That she still cared about him.
Not that she’d ever really stopped, even when she’d pushed him away.
‘Elena?’ Caleb said beside her and she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was wondering what the heck she was doing, still sitting here like a lemon when they’d reached their destination.
‘Are you sure you want to come in with me?’ he asked brusquely. ‘You don’t have to, you know. I can take care of myself from here.’
She turned to fix him with a stern glare. ‘No, you can’t, Caleb; you heard what the doctor said. You need someone around, especially if you’re still feeling a bit confused.’
He shrugged as if it was neither here nor there to him whether she stayed or not, but she could have sworn she saw a flash of a smile in his eyes.
‘Okay, let’s go,’ she said, opening the cab door and telling herself that the best thing all round was just to take one step at a time and deal with any consequences as and when they came.
Caleb’s penthouse apartment was breathtaking, and exactly the sort of place she would have expected him to choose to live. Light poured in through the large warehouse-style windows, bathing the stylish but comfortable-looking furniture in soft spring sunlight. The colours he’d chosen to furnish the place were earthy and muted in a warm and comforting way, with terracotta tiles on the floor and dark tan leather and stained wood sofas and tables gathered in the middle of the vast space. It was a really restful room to be in and Elena let out a breath as she felt herself relax a little.
She was still acutely aware that she was here under false pretences, but she reassured herself that this was about making sure Caleb was safe and cared for; it had nothing whatsoever to do with her trying to persuade him to listen to her business proposal. She’d deal with all that once he was fully well again. There was no way she’d take advantage of his lapse in memory.
She was here as his friend, nothing more.
His only friend, by the sounds of it.
Judging by the fact he didn’t have anyone obvious to call upon when he was in the hospital, she guessed she wasn’t the only one he’d kept at arm’s length.
The thought of how alone he was made sorrow well heavily in her gut.
She knew she should have sought him out before now. She’d wanted to, had for years, but she’d never quite plucked up the courage to face him again—until it had been absolutely essential. That made her a coward, she knew that, but she’d always been afraid of how out of control Caleb made her feel and she’d needed every ounce of strength over the intervening years to build a successful career for herself. It wasn’t easy being a woman in a male-dominated arena.
At least that was what she was telling herself.
The passion of his kiss earlier came back to haunt her as he walked past her into the living area and she caught the unique scent of him in the air.
Moving quickly away from him, she marched into the kitchen diner at the other end of the large room, aware that her heart was racing, and pretended to be admiring the high-tech gadgets he had in there to give herself a moment to pull herself together.
‘Can I make you something to eat? Or drink?’ she asked, turning back to look at him. He was standing by the largest sofa, watching her with a perplexed sort of frown.
‘You don’t need to mollycoddle me, Elena—I can fix my own food. In fact, I should be cooking for you to say thanks for bailing me out at the hospital.’
She held up a hand. ‘Not a chance. Unless your cooking skills have improved since university?’ she said with a slow grin.
He threw her a look of mock offence. ‘Was it that bad?’ He frowned. ‘I don’t remember.’
‘It was passable,’ she said, her mouth still twitching with mirth at the memory of it.
In truth, it had been terrible. The one time he’d cooked for her, when she’d gone over to his place to study for an exam, she’d pulled such a face after the first mouthful that Caleb had scraped the lot into the bin and called for takeout pizza instead.
‘Well, like I said earlier, you don’t have to stay here with me; I’ll be fine,’ he said, sitting down carefully on the sofa and wincing a little as his rib appeared to give him trouble.
She folded her arms. ‘Like I said, there’s no way I’m leaving you alone.’
She’d always stood up to him like this, refusing to be intimidated by his gruff demeanour, but deep down his dominating personality had twisted her into knots, threatening her carefully constructed cool.
Fifteen years ago he’d made her question everything she’d thought she wanted in a man. He was bold and charismatic, but he also seemed exactly the sort to smash her heart to pieces should things go wrong between them. At the time she wasn’t prepared to put herself in danger of that happening, not after working so hard to get into her first choice of university and make her first move towards the kind of life she’d always dreamed of building for herself.
But she hadn’t been able to stay away from him.
Struggling to keep her feelings under control, she’d found the safest thing had been to pretend that they didn’t exist. It had been the only way to protect herself.
Except that somewhere along the line that had stopped working.
* * *
Caleb could sense that Elena wasn’t altogether comfortable being here in his apartment with him and he wondered again what it was she wasn’t telling him.
‘If you’re worried about where you’re going to sleep, you’re welcome to take one of the guest rooms.’ He pointed towards a door that led to the corridor of four bedrooms.
‘Okay, thank you,’ she said a little distractedly.
‘Is there somewhere else you need to be today?’ he asked, concerned now that he was keeping her from something important. The last thing he wanted was to be a burden to her.
‘No, nowhere,’ she answered, coming to sit down on an armchair opposite where he sat, finally giving him her full attention.
A sense of relief took him by surprise. He was still feeling pretty woozy and disorientated and it was soothing to know she’d be staying there with him for a while. Even if she did feel like a total stranger to him at the moment.
‘So, friend, I guess I need to get to know you all over again. Do you have a partner? Husband? Boyfriend in England?’ he asked.
She recoiled a little, as if the question had caught her by surprise. ‘Not at the moment. I’ve been too busy recently with work to hold down a serious relationship.’
‘When you say recently—?’
She flashed him a self-conscious smile. ‘For the last few years.’
‘You haven’t had a serious relationship for a few years?’
She shrugged as she smoothed her hands down the sides of her skirt. ‘I’ve dated, but I’ve not clicked with anyone.’
‘I find that hard to believe.’
The air between them seemed to throb with tension and she gave him a strained smile, then glanced away.
He was making her uncomfortable. But why?
‘Elena?’
She looked back at him, her expression now impassive, as if she’d pulled a mask back into place. ‘Do you mind if I make myself a drink?’ she said suddenly, slapping her hands onto her knees. ‘I’m dying for a cup of tea.’
He frowned at the sudden change of subject but didn’t press her on the reason for it. Perhaps she was just tired after the stress and strain of the day. He was pretty tired himself now, even though he’d slept for a lot of it. ‘Sure, help yourself,’ he said.
She got up and walked over to the kitchen. ‘Would you like one?’ she asked, reaching for the kettle on the work surface.
‘No, thanks.’ He sat forward in his seat. ‘I should take a shower.’ He sniffed at his shirt, inhaling the institutional smell of stringent cleanin
g fluid and decay and, just like that, a memory flew to the front of his mind and he knew why he’d wanted to get out of that hospital so quickly.
His anguish must have shown on his face because Elena said, ‘Caleb? Is everything okay? Did you remember something?’ her voice sounding breathy with concern.
‘Just why I wanted to leave the hospital. My mother died about six months ago and I spent an awful lot of time visiting her in one.’
The expression on her face changed from worry to one of sympathy. ‘Your PA told me. I’m so sorry for your loss,’ she said, her bright blue eyes soft with compassion.
He nodded, accepting her condolences, and ran a hand over his face, feeling stubble rasp at his palm.
There was something more to the memory of losing his mother but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Some kind of underlying emotion bubbling under the surface, not quite clear enough for him to fully grasp.
‘I don’t seem to be able to remember a lot about her at the moment. I know the time I spent with her at the end of her life was...difficult...but I’m not entirely sure why.’
Elena folded her arms and leant against the counter top. ‘From what you’ve told me about her, I don’t think you were particularly close, at least not when you were younger. You were keen to move away from the place where you grew up and she didn’t want you to.’
She looked at him, as if expecting this to jog his memory, but nothing new came to him.
Sadness swelled in his chest.
What was wrong with him? Why was he getting maudlin all of a sudden? Perhaps the trauma to his head was somehow affecting his emotional state. That had to be it. He knew it wasn’t his usual way to discuss how he was feeling with anyone, particularly not a woman. It was one of the things that had contributed to destroying his relationship with his ex-fiancée. Her constant need to try and get into his head and fix him had caused him to feel both hounded and suffocated.
There was something about Elena that invited confidences though.
But what was it?
A half-formed answer flitted around the edges of his mind, just out of reach, and he pushed an unnerving resurgence of panic away, telling himself there was no point in trying to force his memory to come back; it would reappear in its own good time. Perhaps after he’d had a good night’s sleep in his own bed.
He stood up carefully, relieved to find his dizziness had subsided, and started to make his way towards the door to the corridor that led through to his bedroom and en suite bathroom.
‘Where are you going?’ Elena asked, dashing out of the kitchen to intercept him.
He bristled at her bossy tone. ‘I told you, I need a shower.’
‘Not on your own. What if you get dizzy and fall?’
‘Are you offering to join me?’ he asked with a teasing smile, feeling his pulse pick up at the thought of it.
She visibly tensed, then shot him a cool, reproving smile. ‘I’ll wait in your bedroom, just in case you need me,’ she said, turning on the spot and striding away from him, her body language looking a little stiff and awkward now.
He wanted to call after her that he wouldn’t need her, that he didn’t need anybody, that he was fine on his own. But he had the oddest feeling that that wasn’t the case at all.
CHAPTER FOUR
CALEB MANAGED FINE by himself in the shower, despite the sharp pain that shot through his chest every time he moved his left arm. Checking over his body now that he was naked, he was shocked to see how much of it was covered in angry-looking bruises. It made him realise just how lightly he’d got off considering he’d been hit by a motorbike.
Or so he’d been told.
He still couldn’t remember a thing about it.
Tamping down on the now familiar swell of unease, he wrapped a towel tightly around his waist and stared at himself in the mirror, tentatively touching the raised bump in his hairline where he’d hit his head. Perhaps all his errant memories were trapped in the bump and when it went down they’d be released back into his brain.
He shook his head at himself, wondering where his normally sane self had disappeared to. He really didn’t feel like himself at the moment. There was a strange sense of having lost something heavy from deep within him, as if a weight he’d been carrying around had lifted from his body and was hovering somewhere over his head.
Or perhaps the accident had just knocked all the sense out of him.
Whatever it was, the best thing he could do right now was carry on as normal. There was no way he was letting a slight blip in memory and a small fracture stop him from functioning properly.
Giving his reflection a firm nod, he turned away from the mirror and left the en suite.
He expected to find Elena waiting there for him and was preparing to bat away any help she tried to offer and prove to her he wasn’t as frail and vulnerable as she clearly suspected he was, so was surprised—and, if he was honest, a little disappointed—to find the room empty.
The sound of voices floated in through the open bedroom door and he heard the swish and click of the front door closing, then the gentle pad of feet on the hallway tiles as someone walked towards the bedroom.
‘Oh, you’re out,’ Elena said as she emerged in the doorway, her cheeks flushing with colour as she eyed him standing there with just a towel slung around his hips.
He suppressed a smile as she averted her gaze and pretended to be studying a picture on the wall next to her, as if making a point of not staring at his half-naked body.
‘Who was at the door?’ he asked.
‘Benita.’
‘What did she want?’
‘She brought your mobile phone over, which you’d left on your desk. She thought you’d want it, but I told her you wouldn’t be dealing with anything work-related today because you need to rest.’ She turned to look at him now, her expression serious. ‘I also said that you wouldn’t be back in the office for a while.’
‘You did, huh? Well, unfortunately, I don’t have time to be off work right now.’ He held out his hand. ‘I’ll take the phone.’
When she flashed him an I-don’t-think-so expression he added a determined, ‘Thank you.’
‘Caleb, I really don’t think you should—’
‘I’m not interested in what you think,’ he said, feeling irritation prick at the back of his neck.
But, instead of handing the phone over like most people would have done when he used that tone of voice, she crossed her arms and fixed him with a hard stare.
‘There is no way I’m giving you this phone tonight. You need to rest and get a good night’s sleep and you’re not going to do that if you’re worrying about what’s going on at work without you. I’m sure you’ve hired an exceptional team of staff and they’re more than capable of handling things there without you for a couple of days.’
He glared at her in disbelief. No one ever talked to him like that and it was rather shocking to have her facing off with him, especially here in his own home. In his own bedroom.
‘How do you intend to stop me from taking it from you?’ he asked, putting on an amused smile to cover his incredulity.
She didn’t even blink. ‘By doing this,’ she said, lifting open the front of her blouse and sliding the phone down inside the neck, so that it nestled in between her breasts.
He swallowed hard. There was no way he could physically try to take it from her now. Even though he ached to. Very much.
‘Cute,’ he growled, his frustration coming over loud and clear.
She smiled serenely. ‘Someone has to save you from yourself.’
‘I don’t need saving,’ he ground out, folding his arms.
‘I beg to differ. I know you, Caleb; you’ll work all night tonight to make up for the time you lost in the hospital.’
&nbs
p; He frowned. ‘How would you know that?’
‘Because you regularly worked through the night when we were at university to make up for any time you lost.’
‘That sounds like me,’ he said slowly, as the unsettling feeling of not remembering his university days bit at his nerves again.
‘So I’m staging an intervention. Again.’
‘Again? What else have you kept so close to your chest from me?’ he asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
Her jaw appeared to tighten and she frowned. ‘I mean it’s not the only time I’ve had to point out that you work too hard, that’s all,’ she said, looking a little uncomfortable now.
Despite the fact he could probably have held both of her wrists in one hand and easily retrieved his phone, he could tell from the steely look in her eyes that she wouldn’t tolerate such behaviour.
Frustration pinched at him. He was going to have to let her win this one.
‘Right, well, now that’s settled I’ll leave you to get dressed,’ Elena said, her mouth twitching at the corner with what looked like suppressed amusement.
She was enjoying ordering him around. Damn her.
As soon as she’d walked away he strode to the door and swung it shut with a little more force than was entirely necessary.
Okay, so he was grateful to her for helping him get out of the hospital, but he had the unsettling feeling he would have been better off staying there if this was the kind of treatment he was going to have to put up with for the next couple of days.
* * *
Elena walked out of the room with blood rushing loudly in her ears. She couldn’t quite believe she’d just hidden his phone down her top, but it had been obvious he wasn’t going to allow himself to rest if she didn’t force him to. After an accident like this he needed time to recover and heal. Especially as it appeared his memory still hadn’t fully returned—even though he was clearly trying to brush that tiny detail under the carpet.
The Unforgettable Spanish Tycoon Page 5
