‘Now do you trust me to know what you need?’ Xavier murmured as he drew her back into his arms.
Sophie sighed raggedly against his lips as she parted her swollen lips for more of his kisses. She wanted more, she wanted everything he could give her—everything he could teach her. It was like a dam bursting inside her, or waking up after a long sleep. Xavier had shown her reserves of desire she could never have guessed she possessed. And when he kissed her this time they met on equal ground, Sophie welcoming the thought-robbing passion that left nothing but sensation, nothing but Xavier. She sighed with contentment as he brought her deeper into the circle of his arms, pulling open his jacket to draw her inside.
‘Better, querida?’ he asked softly, nuzzling his face against her neck.
‘Much, much better.’
‘Are you warm enough?’
Beautifully, thrillingly, completely. ‘Yes, really, really warm,’ Sophie confirmed softly.
‘Good,’ Xavier murmured, smiling against her lips.
His kisses were tender and compelling now, like a dance of delight she never wanted to end. Sophie could not have given herself more willingly as she moulded against him, all pliant and eager, like a fresh green shoot setting out on its first journey towards the sun. And when at last he pulled away she felt bereft, lost, and wondered how she could bear a single moment of parting from him.
‘Don’t look so worried,’ Xavier said, straightening up to switch on the engine. ‘We’ve got clinic tomorrow, remember? It’s been a very long day, but a good one, and now we should get some sleep.’
‘Xavier…’
‘Yes?’
‘Can I ask you something?’
His expression suggested they had few secrets from each other now. But Sophie wasn’t so sure.
‘What is it?’
‘Anna Groes.’
He turned off the engine and swung round in his seat to face her. ‘What about Anna Groes?’
‘That’s what I need to know,’ Sophie admitted, dreading what had to come next, but knowing that she had to go ahead now she’d started. ‘What does she mean to you?’
‘Nothing,’ he admitted flatly. ‘She means nothing to me.’
‘But once—’
‘We were lovers,’ he said casually, as if it was an everyday occurrence to use and discard someone like a carton of milk.
Sophie felt as if she was contracting in on herself—as if the whole world was pressing her down, making her smaller and smaller like Alice until at last she would disappear.
‘Like your open relationship with Henry,’ Xavier said with a shrug, as if that was explanation enough. ‘We’re adults, we have needs,’ he concluded dismissively, firing the engine again.
So that was what Anna meant by keeping up with Xavier, Sophie thought as he let in the clutch and the truck began to move. It was almost funny. Or might have been if she hadn’t fallen in love with him… Pressing her lips together as she contemplated the truth behind the sudden rogue thought, Sophie turned to stare blindly out of the window. Yes, she had fallen in love. Pathetic really, wasn’t it—when Xavier was only in lust. Here she was looking for a lifetime’s commitment while he wanted nothing more than a sexual interlude to satisfy his needs. And the bottom line? If she couldn’t have Xavier on her terms, would she take him on his?
Yes.
After slipping the rest of her photos from home around the frame of the mirror, and draping the beautiful scarf she had been given over a shelf where she could admire it, Sophie lay awake, staring into the darkness. Xavier knew how to play her senses until she was screaming for release. But he had been firm about sleeping alone, so now she had only her thoughts to keep her company. Thinking of him, lying asleep so close with only a thin partition separating them, Sophie reached out a hand from under the covers and rested her palm noiselessly against the cool, smooth surface as if she could draw some of his essence through the divide and somehow be soothed by it. She couldn’t sleep, not for one moment. Everything was in turmoil. Xavier wanted her. She wanted him. It should have been simple, but what was? If life had been simple they would be in bed together right now.
She had never wanted a man in such an overwhelming and totally consuming way. She wanted him completely: every nuance in his character, good and bad; each glint in his eye; all the smiles, all the laughter, and all his sorrow too.
She wanted his body. And she wanted it now.
Sophie shifted position restlessly, but nothing gave her comfort. Nothing could—nothing but Xavier by her side, naked and demanding. But he had made it plain that he would not be hurried. Any relationship between them would be strictly short-term, and it would start when he was ready, or not at all.
She turned towards the window. Someone was trying to attract her attention. Dragging back one of the coarse, raw blue curtains, she peered out into the darkness. Agustin beckoned to her. Grabbing the rest of her clothes, Sophie quickly pulled them on. Carrying her shoes, she sneaked silently past Xavier’s room and went outside to see what was wrong.
Agustin struggled to remain calm as he explained that he had left his van parked some way from the clinic in order not to disturb everyone. Then Sophie learned she was sleeping in Xavier’s old room, hence Agustin’s mistake when he tapped on her window.
‘Should we wake him?’ Agustin said uncertainly.
‘No, no, he has early clinic tomorrow. I’ll come with you,’ Sophie said. The problem sounded like something she knew a lot about; something she could handle alone—and the village wasn’t that far away.
It took just a few minutes to collect everything she needed and soon they were speeding down the road in Agustin’s van. They were almost at the outskirts of the village when the van jerked several times, slowed, and finally stopped. With a huff of frustration, Agustin banged his hands on the wheel.
‘Never mind,’ Sophie said, covering his hand with her own. ‘We can walk from here,’ she pointed out, quickly gathering her bags.
‘I’m so sorry about this!’ Agustin exclaimed as he swung one of her bags on to his own shoulder.
‘It’s fine, don’t worry about it. You were right to come and get me,’ Sophie said reassuringly.
It didn’t take them long to cover the rest of the distance. Flickering lights were already beginning to show in some of the houses as slumbering fires were coaxed into life to ward off the chill of the dawn. Agustin’s was no exception. Following him inside, Sophie found one of his daughters lying on a makeshift settle by the fire, alternately coughing and struggling to breathe. Marcos was holding her up in his arms, but when he saw Sophie he looked relieved and then, realising Xavier wasn’t with her, his expression became anxious again.
It didn’t take Sophie long to conclude that her first thoughts had been correct. Opening her medical bag, she reached inside for her stethoscope and all the other paraphernalia she would need to confirm her diagnosis. The constriction in the young girl’s chest, the build up of mucus, the distinctive wheezing, confirmed her initial thoughts. Sophie was sure she was dealing with an asthma attack. Fortunately, before she had left the clinic, Agustin had briefed her well enough for her to anticipate everything she would need.
With the family’s help she pulled the settle away from the fire and made sure the girl was propped up on cushions. After administering an injection, she raised a saline drip and showed the family how to use the portable nebuliser she had brought with her. This delivered medication in a fine mist, allowing it to be absorbed quickly and efficiently. Once the face mask was in place the sounds of hectic breathing eased quickly and the blue tinge around the young girl’s mouth and the base of her fingernails disappeared. But, even with this level of improvement, Sophie was concerned that she should be admitted to hospital for observation as soon as possible.
Agustin assured her that this would be done as soon as he had asked one of his friends to take them there. ‘The Armando Martinez Bordiu Hospital is good, very good,’ he said confidently. ‘Our health ca
re is excellent since Dr Xavier came here to us. He pays for everything.’
Smiling reassuringly, Sophie was relieved to see that her patient was already able to sit up and talk to her brothers and sisters, inhaling oxygen through a mask from the small portable tank she had brought with her.
As she sat down to write a report for the hospital, the unaffected happiness of the family struck a chord deep inside her. She envied them, she realised—envied the unconditional love she felt around her.
For some reason Xavier forced his way into her mind. What a joke, Sophie mused, telling herself to dismiss that fantasy right away. Something like this was never going to happen for her with Xavier. To him she was just a potential conquest. A woman no one had succeeded in awakening—what man could resist a challenge like that? It didn’t make her special to him, it just appealed to his masculine pride—even perhaps to his scientific mind as a doctor. She was, after all, something of a curiosity as far as sex was concerned.
Suddenly the need to be on her own for a while overcame everything, even caution, and, picking up her bags, Sophie slipped out of the door without anyone noticing.
She hadn’t realised the village was quite so far away from the clinic, and the return journey seemed never-ending now that she was on foot and alone. She kept up a brisk pace, occasionally breaking into a jog when she couldn’t identify the noises in the undergrowth, and tried not to let her imagination run away with her. But there were places where the road narrowed and the canopy of trees closed across it so that the thin morning sunbeams came in grudging threads through a dense tunnel of leaves.
She was scared and tired, and had lost track of how much further she had to go. The first clearing she came to, she picked out a tree standing closest to the road and sat down, leaning her back against the rough surface of its trunk, intending just to rest for a few minutes.
The sound of a truck being driven at high speed jolted her alert with a start. And when she saw it was Xavier driving, she stumbled to her feet and began shouting and waving with relief.
‘Sophie!’ Leaping down from the truck, he grabbed her by the shoulders in an iron grip, his eyes scouring her face for signs of harm. ‘Thank God you’re all right!’
But as Sophie slumped with relief he challenged her angrily, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing out here all alone?’
‘I was only resting for a moment.’
‘Resting?’ he grated incredulously. He turned away from her to rake stiff fingers through his hair, and then turned back again. ‘Where the hell do you think you are, Surrey?’
Suddenly it was all too much for her—Xavier towering over her, blotting out the sun, confirming the chasm she knew existed between her fantasies and the reality of the situation between them. ‘Go away!’ Sophie exploded furiously. ‘Get back in your damn truck! Just leave me alone!’
‘I’ll do no such thing!’ He caught hold of her and dragged her back. ‘I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming back with me, Sophie. For God’s sake, woman! I know what you’ve done!’
His voice was raw and harsh, and Sophie gasped when he brought her close and held her tight against him.
‘Agustin called me from the hospital,’ he said fiercely against her hair. ‘He told me what happened. He was frantic with worry.’ Xavier took a moment to calm himself. ‘You did great, but that doesn’t mean you should ever repeat this—’ He gestured around fiercely, an expression of complete incomprehension darkening his face, and when words finally failed him he just hissed with frustration. ‘Next time, just wake me, OK?’ Xavier rode over her attempt to apologise. ‘You could have had an accident, Sophie! Don’t you understand? When you act on impulse, people get hurt—’
There was a subtle shift in his voice, enough to alert her. And when she looked into his eyes Sophie knew they were both thinking the same thing—and it had nothing to do with her reckless journey back from the village. It concerned a wicked dare made by her own drunken father, a set of keys to a high-performance car, and Xavier’s fatally impulsive kid brother.
She gasped when he dragged her close with a sudden explosion of passion. But even cloaked in his strength Sophie knew, however many ghosts she lived with, Xavier had his own—and they could drive them apart just as surely as they had brought them together.
It was a relentless game that would never end until they both faced up to what had happened years back and found closure. But until all the ghosts were banished and Xavier could talk about his brother, there was no comfort she could offer him, other than the temporary warmth and reassurance of an embrace.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ON A scale of one to ten, Sophie’s stress levels over the next few days went off the chart. Everything that had happened had encouraged her to believe that Xavier’s special brand of therapy would continue…that they might grow closer. But when he kept his distance she was forced to remind herself yet again that he was just a great doctor—and they both had a job to do.
On the morning he made a general announcement at breakfast to say that he was returning to Lima on business, her feelings came to a boil. She had to say something. If he was leaving, then she had a right to know what her job entailed. And if it bounced him into some sort of action on the personal front…
‘It won’t disrupt the rota,’ Xavier said, sweeping the room with his dark glance—a glance that simply included Sophie in with the rest of his colleagues.
Sophie reddened, knowing she had made a huge miscalculation. She wanted Xavier in every way; he wanted her services as a doctor—there was a world of difference between the two.
Determined not to dwell on it, she attacked the filing. So what if Xavier hadn’t mentioned the trip to her beforehand? She wasn’t about to trail after him everywhere he went, was she? She had her own job to do, and she—
‘Filing?’
Sophie looked up, her eyes flashing warnings, her lips still pressed in a tight, angry line.
‘Why?’ Xavier demanded in a voice full of perfectly targeted challenge.
Slamming the drawer shut, Sophie straightened up to confront him. ‘Because it needed doing.’
‘Lola can handle it.’
‘And so can I.’
Closing himself off to her had proved a waste of energy. So he’d throw this idea up in the air and wait to see where it landed, Xavier mused, riding over her testiness in a meltingly dark voice full of reason. ‘But I saw you have a free morning and thought you might like to go for a swim.’
‘Swim?’
‘You seemed to enjoy yourself the last time we went swimming, and you look like you could do with cooling off,’ he observed dryly.
‘Can’t you see I’m busy?’ She saw the look of triumph on his face as Lola walked in. As Sophie smiled a welcome at her she knew she was trespassing on Lola’s domain…knew when she was beaten too.
‘Swim?’ Xavier suggested with a touch more irony.
‘A swim would be great,’ Sophie agreed dryly.
‘You take that man up to the lake and have some fun,’ Lola advised, appearing to miss the undercurrents between them.
‘Why don’t I join you?’
They all wheeled round at the same time.
‘Yes, why don’t you?’ Sophie effused, seeing Anna. ‘That would be great, wouldn’t it, Xavier?’ At least she had the small satisfaction of seeing the glow of victory in his eyes stall.
‘Can we just go?’ he demanded impatiently.
‘I’ll get my things,’ Sophie said obligingly. It just couldn’t get any better, could it? But at least someone was happy about the situation, she mused wryly, glancing at Anna.
At the lake, Sophie pulled off her clothes to reveal the beautiful swimming costume in a shade so similar to her eyes that Xavier had picked out for her at the Rancho del Condor boutique. He was wearing the same swimming shorts as before, she noticed, relishing the sight of his naked back as he stripped off his top.
‘Look at you two,’ a shrill voice taunted from somewhere
over her head. ‘Grandma and grandpa, I presume?’
Shielding her eyes with her hand to fend off the rays of the sun, Sophie gazed up.
Completely naked, Anna stood poised on top of an overhanging ledge surveying them both—and holding her stomach in for all she was worth, Sophie thought, allowing herself an extremely gratifying moment of bitchery.
‘Xavier!’ Anna called, clearly not going to be satisfied until she had captured his attention too. ‘Race you to the other side?’
His answer was to dive in, and there was scarcely anything to show for his entry into the pool, Sophie saw, other than the series of circular ripples spreading slowly outwards. Like the thoughts in her own head, she realised, glancing at Anna. She was trying not to let her imagination run away with her, but it was difficult not to when Anna’s whole attention was so blatantly focused on Xavier.
‘Sorry, Anna,’ Xavier called as he resurfaced and shook his head to clear the water from his face. ‘This is purely relaxation for me. No races…no nothing.’ He proved the point by turning over to float on his back in silence, with only the slightest movement of his hands to steer him and keep him afloat.
Had he noted the prominent breasts, nipples outthrust…or the fact that Anna wasn’t a natural blonde, though she was certainly creative with a razor? If he had, Sophie decided, with a small smile, he was keeping his opinions to himself.
‘Coming in, Sophie?’ he drawled lazily, his voice carrying easily over the limpid water with its sounding boards of sheer, smooth-faced rock.
There was only one way to join him, and that was fast, Sophie thought, remembering how cold the water could be in the mountains. Stopping to think about it was just not an option!
When she reached his side, Xavier reached out and pulled her close. ‘Race you to the bank?’ he suggested in a low, teasing voice.
It was the first hint of intimacy between them since he’d stopped at the side of the road—and she was still feeling the effects of that, Sophie realised, as warmth flooded through her on cue.
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