In fact, his entire security team, along with Cam, Ryan and Devon, had followed him from the hotel into the crisp autumn air. Now they gathered around him and they looked as though they were concerned. About him.
He blew out his breath in frustration and then shoved the pair of sparkly, ultra-feminine shoes at Ramon, his head of security.
“Find the woman who wore these shoes.”
“What would you like me to do with her when I find her?” Ramon asked in a sober voice that told Rafael he’d definitely find the woman in short order. Ramon didn’t typically fail in any task Rafael set him to.
Rafael shook his head. “You aren’t to do anything. Report back to me. I’ll handle the situation.”
He was treated to a multitude of frowns.
“I don’t like it, Rafe,” Ryan said. “This screams setup. It’s not impossible that your memory loss hasn’t already been leaked to the press or even a few confidential sources who haven’t yet gone wide with it. A woman could manipulate you in a thousand ways by using it against you.”
“Yes, she could,” Rafael said calmly. “There’s something about this woman that bugs me, though.”
Cam’s brow lifted in that imperious way that intimidated so many people. “Do you recognize her? Is she someone you knew?”
Rafael frowned. “I don’t know. Yet. But I’m going to find out.”
Bryony Morgan stepped from the shower, wrapped a towel around her head and then pulled on a robe. Even a warm shower hadn’t stopped the rapid thump of her pulse. Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to let go of her rage.
Have we met?
His question replayed over and over until she wanted to throw something. Preferably at him.
How could she have been so stupid? She wasn’t typically one to lose her mind over a good-looking man. She’d been immune to a good many with charm and wit.
But from the time Rafael de Luca had stepped onto her island, he’d been it for her. No fighting. No resisting. He was the entire package. Perfection in those uptight business suits he wore. Oh, she’d managed to get them off of him. By the time he left the island, his pilot hadn’t even recognized him.
He’d gone from a sober, uptight, type A personality to laid-back, relaxed and well vacationed.
And in love.
She closed her eyes against the sudden surge of pain that swamped her.
He obviously hadn’t been in love. Or anything else. He came. He saw. And he conquered. She was just too hopelessly naive and too in love herself to consider his true motives.
That may well have been the case, but it didn’t mean he was going to get away scot-free with his lies and deception. She didn’t care what she had to do, he wasn’t going to develop the land she’d sold him into some ginormous tourist mecca and turn the entire island into some playground for bored, wealthy jet-setters.
It had taken all her courage to crash his party tonight, but once she’d learned the purpose—a gathering of his potential investors for the project he planned to ruin her land with—she’d been determined to confront him. Right there in their midst. Daring him to lie to her when the entire room knew of his plans.
She hadn’t counted on him denying that he’d ever met her. But then how better to paint her as the village idiot? Or some crazy do-gooder granola bar out to halt “progress.”
The force of just how wrong she’d been threatened to flatten her. She sighed heavily and shook her head. She had to calm down or her blood pressure was going to skyrocket.
Slowly she unclenched her jaw. Her teeth were ground together with enough force to break them.
Where was room service? She was starving. She rubbed her belly apologetically and made a conscious effort to let all the anger and stress flow out of her body. It couldn’t be good for the baby to have her mother so pissed off all the time.
She gritted her teeth before she realized that she’d done so again. Forcing her jaw to relax once more, she performed the arduous task of combing out her hair and blow-drying it.
She was finishing up when a loud knock sounded at her door.
“Food. Finally,” she murmured as she turned off the hair dryer.
She hurried to the door and swung it open. But there was no food cart or hotel employee. Rafael stood there, her abandoned shoes dangling from his fingertips.
She stepped back and tried to slam the door, but he stuck his foot in, preventing her from shutting it.
As indomitable as ever, he pushed his way in and stood in front of her. She hated how small and vulnerable she felt against him. Oh, she hadn’t always hated it. She’d loved how protected and cherished he’d made her feel when she curled her much smaller body into his.
She bared her teeth into a snarl. “Get out or I’ll call hotel security.”
“You could,” he said calmly. “But as I own this hotel, you might have a hard time having me thrown out.”
Her eyes narrowed. Of course he’d own the hotel she’d chosen to stay in. What were the odds of that?
“I’ll call the police then. I don’t care who you are. You can’t force yourself into my hotel room.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I came to return your shoes. Does that make me a criminal?”
“Oh, come on, Rafael! Stop playing stupid games. It’s beneath you. Or it should be. I get it. Believe me—I get it! I got it as soon as you looked right through me at the party. Though I have to say, the ‘have we met?’ line? That was priceless. Just priceless. Not to mention overkill.”
It was all she could do not to hit him again, and maybe he realized just how badly she wanted to because he took a wary step back.
She advanced, not willing for a moment to allow him to control the situation. “You know what? I never took you for a coward. You played me. I get that. I was a monumental idiot. But for you to hide from the inevitable confrontation like you’ve done makes me physically ill.”
She stuck a finger into his chest, ignoring the baffled look on his face. “Furthermore, you’re not going to get away with your plans for my land. If it takes every cent I own, I’ll fight you. We had a verbal agreement, and you’ll stick to it.”
He blinked, then looked as if he was about to say something.
She crossed her arms, so furious she wanted to kick him. If it wouldn’t land her on her ass, she’d do it.
“What
? Did you think you’d never see me again? That I’d hide away somewhere and sulk because I learned you don’t really love me and slept with me to get me to agree to sell to you? You couldn’t be more mistaken,” she seethed.
Rafael reacted as though she’d hit him again. His face paled and his eyes became hard, cold points. If she weren’t so angry, what she saw in his gaze would probably scare the bejesus out of her. But Mamaw had always said that common sense was the first thing to go when someone got all riled up. Boy, was that the truth.
“Are you trying to insinuate that you and I have slept together?” he asked in a dangerously low voice that—again—should have frightened her. But she was way beyond fear. “I don’t even know your name.”
It shouldn’t have hurt her. She’d long since realized why Rafael had chosen her. Why he’d seduced her and why he’d told her the lies he told. He couldn’t shoulder the entire blame. She’d been far too easy a conquest.
But still, that he’d stand there before her and categorically deny even knowing her name sliced a jagged line through her heart that was beyond repair.
“You should go,” she said in a barely controlled tone. Damn the tears, but if he didn’t leave now, she wasn’t going to keep her composure for long.
His brow furrowed and he cocked his head to the side, studying her intently. Then to her dismay, he swept his hand out and smudged a tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb.
“You’re upset.”
Sweet mother of God, this man was an idiot. She could only pray their child inherited her brains and not his. She nearly laughed aloud but it came out as a strangled sob. How could she hope for the poor baby to inherit any intelligence whatsoever when it was clear that both his parents were flaming morons?
“Get. Out.”
But instead he cupped her chin and tilted it upward so he could stare into her eyes. Then he wiped at the dampness on her cheek in a surprisingly gentle gesture.
“We can’t have slept together. Besides the fact that you aren’t my type, I can’t imagine forgetting such an event.”
Her mouth gaped open and any thoughts of tears fled. She wrenched herself from his grasp and gave up trying to get the man out of her room. He could stay. She was going.
She gripped the lapels of her robe and stomped around him. She made it into the hall before his hand closed around her wrist and he pulled her up short.
Enough was enough. She opened her mouth to let out a shriek, but he yanked her against his hard body and covered her mouth.
“For God’s sake, I’m not going to hurt you,” he hissed.
He muscled her back into the hotel room, slammed the door and bolted it shut behind them. Then he turned and glared at her.
“You’ve already hurt me,” she said through gritted teeth.
His eyes softened and grew cloudy with confusion.