A Touch of Notoriety

chapter SIX



‘I’VE NEVER SEEN anyone so dark and broodingly gorgeous in my entire life!’

‘Gorgeous? The man is sex on two long, perfectly muscled legs!’

‘And did you see the size of those shoulders...?’

‘It’s the size of his feet you have to look at, silly.’

‘Going to let me in on the secret, ladies?’ Beth had strolled over to look enquiringly at the three giggling women who worked in her office as they gathered conspiratorially around the coffee machine during the morning break.

‘I can do better than that. Come and look out of the window!’ Kathy grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her across the room to where the windows looked directly down into the street three floors below. ‘See!’ she announced triumphantly. ‘He was standing right there when we all came into work this morning.’

Beth should have guessed what—and who!—was causing this uproar amongst her female work colleagues. Raphael Cordoba stood across the street, leaning conspicuously on the wall behind him, looking gorgeous in another one of those dark three-piece suits, and wearing those familiar mirrored sunglasses as a shield to the expression in his eyes, if not to his other more than obvious physical attributes.

Physical attributes Beth’s female work colleagues were obviously all agog over!

Not surprisingly, considering those dark and dangerous good looks, and that air of the stalking predator that he wore like a second skin.

Beth had deliberately arranged things so that she arrived at work earlier than anyone else this morning, in an effort to avoid being seen getting out of the chauffeur-driven limousine. Only for Raphael to then announce that he intended coming into the building with her, and spending the day standing beside her desk. She had managed to talk him out of that one, with the compromise that he would wait outside and she wouldn’t attempt to leave the building. But the hope that none of her work colleagues would notice the highly noticeable Raphael Cordoba standing outside on the pavement had obviously been a futile one.

‘Isn’t he just the most sexy man you’ve ever set eyes on?’ Emma joined the two of them at the window.

‘If you like tall, dark, and brooding, yes,’ Beth agreed lightly.

‘What woman in her right mind doesn’t appreciate tall, dark and brooding?’ Amy moved to stand at Beth’s other side. ‘He’s been standing out there for at least two hours now. I wonder what he’s waiting for?’

Beth had two choices at this point in the conversation. She could deny all knowledge of Raphael—which, considering he would no doubt approach and talk to her when she left the building later on today, making it obvious the two of them knew each other, probably wasn’t the best move!—or she could admit to knowing him, if not the real reason he stood outside watching the comings and going into the building so intently.

She went with the second option. ‘He’s waiting for me, actually,’ she announced casually, wincing slightly as the other three women immediately all turned to look at her with wide, incredulous, and envious eyes, respectively. ‘Raphael drove me into work this morning, and we’re having lunch together, so he decided to hang around until then rather than drive home and then come back into town again later.’ All true—apart from the bit about the two of them having lunch together!

‘Raphael?’ Emma prompted breathlessly as she turned back to look out of the window.

‘Raphael Cordoba,’ Beth supplied reluctantly, wondering if she hadn’t just made this situation even more difficult. If that was possible, of course. ‘He’s Argentinian.’

‘You only spent a week in Argentina and you still managed to bring that hunk back with you?’ The forthright Kathy stared at her.

‘Well...yes.’ Beth winced. ‘We met through mutual friends, and he decided to—to come back to England with me for a while.’ Again, all true—apart from the one little fact Beth hadn’t mentioned, which was that Raphael was here as her bodyguard and not her boyfriend.

Not that the words ‘boyfriend’ and ‘Raphael Cordoba’ could ever be put together in the same sentence anyway!

Raphael might only be ten years older than Beth in calendar years, but he was years older than that in sophistication and experience. Most especially physical experience...

The latter was something that Beth had definitely been made fully aware of the previous evening!

‘He drove you into work this morning?’ Tall, blonde, beautiful, and extremely nice Amy was the one to latch onto that comment.

Beth’s cheeks instantly coloured self-consciously at what that obviously implied. ‘Yes, he did.’

‘And do the size of his feet— Ouch!’ Emma complained as Kathy dug her in the ribs with her elbow. ‘I was only going to ask!’

‘I believe we all know what you were going to ask.’ Kathy chuckled softly. ‘And I think it’s bad enough that we’ve all been standing here drooling over Beth’s boyfriend, without making the situation worse by asking her highly personal questions.’

‘I agree.’ Amy nodded briskly even as she gave Beth an apologetic glance. ‘Coffee break’s over, ladies, time to go back to work.’

Beth breathed an inward sigh of relief as they all turned and returned to their respective desks.

At the same time as she realised that her explanation for Raphael’s presence outside meant they might not have been going to have lunch together today but that they certainly were now!

* * *

‘I thought you said it was your intention to have lunch at your desk.’ Raphael’s comment was cut short as Beth, having linked her arm with his, now rested her hands against his chest before moving up on tiptoe and lightly brushing the softness of her lips against his.

She moved away abruptly. ‘Would you just walk?’ she instructed between the gritted teeth that were obviously meant to resemble a smile.

Raphael’s feet remained firmly planted on the pavement. ‘Walk where?’

‘This way,’ Beth hissed even as she waved to a tall and beautiful blonde woman on the other side of the street. ‘Just start walking and I’ll tell you when to stop.’ She dragged him along beside her as she stomped off down the street.

‘It is too much to ask for an explanation as to your strange behaviour, I suppose?’ Raphael prompted dryly as he fell into easy step beside her.

Brown eyes flashed Beth’s irritation as she spared him an impatient glance. ‘Do you have to wear those sunglasses all the time? The sun isn’t even shining today!’

Raphael reached up and removed the offending glasses before placing them in the breast pocket of his jacket. ‘Better?’

‘Much!’ Which was a total lie, when Beth found being the sole focus of those piercing blue eyes so totally unnerving. Just as she was desperately trying, after Kathy’s risqué comments earlier, not to glance down and admire Raphael’s size-twelve feet...

‘Enough so that you will now answer my question?’

She sighed heavily as she glanced quickly away from his feet. ‘The people I work with all think that the two of us are having lunch together.’

Raphael raised surprised brows. ‘And why would they think that?’

‘Because I told them that we were.’

‘Why?’

Another one of those questions Beth would rather not answer. After the put-down she had received from Raphael the night before she would rather not spend any more time alone with him at all. Or be so aware now of the muscled tautness of his arm beneath her fingertips!

‘Oh, come on, Raphael, you’ve been standing out here for hours now, surely you must need a toilet break, if nothing else,’ she taunted in an effort to hide that awareness. ‘Unless, of course, your training in that special unit in the army involved bladder control!’

His mouth tightened. ‘It did.’

Beth shot him a frustrated glance. ‘Well, that’s just too bad, because whether you’re hungry or not, in need of the loo or not, we are having lunch together.’

‘Because the people you work with are expecting us to do so...’

‘Yes!’

‘Ah, I think I understand now.’ Raphael’s expression cleared. ‘You have possibly told your work colleagues that the two of us are...involved, as a way of explaining my presence here today?’

‘Well, aren’t you the smart ar—er—alec.’ Beth frowned up at him.

Raphael chuckled softly. ‘Purely a guess on my part.’

‘Yes. Well.’ She frowned her irritation. ‘It happens to be the correct one. And I’m not at all happy about it, so you can take that damned grin off your dark and broodingly gorgeous face!’

His brows rose higher. ‘I am assuming that is the opinion of one of your work colleagues and not how you personally think of me?’

‘You would assume correctly,’ Beth assured him evenly; how and what she thought of Raphael Cordoba was no one else’s business but her own—it certainly wasn’t something she intended sharing with Raphael himself. Again... Because Beth had no doubts that the previous evening she had revealed exactly how physically attractive she found this man. ‘I don’t suppose it’s occurred to you that I might already have a boyfriend, who isn’t going to be at all happy about my having claimed the two of us are now involved?’

‘And do you?’ The expression on that ‘dark and broodingly gorgeous’ face remained coolly impassive.

A reaction that irritated Beth intensely. ‘None of your damned business!’

‘But it is my business, Beth,’ Raphael grated. ‘Everything about you is now my business. And if there is a man in your life then he will need to be—’

‘Vetted?’ she suggested dryly.

‘Investigated,’ Raphael corrected stiffly.

‘And how do you go about doing that, Raphael?’ she taunted. ‘Do you check the man’s background—family, friends, place of work, previous relationships—before deciding whether or not he passes the Raphael Cordoba test?’

A nerve pulsed in the tightness of his jaw. ‘I cannot say I have ever been in quite this position before.’

‘But no doubt you’ve had to carry out such investigations into the women Cesar has been involved with in the past?’

His mouth thinned. ‘I will not discuss Cesar’s private life with you or anyone else.’

Beth’s initial irritation had faded to be replaced with the usual need she felt to tease this coldly remote man. ‘Frightened I might tell Grace what a bad boy Cesar was before he met her?’

He looked down at her reprovingly. ‘Beth—’

‘I’m just joking, Raphael!’ She chuckled throatily. ‘Grace loves Cesar so much she’s only interested in their future together, not his past.’

‘Which is exactly as it should be.’ He nodded tersely. ‘Did you have somewhere specific in mind for lunch or are we just going to keep walking about aimlessly for the next hour?’ he added impatiently.

‘I’ve booked a table for us at Ronaldo’s. I chose an Italian restaurant because I don’t know of any Argentinian ones,’ she added dismissively.

‘Italian is fine.’

‘It’s a very good restaurant,’ Beth assured him. ‘Quite a lot of the editors use it when they take authors out for lunch.’

‘And is one of those editors the “boyfriend” you suggested might take exception to the two of us being seen together?’

She grinned up at him. ‘Now, that would be interesting, don’t you think?’

‘I believe it would be typical of you rather than interesting.’

She gave a mock pout. ‘You know, Raphael, my feelings could be hurt by remarks like that one.’

He snorted dismissively. ‘Somehow I doubt that very much!’

‘Because you don’t believe I have feelings that could be hurt?’

He gave a derisive shake of his head. ‘Because I believe you would enjoy seeing two men fighting over you.’

Beth’s breath caught in her throat. ‘You would fight another man over me?’

‘Only if he represented a threat to your well being.’

‘Oh.’

Raphael raised mocking brows. ‘Did you expect me to say something else?’

‘Obviously not,’ she muttered.

‘You perhaps thought, after I made the mistake of kissing you last night, that I now have a personal interest in you?’ There was no missing the sharp edge to his tone.

Beth’s cheeks felt hot, both at the reminder of those kisses—and the fact that Raphael obviously thought of them as a mistake. ‘Now you’re being deliberately nasty.’

‘Which, contrarily, somehow seems to give you satisfaction?’

In a strange way it did. But only because Beth was finding she preferred to have some sort of reaction from Raphael rather than none; Mr Iceman of the drive into town early this morning wasn’t acceptable to her at all.

But she certainly hadn’t wanted to be reminded of their time in the gym together last night. Or to hear that it had meant nothing to Raphael—he had made that more than obvious enough at the time!

She deliberately changed the subject. ‘I hope you like Italian food.’

‘Does it matter one way or the other?’ he derided dryly.

‘Raphael—’

‘I apologise,’ he bit out stiffly. ‘That was rude of me. Yes, I enjoy Italian food.’

‘But maybe you would prefer not to be eating it with me?’

How was Raphael supposed to answer that question? On the one hand, he should not even be contemplating sitting down and eating lunch with the person he was here to protect. On the other, Raphael very much liked the idea of having lunch with Beth; it certainly couldn’t help but be an improvement on the dinner they had shared together the previous evening!

Speaking of which... ‘Kevin Maddox is going to try and organise a temporary cook for us at the estate in the next day or so, but if we both eat a hot meal now then we can perhaps manage with a snack when we return there later this evening.’ Raphael chose not to answer her question at all.

‘Oh, very practical, Raphael,’ Beth came back dryly.

Raphael shrugged. ‘I am a practical man.’

She gave a wistful sigh. ‘Yes, you are.’

He moved forward to open the door of the restaurant for her. ‘You make that sound like a reason for criticism?’

‘A little spontaneity would be nice on occasion,’ she dismissed lightly, having given her name to the waiter before he took them to the reserved table near the window.

Raphael followed slowly behind her, knowing that spontaneity was responsible for his having crossed the line the previous evening, when he had kissed and caressed Beth. A lapse for which he had paid dearly when he went to his bedroom later that evening, only to lie awake in his bed long into the early hours of this morning as he remembered the feel and taste of Beth, and the perfection of her breasts tipped with those rose-coloured and responsive nipples that he had lathed and suckled with his tongue and mouth.

Madre mia, he was hard again just thinking about it!

‘Raphael?’

He brought his thoughts under strict control as he took his own seat opposite Beth’s at the table—if nothing else the red-and-white-checked tablecloth served to hide the fierce throb of his erection!

Raphael had been totally disconcerted earlier when Beth came out of the building and moved up on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips—he probably had that momentary confusion to thank for not kissing her back, and so making the situation worse, before she explained exactly why she had kissed him. He hadn’t been immune to the warmth of her hand resting on his arm as they walked to the restaurant together, either. And he was still aware that he hadn’t received an answer from Beth as to whether or not she currently had a boyfriend. Which, for some reason, continued to irritate him...

Boyfriend or not, the fact that he now had a raging erection just thinking of making love to Beth told Raphael that, from a practical perspective, he wasn’t the right person to be in charge of Beth’s protection, that his emotions weren’t detached enough for his reactions to be as cool and precise as they needed to be. Although how Raphael would go about explaining that lack of detachment to Cesar, without revealing the extent of last night’s lapse, he had no idea—

‘Have you spoken to Cesar today?’

Raphael looked sharply across the table at Beth as she seemed to guess some of his thoughts, the frown easing from his brow as he knew by the blandness of her expression that she was merely attempting to make polite conversation. ‘Late last night,’ he answered tersely.

‘And?’ Beth picked one of the bread sticks out of the tall glass in the middle of the table and began to chew on it.

‘And he sent you his regards and Grace’s love,’ Raphael drawled dryly even as his gaze was drawn to watching those tiny white teeth as they nibbled delicately on the bread stick. The same delectably delicate nibbles he could all too easily imagine her making on his cock before she took him deep—

‘Which you obviously forgot to pass on to me this morning?’

Raphael gave a shrug as he forced himself to relax back against the chair. Not so easy to do when Bath was now sucking on that bread stick! And being deliberately provocative? No, the distracted expression on her face, and the frown between her eyes, told him that Beth had absolutely no idea how sensually provocative she was being at this moment.

‘You were not exactly talkative on the drive into London earlier,’ he rasped hoarsely. ‘And our conversation this past few minutes has been on other things.’

‘You weren’t exactly Mr Chatterbox yourself. Besides, I’m not a morning person.’ Beth shrugged.

‘I will try to remember that.’

Beth could think of only one circumstance under which Raphael would need to remember that—and after hearing him describe kissing her as being a ‘mistake’, she very much doubted that particular situation was ever going to arise! ‘Grace and I have always had an agreement, in that she doesn’t talk to me in the morning, and in return I don’t growl at her.’

Raphael continued to look at her for several moments, as if he had something on his mind, something he wanted to say to her, before obviously deciding otherwise as he scowled darkly before giving a dismissive shake of his head and glancing down at the menu. ‘What do you recommend?’

Beth breathed easily for the first time in several minutes. ‘It’s all good,’ she dismissed lightly before turning her attention to studying her own menu. Anything was better than sitting here ogling this ‘dark and broodingly gorgeous’ man, moreover a man who had made it patently obvious that her company irritated him at best and outright annoyed him at worst!

* * *

Raphael couldn’t remember ever having had lunch alone with a woman before. The occasional dinner with a woman, prior to going to bed with her, but he had always considered that lunch was for conversation and couples who were something more to one another than temporary bed-partners.

Consequently eating lunch with a woman was a novel experience for him. Eating lunch with the outspoken Beth Blake was, he very quickly learnt, a uniquely entertaining one. She conversed—and predictably had strong opinions!—on a variety of subjects: world politics, new fashions, the wave of eBooks currently taking the publishing world by storm, holidays they had both taken, the quality or otherwise of the latest film releases...and in return Raphael found himself comfortable giving his own opinion on those same subjects.

The food was, as Beth had claimed, also of a very high standard, although they had both preferred, as they had to return to work within the hour, to drink sparkling water with their food rather than wine.

‘My treat,’ Beth assured Raphael as the waiter placed the bill on their table at the end of the meal.

He frowned his displeasure with that arrangement. ‘It is the man who usually pays.’

She gave him a teasing glance as she placed the money on the table beside the bill. ‘For the bill, or emotionally?’

‘In my experience, both.’

She smiled derisively. ‘Did someone forget to tell you that this is the twenty-first century, and that consequently women now consider it their right to invite a man out to lunch, and pay for it, if they want to?’

‘And a lot of those men are far from comfortable with twenty-first-century...customs.’

Beth chuckled softly at his typically Raphael opinion. ‘I’m quite happy to let you invite me out and pay next time if you want to.’

‘Next time?’ Raphael questioned frowningly. Was lunch with Beth to become a habit rather than the exception? Along with the throbbing erection he had continued to suffer throughout the meal? ‘I am sure your boyfriend would have reason to be displeased if we were to lunch together a second time...’ Raphael stood up to move round the table and pull back Beth’s chair for her.

She gave another chuckle as the two of them walked to the door of the restaurant. ‘There is no boyfriend, Raphael.’

‘You only implied as much in order to annoy me,’ he guessed dryly as he opened that door.

She quirked blond brows as she paused in the doorway. ‘Why should I ever have imagined you would have any feelings on the subject one way or the other?’

Why indeed? The fact that Raphael had been annoyed only made his irritation all the deeper now. ‘I would, as you said, have needed to investigate this man before the two of you went out together again.’

‘That doesn’t answer my question, Raphael...’

No, it didn’t. And Raphael wasn’t about to, either.

Because he didn’t have an answer. None that was acceptable, anyway. To himself. Last night—and his arousal today, just thinking about making love with Beth last night!—had proved how much he desired her. But he was also starting to respect as well as like her, to admire her intelligence. Far too much than was wise, given their present circumstances. ‘An answer is unnecessary when there is no boyfriend,’ he rasped.

She put the strap of her bag over her shoulder before continuing outside. ‘Still, I might have found it interesting to know what the answer was going to be,’ she murmured with what sounded like disappointment.

Raphael’s breath caught in his throat, both at Beth’s close proximity, and the insidious and erotic smell of her perfume; an arousing combination of that lightly floral scent and the desirable woman who was wearing that perfume.

He straightened at the same time as he gave a dismissive shake of his head. ‘I believe your lunch hour is over.’

Oh, yes, Beth’s lunch hour was over. And it had been a surprisingly enjoyable hour, interesting conversation in the company of an intelligent and handsome man who also made her heart beat faster just to look at him. An hour when Beth had also learnt much more about Raphael than before: his likes and dislikes, his view on what was happening in the world, the books he liked to read, actors he admired, plays and films he had enjoyed attending. Although he had continued to refuse to be drawn on any remarks regarding family, his own or the Navarros...

It had also been an hour when Beth had noted that several other women in the restaurant had obviously liked looking at Raphael as much as she did. An occurrence Beth found she hadn’t enjoyed at all!

Not that Raphael had seemed in the least aware of any of those surreptitious female glances being sent his way, his attention centered completely on Beth and their conversation.

His professional attention.

Because that was all Beth was, or ever could be, to Raphael: just another person he was employed to protect.

What a depressing thought!

‘You are very quiet.’

Beth sent Raphael a teasing glance as they walked back to her office. ‘Stimulating conversation and delicious food always do that to me.’

He arched dark brows. ‘That is two more things I have learnt about you today.’

Her brows rose. ‘Two?’

He nodded. ‘You are not a morning person, and you go silent when stimulated and satiated.’

Beth felt her cheeks warm as she corrected him, ‘With conversation and food.’

‘Ah, yes, with conversation and food...’

Beth’s gaze sharpened. ‘If I didn’t know better, Raphael, I would think you were flirting with me!’

He gave a hard smile as he shrugged. ‘I am merely practising my role as your presumed boyfriend for when we return to your office building.’

Was he?

And were those feelings of disappointment Beth was experiencing, at the thought that was Raphael’s only reason for being flirtatious with her?

Get a grip, she told herself sternly. Raphael wouldn’t be here in England with her at all if Cesar hadn’t arranged for him to accompany her. If Cesar hadn’t arranged for Raphael to accompany Gabriela Navarro; a young woman with a family and lifestyle that remained totally alien to Beth.

‘Good enough.’ She nodded dismissively as she stepped out more decisively in the direction of her office.

A brisk and no-nonsense attitude, which in no way prepared Beth for Raphael coming to a halt outside the building where she worked a few minutes later, that piercing blue gaze holding hers captive as he took her into his arms and kissed her!