A wary, almost frightened expression came into her eyes. ‘What do you mean about having a “lasting future”?’
‘If we talk and keep the lines of communication open, then these problems won’t occur again.’
‘You make it sound like we’re getting back together properly.’
‘Would that be such a bad thing?’ he asked in a much calmer tone than he felt. Ever since La Tomatina he’d experienced an awful sickening in the pit of his stomach whenever he thought of the day they would say goodbye for good. Those couple of days away in Brazil, when he’d called her a dozen times just to hear her voice, had convinced him they had what it took to make a new start. He’d missed her so badly he’d been on the verge of jumping into his jet the first night and demanding to be flown home.
Being with Charley felt very different this time too. Easier somehow. Stripped back.
‘Get back together?’ she asked in a tiny voice.
‘We’ve proven these past few months how good we can be together with a little compromise and sacrifice on each side. We understand each other a lot better too—you must feel that.’
‘And would I still be expected to have a baby?’
He could hear the edge in her voice but couldn’t place it.
‘Cariño, you will make a wonderful mother.’ And she would. Whatever motherhood threw at her, she would handle it magnificently.
‘Are you mad?’
His head reared back at the vehemence of her words.
‘I can’t believe you’re talking like this.’ The colour had drained from her face to leave her ashen.
A bang on his window brought them both up short.
He turned to find a man there, gesticulating and hollering abuse at him, and saw that traffic was moving again, had most likely been moving for a good few minutes, all bar the cars stuck behind them.
Raising a hand in apology, he was about to put the car back in gear when Charley opened her door.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I don’t know. Going for a walk. I need to clear my head.’
He heard her words but couldn’t comprehend them. ‘What are you talking about? It’s the middle of the night.’
All the colour that had drained from her face came back in a dark flood that reached into her eyes. Her words were a rush. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I can’t do this again.’
Grabbing her bag, she slipped out of the car and slammed the door with so much force the Lotus shook.
Raul stared at her rapidly retreating figure, his heart thumping, something sharp tearing at his throat.
What the hell had just happened?
It took a few heartbeats before the shock of her reaction dislodged and his body unfroze.
He unbuckled his seat belt, jumped out and, ignoring the dozens of angry drivers honking and waving their fists at him, slammed his own door shut.
For a moment he couldn’t see her and there were seconds when his heart seemed to stop with the panic of it all. Then he spotted her, already far in the distance in the middle of a crowded pavement.
Charley slipped through the crowds and into a narrow side street where cars were banned, not knowing and not caring where she was going. All that mattered was escaping...
A hand grabbed her arm. Her throat opened to scream but then she saw it was Raul who had hold of her.
She yanked out of his grasp. ‘Raul, please, leave me be. I want to be on my own.’
‘It’s dark—it isn’t safe to be out here on your own.’
People shuffled past giving them curious glances.
Raul muttered something and tried to steer her away from the middle of the street. She shied away from his touch.
Under the dim light of the streetlamp, she watched him run his fingers through his hair, his face a dark mask of grimness.
‘What is wrong with you?’ he asked roughly.
‘Everything!’ And with that, the tears came, not huge sobs or little wails, but a sheet of water pouring out from her eyes over which she had no control. ‘Don’t you see? Nothing’s changed. How can you even think we should get back together on a permanent basis and have little Cazorlas when everything that drove us apart in the first place is still there? How could we bring babies into a marriage like that? How can we ever bring a baby into a marriage like that?’
‘But it isn’t the same. We’ve been better together this time. You know that as well as I do.’
‘But that’s because we’ve known it’s only temporary.’
He held his hands aloft in an imploring manner. ‘It could be for ever this time.’
‘We spent three years together thinking it was for ever and, you’re right, it was all a lie. I was so desperate to meet your expectations of perfection that I lost sight of who I was, and that person is not someone who fits into your world.’