Devil in Paradise

by Joanna Mansell

  No one had ever said her name in quite the way that he said it. Kate wondered if he used that husky undertone on purpose, just to set her nerves jangling.

  Rafe smiled at her, as if he knew exactly what thoughts were running confusedly around inside her head. Then he turned away and left the kitchen, and Kate let out a silent sigh of relief.

  She heard his car start up a few minutes later, and she went over to the window, just to make sure that he really was leaving. She had expected him to drive something big and flashy, and was surprised when his car turned out to be a small and rather dusty Renault.

  Kate didn't begin to relax again until he was completely out of sight. Only then did she realise just how tense she became whenever Rafe Clarendon was around. 'Drat the man,' she muttered irritably under her breath. 'He is not going to ruin my holiday!'

  She spent the rest of the day exploring the villa and the grounds, and sunbathing. There would be plenty of time later for sightseeing. The two black cats had disappeared almost as soon as they had finished eating, but the tabby followed her around for much of the day. When she stretched out on the terrace to sunbathe, he curled up in the shade of the sun-lounger. Then he wandered around the grounds with her as she strolled along the overgrown paths. When she tried to stroke him, though, he quickly stepped back with a sudden wild gleam in his eyes.

  'You don't want to get too close? Perhaps you don't trust people? Wise cat,' she told him. 'People can be horribly unpredictable. They hardly ever do what you expect them to.'

  Evening began to set in, and Rafe still hadn't returned. Kate sat outside for a while, enjoying the brief period of dusk, but once full darkness set in she went back inside the villa. She wandered through the empty rooms, and eventually admitted to herself that it was just a trifle unnerving, being in this big place on her own.

  She tried to read for a while, but couldn't concentrate. Finally, she decided to turn in and have an early night. All three cats had turned up for a late supper, but they had disappeared again straight afterwards, leaving Kate completely on her own.

  Although she hadn't expected to, she went to sleep fairly quickly. She was woken up some time later, though, by the sound of a car. She turned on the lamp beside her bed, and then squinted at her watch. Nearly two o'clock—obviously, like the cats, Rafe liked to spend much of the night out on the tiles!

  Knowing that he was back made her feel unexpectedly better, though, and she relaxed and promptly went back to sleep.

  She woke up to find the room filled with bright sunshine. Since she didn't want to waste one moment of such a glorious morning, she decided to take another early swim. It took her only minutes to get ready, and then she headed down to the beach.

  The sea looked just as inviting as it had done yesterday, and she spent the next half-hour alternately swimming strongly, enjoying the feel of her muscles exerting themselves to their limit, and then floating, letting the water take her weight as she totally relaxed.

  She ended up much further out to sea than she had meant to go. Since she was well aware that it was dangerous to swim so far out when there was no one around to lend a hand if she suddenly got into trouble, she headed back to the beach at a fairly fast pace. When she reached it, she flopped down on to the sand, slightly out of breath, but feeling exhilarated and refreshed.

  'You might be a good swimmer, but in future stick closer to the shore,' instructed a very familiar voice.

  Kate opened her eyes and glared irritably up at Rafe. He was doing it again, creeping up on her when she wasn't expecting it!

  'I wasn't in any difficulty,' she said crossly.

  'No, you weren't,' he agreed. 'But if you had been, who do you think would have been around to haul you out?'

  'I dare say you would have been,' she retorted. 'After all, you seem to spend most of your time sneaking around watching what I'm doing!'

  'Perhaps that's because you're so very watchable,' he suggested, sliding down on to the sand beside her. 'You were what—fifteen?—when we last met, and you've certainly improved by leaps and bounds since then.'

  'I've grown up in a lot of other ways, as well,' she retorted. 'And I'm quite capable of looking after myself. I don't need you hanging around like some oversized watchdog!'

  Rafe merely shrugged. 'Since you seem determined to stick around, I feel duty-bound to keep an eye on you. Your mother's got a low enough opinion of me as it is. If I let you drown yourself or do something equally stupid, I'd never hear the last of it.'

  Kate's muttered reply was fairly incoherent, and Rafe gently raised one eyebrow. 'I didn't quite catch that.'

  She hauled herself into a sitting position and shot a black glance in his direction. 'I didn't say anything important.'

  He smiled that infuriating smile of his, then he uncoiled himself and got to his feet.

  'I think I'll take a swim,' he announced. 'By the way,' he went on in a conversational tone, 'did I mention that I never bother with swimming-trunks?'

  'No, you certainly didn't mention it,' Kate squeaked.

  Rafe shrugged. 'This beach is completely private, so there's no one around to be shocked.'

  'I'm here,' she reminded him tartly. Then she very hurriedly averted her eyes as he began to unwind the towel from his waist.

  'If it bothers you, then you don't have to stick around,' he told her calmly.

  Kate willed away the infuriating flush of colour that was threatening to flood her face. 'It doesn't bother me in the least,' she retorted, lying through her teeth. 'I'm not likely to faint with excitement at the sight of a naked male body!'

  'Then there's no problem, is there?' he responded in a completely unruffled tone. And with that, he strolled down to the sea, and then began to swim away from the shore with an easy, powerful crawl.

  Kate hadn't been able to resist a brief glance, and was left with an uncomfortably vivid image of a powerful male body with broad shoulders, well-shaped, muscular buttocks, and strong thighs.

  She swallowed hard a couple of times, and then became increasingly angry at his outrageous behaviour. She was sure that he had done that on purpose. He had known she would be here, and had quite deliberately put on that display of shameless exhibitionism! Her brows drew together in a dark scowl. Was that how he got his kicks? she asked herself with some disgust. As she finally began to cool down again a little, though, she gradually became convinced that it wasn't as simple as that. In fact, she was beginning to suspect that there was a fairly complicated motive behind a lot of the things that Rafe did.

  When she had calmed down even further, it wasn't too hard to figure out what his motive had been this time. He had been using his sexuality to try and scare her out of the villa. The big bad wolf playing games with innocent little Red Riding Hood. Well, it wasn't going to work, she muttered to herself with a furious scowl. She might be a bit of an innocent, but she wasn't going to get hysterical and run off because her cousin strutted around naked in front of her!

  Then she glanced up and saw that Rafe had begun to swim back towards the shore. Kate quickly scrambled to her feet and scurried away from the beach.

  'I'm not nervous of him. Of course I'm not,' she insisted under her breath. Then her mouth relaxed into a reluctant grin. 'It's just that there are only so many impressive sights a girl can take in one day!'

  She hurried back to the villa, and somehow resisted the urge to turn round for one last quick peep.

  CHAPTER THREE

  When Kate reached the villa, she headed upstairs to take a shower. As she stood under the hot water she began to wonder why Rafe was trying so hard to hound her out of the villa. She had thought at first that he might have his eye on some gorgeous female, and he didn't want her around because she might cramp his style, but Kate hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of any woman. Unlikely as it seemed, Rafe appeared to be living like a monk at the moment. She was absolutely certain that he was up to something, though, and she was getting more and more curious as to what it was.

  S
he dried herself, doused herself with talc, pulled on shorts and a T-shirt, and then headed down to the kitchen for breakfast.

  She was a little annoyed to find that Rafe had got there before her. At least he was fully dressed now, though, in denims and a sweatshirt.

  'I see you've managed to find some clothes,' she remarked very pointedly.

  Rafe put a couple of rashers of bacon into the frying pan, and then stood back slightly as the fat sizzled. 'It's a big mistake to fry food without adequate protection,' he commented, in an unperturbed voice. 'Incidentally, perhaps I ought to warn you—I don't just swim naked, I sleep that way, as well.'

  'I don't care if you sleep hanging upside down from the rafters!' she retorted. 'It really makes no difference at all to me.'

  Rafe's dark eyes suddenly gleamed. 'It might, if we bumped into each other in the middle of the night,' he suggested silkily.

  Kate lifted her nose high into the air. 'If we both stay in our own beds, there's absolutely no possibility of that happening.'

  'I don't think it's going to be a lot of fun, having you around,' he remarked regretfully. He cracked a couple of eggs into the pan. 'Want some breakfast?'

  'I'm not hungry,' she said haughtily, even though she was starving. 'Anyway, all that greasy food is bad for you. It clogs your arteries and mucks up your digestive system.'

  'I think I'll risk it just this once,' Rafe replied cheerfully. 'Sure you don't want some?'

  Kate's stomach rumbled hungrily, and she hurriedly coughed to cover it up. 'No, thanks.' She poured herself a glass of fresh juice and picked up an apple. 'I know what's good for me,' she told him.

  Rafe's gaze changed quite noticeably as it swivelled round to fix on her. 'Do you?' he queried in a soft tone. 'Then how come you're still sticking around, Kate?'

  She decided that she didn't want to answer that question. Instead, she turned her back on him and made a dignified exit.

  Nearly an hour later, she heard his car starting up. She shot over to the nearest window, just in time to see the dusty Renault disappearing down the drive. Kate gave a relieved sigh and headed straight for the kitchen, where she raided the fridge and then cooked herself a huge breakfast.

  When she had eaten it and cleared away, she decided to take herself off to Nice to do some shopping. Thanks to Great-Uncle Henry she could afford to buy anything she liked, within reason. She didn't intend to fritter the money away, of course, but it would be nice to browse around in some of those exclusive shops and know that she could splash out on some really expensive item, if she wanted to.

  She changed into a dress, slid her newly acquired credit cards into her bag, and headed out to her car. Minutes later, she was on the main coast road, and heading towards Nice.

  She had gone about a mile when she saw a small, dusty Renault tucked away on the far side of the road. Kate's brows drew together. Was it Rafe's car? It definitely looked like it. She couldn't be absolutely certain, though. Anyway, it was none of her business, she reminded herself, and she drove on.

  Although it wasn't quite the height of the tourist season, Nice was still full of people—and traffic! Kate didn't mind the bustle, though. It made a welcome change from the tranquillity of the Villa des Anges. At least, it was fairly tranquil whenever Rafe wasn't around! she told herself with a rueful frown.

  The shops were full of clothes that were deliciously feminine, but horrifyingly expensive. Kate browsed happily for a couple of hours, but didn't buy anything. She had lunch at an open-air restaurant, and then strolled down the Promenade des Anglais. The sun shone down hotly, the trees which lined the Promenade swayed gently in the breeze, and the flowers blazed with colour. Kate soaked up the sights, sounds and smells, and decided that she was going to love spending the summer here.

  It was late afternoon before she wandered back to her car and set off on the drive back to the villa. Curiosity made her look out for the dusty Renault that she had seen that morning, and had thought might be Rafe's. And it was curiosity that made her pull over to the side of the road when she saw that it was still there, in exactly the same position.

  'It is his,' she muttered to herself as she got close enough to see the number-plate. 'But why is he still here? More to the point, what's he up to?'

  The car was parked in the shade of some bushes. A few yards beyond them was a private road, and Kate looked at it thoughtfully. Was that where Rafe had gone? But why?

  He might just be visiting a girlfriend, she reasoned with herself. Yet she had the feeling that he was up to more than that. A tiny tingle of excitement ran up her spine. Was this something to do with the reason that Rafe wanted her out of the villa?

  'You're never going to find out by just standing around, trying to make guesses,' she told herself. 'Why not take a look?'

  She parked her own car behind Rafe's; then, a little nervously, she walked towards the side road. She knew that Rafe definitely wouldn't like it if he discovered that she was spying on him. On the other hand, she was never going to find out what was going on unless she did some snooping around.

  The sign at the entrance to the road clearly stated that this was private property. Kate stared at it for a few moments, but then decided to ignore it. Surely no one would mind too much if she just walked down the road for a short distance?

  There were thick bushes on either side, and the road twisted quite a lot, so she couldn't see too far ahead. Eventually, though, she rounded one last corner and found herself confronted by tall wrought-iron gates. They were closed, and locked by what looked like a very sophisticated security system, which meant that this was definitely the end of the line.

  Rather disappointed, she pressed her face against the gates and could just catch a glimpse of a villa through the trees ahead. It looked far more imposing than the Villa des Anges, and she guessed that it was owned by someone who was seriously rich. This was one of the most exclusive stretches of the coast, where even a small house cost a fortune.

  With a small frown, she wondered what business Rafe had at a place like this. She hoped he wasn't messing around with the owner's wife. Anyone who could afford a place like this must have quite a lot of power and influence. Rafe might find himself in serious trouble if he crossed someone like that!

  Still wondering what her cousin was up to, she turned away from the gate and began to trudge back down the lane. Preoccupied with her own thoughts, she didn't hear the faint rustle in the bushes behind her, or see the man who slid silently out of the shadows.

  A second later, a hand was clamped tightly over her mouth and her arm was twisted efficiently, although not painfully, behind her back.

  Kate was instantly paralysed with pure fear. Part of her brain frantically told her that she ought to fight, but her limbs had gone totally limp. She felt herself being dragged backwards into the bushes, and she made a feeble attempt to wriggle free from her attacker, but there was still no strength in her arms or legs. Once they were in the shelter of the bushes, she was flung rather roughly to the ground, and a heavy body dived on top of her. Kate's heart was thumping so fast that she thought it was going to burst, and she kept telling herself that this wasn't happening, it couldn't be happening, but the hot, crushing body was real enough, and so were the strong arms that still held her prisoner.

  The hand over her mouth eased its grip just a fraction, and she dragged in a gasping breath, determined to yell for help, even though she knew there was no one around to hear her frantic cries.

  Her attacker must have realised what she intended doing. 'Quiet!' rasped Rafe's voice in her ear.

  Kate's eyes shot wide open. Rafe? It was Rafe doing this to her?

  'Not a word,' he grated in a low undertone.

  Since Kate was too stunned to get out a single sound, the two of them lay very quietly for a few seconds. Then Kate heard the unmistakable sound of a car passing, very close by.

  It stopped a short distance away, and she heard a clanking sound, which she realised was the wrought-iron gates being opene
d. The car passed through, she heard the gates being closed again, and then it went very quiet.

  Rafe released his grip on her. 'Now, perhaps you'd like to tell me just what the hell you're doing here,' he said grimly.

  'What I'm doing here?' Kate said incredulously, rounding on him. 'I was taking a walk along a quiet road. Of course, I didn't know my half-witted cousin was going to jump out of the bushes and frighten me nearly to death!'

  Her voice was shaking, and her body was still trembling. It was going to be a long time—if ever!—before she forgave Rafe for doing this to her.

  'Cut the innocent act,' he advised tersely. 'It's a million to one chance that you should just happen to be taking a walk down this particular road.'

  'I saw your car,' she told him furiously. 'It looked abandoned, and I—I thought you might be in trouble.' She was a long way from the truth now, but she didn't care. 'I came looking for you, to see if—if you needed help—'

  'You were prying, Kate,' he cut in. 'You didn't give a damn if I needed help or not. You just wanted to find out what I was up to.'

  'And what if I did?' She glared at him balefully. 'That was still no excuse for jumping on me like that. I thought you were a rapist!'

  'If you want to stick your nose into something that's none of your business, then you had better be prepared to take the consequences,' came Rafe's totally unsympathetic reply.

  'And what were you doing, lurking in those bushes?' she demanded. 'And why did you have to grab hold of me and fling me to the ground? Or do you just like putting on the caveman act?' she accused.

  Rafe's expression was dangerously black by now. 'I didn't want those people in the car to see you.'

  'Then why didn't you just tell me that?'

  'There wasn't time. You'd have wanted explanations, and you'd probably have started to argue with me. It was important that you weren't seen.'

  'Why was it important?' she threw back at him.

  'This is private property.' An evasive note had crept into his voice. 'You could have been in serious trouble.'