Read Online One More Sleepless Night by Lucy King - Free Book Online Page A

yell?’ she said at last, way too casually to be convincing.
    ‘That’s right.’
    ‘And you thought it was me?’
    ‘Who else would it have been?’
    She shrugged and shifted her weight from one foot to the other while her gaze slid from his and focused on a point somewhere over his left shoulder. ‘I’ve no idea. An owl perhaps?’
    An owl ? ‘It was you. What happened?’
    She bit her lip, dithered for a second and then clearly decided there was no point in denying it any longer. ‘I had a bad dream,’ she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘It was nothing.’
    ‘It didn’t sound like nothing.’
    The smile she gave him this time was tight. ‘Look, Rafael, I appreciate your concern, really I do, but I don’t want to talk about it.’
    ‘Don’t you think it might help?’
    ‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘It really was nothing, and I’d be grateful if you’d drop it.’
    Rafael stared at her for a second, mulling over whether he should push her further for an explanation, but then mentally shrugged and did as she asked. He’d tried, but he could hardly force her to tell him, and anyway if it really was nothing then he didn’t need to.
    In fact he ought to be relieved she didn’t want to discuss it. He’d done what he’d set out to do. By bringing the matter up he’d assuaged the guilt, and Nicky’s request that he leave things alone reaffirmed his judgement that she wouldn’t have appreciated the interference even if he had rushed to her aid, so he was completely off the hook. And he hadn’t even had to mop up any messy emotional stuff.
    So where was the relief? Where was the satisfaction? And why was he feeling faintly piqued by her reluctance to talk about what was troubling her instead of being pleased at such a successful outcome to his quandary?
    ‘OK, fine,’ he said, nodding and deciding to attribute the baffling—and faintly disconcerting—paradox to a long morning in the sun.
    ‘Thanks,’ she said, brightening considerably and shooting him a beaming smile that had desire once again rushing through him. ‘You know, you’re just in time.’
    To do what? Succumb to her allure and his total mental collapse? Or pick her up, toss her over his shoulder and carry her up to bed? ‘For what?’ he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat.
    ‘Lunch. Or what passes for lunch in my world.’ Her mouth curved up into a funny little half-smile and his stomach felt as if someone had grabbed it and twisted. Hard. ‘I’m not much of a cook, I’m afraid—not enough time spent in the kitchen probably—but I’ve cobbled a salad together from last night’s leftovers and was wondering, would you like to join me?’
    No was the answer he should have been looking for if he wanted to retain any kind of sanity, but clearly he didn’t because all he could think right now was that he was hungry, her smile was as inviting as the idea of food and his brain was so addled with lust, confusion and frustration on top of the lingering pangs of guilt and shame he could barely remember his own name, let alone come up with some kind of suitable excuse.
    ‘Sure,’ he said and wondered what she’d think if he walked up to the wall and started banging his head against it. ‘Why not?’
    ‘It’ll be five minutes.’ She tilted her head and regarded him thoughtfully. ‘In the meantime, why don’t you take a dip? You look a bit hot and bothered.’
    Watching her saunter back into the kitchen, Rafael resisted the urge to get up close and personal with that wall, and instead shoved his hands through his hair while calling himself all kinds of idiot for being so weak.
    Maybe a long morning beneath the hot sun had resulted in more than just the paradox of being piqued instead of pleased that she didn’t want to talk through her issues. Maybe it was also responsible for an evident meltdown of his brain cells, because one way or another Nicky was driving him demented, as was his total inability to know what to