was responsible for drawing Brett’s attention to her, she had gone out one Saturday and had it cut to within two inches of her skull. Hilary had been shocked but Brett had just laughed and had continued to target her. Apart from the occasional trim, Lily now wore her hair long in defiance of the timid teenager she had once been. But she would wear it loose only for Rauf’s pleasure.
Rauf was in the main room in the old part of the house still talking on the phone. His lean, strong face flashed into a brilliant smile of welcome that left her giddy. He closed an arm round her, finished his call and led her outside to a charming old stone-built arbour lit with lanterns that overlooked the lush gardens. Drinks and an astonishing variety of appetisers on tiny plates were brought by a manservant.
‘Mucver…courgette. Piyaz…that is haricot and this one is sigara boregi…cheese pastries.’ Explaining what each was, Rauf encouraged Lily to try a little of everything and he watched her enjoyment of Turkish cuisine with unconcealed pride.
It was a fantastic meal. Even Rauf seemed taken aback by the number of courses that appeared and the wide selection of dishes.
‘Do you eat like this every night?’ Lily could not help asking.
‘Not unless it’s a special occasion.’ Rauf shook his proud dark head and laughed. ‘This feast can only be in honour of my guest. As Sonngul is remote, it is rare for me to entertain here but to offer the ultimate in hospitality is a matter of pride to all Turkish people.’
He asked her about the nursery school where she worked and she told him about the children she taught. Having eaten, however, she began to feel guilty that even a few hours had passed without her pressing Rauf to a task that surely ought to be tackled as soon as possible. The sooner Rauf acquired the evidence he wanted to prove Brett’s guilt, the sooner Hilary could be told about the disastrous financial losses about to engulf the travel agency.
‘Perhaps we could take a look at Harris Travel’s bank statements and stuff now,’ Lily suggested rather awkwardly.
A wry smile curved his beautiful, sensual mouth. ‘I have no need of your assistance in that line, güzelim.’
‘But isn’t that why you brought me here?’ Lily queried in surprise. ‘To help?’
‘That was an excuse,’ Rauf admitted. ‘On my behalf, discreet enquiries are already being made through the head office of that Turkish bank in London. I have considerable influence and in due course the confidential information that I require will be given to me.’
That smooth explanation shook Lily, for she had never dreamt that his invitation to Sonngul might not be what it had seemed. ‘You don’t need me at all?’
‘How can you ask me that when you met my every need this afternoon?’ The irreverent look of shameless intimacy in Rauf’s dark golden gaze fired hot pink across Lily’s troubled and increasingly weary face. ‘But as I have already told you, I didn’t want you muddying the waters of my investigation either.’
‘You’re very clever at concealing your true motives,’ Lily remarked tightly.
‘Our situation has changed since our first meeting at the Aegean Court. I didn’t trust you then,’ Rauf reminded her levelly. ‘But I still want the evidence that will nail Gilman’s hide to the wall. I make no apology for that.’
Lily sighed heavily. ‘I’d dearly like to see him punished too but…that’s going to hurt my family a lot.’
‘I’m afraid there’s no room for negotiation on the prosecution front.’ Rauf’s jawline squared. ‘But I see no reason why your family should suffer too.’
‘But they will suffer,’ Lily muttered painfully. ‘There’s nothing you can do about that.’
Rauf looked amused. ‘Of course there is…I won’t allow your family to be ruined. I’ll just refinance Harris Travel.’
In receipt of that extraordinarily generous proposition, Lily stiffened in astonishment. She also found herself wondering if that offer was the direct result of her having met his ‘every need’ in bed. It was a demeaning thought, which made it impossible for her to continue meeting his eyes. ‘Neither Dad or Hilary could accept that. You’ve lost money and they’ve lost money but Harris Travel is our business and responsibility and Brett was Hilary’s husband.’
‘I’ll deal with it. You don’t need to worry about anything.’ With cool assurance, Rauf stroked a light forefinger in a soothing caress across the back of her clenched hand where it rested on the table. ‘I’ll take care of it all. Trust me.’
Still in turmoil from the shock of that offer of further cash support, Lily tugged her hand shakily free and stood up. ‘If I promise not to contact anyone, will you have me taken back to my hotel?’
In one lithe movement, Rauf sprang upright. ‘But why should you want to leave?’
‘Because I feel that what happened between us today…and this horrible situation with Brett are getting much too tangled up together!’
But before she could walk back into the house, Rauf stepped into her path. A lean hand pushed up her chin. Keen dark golden eyes searched her strained face. ‘You don’t want Brett prosecuted,’ he condemned in a tone so chilling that Lily trembled.
‘I do…it’s you who doesn’t understand—’
‘Make me,’ he urged.
As briefly as she could, Lily explained how much her family had already endured in recent times: Joy’s long illness, which had worn Hilary to the bone, the loss of the Harris home in the divorce settlement, Douglas Harris’s subsequent depression. Rauf’s lean, handsome features grew even more grim as he listened to that recital of woes, all of them brought about or exacerbated by Brett Gilman’s monstrous lack of concern for his own children.
‘But there’s no way that Hilary or my father would accept more money from you,’ Lily reiterated in a driven undertone. ‘And I don’t want to listen to you offer that just because I…I slept with you! Can’t you see how that makes me feel?’
‘No. What you see is not what I see. You’re my woman and I will look after you. There is no shame in
that for you and what sort of man would I be if I didn’t support you in such a crisis? I’ll find a way to make my financial help acceptable to them. Call it pure selfishness, if you like. How could I stand by and do nothing while you worry about your family?’
The fierce sincerity with which Rauf voiced those arguments in his own defence and his supportive words touched Lily deep.
‘You’re not going back to your hotel,’ he informed her, still inflamed that she could even have considered that as an option.
‘But I ought to…’ Lily groaned.
‘To some degree, I’m also to blame for the freedom with which Gilman was able to steal from all of us.’
Lily frowned. ‘How?’
‘My last accountant was a family friend. I should’ve suggested that he retire much sooner than I did,’ Rauf explained ruefully. ‘His health was failing and the job was too demanding but still he clung to it. The very first contract payment that failed to arrive from Harris Travel should’ve been noted and questioned, but it wasn’t.’
‘That was unfortunate,’ Lily conceded as Rauf walked her back indoors.
‘That oversight must’ve encouraged Gilman to believe that he could get away with a lot more.’
Lily smothered a guilty yawn. She was so tired she might have been moving in a dream. All the unsettling events of the past forty-eight hours were weighing in on her at once.
‘You’re totally exhausted.’ With a rueful laugh, Rauf swept her slight body up into his arms and carried her back to his bedroom, where he laid her on the bed.
The internal house phone rang and he answered it. The news that a senior officer from the jandarma, the section of the army responsible for law enforcement in rural areas, had driven over to Sonngul to request a meeting with him focused Rauf’s thoughts fast…
CHAPTER SIX