A Prize Beyond Jewels

Nina gave him a puzzled look. ‘What’s this all about, Rafe?’

He gave a humourless smile. ‘One way or another, it’s been one hell of an evening. When I arrived I overheard my hostess saying she doesn’t like me.’

‘That I wasn’t sure I liked you,’ she corrected, colour warming her cheeks. ‘And my father explained the reason why.’

‘Partly, yes. An interesting man, your father,’ he added harshly. ‘The perfect host, so gracious and charming.’

She blinked. ‘Why do you sound so mocking when you say that?’

‘Probably because I was just very politely but unmistakably warned off by your father,’ he rasped exasperatedly.

‘I don’t understand.’ Nina gave a puzzled shake of her head; the two men had seemed to get on well enough during dinner. ‘Warned off from what?’

‘You.’ Rafe glowered down at her.

Her eyes widened. ‘Me?’

He nodded grimly. ‘Your father took the opportunity, after you had left the dining room just now, to oh-so-subtly warn me that he would prefer it if I stayed well away from his daughter in future.’

‘Oh, no.’ She felt her face pale, as she knew her father was perfectly capable of doing exactly that.

And for once in her life she resented her father’s overprotective attitude. For once in her life she wanted what she wanted. And tonight, watching Rafe surreptitiously all evening, becoming more and more attracted to him by the moment, had revealed to her that she wanted Rafe D’Angelo.

‘Yes,’ Rafe confirmed hardly. ‘Does he do that to every man you come into contact with, or did he just single me out for special attention?’

‘I have no idea.’ But she intended finding out, intended having a heart-to-heart conversation with her father first thing tomorrow morning. ‘I’ll speak to him— He really did that?’ She winced.

‘He really did, yes,’ Rafe confirmed harshly.

‘In that case I apologise.’ She frowned. ‘I have no idea why my father would even think that you— Why he would think there was any possibility of the two of us ever—’ She broke off, realising she was just making this situation worse than it already was. If that was possible.

How could her father have done such a thing? How could he have humiliated her in that way, and with a man she might possibly have reason to see on a daily basis for the next two weeks, at least? A man she felt drawn to as if by a magnet.

‘Invite me in, please, Nina,’ Rafe pressed huskily.

She looked up at him uncertainly, the pulse beating wildly in her throat as she heard the unmistakable husky intensity in his voice and saw the glitter had deepened in those golden eyes.

‘I— Why are you so determined I should be the one to invite you into my apartment?’ Her acquaintance with this man so far hadn’t given her the impression Rafe was a man who waited for an invitation before doing just as he pleased. ‘You aren’t a vampire, or something, are you?’ she added lightly, in an effort to alleviate some of the sexual tension that swirled and swelled around them.

‘Hardly.’ He gave a humourless smile. ‘Although I have been known to bite a neck or two!’

Nina instantly regretted her teasing. ‘Why are you so set on my inviting you into my apartment, Rafe?’ she repeated determinedly, tempted, oh-so-tempted, by both Rafe and the idea of, for once in her life, thwarting both her father and her bodyguards.

His mouth firmed. ‘Because I don’t think you need another bossy and dominating man telling you what to do.’

Her cheeks paled. ‘My father is— He has his reasons for behaving in the way that he— You don’t understand,’ she repeated softly.

‘You’re right, I don’t,’ Rafe rasped grimly. ‘I don’t understand why any beautiful and intelligent woman would allow her father to dictate the terms under which she conducts her life!’

How could he? How could anyone understand the fear her father had lived with on a daily basis for the past twenty years, the dread that Nina might one day be taken from him?

As his beloved wife had been so cruelly taken from him.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘INVITE ME IN, Nina,’ Rafe encouraged gruffly as he saw the indecision in her expression.

She looked up at him wordlessly for several long seconds, before nodding abruptly and turning on her heel to enter the shadowed hallway of her apartment, turning on the soft glow of the overhead light as she did so.

Rafe prowled in after Nina before closing the door gently behind him, his gaze intent on hers as he took her slowly into his arms to mould her curves against his. Her hands moved instinctively to his shoulders as she raised her startled gaze searchingly to his, obviously totally aware of the fullness of his arousal pressing against the softness of her abdomen—that same arousal that had been missing the evening before with Jennifer Nichols.